BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN: The Engineers return to the Houston Field House after earning three points on their North Country trip last weekend ... RPI tied then-No. 17 Clarkson, 2-2, before topping then-No. 15 St. Lawrence, 4-3, in overtime ... RPI will play its third straight game against a top-20 team on Friday, when it hosts No. 10 Yale at 7pm ... Brown comes to town the following night for another 7pm puck drop.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION: Most 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.

RENSSELAER TIES CLARKSON: Senior Travis Fulton and junior Jake Wood got the Engineers off to a 2-0 lead, but the 17th-ranked Golden Knights battled back for a 2-2 tie, thanks to a Terrance Amorosa marker with 1:56 left in regulation ... Jason Kasdorf made 28 saves before getting knocked out of the game ... His replacement, freshman Cam Hackett, wound up with the decision, stopping 10 of the 11 shots he faced.

ENGINEERS SLIP PAST SLU: After allowing an early 2-1 lead to get away, Rensselaer scored two unanswered goals in regulation and overtime to thwart 15th-ranked St. Lawrence, 4-3 ... Massena, N.Y. native, Mark Miller, provided the game-winning tally, one minute into the extra session ... Junior Riley Bourbonnais and sophmore Drew Melanson each had a goal and an assist for the visitors, who open the league season with a four-game unbeaten streak ... Freshman Cam Hackett made 37 saves for his first collegiate victory in his first start between the pipes.

TICKETS: Tickets to all Rensselaer home games are available through the Houston Field House box office or by calling 518-276-6262.

POINTS LEADERS: Entering the weekend, junior Riley Bourbonnais has five goals and three assists for a team-high eight points in nine games ... Freshman Evan Tironese (1 goal, 6 assists) has seven points, while junior Jake Wood (3 goals, 2 assists) had five points.

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior Jason Kasdorf has started eight of the team's nine games this season and is 3-4-0 with a 2.46 goals against average and a .927 save percentage ... Freshman Cam Hackett (1-0-1) has made two apperanaces and carries a 3.08 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers have started the season at 16.1% (5 for 31) on the power play ...The penalty kill has opened at 86.4% (38 for 44).

IN THE FACE-OFF CIRCLE: The Engineers have face-offs at a 43.9% clip over the first nine games ... Senior Mark Miller has won a team-best 48.3% of his draws, while classmate Milos Bubela is second at 47.5%.

SHORTHANDED LEADERS: Rensselaer's three shorthanded goals are second most in the country, trailing Nebraska-Omaha (4) ... Senior Milos Bubela is tied for the nation's individual lead with St. Cloud State sophomore Judd Peterson and Nebraska-Omaha junior Jake Guentzel ... All three have two shorthanded goals.

BOURBONNAIS STREAKING: RPI junior Riley Bourbonnais is currently riding a four-game point streak in which he has amassed two goals and three assists for five points ... He is a +6 over that stretch with a team-high 16 shots.

SUPPORTING ROLES: Four players have three points during RPI's four-game unbeaten streak, including freshman Evan Tironese (3 assists), senior Travis Fulton (2 goals, 1 assist), junior Jake Wood (1 goal, 2 assists) and sophomore Lou Nanne (1 goal, 2 assists).

SNAPPED STREAK: Junior Jake Wood saw his five-game point streak snapped against St. Lawrence on Saturday night ... He had three goals and two assist over his previous five contests.

GIVING UP THE BODY: The Engineers have blocked 136 shots through nine games, including a team-high 20 from senior captain Chris Bradley ... Sophomore defenseman Mike Prapavessis has 18, while junior Riley Bourbonnais has gotten in front of 15 attempts from the opposition, which the most among RPI forwards.

UNBEATEN STREAKS: The Engineers four-game unbeaten streak is the fourth-longest in the country ... ECAC Hockey teams own four of the seven longest such current streaks nationally.

BEST START SINCE 1994-95: Rensselaer is out to its best conference start to a season since the 1994-95 team opened with five straight victories ... That team went on to win the ECAC Hockey Championship in Lake Placid, topping Princeton 5-1 in the final.

ALL-TIME VS. YALE: The Engineers own a 55-44-6 lead in the all-time series with the Bulldogs, which dates back to January 22, 1909 ... Yale won the inaugural meeting, 3-0, in Albany.

RECENTLY: The Bulldogs have won 6 of the last 10 meetings, including the last four in a row ... RPI's last win in the series came on February 18, 2013 – a 4-1 victory at the Houston Field House.

IN 2014-15: Yale swept the regular season series with the Engineers last year, posting wins of 5-2 and 4-1 ... The Bulldogs never trailed in an early season match-up in New Haven, getting goals from Trent Ruffolo and Carson Cooper, before RPI's Jake Wood made it a 2-1 game late in the second period ... Ryan Hitchcock put the hosts back up by two (3-1), but Milos Bubela answered with a power play goal to draw the Engineers to within 3-2 ... Two third period tallies created some breathing room for the Bulldogs ... In the return trip to Troy, Yale scored the first two goals once again, including a man advantage tally by Cooper ... Viktor Liljegren then tallied on the power play for RPI, but two second period goals by the Bulldogs capped the scoring.

SCOUTING YALE: The Bulldogs are coming off of a 1-0-1 weekend in which they tied nationally-ranked Harvard, 2-2, and defeated Dartmouth, 4-2 ... They are led offensively by freshman Joe Snively, who has four goals and one assist for five points ... Junior Mike Doherty (2 goals, 2 assists) and senior defenseman Ryan Obuchowski (1 goal, 3 assists) have four points apiece.

YALE GOALTENDING: Junior Alex Lyons enters the weekend with a 3-0-1 record, having started all four games this season ... He has a 1.47 goals against average and a .950 save percentage.

THRILL OF THE KILL: Yale is first in the country with a perfect penalty kill (8 for 8), while the Engineers are 21st at 86.4% (38 for 44).

PENALTY DISPARITY: RPI is the fifth most penalized team in the country, averaging 15.7 penalty minutes per contest ... The Bulldogs have been assessed a nation-low 4.5 minutes per game.

ALL-TIME VS. BROWN: The Engineers hold a commanding 59-26-7 lead in the all-time series with the Bears, which dates back to December 28, 1951 ... Brown won the first ever meeting, 5-0, in Troy.

RECENTLY: RPI is 5-4-1 over the last 10 meetings, including a 3-3 record at the Houston Field House.

2014-15 VS. THE BEARS: Brown swept the season series last year, winning by scores of 4-2 and 6-3 ... In Providence, Tim Ernst made 39 saves and Matt Lorito netted the eventual game-winning goal in the second period for the 4-2 victory ... At the Houston Field House, Jacob Laliberte scored first, but three straight by the visiting Bears made it 3-1, early in the second period ... Milos Bubela brought RPI to within 3-2, before Sam Lafferty netted a goal that turned out to be the winner, 51 seconds into the third.

PACING BROWN: Off to an 0-3-0 start, the Bears have a trio of scorers with three points, including Nick Lappin (1 goal, 2 assists), Zack Prybek (1 goal, 2 assists) and Josh McArdle (3 assists).

BEARS NETMINDING: Junior Tim Ernst is 0-2-0 with a 5.61 goals against average and an .823 save percentage, while classmate Tyler Steel is 0-1-0 with a 7.00 goals against average and a .759 save percentage.

ENGINEERS VS. RANKED TEAMS: The Engineers are 2-2-1 against ranked opposition this season, including victories over then-No. 1 Boston College (2-1) and then-No. 15 St. Lawrence (4-3 in OT).