TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's ice hockey team erupted for three third-period goals to secure a 3–1 ECAC Hockey victory over Harvard University in front of a sell out crowd in the 48th annual Big Red Freakout in Houston Field House. 

After a scoreless opening stretch, Harvard struck first at 15:32 of the opening period, capitalizing at even strength to take a 1–0 lead. RPI answered with sustained pressure across the second period, outshooting the Crimson and generating multiple net-front looks from Matthew Buckley, Rainers Rullers, and Jagger Tapper, but the game remained 1–0 through forty minutes thanks to strong goaltending on both ends.

The Engineers broke through on the power play midway through the third. At 8:53, Ian Scherzer blasted home the equalizer from the right circle, finishing a man-advantage sequence set up by Rullers and Thomas Klassek to knot the score at 1–1.

Just under four minutes later, RPI struck again with the eventual game-winner. Rullers converted another power-play chance at 12:49, snapping home a feed from Klassek and Buckley to give the Engineers their first lead of the night.

Harvard pressed late with the extra attacker, but RPI sealed the victory with 77 seconds remaining when Dovar Tinling buried an empty-net goal, assisted by Klassek and Rullers, capping a dominant special-teams performance in the final frame.

Rullers paced all skaters with a goal and two assists, factoring into all three RPI goals, while Klassek added three assists from the blue line. Buckley chipped in an assist and led the Engineers with seven shots on goal, and Scherzer's power-play tally stood as the momentum-turning moment.

Nate Krawchuk was excellent in net, stopping 30 of 31 shots to earn the win, including key saves during early Harvard power plays and late six-on-five pressure. Defensively, RPI blocked 31 shots, led by Kazimier Sobieski (eight blocks) and Jimmy Goffredo (four blocks), as the Engineers held Harvard scoreless on 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

RPI next travels to Brown for a 7:00 pm tilt on Friday.