ENGINEERS OPEN ON ROAD
RPI opens its 2019-20 season with a pair of road contests at fourth-ranked UMass and UConn on Friday (7:02pm) and Saturday (3:35pm), respectively.

TOP RETURNERS
RPI welcomes back four of its top five scorers from 2018-19, including goal-scoring leader Chase Zieky (8 goals, 6 assist), who had 14 points in just 21 games after joining the team for the second semester ... Sophomore Ottoville Leppanen (4 goals, 15 assists) had 19 points as a rookie, while playing in 36 games ... His -2 rating was good for third on the club and 12 of points (3 goals, 9 assists) came in ECAC Hockey play ... Senior Will Reilly led all blueliners in scoring with five goals and 13 assists for 18 points in 33 games ... He enters his final season with 46 career points on 14 goals and 32 assists.

GOALTENDING
All-Rookie Team netminder Owen Savory is back after posting a top-10 save percentage in program history last season at .926 ... He went 5-15-3 with a 2.46 goals against average in 25 games (23 starts) with one shutout ... Junior Linden Marshall has played 43 games coming into the season, going 10-28-2, with a 3.31 goals against average and a .900 save percentage ... Newcomer Alec Calvaruso went 19-6-3 with the Sioux Fall Stampede last year, sporting a 2.63 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.

EXHIBITION OPENER
Rensselaer scored four power play goal in defeating Brock University, 6-3, last Saturday at the Houston Field House, in exhibition play ... Sophomore defenseman Kyle Hallbauer scored two goals, while Cory Babichuk, Chase Zieky and Tommy Lee all chipped in with two points apiece. 

ALL-TIME VS. UMASS
The Minutemen lead the all-time series, 10-4-1 … UMass won the inaugural meeting, 12-1, on January 20, 1911, in Albany.

RECENTLY
UMass has won the last five competitions against Rensselaer … the Engineers' last victory came in an overtime victory on December 29, 2001

ON THE ROAD
Rensselaer is winless on its three trips to Amherst (0-3-0).

LAST SEASON
The Minutemen swept the season series 2-games-to-0, taking the season opener 6-1, before topping RPI, 3-1 the next night ... Sophomore Mitchell Chaffee scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner to lead UMass to their road victory at the Houston Field House ... Cale Makar had two goals and two assists to lead the Minutemen in the opener.

STREAKS
UMass won the first five meetings, while only allowing two goals in total … Rensselaer's longest winning streak came between 1996 and 2001 with RPI taking three straight games.

SHUTOUTS
Rensselaer's only shutout against UMass came in a scoreless competition on January 12, 1918.

ODDS AND ENDS
This will be the sixth straight matchup taking place in October.

FINISHING 2018-19 STRONG
Owen Savory went 4-6-3 over his last 13 regular season starts last year, posting a 2.13 goals against average and a .931 save percentage.

ALL-TIME VS. UCONN
Rensselaer leads the all-time series with Connecticut with a record of 4-1-3 … RPI won the inaugural meeting, 6-5 in OT, on January 18, 1930, in Troy.

RECENTLY
RPI has gone 3-1-1 in the last five games against Connecticut … Rensselaer's last win came in a 5-2 victory on January 16, 2019

LAST SEASON
Junior Alexander Payusov scored twice in the third period to lead the University of Connecticut men's hockey team to a 3-1 victory over Rensselaer, in front of 4,282 at the Houston Field House ... RPI returned the favor on January 16, 2019, winning 5-2 at XL Center.

STREAKS
Rensselaer went unbeaten in its first six games against Connecticut (3-0-3).

OVERTIME
Rensselaer has competed against Connecticut in four overtime competitions, maintaining a record of 1-0-3.

NEWCOMERS
The Engineers welcome nine new players to the 2019-20 roster, including eight freshmen and one transfer ... Four are forwards, four are defensemen and one is a goaltender.

FAMILY MATTERS
Three incoming freshmen have fathers who saw success in the National Hockey League ... Patric Kjellberg recorded 160 points in 394 games between the Canadiens, Predators and Ducks ... Steve Dubinsky notched 70 points in 375 games while suiting up for the Blackhawks, Flames, Predators and Blues ... Ken Klee played in 934 games and registered 195 points and 880 penalty minutes for the Capitals, Maple Leafs, Devils, Rockies, Braves, Ducks and Coyotes.

