POINTS FOR THE TAKING
Rensselaer (8-15-5, 5-9-2 ECACH) hosts a critical ECACH weekend at Houston Field House… the Quinnipiac Bobcats (13-13-2, 9-7 ECACH) come to Troy, N.Y. on Friday night (6pm) with the Princeton Tigers (8-10-4, 7-8-1 ECACH) taking on the Engineers on Saturday afternoon (3pm).
 
UNION TOPS NIGHT ONE
RPI faced Route Nine rivals Union last weekend in a conference double-header…the first game at Achilles Center saw the Dutchwomen taking the narrow 2-1 victory for their first ECACH win over the Engineers… after a scoreless first period, Union broke the stalemate on a power play goal from Katelynn Russ that was assisted by Megan Ryan and Cheyenne Harris… the Dutchwomen added to their lead with an unassisted goal from Harris…down 2-0, Rensselaer's Megan Hayes scored her first goal of the season on a power play with less than a minute left in regulation off assists from sophomore Blake Orosz and junior Aly Tremblay, but Union held on for the win… Coco Francis was credited with the win on a 25 save effort while junior Lovisa Selander finished the game with 22 saves.
 
MAYOR'S CUP CHAMPIONS
RPI rallied from their loss at Union to win the Inaugural Capital District Mayor's Cup 2-1 at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y… sophomore Sabrina Repaci started the scoring for the Engineers in the second period with a power play goal off assists from juniors Jaimie Grigsby and Josefine Hansen… Orosz added the eventual game-winner right before the second intermission off freshman Aimee Raithby's first career assist... Union cut the 2-0 lead to one goal when Katie Laughlin broke through the Engineer defense with less than six minutes left in regulation off an assist from Caitlyn McLaren… Rensselaer held on for the win as Selander was credited with her 8th win of the season on a 24 save effort while Francis had 23 saves in net for the Dutchwomen.
 
DROUGHT ENDS
With their Mayor's Cup win on Saturday, the Engineers end a nine-game winless drought… prior to their win over Union, RPI's last victory was December 2, 2017 at Yale with a 3-1 win.
 
SOMETHING TO BUILD OFF
Rensselaer is 3-3-1 coming off a win this season… the Engineers tend to perform better on Saturdays with a 5-6-3 record while the red and white are 3-9-1 on Fridays.
 
RPI LEADERS
Grigsby (eight goals, nine assists) leads RPI with 17 points with senior Shayna Tomlinson (five goals, 11 assists) has registered 16 points while leading the squad in assists… Repaci (four goals, nine assists) rounds out the top point getters with 13 points… freshman Madeleine Burnett paces RPI rookies with six points (three goals, three assists)… senior Whitney Renn leads defensemen scoring with ten points (three goals, seven assists) which is 17th in the ECACH… senior Marisa Raspa currently lead the Engineers in penalty minutes with 20.
 
ENGINEERS GOALTENDING
Selander, the Rensselaer single-season and career saves record holder, is 8-14-5 on the year with a 2.22 goals against average and a .932 save percentage with 26 starts…the junior ranks nationally in save percentage (7th NCAA-DI, 3rd ECACH)… Selander has registered one shutout this year in a 0-0 tie against UConn back in October for her seventh career shutout… the Swedish netminder registered a season-high 46 saves at Princeton on November 10 with her career high 66 saves coming at #5 Quinnipiac on February 27, 2016 in the ECACH quarterfinals… junior Kira Bombay is 0-1-1 with the tie decision coming against New Hampshire with 29 saves… the junior has a 1.79 goal against average with a .949 save percentage over four appearances.
 
