ENGINEERS WIN OPENER
Rensselaer received a late third period goal from senior
Meirs Moore to defeat Prince Edward Island, 3-2, on Sunday night at the Houston Field House ... Freshman
Daniel DiGrande got the scoring started at 13:01 of the first period, carrying the puck out of his own zone, before sticking home his own rebound on a 2-on-1 ... RPI made it 2-0 at 12:51 of the second, when junior
Todd Burgess steered home a feed from
Billy Jerry in the middle of the slot on the power play ... The Panthers then scored twice in the third, setting up Moore's game-winner, which came at 19:15.
THREE GOALIES SEE ACTION
Each of RPI's three netminders saw 20 minutes of ice time on Sunday, beginning with sophomore
Linden Marshall, who stopped all six shots he faced in the first period ... Freshman
Owen Savory, who donned the Cherry & White for the first time in his career was 12 for 12 stopping shots in the second, while senior
Chase Perry made 10 saves on 12 shots in the third.
THIS TIME IT'S FOR REAL
The Engineers begin regular season play this weekend, when they visit UMass on Friday night for a 7pm puck drop ... RPI then hosts the Minutemen at the Houston Field House on Saturday night at 7pm.
TOP RETURNERS
RPI welcomes back its top scorer from a season ago in junior
Jacob Hayhurst, who collected 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points ... Classmate
Will Reilly is top returning point-getter from the blue line with seven goals and six assists for 13 points ... All 37 goaltending starts are back this season as well, including freshman
Linden Marshall, who went 5-20-2 with a 3.17 goals against average and a .904 save percentage in 29 games.
ALL-TIME VS. UMASS
The Minutemen own an 8-4-1 advantage in the all-time series, dating back to January 20, 1911 – a 12-1 victory for what was then named Massachusetts Agricultural ... The most recent meeting came on October 8, 2009 – a season-opening 5-2 UMass victory in Amherst.
LAST MEETING
Jerry D'Amigo and Tyler Helfrich scored the Engineers, who fell at UMass, 5-2, on October 8, 2009 ... Matthew Irwin potted a pair of goals for the hosts, while Justin Braun had one goal and two assists ... James Marcou had a game-high four assists ... Allen York made 21 saves for RPI, while Brandon Pirri, who was making his NCAA debut, picked up an assist.
SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
Massachusetts went 17-20-2 last season, including 9-13-2 in Hockey East play ... Offensively, freshman John Leonard recorded a team-best 28 points on 13 goals and 15 assists ... Classmates Mitchell Chaffee (13 goals, 11 assists) and Oliver Chau (9 goals, 15 assists) had 24 points apiece, while rookie blueliners Mario Ferraro (4 goals, 19 assists) and Cale Makar (5 goals, 16 assists) had 23 and 21 points, respectively.
UMASS GOALTENDING
Freshman Matt Murray (9-12-2) started 23 of the team's 39 games, posting a 2.70 goals against average and a .911 save percentage ... Sophomore Ryan Wischow (8-8-0) made 16 starts with a 3.17 goals against average and an .892 save percentage, while freshman Brad Arvanitis (0-0-0) made three appearances and had a 4.09 goals against average and an .824 save percentage.
SPECIAL TEAMS
RPI converted 12.1% of their power plays last season, scoring 17 times in 140 tries ... The Engineers were a tick better during ECAC Hockey play at 13.8% (11 for 80) ... On the kill, Rensselaer finished at 77.9% (116 for 149) overall and 75.0% (69 for 92) in conference games.
NEW FACES
Thirteen players will potentially debut for the Engineers this season, including 10 freshmen ... Three junior transfers include
Mike Gornall (North Dakota),
Shane Bear (UMass) and
Chase Zieky (Northeastern).
SCHEDULE NOTES
Rensselaer will play 15 home games out of the 34 on its schedule ... Six of those contest will come before the calendar turns to December ... The Engineers visit Notre Dame for a two-game series on November 30 and December 1 ... RPI will compete in the TD Bank Catamount Cup at the University of Vermont in late December, taking on Hockey East foes Northeastern and the host Catamounts ... The Seventh Annual Mayor's Cup at the Times Union Center will take place on January 19.
