CRUNCH TIME
Rensselaer (9-16-5, 6-10-2 ECACH) travels to Dartmouth (5-17-1, 3-14-1 ECACH) and Harvard (9-13-2, 7-9-2 ECACH) for crucial ECAC Hockey double-header Feb. 9-10… the Engineers will face the Big Green Friday night (6pm) followed by an afternoon matchup with the Crimson on Saturday (3pm).
 
BOBCATS BLANK
After snapping a nine-game winless streak at the Mayor's Cup, RPI was blanked by Abbey Ives and Quinnipiac in a 2-0 loss last Friday… the Bobcat's Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout scored a game-high two points with assists on both goals… After a scoreless first period, Quinnipiac saw goals from Melissa Samoskevich and Brooke Bonsteel in the second and third periods, respectively… senior captain Shayna Tomlinson had a squad-high five shots while junior netminder Lovisa Selander recorded 24 saves.
 
RALLY OVER THE TIGERS
Rensselaer rallied from a 2-1 second period deficit to score three unanswered goals in the third period to beat Princeton 4-2… Saturday's win over the Tigers was RPI's first win for the Engineers after trailing going into the third period; prior to the triumph, Rensselaer was 0-13-2 when behind after two period of play… Tomlinson had a game-high three points, including the eventual game-winner with less than three minutes to go in regulation… freshman Madeleine Burnett opened up scoring in the first period with assists from freshman Morgan Ondrick and senior Marisa Raspa… Princeton's Sharon Frankel and Carly Bullock each had second period goals to put the Tigers up 2-1... junior Jaimie Grigsby scored the tying goal halfway through the period off assists from Tomlinson and sophomore Sabrina Repaci… Tomlinson scored her game-winning shot with 2:20 remaining in the period off assists from junior Makenna Thomas and senior captain Amanda Kimmerle… senior Whitney Renn added the insurance goal 1:20 later off a shorthanded, empty netter off a Tomlinson... Selander recorded 37 saves, her highest total since a 41 save performance at #6 Cornell, for her ninth win of the season.
 
MAKE IT A STREAK
Rensselaer is 3-4-1 coming off a win this season… the Engineers tend to perform better on Saturdays with a 6-6-3 record while the red and white are 3-10-1 on Fridays… additionally, RPI is a perfect 6-0-0 when leading after the first period.
 
PLAYOFF PUSH
As of right now, five of the eight ECAC Hockey playoff spots have been clinched by #1 Clarkson, #4 Colgate, #8 St. Lawrence, #6 Cornell and Quinnipiac… Clarkson and Colgate have both earned home ice advantages in the first round… five 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, Harvard, Rensselaer and Union... RPI can finish between fifth and eleventh place.
 
RPI LEADERS
Tomlinson (six goals, 13 assists) leads the Engineers in points (19) and assists, while Grigsby (nine goals, nine assists) is second on the team in points (18) and first in goals… Repaci (four goals, 10 assists) rounds out the top point getters with 14 points and the highest +/- margin with +2… Burnett paces RPI rookies with seven points (four goals, three assists) which comes in 17th in freshman scoring in the conference… Renn leads defensemen scoring with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) which is 18th in the ECACH… Raspa and Tomlinson currently lead the Engineers in penalty minutes with 20.
 
ENGINEERS GOALTENDING
Selander, the Rensselaer single-season and career saves record holder, is 9-15-4 on the year with a 2.20 goals against average and a .933 save percentage with 26 starts…the junior ranks nationally in save percentage (6th 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. DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth holds a 17-6-2 advantage in the 25 game series… the #8 Big Green took the first matchup 5-1 on October 29, 2006 in Hanover, New Hampshire… RPI garnered their first win of the series on January 22, 2010, their only win at Thompson Arena, 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 six seasons have favored Dartmouth with the Big Green taking a 7-2-2 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… the last time the red and white were at Thompson Arena on January 14, 2017, Dartmouth won 2-1 in overtime… Laura Horwood '17 opened scoring 50 seconds into the game off assists from Kiresten Iwanski and Kimmerle… the Big Green's Cecilia Lopez tied the game 48 seconds into the second period and Kennedy Ottenbriet put the game away for Dartmouth 1:09 into overtime… Selander came up with 26 saves for the Engineers.
 
SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Senior Hailey Noronha (two goals, 11 assists) leads the Big Green in points (13) as well as defenseman scoring (14th ECACH)… Tess Bracken (seven goals, three assists) is the leading goal-scorer for Dartmouth… the junior is 2nd in the conference in goals for defensemen behind only Olivia Zafuot's (#4 Colgate) eight on the year… rounding out the top point getters are sophomore Tess Bracken (three goals, nine assists) and junior Kate Landers (five goals, five assists) with 12 and 10 points, respectively… Landers and senior Morgan Turner have registered the most penalty minutes with 28 apiece… Linda Essery (two goals, two assists) paces Big Green freshman with four points on the year… juniors Caroline Shaunessy and Alyssa Baker are 12th in the ECACH in power play goals (three).
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Christie Honor has 22 starts on the year with a 4-17-1 record… the junior netminder has a .902 save percentage with a 3.65 goal against average… Honor has two shutouts on the year in wins over Quinnipiac (1-0) and Maine (3-0)…backing up Honor is Shannon Ropp who has an overtime win over Holy Cross (3-2)… the junior has average 3.72 goals against and a .887 save percentage over six appearances.
 
