Men's Hockey - Clarkson & St. Lawrence (27/28 Feb)

The Engineers needed a strong weekend and a little bit of help in order to secure home ice for the first round. They came within a goal on Friday of getting everything they needed, but they'll still be on the road despite a solid final weekend. A 3-3 tie on Friday against Clarkson guaranteed that RPI would be on the road in this coming weekend, but a strong effort against one of the best teams in the league on Saturday, St. Lawrence, produced a 4-3 victory to push the Engineers toward the post season having been unbeaten in three of their final four contests.

Clarkson
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte

Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Kasdorf

Matt Neal returned to the lineup after missing the previous weekend's games in Central New York - he replaced Kenny Gillespie and slotted into an all-senior line.

The first period was action packed and full of scoring - five goals scored between the two teams in the first 20 minutes (that's one every four minutes for you math majors). The average almost got started right on, as Viktor Liljegren scored at 4:07 of the first period to put RPI in front 1-0. But just over a minute later, the Engineers put themselves in a tough spot as a Jake Wood hooking call was followed just four seconds later by a high-sticking call against Curtis Leonard, giving Clarkson a long five-on-three opportunity. The Engineers killed most of it well, but the Golden Knights broke through for a tying goal 21 seconds from the end of Wood's penalty.

A hooking call against Riley Bourbonnais about four minutes later created a goal for Clarkson that was essentially a power play goal, coming seven seconds after the penalty expired and while the puck remained in the RPI end. That put the Golden Knights up 2-1, but it was destined to be a short-lived lead for the visitors.

Just under a minute later, Drew Melanson tied the game up with his seventh goal of the year, and four minutes after that Mark McGowan netted number six on the year to make it 3-2 RPI.

Clarkson pulled their netminder, Steve Perry, to start the second period, as Perry had allowed three goals on just 10 shots in the opening period. The second, however, would prove to be the Jason Kasdorf show, as the junior goaltender made 14 saves to maintain RPI's lead. The Engineers mustered just two shots in the middle frame, which featured no goals despite the first period goal bonanza.

A potenital tipping point came 2:22 into the third, as Jimmy DeVito was assessed a five-minute major for a reckless knee-to-knee hit against Clarkson's James de Haas. The penalty was slightly mitigated by a retaliation penalty assessed to Kevin Tansey, who immediately went after DeVito, but nonetheless, Clarkson would enjoy three full minutes of major penalty power play time once Tansey's penalty was over. The RPI penalty bent, but did not break, keeping the Engineer lead at 3-2.

With under seven minutes left to play, Clarkson pulled themselves back even with the Engineers, as James Howden scored on a shot that Kasdorf was slightly screened on by one of his own defenders, just barely missing snagging the shot with his glove.

The tying goal helped build momentum for the visitors, who dominated the remainder of the period and much of the ensuing overtime. By the end of the game, the Engineers managed only 8 shots on Lewis, two fewer than they managed in the first period alone. Behind Jason Kasdorf's play, RPI did manage to hold on for the tie, but that was enough to ensure that they would be on the road in the playoffs.

St. Lawrence
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte

Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Diebold

For senior night, Scott Diebold got the start in net - the only real change to the RPI lineup from the previous night. All of the graduating seniors were in the starting lineup.

A Jake Wood penalty led to the first goal for the opposition for the second straight night on Saturday as St. Lawrence scored an odd goal that coincided with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on one of its own players in the final minute of the period. It was the Saints' third power play opportunity of the opening 20 minutes.

RPI responded in the second with their second three-goal period of the weekend. After an entire season of barely missed nets and hitting several pipes, Mike Prapavessis finally came through with his first collegiate goal two and a half minutes into the second period, tying the score. SLU regained the lead 2:31 later on a laser of a shot by defenseman Eric Sweetman. From there on out, however, it was the Drew Melanson show.