RECENTLY IN EXHIBITION GAMES
RPI has now gone 7-4-1 over its last 12 exhibition games, including a 6-2-0 mark in its last eight.
FAMILIAR FACE
Though he won't be suiting up for the Engineers, RPI will be facing junior transfer
Shane Bear's former team in Massachusetts on Saturday ... He led all Minutemen defensemen with nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 33 games during the 2016-17 season.
YEAR TWO FOR SMITH
Head coach
Dave Smith is starting his second season leading the Engineers ... He is the 13th head coach in school history.
ROSTER MAKEUP
Of the 28 players on the 2018-19 roster, there are four seniors, nine juniors, five sophomore and 10 freshmen ... Of the 25 skaters, 16 are forwards and nine are defensemen, with three goaltenders.
THIRD SLOVAKIAN
Freshman
Jakub Lacka will be the third player to suit up for the Engineers from the nation of Slovakia, joining Alexander Valentin '06 and Milos Bubela '16.
CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED
The Rensselaer men's hockey captains have been announced and senior
Tommy Grant will be joined by classmate
Brady Wiffen and junior Willy Reilly in leading the Engineers throughtout the 2018-19 season ... A defenseman from Sparta, N.J., Grant played in 30 games last season, registering one assist and 10 penalties for 20 minutes. He appeared in 21 of 22 ECAC Hockey contests, collecting an assist and seven penalties for 14 minutes ... A forward out of St. Mary's, Ont., Wiffen played in 34 games last season, registering five goals and six assists for 11 points. He led the team in shorthanded goals (1), while also scoring one game-winner ... A defenseman from Toronto, Ont., Reilly is the top returning point-getter from the blue line for the Engineers, having recorded seven goals and six assists for 13 points a season ago.
DRAFTED
Rensselaer has three student-athletes on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft ... Senior goaltender
Chase Perry was chosen in the fifth round (136th overall) of the 2014 draft by the Detroit Red Wings ... Junior
Todd Burgess was selected in 2016 draft in the fourth round (103rd overall) by the Ottawa Senators, while classmate
Will Reilly was a seventh round selection (217 overall) in the 2017 draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
MARSHALL HONORS
Last season,
Linden Marshall earned a pair of ECAC Hockey weekly honors ... He was the conference's Goaltender of the Week on January 15 and the Rookie of the Week on February 6 ... He posted a 1.52 goals against average and a .948 save percentage in two contests in February ... He stopped 29 of 30 shots in RPI's 2-1 victory over then-No. 1 Cornell and against Colgate the previous night, he made 26 saves on 28 shots in a 3-0 defeat ... In January, he posted a 1.61 goals against average and a .950 save percentage in the three contests ... He led the nation in total saves, turning away 95 of the 100 shots he faced, including a career-high 45 against Harvard.
PRESEASON POLLS
The Engineers were picked to finish 10th in both the coaches and media ECAC Hockey preseason polls ... Defending champions Cornell were first in both polls ... RPI finished ahead of St. Lawrence and Brown in the media poll and the same two teams in the reverse order by the league's coaches.
BLOCKING SHOTS
RPI blocked 430 shots last season, which ranked 10th in ECAC Hockey ...
Mike Prapavessis had a team-high 50, while
Tommy Grant is right behind him with 43 ... Center
Brady Wiffen led all Rensselaer forwards with 24.
ON THE DRAW
Rensselaer won 46.4% of its faceoffs last year ...
Jacob Hayhurst was a team-best 53.0%, while
Brady Wiffen was second at 47.0% ... Rounding out the top three was
Jake Marrello, who was successful on 44.3% of his draws.
GOALS RETURNING
BLUE LINE SCORING
Rensselaer returns 24 of 57 points from last year's defensive core, led by 13 from junior captain
Will Reilly.
