CRUNCH TIME
Rensselaer (9-17-6, 6-11-3 ECACH) hosts #3 Colgate (27-4-1, 17-3-0 ECACH) and #5 Cornell (17-7-3, 13-5-2 ECACH) for a crucial ECAC Hockey double-header Feb. 16-17 in conjunction with senior day… the Engineers will face the Raiders Friday night (6pm) followed by an afternoon matchup with the Big Red on Saturday (3pm)… Colgate is currently on a four game unbeaten streak while Cornell has the second highest unbeaten streak in the country of six games.
 
DARTMOUTH DRAW
After winning against Princeton their last game, RPI traveled to Hanover, N.H. for a 1-1 finish against Dartmouth last Friday… after scoreless first period, the Big Green opened the scoring 8:10 into the second period off a goal from Tess Bracken… three minutes later, Rensselaer's Whitney Renn tied the game off assists from junior Jaimie Grigsby and senior Amanda Kimmerle… junior netminder Lovisa Selander saved 30 shots with Dartmouth's Christie Honor registering 42 saves.
 
CRIMSON UPENDS ENGINEERS
The Engineers traveled to Harvard for their final game of the weekend in a 5-2 loss… RPI opened scoring 52 seconds in to the second period when freshman Aimee Raithby scored her first career goal off an assist from junior Josefine Hansen… the Crimson responded with four straight goals until Rensselaer scored halfway through the third period when junior Makenna Thomas scored off assists from sophomore Blake Orosz and senior Marisa Raspa… Harvard added an empty net goal with 1:39 left in the game.
 
PLAYOFF PUSH
As of right now, five of the six ECAC Hockey playoff spots have been clinched by #2 Clarkson, #3 Colgate, #5 Cornell, #8 St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac and Harvard… Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell and St. Lawrence have all earned home ice advantages in the first round… four of the seven remaining teams are fighting for the remaining three playoff spots… making pushes in the final two weeks of conference play are Princeton, Yale, Rensselaer and Union... RPI can finish between 7th and 10th place… with four points up for grabs, they are currently one point behind Yale who is in 8th while being three points behind 7th place Princeton… in the event that the Engineers are tied with the Bulldogs after this weekend, Rensselaer holds the tie breaker with a better head-to-head record (2-2 tie, 3-1 win)… the ECACH playoffs begin on Feb. 23-25.
 
SENIOR DAY
Following Saturday afternoon's game, seniors Kimmerle, Raspa, Renn and Shayna Tomlinson will be recognized for their four years of commitment to the Engineer program.
 
RPI LEADERS
Tomlinson (six goals, 13 assists) and Grigsby (nine goals, 10 assists) lead the team in points (19)… Grigsby paces the team in goals while Tomlinson and sophomore Sabrina Repaci (four goals, 10 assists, 14 points) lead the Engineers in assists… Madeleine Burnett paces RPI rookies with seven points (four goals, three assists)… Renn leads defensemen scoring with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) which is 18th in the ECACH… Raspa currently tops the Engineers in penalty minutes with 24.
 
ENGINEERS GOALTENDING
Selander, the Rensselaer single-season and career saves record holder, is 9-16-5 on the year with a 2.22 goals against average and a .932 save percentage with 30 starts…the junior ranks nationally in save percentage (9th NCAA-DI, 4th 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.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS                                                                                                             
Grigsby leads the Engineers in power play points with eight on five goals and three assists which is tied for 20th in the ECACH… the junior's five power play goals are 16th in NCAA-DI and 5th in the ECACH... Hansen is second on the squad in power play goals with three on the year (15th ECACH)… on the other end, RPI has an 88.2% kill percentage, 8th in the country and 5th in the ECACH.
 
CLUTCH DEFENSE
The RPI defense is one of the strongest defenses in the country (20th NCAA-DI, 7th ECACH), with opponents averaging 2.28 goals per game… when the Engineers give up one goal or less, the red and white are 7-2-4… Renn (75), Kimmerle (62) and Hansen (62) lead Rensselaer in blocked shots… 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 57.6% of the time, with Repaci winning 48.4% of dropped pucks… as a team, the Engineers have won just over half of their faceoffs with a 50.8% total.
 