The RPI freshman tied things up midway through the period. After catching a home-run pass from Bradley Bell, Melanson gained the zone on the breakaway and faked out St. Lawrence netminder Kyle Hayton scored for his 8th goal of the season. The assist for Bell was the freshman's first collegiate point, ensuring that every Engineer skater now has recorded at least one point on the season. Then, two minutes later on the power play, Melanson put home a rebound off a shot by Prapavessis, putting the Engineers ahead 3-2.

It was looking like a serious case of deja vu - a 3-2 RPI lead heading into the third period, and some seriously strong play by the opposition in search of the tying goal. Diebold stood strong in net during the second period, stopping 15 of 16 shots in the middle frame, and he continued heroic play during the third period as well, but was beaten on another laser shot from the point by Sweetman with just over nine minutes left in regulation.

From that point, RPI fans could be forgiven for groaning and basically saying "here we go again." It was the third time in four games that the Engineers had surrendered a lead in the third period. But the script was not about to play out in the same way it had been playing out. About three minutes later, as RPI fought to regain the lead, Mark McGowan was pulled down after getting behind the defense on his way toward the net, and he was awarded a penalty shot. McGowan calmly moved to his left and outwaited Hayton, scoring the go-ahead goal with six and a half minutes left in regulation.

Scott Diebold equally was not about to be denied on senior night. He stood proud and tall in net for the remainder of the game, remaining cool under pressure late as St. Lawrence pulled Hayton for the extra attacker. His play helped the 4-3 lead stand up, ending RPI's winless streak at nine (which equaled their nine-game losing streak from earlier in the year) and picking up a win that guaranteed the Engineers 9th place and a trip to Potsdam to take on Clarkson.

With the Golden Knights falling to Union that same night, the Engineers could have been the ones hosting Clarkson if only they'd been able to hold that Friday lead. The good news is that Clarkson has only picked up a single win and a single tie in their last nine games. The bad news is, both of those were against RPI. Still, the last playoff series the Engineers won in 2012 was won in Potsdam, and there are signs of life in both the offense and the defense. Anything is possible, even in a season as long as this one has really been for the Engineers.

Final ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 35 points (16-3-3)
2. St. Lawrence - 29 points (14-7-1)
3. Yale - 28 points (12-6-4)
4. Colgate - 26 points (11-7-4)
5. Dartmouth - 26 points (12-8-2)
6. Harvard - 25 points (11-8-3)
7. Cornell - 22 points (9-9-4)
8. Clarkson - 19 points (8-11-3)
9. RPI - 18 points (8-12-2)
10. Union - 17 points (8-13-1)
11. Brown - 13 points (5-14-3)
12. Princeton - 6 points (2-18-2)

First Round matchups
#12 Princeton at #5 Dartmouth
#11 Brown at #6 Harvard
#10 Union at #7 Cornell
#9 RPI at #8 Clarkson

Clarkson at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/27/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Clarkson 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 9-23-3 (7-12-2, 16pts)

#19 St. Lawrence at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/28/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, St. Lawrence 3

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 10-23-3 (8-12-2, 18pts)

Upcoming games
06 Mar - at Clarkson
07 Mar - at Clarkson
08 Mar - at Clarkson (if necessary)
13 Mar - ECAC Quarterfinals (at higher seed, if qualified)
14 Mar - ECAC Quarterfinals (at higher seed, if qualified)

Men's Hockey - at New Hampshire & Michigan (25 Nov and 28/29 Nov)

Now deep into the second chunk of non-conference games, the Engineers played three road games in five nights with mixed results against traditional college hockey powers. They managed to put forward a dominating performance at New Hampshire on Tuesday night last week, but only managed a 2-1 victory when all was said and done. They were the better of the two teams on Friday night in the Great Lakes State, but had to eat a 3-2 loss after spot mistakes late in the third period. Running out of juice by Saturday, RPI came out strong in the first 10 minutes but unraveled after that to finish the week with a 6-0 rout as Michigan completed a weekend sweep.

