Men's Hockey | 11/7/2019 11:37:00 AM

NORTH COUNTRY RIVALS
The Engineers resume ECAC Hockey play after a weekend off, when North Country-rivals St. Lawrence University and No. 8 Clarkson University visit the Houston Field House this weekend ... Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm on both Friday and Saturday night.

ROUTE 7 SPLIT
RPI and Union split their yearly home-and-home series two weeks ago with each team winning on the road ... The Engineers came away with a 3-2 victory at Messa rink on October 25, with Will Reilly, Chase Zieky and Billy Jerry finding the back of the net ... Owen Savory made 24 saves to pick up his second win of the year ... In the return to trip to Troy, Union goaltender Darion Hanson stopped 25 shots and kept the Engineers off the board until the third period, while Dutchman senior Zachary Emelifeonwu netted two goals in the first and third periods.

EARLY LEADERS
Rensselaer seniors Will Reilly (3 goals, 3 assists), Patrick Polino (3 goals, 3 assists) and Chase Zieky (3 goals, 3 assists) are joined by sophomore Ottoville Leppanen (1 goal, 5 assists) on top of the team leaderboard with six points apiece ... Three others have four points, including freshmen Simon Kjellberg (2 goals, 2 assists) and Zach Dubinsky (1 goal, 3 assists) ... Senior Jake Marrello (2 goals, 2 assists) has four points in just three games.

GOALTENDING
Sophomore Owen Savory (2-2-0) has a 2.52 goals against average and a .917 save percentage in tfour starts, while junior Linden Marshall (1-1) has a 4.00 goals against average and an .886 save percentage in two starts.

ALL-TIME VS. ST. LAWRENCE
Rensselaer trails the all-time series with St. Lawrence 60-83-7 … St. Lawrence won the inaugural meeting, 2-7, on January 3, 1951, in Troy.

RECENTLY
The Engineers are 3-1-1 in the last five games against St. Lawrence … Rensselaer's last win came in a 6-5 victory on January 11, 2019.

AT THE HOUSTON FIELD HOUSE
Rensselaer leads the series against St. Lawrence at home, 37-30-4.

STREAKS
St. Lawrence won eight straight from 1958-1962, with six of the eight games being decided by two or more goals … RPI's longest streak came from 1976 to 1978, when it won six in a row.

IN OVERTIME
Rensselaer has competed against St. Lawrence in 22 overtime competitions leading those games with a record of 11-4-7.

NOTEWORTHY
Rensselaer has played its second most games against any single opponent with St. Lawrence (150) … The Saints have handed RPI its second highest amount of losses from any one opponent (83) … Rensselaer allowed its most goals in an NCAA Tournament game against St. Lawrence (6) and North Dakota (6).

ALL-TIME VS. CLARKSON
The Golden Knights lead the all-time series with Rensselaer at 97-51-11 … Rensselaer won the inaugural meeting, 14-1, on January 24, 1925, in Troy.

RECENTLY
Clarkson has won the last seven head-to-head competition against RPI, with each game being decided by two or more goals … Rensselaer won its last game over Clarkson on January 28, 2017.

AT HOME AND STREAKS
Rensselaer trails the series against Clarkson at home 26-43-4. The Golden Knights won 11 straight from 1978-1983 … RPI's longest streak came from 2003 to 2005 with four straight wins and six straight games unbeaten.

NOTEWORTHY
Clarkson has scored more goals against RPI in a home game than any other opponent with 16 goals, also handing RPI its largest margin of defeat at home (15) … Rensselaer has played more games against Clarkson than any other opponent (159) … Clarkson has handed RPI more losses than any other team.

PLUS/MINUS LEADERS
Senior captain Will Reilly is a team-best +6 through six games this season, while classmate Jake Marrello and Simon Kjellberg are both +3 ... Two players are +1, including senior Mike Gornall and freshman Ryan Mahshie are +1.

ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
ECAC Hockey has announced its monthly award winners and Simon Kjellberg has been named Rookie of the Month ... He recorded two goals and two assists for four points in five October games ... He notched one goal and two assists on the power play for three points and was +3 rating for the month ... Kjellberg ranked first among ECAC Hockey rookies in goals, points, goals per game (0.40), points per game (0.80), power play assists, power play points, and plus/minus.

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.

JUST HOW YOU DRAW IT UP
Rensselaer has won more than half of its face-off at 51.5% through six games this season ... Leading the way is sophomore Ture Linden at 62.7%, while freshman Tristan Ashbrook is second at 54.8% ... Junior Billy Jerry rounds out the top three at 50.7%.

READY FOR THIS KJELLY
Freshman blueliner Simon Kjellberg notched four points two games after sitting out the season-opener ... He leads all ECAC Hockey rookies in scoring.

DROUGHT ENDS
Junior Billy Jerry put a halt to his 23-game pointless streak with an assist on October 19 against Canisius, which spanned 595 days ... His last goal came against Union in the 2018 Mayor's Cup on January 27, 2018 – a 30-game spell.

MAHSHIE HONORED
ECAC Hockey announced its weekly award winners Rensselaer freshman Ryan Mahshie has been named Rookie of the Week ... He netted goals in each of his first two collegiate games to help the Engineers to a 1-1 week, scoring the eventual game-winning goal on three shots in RPI's 5-3 victory at UConn on Saturday afternoon ... In Friday's season opening 5-3 defeat at No. 4 UMass, he netted his first collegiate tally, while recording one shot and posting a +1 rating.

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.

BACK BETWEEN THE PIPES
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.