SUNDAY FUNDAY
Rensselaer returns from holiday break with a non-league game against No. 9 University of Massachusetts on Sunday at 5pm ... The Engineers hit the road the following weekend, when they visit No. 4 Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

LATE SPLIT FOR ENGINEERS
The Engineers fell to Yale, 4-1, on December 6, before coming back to beat Brown, 2-1 in overtime, the following night ... Senior Mike Gornall scored with two seconds left in regulation against the Bears, before freshman Tristan Ashbrook netted the winner, just 36 seconds into the extra session. 

RPI LEADERS
Rensselaer senior Will Reilly (6 goals, 6 assists) paces the team with 12 points in 16 games, while classmates Chase Zieky (5 goals, 6 assists), Patrick Polino (4 goals, 5 assists) and Mike Gornall (3 goals, 6 assists) have 11 and nine points, respectively ... Fellow senior Jake Marrello (4 goals, 4 assists) has eight points.

GOALTENDING
Sophomore Owen Savory (3-7-1) has a 3.20 goals against average and an .887 save percentage in 11 starts, while junior Linden Marshall (2-2-0) has a 3.00 goals against average and a .893 save percentage in five games (4 starts) ... Classmate Alec Calvaruso (1-0-0) has a 1.01 goals against average and a .962 save percentage. 

SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
Ninth-ranked UMass is paced offensively by junior Mitchell Chaffee, who has 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points ... Classmate John Leonard (11 goals, 4 assists) is second with 15 points, while fellow junior Oliver Chau (4 goals, 10 assists) has 14.

UMASS GOALTENDING
Sophomore Filip Lindberg (5-3-1) has a 1.76 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in 10 games (9 starts) with two shutouts ... Junior Matt Murray (7-1-0) has a 1.39 goals against average and a .932 save percentage in nine games (8 starts).

ALL-TIME VS. UMASS
The Minutemen lead the all-time series with RPI with a record of 11-4-1 … UMass won the inaugural meeting, 12-1, on January 20, 1911, in Albany.

RECENTLY
UMass has won the last six competitions against Rensselaer … Rensselaer's last win came in overtime (3-2) on December 29, 2001

OCTOBER 11
Mitchell Chaffee scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Minutemen to a 5-3 victory over Rensselaer, on October 11 in Amherst ... Filip Lindberg made 20 saves to pick up the win, while Owen Savory had 34 stops at the other end of the ice.

STREAKS
UMass won the first five games against RPI ... Rensselaer's longest winning streak came between 1996 and 2001 with the Engineers taking three straight.

OVERTIME
Rensselaer has competed against UMass in one overtime competition, winning that game, 3-2, on December 29, 2001.

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

NOTEWORTHY
Only four of the 15 games between RPI and UMass have taken place outside of the Capital Region.

ECAC HOCKEY RANKINGS
The Engineers are fifth in the league scoring, averaging 2.56 goals per game ... RPI's power play is sixth at 17.9%, while its penalty kill is third (85.7%) ... The Engineers are allowing 28.3 shots per game this season, which is good for third in the conference ... They gave up 33.6 shots per contest last year ... RPI is fifth in the league in face-off percentage at 51.8% after ending last season in 11th (47.2%).

PLUS/MINUS LEADERS
Senior captain Will Reilly is a team-best +4 through 16 games this season, while classmate Jake Marrello is a +3 ... Fellow senior Mike Gornall is at +2, while Jakub Lacka, Zach Dubinsky and Simon Kjellberg are all +1.

FIRST GOALS
Cory Babichuk became the fifth rookie to score his first collegiate goal this season, tallying against Harvard on November 22 ... Tristan Ashbrook netted his first RPI goal on November 9 against Clarkson ... Classmates Ryan Mahshie and Zach Dubinsky each tallied in the season opener, while fellow rookie Simon Kjellberg scored his first NCAA goal against UConn on October 12.

OT-WINNER
Freshman Tristan Ashbrook's overtime-winning goal against Brown on December 7 was RPI's first since Jake Marrello beat Army on January 5, 2019 ... In similar fashion, the Engineers tied the game late against the Black Knights, before coming away with the extra frame victory.

CALVARUSO DEBUT
Junior transfer Alec Calvaruso picked up the victory in his first RPI start, stopping 25 of 26 shots in a 2-1 overtime win over Brown on December 7 ... He became the 76th goaltender to don the Cherry & White in program history.

COMEBACK KIDS?
RPI's last two victories have come after trailing entering the third period ... The Engineers earned comeback wins at Canisius on November 23 and home to Brown on December 7.

ROCKIN' REILLY
Senior captain Will Reilly leads all ECAC Hockey defenseman in goals (6), points (12) and shots (46) ... He is second nationally in goals and 17th in points.

ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
ECAC Hockey has announced its monthly award winners and Simon Kjellberg has been named Rookie of the Month for October ... 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.

SUCCESS IN THE CIRCLE
Rensselaer has won more than half of its face-off at 51.8% through 16 games this season ... Leading the way is sophomore Ottoville Leppanen at 57.1%, with junior Billy Jerry is right behind him at 54.1% ... Sophomore Ture Linden (53.7%) and freshman Tristan Ashbrook (52.1%) round out the top four.

POWER UP
After the Engineers scored just 14 power play goals all of last season, they have already netted 10 in 2019-20 through 16 games.

BLOCK PARTY
RPI is fourth among ECAC Hockey teams in blocked shots with 205 ... The Engineers average 12.8 blocks per contest.

VS. RANKED OPPOSITION
The Engineers are 0-4-0 against ranked teams in 2019-20, falling to UMass (5-3), Clarkson (2-1), Harvard (6-3) and UMass Lowell (4-0).

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 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.

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%.

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.

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 IN 2018-19
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.

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.

TICKETS
Tickets to all Rensselaer home games are available through the Houston Field House box office or by calling 518-276-6262.