ALL-TIME VS. COLGATE
Colgate holds a slight advantage in the all-time series 16-14-6, the second longest series in program history… the Raiders took the matchup 2-1 on December 2, 1995 in Hamilton… RPI responded the following contest with a 4-2 win at Houston Field House 4-2 on February 3, 1996… over the next six games from February 1996 to February 1999, the Engineers went 4-0-2, the longest unbeaten streak in the series.
 
RECENTLY
Since RPI's 3-0 win at Colgate on November 9, 2013, the Raiders have gone 5-1-1 with an average win margin of 1.67… the Engineers last win was on February 21, 2015 in a 5-3 final at home… Kathryn Schilter '15 led RPI with a three assist performance in a game that saw a combined seven power play goals… Kelly O'Brien '15 had a game-high 34 saves for Rensselaer.
 
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Jessie Eldridge paces the Raiders with 32 points (7th ECACH) off a team-high 15 goals (8th ECACH) and 17 assists… the junior leads the country in game-winning goals with seven on the season… Eldridge also has a squad-high 11 power play points (two goals, nine assists) while Megan Sullivan and Shae Labbe have scored a leading five power play goals each (5th ECACH, 16th NCAA-DI)… senior Shelby Perry has a squad high 22 assists (4th ECACH) while registering eight goals and 30 points (9th ECACH)… Olivia Zufato (eight goals, 15 assists) and Lauren Wildfang (five goals, 18 assists) lead Colgate defensemen scoring with 23 points apiece (2nd ECACH, 6th NCAA-DI)… blazing the way for Raider rookies is Malia Schneider with 22 points (6th ECACH, 18th NCAA-DI) on 14 goals and eight assists.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Julia Vandyk leads Colgate with an 18-3-1 record over 22 appearances… the junior netminder registers a .934 save percentage (3rd ECACH, 8th NCAA-DI) with 1.59 goals against (2nd ECACH, 5th NCAA-DI)… Vandyk's .841 win percentage is second in the conference (4th NCAA-DI) to only Clarkson's Shea Tiley (.855)… backing up Vandyk is Liz Auby who is 9-1-0 over ten appearances… the sophomore averages 1.30 goals against while recording a .936 save percentage… both Vandyk and Auby have each been credited with four shutouts, which is tied for 7th in the country and 4th in the conference.
 
COLGATE SPECIAL TEAMS
The Raiders are currently tied with Clarkson for the best special teams net in the conference (+16) which is 7th in the country… Colgate is 20.9% on power plays (3rd ECACH, 10th NCAA-DI) while recording an 89.4% penalty kill (3rd ECACH, 5th NCAA-DI)
 
2017-18 VS. THE RAIDERS
On the second leg of their conference road trip last week, #4 Colgate upended RPI 5-0… Zafuto (two goals) and Bre Wilson-Bennett (two assists) combined for four points… Bombay recorded a career-high 37 saves in net for the Engineers.
 
ALL-TIME VS. THE BIG RED
Cornell currently holds a 7-18-0 all-time record… the first matchup between the sides ended in an 8-2 final in favor of the hosting Engineers on December 1, 2006… Sarah Daniel '07 paced the Rensselaer offense with two goals and two assists while goaltender Ashley Mayr '09 made 20 saves in the win… after RPI went 3-0, the Big Red took their first win in the series 4-1 on February 16, 2008… Rensselaer led the series 4-2 until Cornell went on a 15-game win streak over a six year span.
 
RECENTLY
RPI snapped their six year losing streak on October 30, 2015 with a 2-1 overtime win on the road… after going down 1-0 in the first period, Alexa Gruschow '16 tied the game on a power play goal in the third period with Lauren Wash '16 coming up with the game-winner halfway through OT… the Engineers went on to win the next two matchups with Cornell 2-1 and 1-0, both in Troy… the Big Red snapped RPI's short three-game win streak in the most recent matchup 3-2 in February 2017.
 