FAMILY II
RPI junior TJ Samec is the cousin of goaltender Robb Stauber, who won the Hobey Baker Award at the University of Minnesota, before playing for the Los Angeles Kings ... Samec's uncle is Frank Serratore, the head men's hockey coach at the Air Force Academy ... Long-time NHL head coach Joel Quenneville the uncle of junior Chase Zieky.

EXPERIENCE IN GOAL
RPI's three goaltenders have a combined 78 games of NCAA hockey experience between them, including 43 from junior Linden Marshall, who made 28 starts as a freshman in 2017-18 ... Sophomore Owen Savory started 23 games last year.

TOP FACE-OFF MEN
The Engineers won 47.2% of their face-offs last season, led by Ottoville Leppanen at 52.4% ... Jacob Hayhurst (51.9%) was second, while Ture Linden rounded out the top three at 50.9% ... Freshman Zach Dubinsky was RPI's top draw man during its exhibition game on Saturday, winning 10 of 17 face-offs.

SWEET BY SAVORY
Owen Savory posted a 2.43 goals against average last season, which was the best by an RPI netminder since Jason Kasdorf had a 2.30 GAA in 2015-16 ... Savory's .926 save percentage was also tops by an Engineers goalie since Kasdorf stopped pucks at a .931 clip in 2015-16.

RECORD WHEN...
RPI went 4-0 when Jake Marrello scored a goal last season and 5-0 when he registered a point ... The Engineers went 7-6 when Todd Burgess found the scoresheet and 5-3 when Patrick Polino had a point.

SAVORY'S HAUL
Last year, goaltender Owen Savory earned ECAC Rookie of the Week once and ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week once, before being named a finalist for ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year ... Named to the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team, he was voted the team's Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player and Freshman of the Year, while also collecting ECAC Hockey All-Academic honors.

VS. RANKED TEAMS
The Engineers went 3-9-3 against teams ranked in the USCHO.com Top 20 last season, sweeping then-No. 11 Union on October 26 and 27 ... RPI then dropped league games at then-No. 13 Quinnipiac and then-No. 18 Princeton on November 9 and 10 ... The Engineers were swept by then-No. 8 Notre Dame on November 30 and December 1 ... RPI fell to then-No. 11 Northeastern, 3-2 in overtime, on December 28 at the Catamount Cup ... The Engineers dropped a conference matchup with then-16th-ranked Clarkson on January 12 ... RPI came away with a 0-0 tie with then-No. 18 Union at the Mayor's Cup on January 29 and a 1-1 tie with then-No. 13 Cornell on February 2 ... The Engineers fell to the-No. 6 Quinnipiac, 2-1, on February 16, before edging then-ninth-ranked Cornell, 3-2 in overtime, on February 22 ... Most recently, RPI fell to then-No. 16 Harvard in Troy on March 1, 4-1.

SECOND HALF SUCCESS
Chase Zieky posted a team-high 14 points over the second half of 2018-19, which was tops in the team ... He led the Engineers with eight goals during that stretch to go along with six assists ... Ottoville Leppanen was right behind him with 12 points on two goals and a club-high 10 assists ... Ture Linden collected six of his eight points on the season in the second half, while winning 51.7% of his face-offs.

SWEEPS
Rensselaer swept its season series with both Union College and St. Lawrence University last year ... RPI opened ECAC Hockey play by defeating the Dutchmen, 5-3 and 4-2 ... The Engineers later came away with victories of 3-2 and 6-5 over the Saints, on November 3 and January 11, respectively.

DRAFTED
Rensselaer has three student-athletes on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft ... Senior 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 ... Freshman Simon Kjellberg was a sixth rounder (163rd overall) in 2018 by the Rangers.

THIRD SLOVAKIAN
Jakub Lacka is the third player to suit up for the Engineers from the nation of Slovakia, joining Alexander Valentin '06 and Milos Bubela '16.

WATCH LIVE ON RPI TV
RPI TV is back for another season covering men's and women's hockey. The club has been broadcasting games for 15 years, providing one of the highest quality online video streams in Division I college hockey. Currently streaming on YouTube, RPI TV continues to improve its broadcast quality every year, with the addition of new cameras and upgrades to its already cutting edge technology. Fans can tune in to RPI TV on campus cable or watch online at www.rpitv.org.