KICK OFF THE NEW YEAR
Rensselaer (7-9-4, 4-3-1 ECACH) hosts Harvard (7-4-1, 5-2-1, ECACH) and Dartmouth (3-10-0, 1-7-0 ECACH) on Friday (6pm) and Saturday (3pm), respectively, at Houston Field House to start 2018.
 
IT'S BEEN REAL 2017
RPI ended 2017 with a last minute 1-0 loss to #8 St. Lawrence and a 4-1 loss to reigning NCAA Division I National Champion in #3 Clarkson… junior netminder Lovisa Selander registered 47 saves while junior Kira Bombay came up 27 saves and zero goals against over 38:54 minutes against Clarkson… senior Shayna Tomlinson netter the Engineers lone goal on the weekend with assists from sophomore Makenna Thomas and senior Whitney Renn… RPI's 7-9-4 start is the best 20-game start since 2010-11 when the Engineers were 7-7-6 going into a conference matchup against Harvard.
 
RPI LEADERS
Tomlinson (five goals, eight assists) and junior Jaimie Grigsby (six goals, seven assists) are both leading Rensselaer with 13 points each… Thomas (five goals, four assists) and sophomore Sabrina Repaci (seven assists, two goals) round out the top point getters with nine points apiece… Grigsby is the leading goal scorer for the Engineers with six goals… freshman Madeleine Burnett paces RPI rookies with five points (three goals, two assists), 15^th in ECACH freshman scoring… Hansen tops defensemen scoring with six points (four assists, two goals) with the junior leading the RPI squad in +/- with +3.
 
ENGINEERS GOALTENDING
Selander is 7-9-3 on the year with a 2.18 goals against average and a .934 save percentage with 17 starts…Selander has the ranks nationally in save percentage (6^th NCAA-DI, 2^nd ECACH)… the junior has registered one shutout this year in a 0-0 tie against UConn back in October for her seventh career shutout… Bombay is 0-0-1 with the tie decision coming against New Hampshire.
 
ALL-TIME VS. HARVARD
Over the course of their 23 game history, the Crimson hold a 14-7-2 advantage… Harvard took the first ever matchup on October 28, 2006 11-0 in Cambridge, Massachusetts… after six straight winless games,  RPI garnered their first win in the series on March 7, 2009 on the road in the ECAC Hockey Tournament Semifinals in a 3-2 thriller… Laura Gersten '10 scored a third period game winner to take the Engineers to the conference finals against Dartmouth… the Big Green went on to win 6-1 on neutral ice.
 
RECENTLY
Harvard holds a 6-3-1 record since February 10, 2012… Rensselaer is 2-0-1 in the last three meetings, including a 3-1 win on the road at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
 
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON
Harvard comes in with the third highest scoring offense in the conference with 3.00 goals per game… freshman Brooke Jovanovich leads the Crimson offense with 12 points on five goals and seven assists while sporting an impressive +9… Jovanovich ranks 7^th in NCAA-DI and 5^th in ECACH in freshman points per game (1.00) with Becca Gilmore ranking 13^th in NCAA-DI and 6^th in ECACH (0.83)… sophomores Turgeon and Kat Hughes have the most goals on the roster with seven apiece… the sophomore duo ranks 18^th in NCAA-D1 and 5^th in ECACH in goals per game (0.58)… freshman Becca Gilmore rounds out the scoring with 10 points on three goals and seven assists … junior Kaitlin Tse leads defensemen in scoring with eight points (one goal and seven assists), 16^th in ECACH… Tse ranks 19^th nationally in points per game (0.67)… the junior also leads Harvard in power play scoring with a 1-4-5, 17^th in ECACH.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Harvard is led in the crease by sophomore Beth Larcom who is 7-3-1 on the season… Larcom averages 2.43 goals against while registering a .912 save percentage… the junior held Dartmouth scoreless with 28 saves in a dramatic 1-0 win… freshman Becky Dutton backs up Larcom with a 2.33 goal against average and .906 save percentage over 77:19 minutes.
 
2016-17 VS. HARVARD
RPI was a perfect 2-0 against Harvard… game one ended 3-1 in favor of the Engineers on January 13, 2017 with Laura Horwood leading RPI with two assists… the second meeting on February 11, 2017 resulted in a 4-1 win at Houston Field House on Senior Day… Tomlinson (1-2-3) and Renn (2-0-2) led the Engineers on offense with Selander leading the defense with 29 saves and Amanda Kimmerle with a game-high seven blocked shots… the Crimson's Val Turgeon scored Harvard's lone goal in the first period.
 
ALL-TIME VS. DARTMOUTH
Dartmout holds a 17-6-2 advantage in the 25 game series… the Big Green took the first matchup 5-1 on October 29, 2006 in Hanover, New Hampshire… RPI garnered their first win on January 22, 2010 after starting 0-8-1 in the series … Allison Wright '10 scored the third period game winner and Sonja van der Bliek '11 registered 45 saves, including a 22 save first period, in the dramatic 2-1 finish.
 
