NORTH COUNTRY TRIP
Rensselaer resumes ECAC Hockey play this weekend, when it travels to No. 4 Clarkson and St. Lawrence ... The Engineers take on the Golden Knights on Friday in Potsdam (7pm), before facing the Saints on Saturday at SUNY Canton's Roos House (7pm).

NO. 9 UMASS HOLDS ON
Senior Niko Hildenbrand netted a pair of goals, including the game-winner to lead ninth-ranked UMass to a 5-3 victory over RPI on Sunday ... Mike Gornall got the Engineers on the board first, before the Minutemen tied the game in the second and took a 2-1 in the third ... The two teams then traded goals until Patrick Polino netted a tying goal midway through the final frame, knotting the score at 3-3 ... Hildenbrand potted the game's final two tallies, including an empty-netter with 17 seconds left ... Junior Alec Calvaruso suffered his first loss at RPI, stopping 32 shots, while Matt Murray picked up the win in net for UMass, saving 20.

RPI LEADERS
Rensselaer senior Chase Zieky (5 goals, 8 assists) leads the team with 13 points ... Classmate Will Reilly (6 goals, 6 assists) has a team-best six goals and 12 points, while fellow seniors Patrick Polino (5 goals, 5 assists) and Mike Gornall (4 goals, 6 assists) have 10 points apiece ... Classmate Jake Marrello (4 goals, 4 assists) has eight. 

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 (1-1-0) has a 2.52 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. 

ALL-TIME VS. CLARKSON
The Golden Knights lead the all-time series with Rensselaer at 98-51-11 … Rensselaer won the inaugural meeting, 14-1, on January 24, 1925, in Troy.

RECENTLY
Clarkson has won the last eight head-to-head competition against RPI, with each game being decided by two or more goals until November's 2-1 defeat in Troy … Rensselaer won its last game over Clarkson on January 28, 2017.

STREAKS
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
Rensselaer has played more games against Clarkson than any other opponent (160) … Clarkson has handed RPI more losses than any other team.

ALL-TIME VS. ST. LAWRENCE
Rensselaer trails the all-time series with St. Lawrence 61-83-7 … St. Lawrence won the inaugural meeting, 2-7, on January 3, 1951, in Troy.

RECENTLY
The Engineers are 4-1-1 in the last six games against St. Lawrence.

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 (151) … The Saints have handed RPI its second highest amount of losses from any one opponent (83).

ECAC HOCKEY RANKINGS
The Engineers are fifth in the league scoring, averaging 2.59 goals per game ... RPI's power play is sixth at 18.3%, while its penalty kill is third (84.7%) ... The Engineers are allowing 28.8 shots per game this season, which is good for fourth in the conference ... They gave up 33.6 shots per contest last year ... RPI is fifth in the league in face-off percentage at 51.9% after ending last season in 11th (47.2%).

PLUS/MINUS LEADERS
Senior captain Will Reilly is a team-best +4 through 17 games this season, while classmate Jake Marrello and freshman Zach Dubinsky are both +3 ... Senior Mike Gornall is at +2.

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 ... Sophomore Daniel DiGrande potted his first collegiate tally against No. 9 UMass on December 29, in his 14th career game.

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) and shots (47) and is second in points (12) ... He is third nationally in goals and 24th in points.

POWER UP
After the Engineers scored just 14 power play goals all of last season, they have already netted 11 in 2019-20 through 17 games.

WHEN...
RPI is 3-1 when either Chase Zieky or Mike Gornall scores a goal this season ... The Engineers are 4-2 when Will Reilly finds the net and 4-0 when Cory Babichuk records an assist.

ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
ECAC Hockey has announced its monthly award winners for October 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.

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. 

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 51.9% through 17 games this season ... Leading the way is sophomore Ottoville Leppanen at 56.8%, with classmate Ture Linden (54.6%) and junior Billy Jerry (54.1%) right behind him ... Freshman Tristan Ashbrook rounds out the top four (52.4%).

BLOCK PARTY
RPI is fourth among ECAC Hockey teams in blocked shots with 217 ... The Engineers average 12.8 blocks per contest.

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