END THE YEAR WITH A BANG
Rensselaer (7-7-4, 4-1-1 ECACH) hosts #8 St. Lawrence (7-6-3, 4-3-1, ECACH) and #3 Clarkson (15-3-1, 6-2-0 ECACH), the defending national champion, on Friday (6pm) and Saturday (3pm), respectively, at Houston Field House for their last contests of 2017… the Engineers return to action the first weekend of January, playing host to Harvard and Dartmouth.
 
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
RPI comes off a critical 2-0 ECAC Hockey (ECACH) Conference weekend with a 2-1 overtime win at Brown and a 3-1 victory at Yale… junior Jaimie Grigsby led the Engineers with three point effort on two goals and one assist… seniors Shayna Tomlinson and Whitney Renn combined for four points on three assists and one goal… junior Josefine Hansen was the leading defenseman with seven blocked shots and one assist… Marisa Raspa scored her third game-winning goal when the senior found the back of the Brown net 37 seconds into overtime… junior netminder Lovisa Selander registered 65 saves with a .970 save percentage.
 
RPI LEADERS
Grigsby is leading Rensselaer with 13 points (seven assists, six goals)… Tomlinson and sophomore Sabrina Repaci round out the top point getters with 12 points (eight assists, four goals) and nine points (seven assists, two goals), respectively… junior Makenna Thomas is the leading goal scorer for the Engineers with five goals… freshman Madeleine Burnett paces RPI rookies with five points (three goals, two assists), 12th in ECACH in freshman scoring… Hansen tops defensemen scoring with six points (four assists, two goals) with the junior leading the RPI squad in +/- with +5.
 
ENGINEERS GOALTENDING
Selander is 7-7-3 on the year with a 2.06 goals against average and a .937 save percentage with 17 starts…Selander has the ranks nationally in save percentage (7th NCAA-DI, 2nd ECACH) and goal against average (16th NCAA-DI, 6th ECACH)… junior Kira Bombay is 0-0-1 with the tie decision coming two weeks ago against New Hampshire.
 
ALL-TIME VS. ST. LAWRENCE
The Engineers are 1-22-2 with the Saints unbeaten the last 13 meetings… RPI took its first victory over the Saints in Appleton Arena in a 3-2 win on October 29, 2010.
 
RECENTLY
The Saints hold a 0-5-1 advantage since 2015… Rensselaer's best result in Houston Field House was a 1-1 overtime draw on February 9, 2013 that saw a shorthanded goal from RPI's Alexa Gruschow.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINTS
Junior Justine Reyes leads St. Lawrence with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) followed by seniors Kennedy Marchment (eight assists, seven goals) and Hannah Miller (10 assists, five goals) with 15 points each… Reyes ranks in the ECACH in points (6th) and goals (8th) while Miller is 10th in assists… freshman Skyler Podvey paces the way for Saints rookies and defensemen with six points on five assists and one goal, ranking 10th in freshman scoring in the ECACH… junior Rachel Smith has tallied two game winners against #5 Colgate (3-1 W) and Quinnipiac (4-2 W) … the Saints are currently averaging 2.38 goals/game, 5th in the ECACH.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Junior Grace Harrison (4-4-2) is averaging 2.38 goals against for St. Lawrence with a .893 save percentage with ten starts… junior netminder Sonja Shelly has registered six starts with 2.48 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.
 
2016-17 VS. ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints won the conference matchup on 5-2 January 28, 2017 at Houston Field House… Tomlinson and Laura Horwood each had two points on one goal and three assists… Selander registered 34 saves in net.
 
ALL-TIME VS. CLARKSON
Clarkson currently holds a 5-21-2 all-time record… the first matchup between the sides ended in a 2-2 tie on November 16, 2003… the Golden Knights took their first win in the series 7-1 on January 28, 2006 with RPI registering theirs on January 20, 2007 in a 4-3 win in Potsdam.
 
RECENTLY
The Golden Knights have a 5-1 advantage the last six meetings dating back to November 2015… Rensselaer's last win over Clarkson was a 2-1 decision at Houston Field House on November 7, 2015.
 
CLARKSON LEADERS
Freshman Elizabeth Giguere and junior Loren Gabel lead Clarkson with 32 (19 assists, 13 goals) and 31 points (18 assists, 13 goals), respectively…  Giguere currently leads the ECACH in freshman scoring, assists (4th NCAA-DI), points (7th NCAA-DI) and power play points (10)… sophomore Michaela Pejzolva rounds out the leading point getters with a conference-high 15 goals, including six on power plays, and 11 assists for 26 points… Pejzlova is currently first in the ECACH and second in NCAA-DI in power play goals… Pejzolva is 7th in the nation in goals/game with 0.79… senior Savannah Harmon is pacing defensive scoring for the Golden Knights with 19 points (16 assists, 3 goals), an ECACH best and 2nd in NCAA-DI… sophomore Ella Shelton and junior Josiane Pozzebon lend a hand in the defensive scoring combining for 23 points on 22 assists and three goals… five of the top six power play point getters in the ECACH are from Clarkson (Giguere, Gabel, Pejzlova, Harmon and Shelton)… Clarkson leads the ECACH in scoring (4th NCAA-DI), power play percentage (2nd NCAA-DI) and scoring defense (3rd NCAA-DI)…. The Golden Knights have the second highest scoring margin in the country at 2.74, second to only Saint Anselm's 3.64.
 
GOLDEN KNIGHTS IN GOAL
Shea Tiley (15-3-1) has started every game for the Golden Knights with .944 save percentage… the senior netminder has recorded a 1.19 goals against average… Tiley leads the ECACH in save percentage (3rd NCAA-DI) and goals against average (3rd NCAA-DI)… the senior has the 6th highest win percentage in the country (.816) with the highest number of shutouts (eight).
 
2016-17 VS. CLARKSON
RPI and Clarkson squared off on February 24 and 25 for the ECACH quarterfinals in Cheel Arena… Clarkson took the series 2-0 in 4-1 and 5-2 finals.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
Rensselaer leads the nation in penalty kills with a 93.9 kill percentage… the Engineers have given up a total of three power play goals all season with their last coming against New Hampshire on November 19 in a 1-1 OT draw… on the offensive end, Grigsby has tallied four power play goals on the year with the junior ranking 7th in NCAA-DI and 3rd ECACH in power play goals/game (0.22)… Grigsby is also 8th in the ECACH in power play points with 0.33/game.
 
THREE MAKES A STREAK
RPI is one of ten teams in the NCAA-DI on an unbeaten streak of three games or more… the last time the Engineers were on a three-game win streak was in January 2017 against Brown (4-3 W), Yale (2-1 OTW) and Harvard (3-1 W).
 
CLUTCH DEFENSE
The RPI defense, led by Hansen and Burnett, is one of the highest scoring defenses in the country (7th NCAA-DI, 3rd ECACH), averaging 2.00 goals/game.
 
RECORDS
Selander, the current single-season saves holder (1,058 in 2015-16), is a mere 91 saves away from breaking Sonja van der Bliek's (2007-11) career save record of 2,662… Tomlinson currently ranks 19th in RPI career assists (40).
 
VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
St. Lawrence and Clarkson are the first nationally ranked opponents the Engineers have faced this season… the last time RPI took on a nationally ranked team was in last year's ECACH Quarterfinals against #1 Clarkson (4-1 L, 5-2 L)… the most recent contest in which Rensselaer took down a nationally ranked opponent was on November 7, 2015 in Houston Field House against #4 Clarkson (2-1 W).