New Hampshire
Liljegren-Bubela-McGowan
Melanson-Neal-Bourbonnais
Laliberte-Miller-Wood
Curadi-DeVito-Fulton

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Hampton
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

With players returning to the RPI lineup - especially Luke Curadi and Chris Bradley - the lines began to solidify a bit on Tuesday. Lou Nanne and Zach Schroeder, who had missed the UConn game, would ultimately be out for the entire slate of games for the week, but still project to hopefully be back for the ECAC contests against Yale and Brown.

Meanwhile, an eyebrow raiser in the lineup saw Curadi being slotted as a left-winger on the fourth line, something Seth Appert would later say was something he's been looking to try for some time, and felt confident enough to go forward with it in light of the injuries up front and the team's depth on the blue line.

The Engineers' worst period on Tuesday may have been the first period, but it was the one in which all of the game's goals were scored. UNH struck first on the power play 8:09 in on Warren Foegele's first collegiate goal to put the home team up 1-0. RPI picked up their first goal about six and a half minutes later, basically also on the power play. With the Wildcats killing off their penalty just a few seconds earlier, Curtis Leonard scored with a laser pinpointed blast from the blue line to knot the score, with assists to Matt Neal and Drew Melanson.

Just under two minutes later, RPI struck again to take a lead they would not relinquish. With Travis Fulton jamming the net, Parker Reno came up from the blue line to poke home a rebound to make the score 2-1. It was Reno's second collegiate goal, and first of the season.

Near the end of the period, Michael Prapavessis very nearly made it 3-1 in favor of the Engineers, but he hit a post for the second time in three games.

Jason Kasdorf came out of the game at the start of the second period for what would later be determined to be a precautionary measure as he suffered an undisclosed lower body injury in the first period. It was his replacement, Scott Diebold, who would be the story of the remainder of the game, as he stopped 11 shots in each of the next two periods to preserve the RPI victory.

Diebold's dominance in net was only part of the overall RPI success in the final two periods. The Engineers began controlling the puck well and playing good defense throughout the game. The penalty kill was especially effective, killing off the last six opportunities that the Wildcats got, including a very late penalty to Milos Bubela that effectively gave UNH the final 1:50 with a 6-on-4 situation. Diebold himself lived up to the old adage that your best penalty killer has to be your goaltender, as he made some huge saves in the final moments to deprive the home team of another goal.

Michigan (Friday)
Liljegren-Bubela-McGowan
Melanson-Neal-Bourbonnais
Laliberte-Miller-Wood
Curadi-DeVito-Fulton

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Hampton
Wilson-Reno

Diebold

After the team stopped in Buffalo the following night to take in the Sabres-Jets game, they ultimately dressed just about the same lineup as Tuesday with one major exception. The injury to Kasdorf from the New Hampshire game was deemed enough to rule him out for the Michigan series. Appert remarked that Kasdorf likely would have played if it were a league weekend in February or March, or a playoff series, but that the team wanted him back to 100% before he saw action again in the first half of the season.

RPI, as has been the case in nearly every game this season (save three), were behind after the game's first goal, which Michigan notched late in the first period to go up 1-0. The opening 20 minutes were otherwise pretty even, both teams putting up nine shots on goal and the game establishing some early back and forth flow.

The Engineers took advantage of their opportunities in the second period to tie the score. Although Michigan began putting together something of a more solid lead in shots, RPI converted on what would ultimately be their only power play opportunity of the night as Milos Bubela scored his second of the year from Jacob Laliberte and Riley Bourbonnais to tie the score at one 8:45 into the second period.

RPI played their most convincing hockey in the third period, taking the lead with 13 minutes left on a Bourbonnais redirection of a shot by Drew Melanson to put RPI up 2-1. The goal was Bourbonnais' fourth of the season, his first since his hat-trick against Union.

