UNION SWEEPS SERIES
RPI dropped its first two ECAC Hockey games of the season, falling to Union by scores of 4-1 and 3-2 in overtime ... The Dutchmen scored the first four goals in the opener, with junior Jared Wilson pulling one goal back for Rensselaer with a power play tally in the third period ... In the series finale, senior captain Riley Bourbonnais twice answered Union goals with tie the game at 1-1 and 2-2, before Union senior captain Mike Vecchione ended the contest 1:06 into OT ... Sophomore goaltender Chase Perry made 37 saves, including 15 in the first period alone.

CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED
Eleventh-year head coach Seth Appert has announced that seniors Riley Bourbonnais and Jimmy DeVito will wear the 'C' for the 2016-17 season, while classmate Parker Reno will serve as the lone alternate.

MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
Dating back to last season, senior captain Riley Bourbonnais has at least one point in 20 out of 23 weekends, including all four this season ... Sophomore Evan Tironese picked up right where he left off after getting injured six games into the 2015-16, with 17 points (4 goals, 13 assists) in 13 career games.

SPECIAL TEAMS
The Engineers enter the weekend with the seventh-best penalty kill in the nation at 93.5% (43 for 46) ... two of the three power play goals that the team has allowed came in the same game (Oct. 21 vs. Niagara) ... On the man advantage, RPI is converting at a 14.3% rate (6 for 42), including 21.7% (5 for 23) over the last two weekends.

SHORTIES
RPI's three shorthanded goals are good for third in the nation, trailing Bentley (5) and Boston University (4) ... Senior Riley Bourbonnais' two shorties are tied with four other players for the most in the country.

BEARS OPEN SEASON
Brown fell in its first two games of the season last week, at Holy Cross (3-0) and home to Providence (6-0) ... Zach Pryzbek leads the team with six shots, while Josh McArdle and Max Willman have five apiece ... Freshman goaltender Gavin Nieto started both games on the weekend, going 0-2 with a 4.56 goals against average and an .877 save percentage.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. BROWN
Rensselaer's 62 wins over Brown are second only to Princeton (67) for the most over any opponent in school history ... The Engineers own a 62-26-8 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to December 28, 1951.

2015-16 VS. BROWN
The Engineers went 3-0-1 against the Bears last season, including a two-game series sweep in the First Round of the ECAC Hockey Playoffs ... A 3-3 tie on November 14, 2015 opened the year's meetings, in which Kenny Gillespie and Zach Schroeder tallied third period goals to erase a 3-1 deficit ... Cam Hackett had 29 saves for RPI ... The Engineers then came back from three goals behind (3-0) on January 29 in Providence, including two from Viktor Liljegren, to beat Brown, 4-3 ... In Game 1 of the playoff series, three defensemen scored for a 3-2 RPI win, before the Engineers stormed back from a 3-0 deficit after one period to win 4-3 ... Jared Wilson scored the eventual game-winner with under two minutes to play in regulation.

YALE TOPS SACRED HEART
Three Bulldogs recorded multiple points in a 4-1 win over Sacred Heart in Yale's season-opener ... John Hayden had a goal and an assist, while Joe Snively and Mike Doherty had two assists apiece ... Ted Hart netted the eventual game-winning tally in the late stages of the first period ... Patrick Spano made 23 saves for the win in net.

2015-16 VS. YALE
RPI and Yale split the season series last year with both teams winning at home ... Viktor Liljegren scored the overtime-winner in a 3-2 victory at the Houston Field House on November 13, before Alex Lyon had 29-save shutout in a 3-0 Bulldogs victory on January 30.

EARLY POINT LEADERS
Sophomore Evan Tironese has a team-high 10 points on three goals and seven assists ... Senior captain Riley Bourbonnais (5 goals, 3 assists) has eight points, while two players have four points, including junior blueliner Jared Wilson, who has four goals.

PERRY STARTS FOUR
Sophomore Chase Perry started the first four games for the Engineers, going 0-3-1 with a 3.95 goals against average and an .891 save percentage ... His 37 saves on October 8 were one shy of his career-high, which he set on November 7, 2014, as a member of the Colorado College Tigers, at Miami (OH) ... The Redhawks were 3-0 winners on that night.

DRAFTED
Rensselaer has four student-athletes on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft ... Junior defenseman Mike Prapavessis was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round, 105th overall, of the 2014 draft ... Classmate and forward Lou Nanne was taken in the seventh round (188th overall) in the 2012 draft by the Minnesota Wild ... Sophomore goaltender Chase Perry was chosen in the fifth round (136th overall) of the 2014 draft by the Detroit Red Wings ... Freshman Todd Burgess was selected in this year's draft in the fourth round (103rd overall).

FAMILY TIES
RPI freshman TJ Samec is the cousin of goaltender Robb Stauber, who the Hobey Baker at the University of Minnesota, before playing for the Los Angeles Kings ... Samec's uncle is Frank Serratore, the head men's hockey coach at the Air Force Academy.

IN THE NHL
The Engineers lone NHL representative to start the season is seventh-year pro Brandon Pirri, who is a current member of the New York Rangers ... He has 49 career goals and 31 assists for 80 points in 166 games.

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 SEASON OPENERS
Rensselaer is now gone 4-6-1 in its last 11 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.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The Engineers have 15 players from the United States, nine from Canada, two from Sweden and one from Austria ... Four are seniors, six are juniors, eight are sophomores and 10 are freshmen.