ALL-TIME VS. QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats hold a 12-17-2 advantage in the 31 game series, the third oldest matchup in RPI program history… the first matchup on November 29, 2003 ended in favor of the visiting Engineers with a 2-1 final… Quinnipiac took their first win over Rensselaer the following contest between the two sides in a 3-0 win in Troy on February 18, 2006… RPI won their first six games over the Bobcats in the Division I era until Quinnipiac broke up the run with a 3-3 tie at Houston Field House on January 10, 2009… the 2009-10 series marked program milestones for the Engineers… after splitting the regular season 1-1, the two ECACH foes faced each other in the conference quarterfinals in Hamden, Connecticut… the fourth seeded Bobcats took the first game 2-1 in double overtime in the best of three playoff series… the fifth seeded Engineers rallied the second game to win 1-0 with a second period game-winner from Alisa Harrison '12 with assists from Taylor Horton '13 and Amanda Castignetti '12… game three was an all-time ECACH great with Rensselaer taking the final contest 2-1 in a five overtime thriller… Harrison scored the first goal off Allison Wright '10 and Andie Le Donne '13 assists in the first period before Quinnipiac responded in the third period with a goal from Bethany Dymarczyk that was assisted by Kallie Flor and Regan Boulton… RPI's Laura Gerten '10 finally broke the 90 minute stalemate off an assist from Kendra Dunlop '11… Engineer netminder Sonja van der Bleik '11 recorded 98 saves, including 49 in the epic game three contest… the two hour, 24 minute and 32 second game remains the longest contest in Engineer program history… Rensselaer went on to fall to the first seeded Cornell, the 8th ranked team in the country and eventual ECACH champion, 5-4 in the semifinals.
 
RECENTLY
Since the epic five OT, game three, quarterfinal matchup, the Bobcats hold a 13-2-1 advantage…RPI's most recent win over #10 Quinnipiac was on January 10, 2014 in a 3-2 upset that saw two point games from Lauren Wash '16 (one goal, one assist), Ali Svoboda '15 (two assists) and Alexa Gruschow '16 (two goals)… since a 0-0 tie at Houston Field House on January 8, 2016 to the #4 Bobcats, Quinnipiac has won six straight.
 
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Juniors MacKenzie Lancaster (eight goals, 12 assists) and Melissa Samoskevich (11 goals, eight assists) pace the Bobcats with 20 and 19 points, respectively… Lancaster is 6th in the ECACH in power play points (nine) while ranking 19th in the ECAC in points… Samoskevich is 7th in NCAA-DI and 4th in the conference in game-winning goals (four) while the junior is 14th in the ECACH in overall goals… rounding out the scoring leaders is sophomore Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout with 11 points (seven goals, four assists)… sophomore Katie Tabin leads defenseman with 10 points on two goals and eight assists, 17th in the ECACH… topping Quinnipiac freshman is Brooke Bonsteel with 10 points (eight goals, two assists), tied for 8th in the conference… Lancaster and Bonsteel are tied for 8th in the ECACH in power play goals (three)… Tabin and sophomore Kenzie Prater have recorded the most penalty minutes with 16 apiece... the Bobcat defense is 4th in the ECACH in scoring defense with opponents averaging 2.07 goals per game.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Abbie Ives is the leading goaltender for the Bobcats with a 12-10-2 record on 24 appearances… the sophomore has a .917 save percentage and a 1.86 goal against average (11th NCAA-DI, 5th ECACH)… Ives has recorded two shutouts on the year with a 1-0 win at Providence and a 4-0 win against #5 Cornell… backing up Ives is Allison Small who has a 1-3-0 record over six appearances… the freshman has a .914 save percentage with a 2.30 goal against average… Small recorded her first collegiate win against Vermont on a 2-1 victory with a career-high 24 save effort.
 
2017 VS. QUINNIPIAC
Earlier this year, the Engineers dropped a 2-1 decision at Frank Perrotti, Jr. Arena on November 11, 2017… Quinnipiac opened up the scoring seven minutes into the game on a goal from Taylor House that was assisted by Raquel Pennoyer… RPI tied the game with 19 seconds left in the second period when Grigsby found the back of the net off an assist from Hansen… Samoskevich scored the game-winner for the Bobcats halfway through the final period off a Lancaster assist… Ives was credited with win on a 21 save effort while Selander picked up the loss with 28 saves.
 