RECENTLY
The last five seasons have favored Dartmouth with the Big Green taking an 8-3-1 advantage… RPI's last win came on senior day at Houston Field House on February 13, 2016 as the Engineers took the contest 2-1… after going down 1-0 in the first period, Brandi Banks '16 and Taylor Schwalbe both scored in the second and third period, respectively, to put Rensselaer on top… Selander registered a 28 save performance.
 
DARTMOUTH LEADERS
Senior Hailey Noronha leads Big Green scoring with nine points on two goals and seven assists… the defenseman is 10^th in ECACH defensemen scoring while ranking 13^th in NCAA-D1 in point per game for defenseman (0.69)… Noronha also leads Dartmouth in power play points with five which comes in 17^th in ECACH… junior forward Kate Landers leads the squad in goals with five on the season... rounding out the top scorers in sophomore forward Christina Rombaut with six points on one goal and five assists… freshman Linda Essery paces the Dartmouth rookies with three points (one goal, two assists).
 
BIG GREEN IN GOAL
Dartmouth is led by netminder Christie Honor with a 2-10-0 record… the junior registers a 3.62 goal against average with a .907 save percentage… Honor has come up with two shutouts with wins over Quinnipiac (1-0) and Maine (3-0)…the junior combined for 98 saves, including a career-high 61 saves to the Bobcats… Honor is backed up by junior Shannon Ropp who registered a win in a 20 save effort in a 4-3 thriller against Holy Cross.
 
2016-17 VS. DARTMOUTH
The Big Green swept Rensselaer with 2-1 and 4-0 wins last year… in game one on January 14, 2017, Horwood put RPI up 1-0 in the first period until Cecilia Lopez tied the game 1-1 in the second… with a little over a minute left in overtime, Dartmouth's Kennedy Ottenbreit scored a power play goal to give the Big Green the win… Dartmouth netminder Robyn Chemago registered a 4-0 shutout on a 32 save effort at Houston Field House.
 
DÉJÀ VU
In 2010-11, RPI was also 4-3-1 eight games into conference play… their next two games in the series resulted in 5-2 and 2-1 wins over Dartmouth and Harvard, respectively… leading the weekend series were Andie Le Donne '13 and Taylor Horton '13 with three points apiece.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
Rensselaer is second in the nation in penalty kills with a 92.3 kill percentage, second to only Saint Anselm's 94.2 percentage… the Engineers have given up a total of four power play goals all season, tied for the fewest in ECACH with #5 Cornell… RPI holds a +7 in special teams net accumulation, 3^rd in ECACH behind #3 Clarkson (+13) and #4 Colgate (+8)… on the offensive end, Grigsby has tallied four power play goals on the year with the junior ranking 10^th in NCAA-DI and 3rd ECACH in power play goals per game (0.20)… Grigsby is also 12^th in the ECACH in power play points with 0.30 per game.
 
CLUTCH DEFENSE
The RPI defense, led by Hansen and Burnett, is one of the highest scoring defenses in the country (8^th NCAA-DI, 4^th ECACH), averaging 2.05 goals per game… Kimmerle and Renn lead Rensselaer in blocked shots with 46 and 43 respectively.
 
FACEOFFS
Tomlinson leads RPI in faceoffs having won 57.4% of the time, with Repaci winning 47.3% of dropped pucks… the dynamic faceoff duo is coming off one of their strongest win percentages of the season having collectively won 73.2% of dropped pucks against #3 Clarkson… as a team, the Engineers win just under half of their faceoffs with a 49.3% total.
 
RPI RECORDS
Selander, the current single-season saves holder (1,058 in 2015-16), is a mere 43 saves away from breaking van der Bliek's (2007-11) career save record of 2,662… Tomlinson currently ranks 19th in RPI career assists (40).
 
ALUMS PREP TEAM USA
Rensselaer women's hockey alumnae Alexa Gruschow (2012-16) and Jordan Smelker (2010-14) have been named to Team NWHL, the squad representing the National Women's Hockey League in games against the U.S. Olympic Team next month… Team NWHL will face the U.S. Olympic Team in games on Jan. 13 and 15 at the U.S. team's training complex at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, Florida… these exhibition games will be the final tune-ups for Team USA in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeong Chang, South Korea… start times for the games are 6:15 pm on Saturday, Jan. 13 and 2:15 pm on Monday, Jan. 15… of the 14 Division I programs represented, RPI is one of four institutions with more than one player on the roster. ECAC Hockey foe Harvard registers the most players with four followed by Boston College and Wisconsin with three apiece… Gruschow, a forward for the undefeated, first place Metropolitan Riveters (7-0), currently leads the NWHL in scoring and goals this season… the Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania native is 7-6-13 over seven games… Smelker a three year forward for the Boston Pride (2-5), has posted is 13-16-29 over 38 games in her NWHL career… the Anchorage, Alaska native also competed in the 2015 Four Nations Cup for the U.S. Women's National Team in Sweden.
 
VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
#8 St. Lawrence and #3 Clarkson are the only nationally ranked opponents the Engineers have faced this season… RPI dropped both games 1-0 and 4-1 respectively… 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).