THREE-GAME ROAD TRIP: The Engineers open the second half of their 2015-16 schedule this weekend, when they visit Miami University for a two-game series ... Action begins on Saturday night (7pm) and concludes on Sunday (5pm) ... Rensselaer then travels to Princeton on Thursday (7pm) for one of its two Thursday night ECAC Hockey games on the schedule.

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.

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

ENGINEERS SWEEP ARIZONA STATE: RPI  held the Sun Devils to single goals in each game for a non-league series sweep on December 11 and 12 at the Houston Field House ... The Engineers won the opener, 5-1, behind the first two collegiate tallies from freshman Jesper Ohrvall ... Senior Zach Schroeder and junior Parker Reno each had two assists, while Jake Wood registered a goal and an assist ... Strong special teams led RPI to a 4-1 win the following night, as the team netted both a power play and shorthanded tally ... Ohrvall converted on the man advantage for his third goal of the weekend, while senior Milos Bubela bagged his third shorthanded goal of the year.

POINTS LEADERS: Junior Riley Bourbonnais has 10 goals and six assists for a team-high 16 points in 19 games ... Sophomore Lou Nanne (4 goals, 7 assists) and junior Jake Wood (6 goals, 5 assists) have 11 points apiece, while senior Zach Schroeder (2 goals, 8 assists) and sophomore Mike Prapavessis (1 goal, 9 assists).

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior Jason Kasdorf has started 10 of the team's 19 games this season and is 4-4-1 with a 2.04 goals against average and a .939 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 12.7% (8 for 63) on the power play ...The penalty kill has climbed to 85.5% (71 for 83).

HOT PK: RPI has killed off penalties at a rate of 91.7% since the start of December ... That ranks third among ECAC Hockey teams and 17th nationally.

IN THE FACE-OFF CIRCLE: The Engineers have won face-offs at a 45.1% clip over the first 19 games ... Junior Riley Bourbonnais has won a team-high 50.6% of his draws, while senior Milos Bubela is second at 49.3% ... Classmate Mark Miller rounds out the top three at 45.9%.

SHORTHANDED LEADERS: RPI's four shorthanded goals are the fifth most in the country ... Penn State leads the way with seven ... Senior Milos Bubela is tied for second individually with three shorties, while Robert Morris senior Zac Lynch has four to lead the nation.
OHRVALL HONORED BY LEAGUE: ECAC Hockey announced its weekly award winners for December 14 and Rensselaer freshman Jesper Ohrvall was named Rookie of the Week after scoring three goals in the two games against the Sun Devils, including one the power play ... He also registered a league-best nine shots.

SCOUTING MIAMI: The RedHawks are led offensively by freshman Jack Roslovic, who has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points ... Three players have 10 points each, including classmate Josh Melnick (5 goals, 5 assists) and junior Anthony Louis (3 goals, 7 assists).

IN GOAL: Senior Ryan McKay (5-7-2) has played 84.5% of the team's minutes in the cage, carrying a 2.33 goals against average and a .915 save percentage ... Fellow senior Jay Williams (0-2-0) has a 5.35 goals against average and an .812 save percentage.

ENGINEERS AGAINST MIAMI: Senior captain Chris Bradley and sophomore Drew Melanson are the only current RPI players with goals against the RedHawks ... Senior netminder is 0-2 with a 3.03 goals against average and a .905 save percentage against Miami ... Both losses came last season.

REDHAWKS SWEEP IN 2014-15: Miami swept a two-game series at the Houston Field House last year, taking home wins of 3-2 and 3-0 ... The RedHawks never trailed in the series and did allow a goal over the finale 68:36 ... Riley Barber and Cody Murphy each netted a pair of goals for Miami.

LILJEGREN FACTOR: The Engineers are 10-3-3 when Viktor Liljegren records a point, including 3-1-1 this season ... RPI owns a 5-1-2 mark in games in which he scores a goal.

SCORING FIRST: RPI is 9-1-1 when scoring first this season and just 1-5-1 when conceding the game's first goal ... RPI's only win came in overtime at St. Lawrence (4-3 on November 7).

PLUS/MINUS DEPARTMENT: Junior blueliner Parker Reno has a team-best +11 rating, while sophomore Lou Nanne is second at +8 ... Sophomore Jared Wilson is a +7, while classmate Drew Melanson and junior Jake Wood are at +6. 

HACKETT AMONG TOP ROOKIES: Freshman Cam Hackett ranks fourth nationally among rookie goaltenders in wins (6) and is third in both winning percentage (.700) and save percentage (.933) ... He is seventh in goals against average (2.33) ... Hackett is also 11th in total saves (306) and 13th in games played (10).

LEAGUE LEADERS: Senior Chris Bradley leads ECAC Hockey in blocked shots with 49 ... Classmate Milos Bubela and sophomore Jared Wilson are tied for the conference lead with 11 penalties apiece ... Junior Riley Bourbonnais is second with 10 goals, while junior Parker Reno and sophomore Mike Prapavessis are 10th with nine assists each.

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