ALL-TIME VS. THE TIGERS
Princeton holds a 13-7-5 advantage over Rensselaer… the Tigers took the first game in the series 3-2 in Princeton, N.J on November 11, 2006… the Engineers responded the following matchup on January 13, 2007 for their first win over the Tigers with a 5-3 decision… after splitting the regular season in 2008-09, RPI traveled to third seeded #9 Princeton for the ECACH Quarterfinals… sixth seeded Rensselaer took the first game 2-1 followed by a 1-0 to advance to the semifinals… Harrison paced the Engineers with two points on two assists while Allison Wright '10 and Melissa Boik '11 each recorded game-winning goals… van der Bliek combined for 63 saves during the two game series… RPI went on to upset first seeded #7 Harvard 3-2 in overtime in the ECACH Semifinals, but lost to fourth seeded #9 Dartmouth 6-1 in the conference championship.
 
RECENTLY
On December 1, 2012, Rensselaer snapped a seven-game winless drought to Princeton with a 4-3 win... Horton (one goal, one assist) and Jordan Smelker '14 (two goals) led the Engineers with two points apiece with Kelly O'Brien '15 saving 13 shots… the last nine meetings have favored the Tigers who hold a 5-2-2 advantage… the last time RPI took down Princeton at Houston Field House was on January 1, 2015 with a 4-3 win… Katie Rooney '17 paced the red and white with two points on two goals with Raspa scoring the game winner off assists from Gruscow and Taylor Mahoney '15.
 
PRINCETON LEADERS
Sophomore Carly Bullock (16 goals, two assists) and junior Karlie Lund (five goals, 13 assists) lead the Tigers with 18 points each… Bullock has also recorded the most penalties with 30 minutes in the box, while the sophomore is 4th in the ECACH in goals (8th NCAA-DI goal per game, 0.70) and 8th in power play goals (three)… Lund and senior Kiersten Falk pace Princeton in assists with 13 apiece (18th ECACH)… Falk rounds out leading scorers for the Tigers with 15 points… Amanda Harris paces freshman with eight points on four goals and four assists (14th ECACH)… junior Stephanie Sucharda leads defenseman scoring with 14 points (two goals, 12 assists)… Sucharda is 11th in the conference in defenseman scoring with sophomore Claire Thompson (five goals, seven assists, 12 points) ranking 14th... the Tigers defense is 3rd in the ECACH (7th NCAA-D1) in scoring defense with opponents averaging 1.91 goals per game while they are 2nd in the conference and 4th in the country in penalty kills with a 90.0%... the orange and black are currently on a three-game unbeaten streak.
 
TIGERS IN GOAL
Steph Neatby leads Princeton in net with a 7-8-4 record on 19 starts… the sophomore averages 1.85 goals against (10th NCAA-DI, 4th ECACH) with a .930 save percentage (9th NCAA-DI, 4th ECACH)… Neatby has four shutouts on the year (5th NCAA-DI) in wins over Quinnipiac, Brown, Yale and Penn State… backing up Neatby is Alysia DaSilva with a 1-2-0 record over four appearances… the senior averages 1.54 goals against while registering a .943 save percentage… DaSilva recorded a 3-0 shutout against Union with 31 saves… rounding out the netminder staff for the Tigers is freshman Rachel McQuigge who recorded an 11 save win at Dartmouth.
 
2017 VS. PRINCETON
Back on November 10, 2017, Rensselaer took a road game against the Tigers in a 2-1 decision… Repaci opened up scoring five minutes into the game off an Orosz assist… junior Makenna Thomas added the eventual game-winner on a power play at the beginning of the second period off assists from Burnett and freshman Lauren Severson… Princeton broke through the RPI defense with less than four minutes left in regulation off a Shannon Griffin goal that was assisted by Amanda Harris and Sylvie Wallin… Selander was credited with the win on a season-high 46 saves while Neatby picked up the loss on a 23 save effort.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
Grigsby leads the Engineers in power play points with eight on five goals and three assists which is tied for 13th in the ECACH… the junior's five power play goals are 12th in NCAA-DI and 4th in the ECACH... Hansen is second on the squad in power play goals with three on the year (8th ECACH)… on the other end, RPI has an 88.0% kill percentage, 7th in the country and 4th in the ECACH.
 
