CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Sophomore Owen Savory made 29 saves to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 2-0 victory over Harvard University on Saturday night at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. With the win, the Engineers improve to 16-15-2 overall (12-8-1 ECAC Hockey), while the Crimson drop to 12-10-6 (10-6-5 ECAC Hockey).

RPI pulls even with Harvard for fourth place in the conference standings with 25 points apiece, while holding the tiebreaker of league victories. In order to claim the fourth and final bye through the opening round of the ECAC Hockey Playoffs, the Engineers must match or better Harvard's result against Union College tomorrow night (7pm), when they square off against Dartmouth College in Hanover (7pm).

Savory (Cambridge, ON/St. Catharines Falcons) made 15 of hits 29 stops in the third period alone, helping the Engineers secure the win and his fifth shutout this season – the most in a season by an RPI netminder since Nathan Marsters '04 had five in 2003-04. Freshman Mitchell Gibson (Phoenixville, PA/Central Illinois Flying Aces) had 22 stops at the other end of the ice.

After a scoreless first period, the Engineers wasted little time getting on the board in the second, as freshman defenseman Cory Babichuk (Edmonton, AB/Spruce Grove Saints) wristed home his fourth goal of the year from the blue line. The power play tally, which came 28 seconds into the frame, drew assists from seniors Chase Zieky (Avon, CT/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) and Will Reilly (Toronto, ON/Nanaimo Clippers).

Zieky nearly doubled the lead at the seven-minute mark of the middle stanza, but his one-timer sailed just over the crossbar.

Harvard sophomore defenseman Jack Rathbone (West Roxbury, MA/Dexter School) then had three chances to the tie the game, hitting the right post with the first, before the second and third were kept out by Savory.

Both teams turned in chances in the third, including a rip from the right circle by RPI freshman Rory Herrman (Poway, CA/Fargo Force) that was just off the mark, five minutes in. Crimson rookie Nick Abruzzese (Slate Hill, NY/Chicago Steel) then tried to jam home a puck with eight minutes to go, before Savory kept it out as well.

Savory the Engineers on a penalty kill that began with 2:32 to go, while getting a key block from sophomore Ture Linden (Great Falls, VA/Lone Star Brahmas). Linden then capped the scoring in the contest with an empty-netter from his own blue line, right before the final horn sounded. His sixth goal was assisted on by sophomore Brady Ferner (Dakota Dunes, SD/Sioux City Musketeers) and senior Patrick Polino (Buffalo, NY/Lincoln Stars).

RPI finished 1 for 3 on the power play, while the Crimson went 0 for 2.

The win was the Engineers' first over Harvard since 2017 and Savory is the first RPI goaltender to shut out the Crimson in Cambridge since Joel Laing '00 blanked them 2-0 on March 4, 2000.