OPENING WEEKEND: Rensselaer opens its 2015-16 regular season schedule with a pair of games against ranked Hockey East teams, beginning on Friday, when it visits 14th-ranked UMass-Lowell (7:15pm) ... The Engineers then welcome first-ranked Boston College to the Houston Field House for their home opener on Sunday (2pm).
FOLLOWING THE ACTION: All RPI men's hockey games can be heard live on WRPI, 91.5 FM, and on the Internet on www.wrpi.org ... Home games can also be seen – for free – on RPI TV ... The video stream can be found at www.rpitv.org.
RPI DROPS OPENER AT LOWELL: The Engineers were shutout by 14th-ranked UMass-Lowell, 3-0, on Friday night at Tsongas Center ... Three different goal-scorers paced the River Hawks, including Evan Campbell, who had a goal and an assist ... RPI senior goaltender
Jason Kasdorf made 35 saves, including 15 in the second period ... Sophomore blueliner
Jared Wilson notched an team-high six shots for Rensselaer.
HOME STARTER: RPI's first regular season home game is October 11, when nationally first-ranked Boston College visits the Houston Field House ... The non-league game is scheduled for 2pm.
TICKETS: Tickets to all Rensselaer home games are available through the Houston Field House box office or by calling 518-276-6262.
EARLY TESTS: For the second year in a row, the Engineers will face the first-ranked team in the nation in the opening weekend of the regular season ... RPI fell to then-#1 Minnesota, 3-0, in the IceBreaker Tournament last year and hosts current #1 Boston College on October 11 at the Houston Field House (2pm) ... In 2013-14, RPI took on #4 Boston College in its opening weekend and took on #11 Ferris State to begin the 2012-13 season.
MOORE OFFENSIVE: Due to injuries at the forward position, freshman
Meirs Moore suited up as a forward on Friday night's season opener at UMass-Lowell.
ENGINEERS IN 2014-15: RPI went 12-26-3 overall last season, including an 8-12-2 mark in ECAC Hockey play ... The Engineers won a best-of-three playoff series at Clarkson, two games to one, before bowing out to St. Lawrence in the conference quarterfinals.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers converted 11.4% (13 for 114) of their power plays last year ...The penalty kill finished at 79.7% (137 for 172).
TOP RETURNERS: Sophomore
Drew Melanson led the Engineers with 20 points last season, on nine goals and 11 assists ... Senior
Milos Bubela (8 goals, 7 assists) had 15 points, while classmate
Mark Miller (7 goals, 7 assists) had 14 points.
IN THE CREASE: Senior goaltender
Jason Kasdorf played in 33 games last year, posting an 11-19-2 record ... He had a 2.97 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.
EAGLES DOWN ARMY: Miles Wood had a goal and two assists to lead first-ranked Boston College to a 5-1 win at Army on Friday night ... Casey Fitzgerald (goal, assist) and Alex Tuch (2 assists) also had multiple points for the Eagles ... Thatcher Demko made 23 saves for the win in net.
