TO BE THE BEST..: The 16th-ranked Engineers travel to Hamden, Conn. for a mid-week ECAC Hockey game on Thursday ... Puck drop is schedule for 7pm ... The Engineers then take on Union College at the Times Union Center in the Fourth Annual Mayor's Cup on Saturday (7:30pm).
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.
ENGINEERS SETTLE FOR TIE: Rensselaer took a pair of one-goal leads against Colgate, last Saturday, but the Raiders came back to earn a 2-2 tie ... Freshman
Tommy Grant scored from the blue line to open the scoring at 4:59 of the second period ... Colgate freshman Hunter Racine equalized at 14:37 of the frame ... Senior
Milos Bubela went coast-to-coast to put the hosts up 2-1 at 16:07 of the third period, but Racine came the rescue for the Raiders, netting the game-tying tally with four minutes left in regulation.
KASDORF BLANKS CORNELL: Senior netminder
Jason Kasdorf stopped all 44 shots he faced and senior captain
Chris Bradley scored the game's only goal as the Engineers knocked off eighth-ranked Cornell, 1-0, last Friday at the Houston Field House ... Bradley's goal at 14:12 of the second period stood as the game-winner, despite a 44-16 edge in shots by the Big Red ... The Engineers were able to kill off 1:15 of 5-on-3 penalty time in the second period and Kasdorf made 17 saves in the frame.
POINTS LEADERS: Junior
Riley Bourbonnais has 13 goals and seven assists for a team-high 20 points in 23 games ... Sophomore
Lou Nanne (4 goals, 10 assists) has 14 points, while junior
Jake Wood (7 goals, 6 assists) and senior
Zach Schroeder (2 goals, 11 assists) have 13 points apiece ... Sophomore
Mike Prapavessis (1 goal, 11 assists) has 12 points.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior
Jason Kasdorf has started 15 of the team's 24 games this season and is 6-5-3 with a 2.01 goals against average and a .936 save percentage ... Freshman
Cam Hackett (6-2-2) has started nine games and carries a 2.34 goals against average and a .933 save percentage.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers come into the weekend at 12.2% (9 for 74) on the power play ...The penalty kill has climbed to 86.0% (80 for 93).
HOT PK: RPI has killed off penalties at a rate of 90.9% (20 for 22) since December 1 ... That ranks third among ECAC Hockey teams and 10th nationally.
IN THE FACE-OFF CIRCLE: The Engineers have won face-offs at a 46.3% clip through 22 games ... Junior
Jimmy DeVito has won a team-high 56.1% of his draws, while classmate
Riley Bourbonnais is second at 52.6% ... Senior
Milos Bubela rounds out the top three at 48.5%.
FACE-OFFS RECENTLY: Since January 1, the Engineers have won 50.7% of their draws, including a team-best 70.0% from junior
Jake Wood ... Classmate
Riley Bourbonnais is second at 62.9%, while fellow junior
Jimmy DeVito has won 56.1% of his face-offs.
KASDORF HONORED BY LEAGUE: Senior goaltender
Jason Kasdorf earned his second ECAC Hockey goaltender of the Week award of the season on Tuesday, following his 1-0-1 weekend at the Houston Field House ... The week was highlighted by a 44-save shutout against eighth-ranked Cornell on Friday night ... He posted a 0.96 goals against average and a .970 save percentage in the two games, which also included 20 stops in a 2-2 tie with Colgate on Saturday.
SHORTHANDED LEADERS: RPI's six shorthanded goals are the third most in the country ... Penn State leads the way with nine ... Senior
Milos Bubela is tied for second individually with three shorties, while Robert Morris senior Zac Lynch has five to lead the nation.
SHORTHANDED II: Senior
Milos Bubela's three shorthanded goals are the most in a season by an RPI player since Bruce Coles at five during the 1989-90 season.
PLENTY OF HELPERS: Senior
Zach Schroeder has six assists in his last seven games.
SCORING FIRST: RPI is 10-1-3 when scoring first this season and just 2-6-1 when conceding the game's first goal.
FREE HOCKEY: The Engineers have gone to overtime seven times season ... All seven have come in ECAC Hockey play and the team's record is 2-0-5 in those contests.
PUT ME IN COACH: The Engineers are 8-2-4 when freshman defenseman
Tommy Grant is in the lineup and just 4-5-1 when he is scratched.
PLUS/MINUS DEPARTMENT: Junior blueliner
Parker Reno has a team-best +13 rating, while sophomores
Jared Wilson and
Lou Nanne are at +10 ... Junior
Jake Wood is a +7.
NO. 1 QUINNIPIAC TIES AT MAINE: The Bobcats needed a late comeback to earn a 3-3 at Maine on Tuesday night ... Trailing 3-1 with seven minutes to play, Sam Anas brought Quinnipiac to within 3-2, when he snuck a shot past Black Bears netminder Rob McGovern ... The Bobcats then scored a power play goal with 46 seconds left in regulation to force overtime ... Neither team was able to break the deadlock in the extra session, as Quinnipiac registered the only shot on goal.
FOR THE BOBCATS: Nationally first-ranked Quinnipiac is led offensively by junior Sam Anas (14 goals, 14 assists) and senior Travis St. Denis (12 goals, 16 assists), who have 28 points apiece ... Junior Tim Clifton (13 goals, 10 assists) has 23 points, while sophomore Landon Smith (6 goals, 13 assists) has 19.
IN GOAL: Senior backstop Michael Garteig (19-1-4) has started 23 of the team's 24 games ... He carries a 1.47 goals against average and a .938 save percentage.
ALL-TIME VS. QU: The Engineers are 6-11-8 all-time against Quinnipiac, dating back to the first ever meeting on October 16, 1999 ... RPI won the inaugural match-up, 6-4, in Albany ... The Bobcats have held a firm grip on the series lately, going 6-0-4 in the last 10 meetings ... RPI's last victory came on February 19, 2010 – a 5-3 win at the Houston Field House.
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