CORNELL LEADERS
Kristen O'Neill leads Big Red scoring with 36 points (4th ECACH) on 17 goals (5th ECACH) and 19 assists (7th ECACH)… the forward is 11th in the NCAA-DI in points per game (1.44), 9th in goals per game (0.68) and 16th in assists per game (0.76)… the sophomore paces the conference in short-handed points with four on three goals and one assist… O'Neill sits 3rd in the ECACH and 6th in NCCA-DI in game-winning goals with five… freshman Madlynne Mills, who is 3rd in the conference in freshman scoring, paces Cornell rookies with 27 points on 16 goals and 11 assists… the forward sits 9th in the NCAA-DI in freshman points per game (1.00)… leading defensemen scorning is Jaime Bourbonnais with 19 points on three goals and 16 assists who is 6th among ECACH defenseman in scoring… the sophomore is 10th in NCAA-DI in points per game for defensemen (0.76)… Mills and Bourbonnais top the Big Red in power play scoring with nine points each, while Mills leads the conference with seven power play goals (4th NCAA-DI)
 
BIG RED IN GOAL
Topping the Big Red goaltenders is Marlene Boissonnault with 17-5-3 over 25 starts… the junior has totaled a 1.71 goals against average (3rd ECACH, 8th NCAA-DI) while registering a .923… Boissonnault has tallied five shutouts on the year (3rd ECACH, 5th NCAA-DI).
 
CORNELL POWER PLAYS
The Big Red has the top penalty kill in the country (92.6%) while registering a mere 15.9% in power play efficiency.
 
2017-18 VS. THE BIG RED
Selander came up with 36 saves with the Engineer defense registering 20 blocks, their 5th highest margin on the season, but #6 Cornell came up with a 1-0 win… the Big Red's victory was RPI's third loss to a nationally ranked team by a mere one goal… O'Neill scored the third period game winner on Mill's assist… early in the first period, Raithby had a chance to put Rensselaer up 1-0 on a penalty shot, but the freshman's attempt was saved by Boissonnault… Tomlinson was a force to be reckoned with in faceoffs have won a game high 73.9%.
 
WHERE ARE ALL THE GOALS AT?
Colgate and Cornell are currently second and third in the ECACH in scoring with 3.62 (7th NCAA-DI) and 2.93 (12th NCAA-DI) goals per games respectively, while RPI sits tenth in the ECACH with 1.59 goals per game… meanwhile both the Raiders and Big Red bring strong defenses with 1.53 (2nd ECACH, 5th NCAA-DI) and 1.96 (4th ECACH, 8th NCAA-DI) goals against, respectively.
 
BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
The last time RPI swept Cornell and Colgate was February 20-21, 2009 at home with 3-1 and 4-1 wins, respectively… if the Engineers manage to take three points this weekend, it will be the first time since October 30-31, 2015 with a 2-1 win at Cornell and 3-3 tie at Colgate… the last time Rensselaer split the series was last year on October 28-29, 2016 with a 1-0 win against the Big Red and a 4-1 loss to the #6 Raiders… lastly, RPI has never come away with one point on the series.
 
VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
RPI is 0-5 against nationally ranked opponents this season with one loss coming in overtime to #3 Clarkson on the road… three of those five games were decided by one, including a 3-2 overtime finish at #3 Clarkson… 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.
 
PICK YOURSELF UP
The last time RPI came back to sweep a series after dropping the first meeting 0-2 was in 2008-09 against Cornell and Colgate… after dropping both games 3-2 on the road in Wine Country, the Engineers came back and beat the Big Red night one 3-1 followed by a 4-1 win against Colgate at Houston Field House.
 
SCORING BY PERIODS
Rensselaer has scored 45.8% of its goals in the third period, the highest percentage of any team in the ECACH… meanwhile, RPI is a perfect 6-0-0 when leading after the first period… Colgate has given up the most goals in the first period (20) while Cornell's top goal against total comes in the second (21).
 
CLIMBING THE RECORD BOOK
With Tomlinson's two assist game against Princeton, the senior recorded her 45th career assist to pass Julie Welt '06 and tie Allison Wright '10 into 17th in program history… the senior needs seven more assists to break into the RPI top ten… Selander passed Laura DeNuccio '01 in career against Princeton with her 28th victory of her career… the junior needs three more wins to tie Kelly O'Brien '15 for 5th… Kimmerle currently sits tied for 13th in Engineer history in career games for skaters at 136 with Mari Mankey '16, Madison Mazario '14 and Jordan Smelker '14… the defenseman needs five more appearances to break into the top ten.
 
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… the pair of forwards played for the winning "Team Ott" in the All-Star Game in Saint Paul, Minnesota on Feb. 11 where Gruschow buried two goals and Smelker added one of her own.
 
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… Repaci started the scoring for the Engineers in the second period with a power play goal off assists from Grigsby and Hansen… Orosz added the eventual game-winner right before the second intermission off 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.