From there, RPI looked strong. As the minutes ticked by, they looked primed to at the very least defend their lead, if not score an insurance marker, but a pair of mistakes with about three minutes left in the game put them behind. A soft goal by Tyler Motte with 3:02 remaining in the period tied things up at two, and then just 29 seconds later, Diebold got a piece of a shot by Zach Hyman, but couldn't keep it from the back of the net. In the blink of an eye, RPI was the team that was down a goal. In both circumstances, defensive let-downs created scoring opportunities that the Wolverines simply converted.

Michigan (Saturday)
Liljegren-Bubela-McGowan
Melanson-Neal-Bourbonnais
Laliberte-Miller-Wood
Curadi-DeVito-Fulton

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Hampton
Bell-Reno

Diebold

The only change to the RPI lineup from Friday was the insertion of Bradley Bell in place of Jared Wilson, a move that was intended to get the freshman some playing time against a top-level team.

Early play between RPI and Michigan on Saturday actually resembled the early parts of the third period from Friday more than anything else - some good back and forth play that RPI had their chances with. Unfortunately, that proved to be one of the few bright spots for the Engineers on the evening.

Michigan opened the scoring 7:53 in on a put-back goal by Kevin Lohan. A power play goal just seconds into the Wolverines' first opportunity of the game about seven minutes later made it 2-0, and a solid individual effort by Syracuse native Boo Nieves three minutes after that put the Engineers down 3-0.

Nieves made it 4-0 in the second period with another strong individual effort, practically going coast-to-coast while on the power play. It was a rough night in net for Diebold, who stopped just 19 of 23 shots after 40 minutes, but he gutted out the remainder of the game with Jason Kasdorf unavailable.

Michigan notched another pair of goals in the third period for the final score of 6-0. The Engineers managed a respectable 26 shots on net, including two against Michigan's practice goaltender, but rarely looked ready to crack the scoreboard following the first 10 minutes of the game. The game was equal parts rough play by RPI and outstanding work by a Michigan team full of talent and starting to put the pieces together.

RPI returns to ECAC play this coming weekend with the Yale/Brown road trip, then faces a harrowing schedule afterwards, mostly of non-conference games. #3 Boston University is the team's last home game of the year the following weekend, then after Christmas they do battle with #9 Harvard, probably the best team in the ECAC, and coming home after New Year's for a pair of games with #4 Miami. One thing this team will certainly be by the time the core of the league schedule begins in January is battle-tested.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 10 points (5-1-0)
2. St. Lawrence - 8 points (4-2-0)
3. RPI - 8 points (4-2-0)
4. Harvard - 8 points (3-1-2)
5. Clarkson - 8 points (3-1-2)
6. Colgate - 7 points (3-2-1)
7. Yale - 7 points (3-2-1)
8. Cornell - 6 points (3-3-0)
9. Dartmouth - 5 points (2-3-1)
10. Union - 3 points (1-4-1)
11. Princeton - 2 points (1-5-0)
12. Brown - 0 points (0-6-0)

RPI at New Hampshire
Non-Conference Game - Whittemore Center (Durham, NH)
11/25/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, New Hampshire 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Concord Monitor

RECORD: 6-7-1 (4-2-0, 8pts)

RPI at Michigan
Non-Conference Game - Yost Ice Arena (Ann Arbor, MI)
11/28/14 - 7:30pm

RESULT: Michigan 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI

RECORD: 6-8-1 (4-2-0, 8pts)

RPI at Michigan
Non-Conference Game - Yost Ice Arena (Ann Arbor, MI)
11/29/14 - 7:30pm

RESULT: Michigan 6, RPI 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record

RECORD: 6-9-1 (4-2-0, 8pts)

Upcoming games
05 Dec - at Yale
06 Dec - at Brown
13 Dec - #3 Boston University
30 Dec - at #9 Harvard
02 Jan - #4 Miami

Men's Hockey - at Brown/Yale (28 Feb/1 Mar)

Coming into the final weekend of the regular season, the Engineers knew they would be playing in the first round of the playoffs, the top four slots in the league being firmly out of reach. They also knew they needed some points in order to guarantee that they would be playing at home in the first round. After grabbing those points with a 3-0 victory against Brown and after playing a decent first period against Yale, the Engineers folded into a 5-0 loss, ending the regular season on a sour note.

