LEAGUE RESPITE
Rensselaer takes a break from its ECAC Hockey schedule to play five non-league contests in a span of nine days ... The Engineers host Ohio State for two games this weekend, before traveling to New Hampshire and Arizona State next week ... RPI resumes ECAC Hockey play on December 2 and 3 at Quinnipiac and Princeton.
HOMESTAND CONCLUDES
RPI finishes its season-long six-game homestand this Friday and Saturday, when it hosts Ohio State for a two-game series ... Puck drop for both games against the Buckeyes is scheduled for 7pm.
ST. LAWRENCE TOPS ENGINEERS
The Saints scored three goals in a span of four shots to defeat Rensselaer, 3-1, on Saturday night at the Houston Field House ... Gavin Bayreuther, Eric Sweetman and Joe Sullivan all tallied for St. Lawrence, which also received 27 saves from goaltender Kyle Hayton ... Freshman
Patrick Polino scored his first collegiate goal at 3:10 of the third period to break up the shutout ... Senior captain
Riley Bourbonnais earned the lone assist.
BIG THIRD PERIOD LIFTS CLARKSON
Clarkson scored three goals in the third period to top the Engineers, 5-2, on Friday night at the Houston Field House ... Troy Josephs, Nico Sturm and Haralds Egle all tallied in the final stanza to break a 2-2 tie after two periods ... For RPI, sophomore
Brady Wiffen netted his first collegiate goal in the first period, while junior blueliner
Jared Wilson scored his team-leading sixth goal of the year in the second ... Sophomore goaltender
Chase Perry had 35 saves on 40 shots for Rensselaer.
CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED
MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
Dating back to last season, senior captain
Riley Bourbonnais has at least one point in 21 out of 24 weekends, including all five this season ... Sophomore
Evan Tironese picked up right where he left off after getting injured six games into the 2015-16, with 20 points (4 goals, 16 assists) in 15 career games.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Engineers enter the weekend with the ninth-best penalty kill in the nation at 89.6% (60 for 67) ... On the man advantage, RPI is converting at a 13.8% rate (9 for 65), including 13.0% (3 for 23) in November.
SHORTHANDED GOALS
RPI's three shorthanded goals are good for sixth in the nation ... Senior
Riley Bourbonnais' two shorties are tied with nine other players for the most in the country.
EARLY POINT LEADERS
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes are led offensively by senior Nick Schilkey (10 goals, 5 assists) and junior Matthew Weis (5 goals, 10 assists) who have 15 points apiece ... Freshman Tanner Laczynski (3 goals, 11 assists) have 14 points, while sophomore Dakota Joshua (1 goal, 11 assists) has 12.
OSU GOALTENDING
Senior Matt Tomkins is 4-1-3 with a 2.64 goals against average and a .900 save percentage, having started seven of the team's 11 games ... Classmate Christian Frey (2-0-1) has a 3.21 goals against average and an .874 save percentage.
ALL-TIME VS. THE BUCKEYES
RPI and Ohio State have met three times, dating back to December 27, 1973 ... All three games in the series have been 5-5 ties at the Houston Field House, including a 10-goal draw on November 25, 2006 ... In that game, Andrei Uryadov netted a hat trick and added an assist for the Engineers, while Mathias Lange had 38 saves ... Ohio State erased a 4-1 deficit in the third period, before taking a 5-4 lead ... RPI needed an extra attacker goal from Paul Kerins with 1:08 left to earn the tie.
FIVE-FIVE
The Engineers have tied 5-5 just 10 times in school history ... St. Lawrence and Ohio State have been a part of three of those games, each, while Clarkson, Dartmouth, Princeton and Alabama-Huntsville have all the opponent once.
IN THE CIRCLE
Freshman
Jacob Hayhurst has won a team-high 50.5% of his face-offs, while junior
Drew Melanson is second at 50.0% ... Converted defenseman
Bradley Bell rounds out the top three at 46.7% ... As a team, the Engineers have a 43.5% success rate on the draw.
