NORTH COUNTRY TRIP: The Engineers make their yearly trip to the North Country this weekend, where they will face 17th-ranked Clarkson and 15th-ranked St. Lawrence on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (7pm), respectively ... The Golden Knights and Saints are both ranked for an RPI visit for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

ENGINEERS TAKE SERIES OPENER: RPI scored four goals in the first period en route to a 5-1 victory over Union on Friday night in Schenectady ... Senior Travis Fulton opened the scoring 10:38 into the game ... Sophomores Lou Nanne and Kenny Gillespie then tallied less than a minute apart for a 3-0 lead, chasing Dutchman starting goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos from the game ... Junior Riley Bourbonnais capped the period at 18:12 ... Following a scoreless second, senior Milos Bubela netted a shorthanded goal to give the visitors a 5-0 advantage ... Mark Dufour netted a power play marker late in the third to get Union on the board ... RPI Senior Jason Kasdorf made 22 saves for the win.

RPI COMPLETES SWEEP: Rensselaer scored the game's first two goals on its way to a 3-2 win over Union and a sweep of the two-game series with the Dutchmen ... Sophomore defenseman Jared Wilson opened the scoring with his first goal of the year at 3:29 of the second period ... Senior Phil Hampton doubled the hosts advantage at 7:01 of the frame ... Union senior Sebastian Gingras pulled the visitors to within 2-1 at 4:03 of the third, but Rensselaer senior center Mark Miller pushed the lead back to two goals (3-1), midway through the period ... A Ryan Scarfo tally at 12:46 brought the Dutchmen back to within 3-2, but the Engineers were able to hold on for the victory ... Senior goaltender Jason Kasdorf made 27 saves for RPI.

POINTS LEADERS: Entering the weekend, freshman Evan Tironese has a goal and six assists for a team-high seven points ... He is followed by junior Riley Bourbonnais (4 goals, 1 assist) with five points ... Classmate Jake Wood (2 goals, 2 assists) and senior Zach Schroeder (1 goal, 3 assists) have four points apiece.

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior Jason Kasdorf has started all seven games this season and is 3-4-0 with a 2.60 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers have started the season at 20.0% (5 for 25) on the power play ...The penalty kill has opened at 82.9% (29 for 35).

IN THE FACE-OFF CIRCLE: The Engineers have face-offs at a 44.6% clip over the first seven games ... Senior Zach Schroeder comes into the weekend with a team-best 50.0% success rate (35 for 70), while junior Riley Bourbonnais is second at 48.9% (23 for 47).

TOPS IN SHORTIES: Rensselaer's three shorthanded goals are the most in the country ... Senior Milos Bubela is tied for the nation's individual lead with St. Cloud State sophomore Judd Peterson, with two.

BLACK AND BLUE-LINERS: RPI senior captain Chris Bradley and St. Lawrence junior Eric Sweetman are tied for the ECAC Hockey lead with 18 blocked shots apiece.

GIVING UP THE BODY: The Engineers have blocked 121 shots through seven games, including a team-high 18 from senior captain Chris Bradley ... Sophomore defenseman Mike Prapavessis has 16, while junior Riley Bourbonnais has gotten in front of 14 attempts from the opposition, which the most among RPI forwards.

TIRONESE HONORED BY LEAGUE: Freshman Evan Tironese earned ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month honors for October, leading the Engineers in scoring with a goal and six assists for seven points ... He leads all ECAC Hockey rookies in points, assists, power play assists (3), penalties and penalty minutes. He is second among first-year players in face-offs won (27) and assists per game (1.00).

KASDORF VS. THE NORTH COUNTRY: Senior goaltender Jason Kasdorf is a combined 6-5-1 against Clarkson and St. Lawrence in his career ... He is 4-2-1 with a 2.65 goals against average and a .913 save percentage in seven games against Clarkson, including the first shutout of the Golden Knights by an RPI goaltender since Bob Fox on February 6, 1954 ... Kasdorf is 2-3 against St. Lawrence with a 2.42 goals against average and a .912 save percentage.

GETTING OFFENSIVE: Clarkson ranks second among ECAC Hockey teams with 19 points from defensemen (4 goals, 15 assists) ... St. Lawrence is third with 17 points (3 goals, 14 assists), while the Engineers are sixth (3 goals, 9 assists) in the 12-team league.

DON'T BE LATE: Clarkson (9) and St. Lawrence (7) are first and second in ECAC Hockey in first period goals ... RPI (6) is fourth.

FAMILIAR FOE: Thirteen Engineers have played at least four career games against Clarkson, including senior Zach Schroeder, who has laced 'em up a team-high 11 times against the Golden Knights ... Classmate Mark Miller has a team-best six points on two goals and four assists in nine games.

WELCOME TO MY HOMECOMING: Senior Mark Miller, who is from Massena, N.Y. has had success in his career against RPI's rivals from the North Country ... In 17 career games against the Saints and Golden Knights, he has four goals and six assists for 10 points.

ALL-TIME AGAINST CLARKSON: The Golden Knights hold an 87-50-10 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to January 24, 1925 ... Clarkson won the inaugural meeting, 14-1, in Troy ... The 87 defeats are the most for the Engineers against any team.

RECENTLY: The series is even at 7-7-2 since the start of the 2010-11 season and the teams split five games last year (2-2-1), with the Engineers winning an ECAC Hockey Playoff series in Potsdam in March, 2-to-1.

AT CHEEL ARENA: The two teams have split the last 10 meeting in Potsdam, 5-5 ... The Engineers are 4-2 in the post-season over that stretch, but just 1-3 in regular season play.

GOALS, GOALS, GOALS: RPI and Clarkson have played 14 times over the last four seasons and the two teams are averaging a combined 5.36 goals per game ... At least five goals have been scored 11 times and 7+ goals have been recorded three times.

ALL-TIME AGAINST ST. LAWRENCE: The Saints own a 80-56-6 record in the all-time series ... The first meeting came on January 3, 1951, in Troy, where St. Lawrence earned a 7-2 win.

RECENTLY: The last 10 meetings have been split, 5-5, with St. Lawrence winning three of four last year, including two post-season games at Appleton Arena in Canton.

IN CANTON: St. Lawrence has won 6 of the last 10 games played at Appleton Arena, including all three from a year ago.