The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team took a step forward in 2018-19, winning 10 games, including six in the second half of the year. The year was highlighted by signature victories over No. 9 Cornell and UMass Lowell, while sweeping a pair of ECAC Hockey season series with area-rival Union College and St. Lawrence University.

RPI opend the year against a future Frozen Four team in UMass, playing the Minutemen much tighter in a 3-1 defeat at the Houston Field House on October 13 after falling in Amherst the previous night (6-1). Freshman Jakub Lacka was responsible for the team's first two goals of the year, which both came on the power play.

After falling to UConn, the Engineers pulled off the weekend sweep of No. 11 Union to begin ECAC Hockey play, beating the Dutchmen by scores of 5-3 and 4-2. For his efforts, sophomore goaltender Linden Marshall garnered Rookie of the Week honors.

A home split againt North Country foes was followed by a pair of defeats at Princeton and No. 13 Quinnipiac. The skid was halted at Lowell, where the Engineers were able to come away with a 2-1 win, behind the first collegiate start by freshman netminder Owen Savory, who made 26 saves.

RPI then dropped eight in a row, with three coming by a single goal, including two overtime defeats. The Engineers had a late lead against No. 11 Providence in the Catamount Cup, before falling, 3-2 in OT. They then came back from down by two to draw even with Harvard on January 4, only to once come up short in the extra session.

The Engineers needed another comeback to end the losing streak against Army West Point on January 5, beating the Black Knights, 2-1 in overtime, at the Houston Field House. Senior Brady Wiffen netted the tying goal with 21 seconds left in regulation, before junior Jake Marrello scored the OT-winner.

A wild 6-5 win at St. Lawrence made it two wins in a row, before No. 16 Clarkson came away with a 5-2 win. RPI bounced back with a convincing 5-2 road victory at UConn on January 16, with junior Chase Zieky scoring two goals and adding an assist in his home state.

The Engineers battled No. 16 Union to a 0-0 game after regulation in the Seventh Annual Mayor's Cup, but the Dutchmen took home the hardare with a shootout victory. Savory made 43 stops in the game to earn his first collegiate shutout and collect ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors in the process.

RPI continued its strong play the following weekend, beating Colgate, 3-1, before coming back to tie No. 13 Cornell, 1-1. A 6-2 victory over Princeton on February 15 pushed the unbeaten streak to a season-long five games (2-0-3). No. 6 Quinnipiac put an end the run the following night, however, with a last minute goal to edge the Cherry & White, 2-1.

For the second straight season, the Engineers knocked off a top 10 Cornell team in the road, this time by a 3-2 margin, in overtime, on February 22. The Raiders earned a season series split the next night, scoring an OT goal to nip RPI, 2-1.

After dropping two home games to Harvard and Dartmouth to end the regular season, the Engineers were ousted from the posteason by Yale, which took the ECAC Hockey First Round series, 2-0.

A finalist for Rookie of the Year, Savory was named the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team after posting a 5-15-3 record with a 2.46 goals against average and a .926 save percentage. Despite missing seven games due to injury, junior Jacob Hayhurst was once again RPI's top point-getter, collecting 23 on three goals 20 assists. Freshman Ottoville Leppanen came on strong in the second half, picking up 13 of his 19 points after the Holiday Break. He finished with four goals and 15 assists. 

Junior transfers Chase Zieky, Mike Gornall and Shane Bear all made strong contributions to the team's second half push, registering 14, eight and two points, respectively. Zieky reignited the RPI power play, leading the team in PPGs with three of the team's 14 on the season. Gornall had seven helpers in 21 games, while Bear's lone tally aided RPI's comeback effort against Harvard and sured up the blue line over his 18 contests.

Rensselaer, which went 10-23-3, is projected to return 86% of its goal scoring from this year and 89% of its points. In net, the Engineers are scheduled to return 64 of 73 starts over the last two seasons.