CLUTCH DEFENSE
The RPI defense, led by Renn and Hansen, is one of the strongest defenses in the country (16th NCAA-DI, 6th ECACH), with opponents averaging 2.25 goals per game… when the Engineers give up one goal or less, the red and white are 7-2-3… Renn, senior Amanda Kimmerle and Hansen lead Rensselaer in blocked shots with 65, 59, and 56 respectively… Renn recorded a season high eight blocks in the 3-3 overtime draw to Dartmouth on January 6, 2018.
 
ON THE DRAW
Tomlinson leads RPI in faceoffs having won 57.2% of the time, with Repaci winning 48.0% of dropped pucks… as a team, the Engineers have won just over half of their faceoffs with a 50.4% total.
 
CLIMBING THE RECORD BOOK
With Tomlinson's two assist game against #3 Clarkson, the senior recorded her 43rd career assist against to pass Sierra Vadner '12 and Katie Woodward '04 into 18th in program history… she needs nine more assists to break into the RPI top ten.
 
RPI WOMEN'S HOCKEY ALUMNAE WEEKEND
Prior to Saturday's contest against Princeton, the Rensselaer Alumnae game will be taking place featuring players from the programs 41 year history.
 
CONCUSSION AWARENESS WEEKEND
In conjunction with the Headway Foundation, the ECACH and Rensselaer are looking to #ShiftConcussionCulture… according to Headway, "The goal of the 2018 Concussion Awareness Weekend is to promote a safer sports culture surrounding concussions through Headway's 'New Tough' Campaign. Toughness is a familiar concept in sports, where big hits are often glorified and playing through injury is often applauded. Being tough is a mindset deeply ingrained in sports culture, so much that playing through pain, hiding symptoms and rejecting support is commonplace for an athlete suffering from a concussion. The Center for Disease Control reports that approximately 69% of student athletes neglect to report possible concussion symptoms. 'New Tough' is a campaign that addresses this by reframing and broadening an athlete's definition of toughness. With New Tough, we acknowledge that sometimes dealing with concussions in the right way is the harder thing to do, and it requires a new type of toughness; one that involves symptom reporting, supporting injured teammates, and promoting safe play."
 
VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
RPI is 0-5 against nationally ranked opponents this season… 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)… the Engineers have tied multiple top-ten teams with its most recent on February 19, 2016 with a 3-3 draw to #8 Princeton.
 
WHAT'S LOSING?
The longest unbeaten streak Rensselaer has had this season was in October when the Engineers went 3-0-1 with wins against RIT (3-1 W, 4-1 W) and Brown (4-1 W) with a tie to Yale (2-2 T)… the last unbeaten streak of more than four games was in 2010-11 when RPI went 4-0-4 with wins over Syracuse, Union, Dartmouth and Harvard… the program's longest unbeaten streak in the Division I era was its first season in 2005-06… RPI was 9-0-1 over ten games with wins over Sacred Heart, Colgate, Robert Morris, Boston University and Elmira.
 
ALUMS PREP TEAM USA
Rensselaer women's hockey alumnae Gruschow (2012-16) and Smelker (2010-14) were named to Team NWHL, the squad that represented the National Women's Hockey League in two games against the U.S. Olympic Team in January … these exhibition games were the final tune-ups for Team USA in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea… the first game was a scoreless deadlock while the second contest ended 6-2 in favor of Team USA… Smelker scored Team NWHL's second goal early in the third period… of the 14 Division I programs represented, RPI was one of four institutions with more than one player on the roster… ECAC Hockey foe Harvard registered the most players with four followed by Boston College and Wisconsin with three apiece.
 
NWHL ALL-STARS
A month after playing for Team NWHL against Team USA, Gruschow and Smelker were both named NWHL All-Stars… both forwards will be playing for "Team Ott" in the All-Star Game in Saint Paul, Minnesota on Feb. 11 at TRIA Rink.