OPENING ON THE ROAD
The Engineers begin the regular season with a two-game series at the University of Maine ... Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm on both Friday and Saturday nights.

ENGINEERS WIN EXHIBITION
Rensselaer scored a goal in each period en route to a 3-0 victory over McGill University, in its exhibition opener on Sunday at the Houston Field House ... Senior Riley Bourbonnais opened the scoring at 6:43 of the first period with a rebound put-back at the left side of the cage ... Freshman Jacob Hayhurst made it 2-0 with a 5-on-3 power play tally at 18:43 of the second, before sophomore Evan Tironese capped the scoring with a two-man advantage marker of his own at 0:40 of the third ... Sophomore goaltender Chase Perry had 26 saves for the shutout.

TO BE THE BEST
Following a regular season-opening two game series at Maine, the Engineers visit the defending national champions North Dakota for a single game on Saturday, October 15 ... The game will mark the first match-up with a defending national champ since the 2014-15 season, when the Engineers took 2 of 3 from Union College.

BACK FOR MORE
The Engineers welcome back their top two scorers from 2015-16 in senior Riley Bourbonnais (15 goal, 11 assists) and junior Lou Nanne (6 goals, 17 assists), who had 26 and 23 points, respectively. Also returning is the team's top scoring defenseman, Mike Prapavessis (4 goals, 15 assists), who had 19 points.

SHOT BLOCKING LEADERS
The Engineers blocked 617 shots last season, which was third most in the nation ... Individually, Chris Bradley has a team-high 98, which is good for fourth in the country ... Mike Prapavessis was 13th nationally with 79.

FORWARDS BLOCKING SHOTS
Rensselaer forwards blocked an NCAA-best 294 shots in 2015-16, thanks to a team-best 43 from Jake Wood ... Mark Miller and Zach Schroeder had 39 blocks each, while Riley Bourbonnais had 36.

IN THE PENALTY BOX
The Engineers took the 31st most penalties (129) in the country last year, for the 24th most minutes (415) ... RPI did improve in this department as the season went along, taking the eighth fewest pens after January 1 (71).

IN SEASON OPENERS
Rensselaer has gone 4-5-1 in its last 10 season openers, dating back to the 2006-07 season ... The Engineers lost four straight from 2008-12, before winning three in a row ... Last year's 3-0 defeat at UMass-Lowell ended the winning streak.

ON THE DRAW
The Engineers ranked 11th in ECAC Hockey on face-offs in 2015-16 at just 46.7% ... Individually, Riley Bourbonnais won 56.0% of his draws last season, while Mark Miller was second at 50.8% ... Jimmy DeVito won them at a 48.1% clip.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE BLACK BEARS
RPI owns a 5-4-0 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to February 3, 1979 ... Maine won the inaugural meeting, 5-4 ... The Engineers' first win came the following year, when they were victorious, 8-4, in Orono.

LAST MEETING
Maine won the most recent meeting between the two schools, 4-2, on January 8, 2008, at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland ... Chase Polacek and Seth Klerer were the goal scorers on that night, while Billy Ryan (1 goal, 1 assist) and Rob Bellamy (2 assists) paced the Black Bears ... Mathias Lange took the loss between the pipes for RPI, making 32 saves, while currently Tampa Bay Lightning Ben Bishop had 18 stops for Maine.

BEEN A WHILE 
The Engineers haven't played at Alfond Arena since November 27, 1993 ... RPI came home with a 5-4 victory that night.

BLACK BEARS IN 2015-16
Maine went 8-24-6 last season, including a 5-15-2 mark in Hockey East play ... Top scorer Blaine Byron returns for his senior season after posting eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 2015-16 ... Also back is senior Cam Brown, who had eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points.

MAINE GOALTENDING
Matt Morris started a team-high 20 games last season in goal for the Black Bears, going 6-10-3 with a 3.54 goals against average and a .901 save percentage ... Rob McGovern went 2-14-3 with a 2.78 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.