TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team will play 34 regular season games during the 2023-24 season, including 15 at the Houston Field House. The schedule features six 2023 NCAA Tournament teams, as well as visits from Minnesota State and the 46th Annual Big Red Freakout! against Colgate.
 
Under the direction of seventh-year head coach Dave Smith, the Engineers host Union and the University of Guelph for a pair of exhibition games on October 7 and 8, before opening the regular season play on Oct. 12 and 13 at Maine. The two games in Orono kicks off a run of the first seven of eight games of the season on the road for the Engineers.
 
"Our schedule for this season is very exciting," said Smith. "We love the competitive ECAC Hockey games with four NCAA Tournament teams within that group. Our non-conference games – adding Boston College, Maine, and Providence on the road early will be a good barometer for our group."
 
Prior to their opening home game, RPI heads east to square off against Boston College and Providence on Oct. 20 and 21 in a pair of matchups against Hockey East opponents. After a road matchup at Union on Friday, Nov. 3 to open ECAC Hockey play, the Engineers will play host to the Dutchmen on Saturday, Nov. 4 in their home opener at Houston Field House in the annual "Blackout!" game.
 
The Engineers close out their early road swing with their North Country trip, hitting Clarkson and St. Lawrence (Nov. 10 and 11) before the tables turn after the Thanksgiving Holiday. Starting November 25 and 26 with a home series with Northeastern, the Engineers will play six of their nine games before the New Year at the Houston Field House.
 
As the calendar hits the first weekend of December, RPI plays host to the reigning national champion Quinnipiac Bobcats (Dec. 1) before also hosting Princeton (Dec. 2) the following night. A sandwiched road matchup at New Hampshire on Dec. 9 precedes a home series with Minnesota State on Dec. 15 and 16. The Engineers last played Minnesota State back in 2012 in Mankato, while RPI hosted them the previous year in Troy where they split the weekend series.
 
RPI closes out 2023 with a weekend series in Buffalo at Canisius for the final non-conference matchups of the season.
 
"Northeastern and Minnesota State coming to Troy from Hockey East and the CCHA are terrific opponents for exciting weekends at HFH before Christmas," added Smith. "When the players return from their holiday trip to Buffalo, then we get right back into the league schedule."
 
The Engineers will begin the remaining ECAC schedule on the 2024 side of things at Houston Field House, with four straight home matchups with Yale (Jan. 5), Brown (Jan. 6), St. Lawrence (Jan. 12), and Clarkson (Jan. 13).  The remaining home games come against Cornell (Feb. 9) and Colgate (Feb. 10) on Alumni and Big Red Freakout! weekend, and Dartmouth (Feb. 23) and Harvard (Feb. 24) rounding out the home schedule. RPI will honor their graduating class on the final home game of the season against Harvard.
 
The lone neutral site matchup comes in another installment of the Mayor's Cup at MVP Arena in downtown Albany on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. against Union.
 
"We always love the special games, such as the Blackout, Mayor's Cup, and Big Red Freakout," said Smith. "Our players will have those circled on their calendars for sure."
 
The remaining road games for RPI come at Harvard (Jan. 19), Dartmouth (Jan. 20), Brown (Feb. 2), Yale (Feb. 3), Princeton (Feb. 16), Quinnipiac (Feb. 17), Colgate (Mar. 1), and Cornell (Mar. 2).
 
Smith ended, "The combination of road games with teams coming back to us in the future is something that we always strive for. "Players look forward to the experiences at the Houston Field House as our fans create an electric environment to play in."
 
Season tickets and individual games will be on sale shortly for the 2023-24 season. All inquiries for tickets can be directed to boxoffice@rpi.edu or by calling (518) 276-6262.