2017-18 VS. DARTMOUTH
The Big Green and Engineers faced off at Houston Field House earlier this year on January 6, 2018 in a 3-3 draw… Selander broke van der Bliek's six year old career saves record in a 26 save effort while Renn paced RPI on offense with two points… after a scoreless first period, Dartmouth opened up scoring in the second period with goals from Baker and Megan Cornell… with five minutes left in the second period, junior captain Aly Tremblay cut the deficit to 2-1 off assists from Maspa and Burnett… Renn tied the game 2-2 3:55 into the third period off a Kimmerle assist… five minutes later, junior Josefine Hansen scored a go-ahead power play goal with assists from Renn and Tomlinson… with less than four minutes left in regulation, the Big Green's Essery tied the game 3-3… the January draw remains Dartmouth's only tie on the year.
 
ALL-TIME VS. THE CRIMSON
Over the course of their 24 game history, the Crimson hold a 15-7-2 advantage… #7 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 upset to the #7 Crimson… Laura Gersten '10 scored a third period game winner with van der Bliek saving 48 shots to take the Engineers to the conference finals against Dartmouth.
 
RECENTLY
Harvard holds a 6-3-1 record since February 10, 2012… Rensselaer is 2-1-1 in the last four meetings, including a 3-1 win their last time at Bright-Landry Hockey Center on January 13, 2017… Horwood had a game-high two points while Blake Orosz, Grigsby and Schwalbe all scored goal for the Engineers… Selander was credited with the win on a 32 save effort.
 
HARVARD LEADERS
Freshman Becca Gilmore (seven goals, 14 assists) leads the Crimson in points (21) (20th ECACH) and assists (15th ECACH)… sophomore Kat Hughes (11 goals, nine assists) paces Harvard in goals (17th ECACH) while junior Kaitlin Tse (three goals, 10 assists) leads defensemen scoring (14th ECACH)… Tse also leads Harvard in power play points (11th ECACH) with nine points off two goals and seven assists… rounding out the Crimson's point getters is freshman Brooke Jovanovich (seven goals, 11 assists) with 18 points and a team-high +/- margin of +4… leading freshman scoring are Gilmore (5th ECACH) and Jonanovich (6th ECACH) who rank 13th (.88) and 17th (.75) nationally in freshman points per game, respectively… junior Bradley Fusco has recorded the most penalty minutes with 37 on the year.
 
CRIMSON IN GOAL
Beth Larcom leads Harvard with an 8-12-1 record over 21 starts… the sophomore netminder averages 2.95 goals against while registering a .901 save percentage… Larcom registered one shutout in a 1-0 win over Dartmouth on December 6, 2017… backing up Larcom is Becky Dutton who is 1-1-1 over six appearances… the freshman has a .950 save percentage with a 1.41 goal against average... Dutton was credited with the 6-1 win over Dartmouth while picking up the 2-2 tie to #5 Cornell last weekend.
 
2017 VS. HARVARD
The Crimson took the earlier meeting between the sides on January 5, 2018 2-1 at Houston Field House… Grigsby opened up scoring 2:56 into the game on a power play off assists from Renn and Repaci… Gilmore tied the game 1-1 with 23 seconds left in the first period, and Keely Moy scored the power play game-winner with 39 seconds left in the second period… Selander registered 28 saves while Larcom picked up the win on 25 saves.
 
BEANPOT
Harvard fell to Boston University (11-14-6, 6-11-5 WHEA), 3-2, in the opening round of the 40th annual women's Beanpot tournament on Tuesday night at Conte Forum… The Crimson slips to 48-30-1 all-time at the Beanpot and 26-11-2 all-time against Boston University… next Tuesday, Harvard will face Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation final, again taking place at Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College.
 
GO FOR THE SWEEP
RPI took one point in its most recent weekend series with the Big Green and Crimson… the last time the red and white swept the pair of New England foes was January 7-8, 2011 with a 5-2 win over Dartmouth and a 2-1 victory against Harvard… on February 12-13, 2016, the Engineers took three points with a 1-1 tie to the Crimson and a 2-1 win over the Big Green… the most recent split Rensselaer garnered was last season on February 10-11, 2017 with a 4-0 loss to Dartmouth and a 4-1 win against Harvard.
 
THIRD PERIOD SCORING
Rensselaer has scored 45.8% of its goals in the third period, the highest percentage of any team in the ECACH.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
Grigsby leads the Engineers in power play points with eight on five goals and three assists which is tied for 15th in the ECACH… the junior's five power play goals are 15th in NCAA-DI and 5th in the ECACH... Hansen is second on the squad in power play goals with three on the year (12th ECACH)… on the other end, RPI has an 87.5% kill percentage, 9th in the country and 5th in the ECACH.
 
CLUTCH DEFENSE
The RPI defense, led by Renn and Hansen, is one of the strongest defenses in the country (18th NCAA-DI, 7th ECACH), with opponents averaging 2.23 goals per game… when the Engineers give up one goal or less, the red and white are 7-2-3… Renn, Kimmerle and Hansen lead Rensselaer in blocked shots with 68, 59, and 58 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 58.1% of the time, with Repaci winning 48.6% of dropped pucks… as a team, the Engineers have won just over half of their faceoffs with a 51.2% total.
 
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 wins Saturday 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 18th in Engineer history in career games for skaters at 134 with Alexa Gruschow '16… the defenseman needs seven 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.