TROY, N.Y. – Senior Meirs Moore scored the eventual game-winning goal, late in the third period, to lift the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over the University of Prince Edward island, on Sunday night at the Houston Field House. The Engineers open their regular season schedule next weekend, with a home-and-home weekend series against UMass.

Moore (Duluth, MN/Victoria Grizzlies) fired a shot from the top of the left circle that snuck past Panthers goaltender Simon Hofley's near post, giving RPI the lead for good with 45.7 seconds left in regulation. A failed clearing attempt found Moore at the left point, where he was able to step in and break the 2-2 tie.

Rensselaer opened the scoring at 13:01 of the first period, when freshman Daniel DiGrande (Macomb, MI/Green Bay Gamblers) went coast-to-coast before burying his rebound from just outside the crease. In a break that developed into a 2-on-1, DiGrande followed up his own wrister from the left circle, flipping in the carom inside the right post. Assists went to junior Jake Marrello (Slingerlands, NY/PAL Jr. Islanders) and senior captain Tommy Grant (Sparta, NJ/Bay State Breakers).

Junior Todd Burgess (Phoenix, AZ/Fairbanks Ice Dogs) doubled the Engineers' advantage at 11:50 of the second period, neatly redirecting a puck past Hofley for a power play goal. Junior blueliner Will Reilly (Toronto, ON/Nanaimo Clippers) found sophomore Billy Jerry (River Falls, WI/Madison Capitals) in the right circle, who fired pass onto Burgess' backhand for the tip-in tally.

Prince Edward Island started its comeback effort at 2:06 of the third period, as Beau McCue was able to steer the puck over the right shoulder of RPI senior goaltender Chase Perry (Andover, MN/Wenatchee Wild) to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Six minutes later, the visitors drew even on the man advantage, as Olivier Arseneau was able to snap home a shot from the middle of the slot, over a fallen Perry. Attempts from Nick Shumlanski and Riley Whittingham were turned away, before the puck fell to Arseneau, who tied the game at 8:34.

All three Rensselaer goaltender saw time between the pipes, including sophomore Linden Marshall (Victoria, BC/Trail Smoke Eaters), who started and made six saves in the first period. Freshman Owen Savory (Guelph, ON/St. Catharines Falcons) stopped all 12 shots he saw in the second, while Perry had 10 in the third. Hofley finished with 28 saves.

RPI went 1 for 5 on the power play, while the Panthers were 1 for 7. The Engineers edged out the Panthers in shots on goal by a 31-30 margin.