Brown
Higgs-Zalewski-Haggerty
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte
McGowan-Miller-Schroeder
Fulton-Rogic-Tinordi

Leboeuf-Leonard
Bradley-Dolan

Curadi-Bokenfohr

Diebold

Milos Bubela returned to the RPI lineup Friday night, replacing Jimmy DeVito, with lines reassembled accordingly. A win or a tie against Brown guaranteed the Engineers home ice in the first round of the ECAC tournament, and while they eventually got there, it took quite some time before the result of the game became unbalanced.

After a first period with no goals and no scoring (albeit with an 11-7 shot advantage for the Engineers), RPI managed to get through the second period without giving up the game's first goal despite a pair of penalties in the middle stanza, one to Mark McGowan for tripping and the other a penalty for too many men that came at the very tail end of RPI's only power play of the period.

The first two periods were basically a goaltender's duel between Scott Diebold and Brown freshman Tyler Steel, with the latter stopping 18 shots to the former's 17 through the first 40 minutes. Both teams had their opportunities, especially Brown who rung two shots off the post.

Shortly after killing Brown's third power play early in the third period, the Engineers would be the first ones onto the board somewhat against the flow of play as Jacob Laliberte rocketed home a rebound off a shot by Matt Neal to score his 6th goal of the year, making it 1-0 Engineers.

Brown's attack did not let up despite going down, and the Bears continued to put the pressure on Scott Diebold. The junior netminder was forced to make several saves to maintain RPI's edge. That pressure eased slightly when once more the Engineers managed a goal against the flow of play. An opportunistic shot by Mark Miller along the Brown blueline was misjudged by Steel, going in on the short side to put RPI up 2-0 on Miller's 3rd goal of the year.

Ultimately, two bad penalties by one of Brown's top forwards, Matt Lorito, helped bring an end to the Brown threat. His nearly back to back calls for hooking and cross-checking allowed RPI a little more breathing room as Brown threw the kitchen sink at the Engineers trying to claw their way back into things. It was not to be, as Diebold stood strong with a 34-save shutout. Zach Schroeder, long snake-bitten on scoring goals, finally secured his first of the year by hitting the empty net just 10 seconds after Steel had vacated it, sealing the victory for RPI and securing home ice in the first round.

Yale
Tinordi-Higgs-Haggerty
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte
McGowan-Miller-Schroeder
Wood-Rogic-DeVito

Leboeuf-Leonard
Bradley-Dolan

Curadi-Bokenfohr

Diebold

With home ice in their back pockets, RPI could take some heart in the fact that nothing that happened outside of their game against Yale would have any impact on where they finished - they would only help determine their opponent, something that was completely out of their hands. The metric was simple. A win would make the Engineers the 6th seed in the tournament, a loss or tie would leave them 7th. In both cases, they would be hosting an undetermined team from the same potential field of teams, making the difference fairly moot with the exception of limiting the potential quarterfinal opponents.

Mike Zalewski, who battled illness over the weekend, was ruled out for the game, and Jake Wood stepped in to take his place. Travis Fulton was also swapped out of the lineup to be replaced by Jimmy DeVito.

The first period was a classic back-and-forth, physical, speed-driven period between RPI and Yale. Both teams picked up plenty of scoring chances, there were plenty of hits, and neither team looked to be giving an inch of ice. Five minutes in, RPI was killing a penalty to Guy Leboeuf that was fortunate to be only a minor, and just after the Lebeouf penalty ended, a high-sticking call to Matt Neal put them right back on the penalty kill, but both times a strong showing on the kill ended without goals for the home team. The 9-8 shot total - the Bulldogs holding the advantage - was very indicative of the evenly played period at even-strength.

Then, as the second period got underway, only one team really seemed to come out for it, and Yale was that team. The Bulldogs began dominating basically every facet of the game as the Engineers shrunk away from their transitional game, their physical play, and their speed. The lopsided shot total for the middle frame - 18-3 for Yale - was also very indicative of how things went. Yale opened the scoring 9:12 into the second period with a goal by Jesse Root. That it was the only goal of the period spoke volumes of how well Scott Diebold was playing in net for the Engineers - his play alone kept RPI in the contest after 40 minutes. Despite how poorly the team was playing, the Engineers were still a good bounce away from tying things up.

In the third period, however, RPI looked even more unready or unwilling to face the Yale challenge, and the floodgates soon opened. An Anthony Day goal 2:25 in made it 2-0, and 10 minutes later a goal from Frankie DiChiara basically sealed RPI into 7th place as the home team took a 3-0 lead with under 8 minutes to play. After 8 shots in the first period, the Engineers managed just 10 more for the remainder of the game, and two more goals given up with under two minutes to play produced a 5-0 rout that ended the regular season.

After a wild ending in Ithaca between Cornell and Harvard, the overtime game that was the last one to finish produced three different potential opponents for the three different potential outcomes. A tie would see Harvard on their way to Troy for the first round. A win by the Crimson would produce Brown. However, with Cornell scoring in the final minute of the overtime period, the Dartmouth Big Green, one of the hottest teams in the league down the stretch, were the ones ordering up a bus to Houston Field House next weekend.

Other junk - Ranked ECAC teams this week included Union (swept Yale/Brown, no change with 1 first place vote), #6 Quinnipiac (beat SLU and tied Clarkson, up two), #13 Cornell (lost to Dartmouth and beat Harvard, down two), #16 Yale (lost to Union and beat RPI, down one), and #18 Colgate (lost to Harvard and beat Dartmouth, down two). Clarkson (17) also received votes. Other ranked teams on the RPI schedule include #1 Minnesota (up one with 37 first place votes), #2 Boston College (down one with 12 first place votes), and #7 Ferris State (down three). Denver (27, previously ranked 20th), New Hampshire (16), and Mercyhurst (8) also received votes.

Ryan Haggerty won the ECAC goal scoring crown by netting 14 goals in league play, one more than Union's Daniel Carr or St. Lawrence's Matt Carey.

Brock Higgs is a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, given to a senior in each sport with committment to "community, classroom, character and competition." The online vote counts for 1/3 of the final vote tally, and you can vote once per day. To support Brock, click here.

Final ECAC Standings
1. Union - 37 points (18-3-1)
2. Colgate - 29 points (13-6-3)
3. Quinnipiac - 28 points (12-6-4)
4. Cornell - 26 points (11-7-4)
5. Clarkson - 24 points (11-9-2)
6. Yale - 24 points (10-8-4)
7. RPI - 21 points (8-9-5)
8. St. Lawrence - 18 points (7-11-4)
9. Brown - 17 points (8-13-1)
10. Dartmouth - 16 points (7-13-2)
11. Harvard - 16 points (6-12-4)
12. Princeton - 8 points (4-18-0)

ECAC First Round matchups
#12 Princeton at #5 Clarkson
#11 Harvard at #6 Yale
#10 Dartmouth at #7 RPI
#9 Brown at #8 St. Lawrence

RPI at Brown
ECAC Game - Meehan Auditorium (Providence, RI)
2/28/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Brown 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record

RECORD: 14-13-6 (8-8-5 ECAC, 21 pts)

RPI at #15 Yale
ECAC Game - Ingalls Rink (New Haven, CT)
3/1/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Yale 5, RPI 0

BOX SCORES

College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
USCHO
Troy Record

RECORD: 14-14-6 (8-9-5 ECAC, 21 pts)

Upcoming games
07 Mar - Dartmouth (ECAC First Round - Game 1)
08 Mar - Dartmouth (ECAC First Round - Game 2)
09 Mar - Dartmouth (ECAC First Round - Game 3, if necessary)
14 Mar - at ECAC Quarterfinals, Game 1 (if qualified)
15 Mar - at ECAC Quarterfinals, Game 2 (if qualified)

Men's Hockey - Dartmouth and the Mayor's Cup (24/25 Jan)

In a weekend where a reeling team desperately needed a jumpstart, the RPI Engineers took steps to put the season back on track with a big pair of victories. The first win, a 4-2 victory against Dartmouth on Friday night, gave the Engineers two important ECAC points, while the second one, a 2-1 victory in the Mayor's Cup game against Union, finally got a monkey off the team's back and provided a solid upset victory that is likely to serve as some kind of turning point in the season, depending on the impact of the much talked about aftermath.

Dartmouth
Higgs-Zalewski-Haggerty
Laliberte-Bubela-Neal
Wood-Miller-Schroeder
Tinordi-Rogic-DeVito

Leboeuf-Leonard
Bradley-Dolan

Curadi-Bokenfohr

Diebold

A jumbling of the lines from the last time the Engineers were on the ice nearly two weeks prior was in the cards for RPI's first home game in over a month. The jumble created a pair of scoring lines and what Seth Appert called "two third lines." Craig Bokenfohr also made the lineup for just the second time this year.

The first period consisted mostly of a feeling out process for both teams, neither playing overly physical and neither contesting too many decent scoring opportunties. The period ended with the Engineers holding a 10-6 shot edge.

RPI got things going quickly in the second period with Ryan Haggerty snapping his goal-scoring drought with his first goal since December 7. He scored off the post and in on a one-timer in the slot from a pass by Brock Higgs to make it 1-0 with his 19th goal of the season.

From there the physical play picked up significantly on both sides, but it was RPI being called for all of the penalties, taking three penalties in a row (two to Johnny Rogic), but the Big Green power play was unable to convert on any of them.

About a minute after the second Rogic penalty ended, RPI made it 2-0 on a tic-tac-toe play. Haggerty, with the puck behind the RPI net, passed to Jacob Laliberte near the slot, and Laliberte one-touched a pass to Milos Bubela on the side of the cage. Bubela's one-timer hit a wide open net to double the RPI lead.

Three minutes later, Dartmouth scored shortly after a faceoff in the RPI zone with a shot from the point that went through a screen, forcing Diebold to dive too late to his left to stop the puck. That goal made it 2-1.

With the next goal crucial, RPI regained their two-goal edge a little under eight minutes into the third period as Matt Neal scored down low with his 10th goal of the season to make it 3-1 Engineers. But four minutes later, Dartmouth would get the goal back shortly after killing a penalty. With the penalized player streaking out of the box, the Big Green found him with a head-man pass, creating a breakaway that they scored to Diebold's left.

With Dartmouth's goaltender pulled late in the game, it looked like the Engineers were in for another nailbiting ending as the Big Green pushed hard for the tying goal. The pressure wasn't truly relieved until there were only about 10 seconds left as Mike Zalewski jumped on a loose puck and brought it down ice, getting an open look at the empty net before being hauled down from behind while coming up the boards. The referees, after initial consultation, awarded a penalty shot which was registered as an automatic goal since there was no goaltender in the net, sealing the win for the Engineers with about six seconds left in the game.

The victory snapped a six-game winless streak and a four-game losing streak for the Engineers, producing their first win since a 5-2 triumph over Princeton in early December.

Union
Higgs-Zalewski-Haggerty
Laliberte-Bubela-Neal
Wood-Miller-Schroeder
Tinordi-Rogic-DeVito

Leboeuf-Leonard
Bradley-Dolan

Curadi-Bokenfohr

Diebold

The challenge of one of the top-ranked teams in the nation, and the Engineers' most fierce rival, was next on neutral turf. The designated home team this year, RPI rolled with the same lineup on Saturday night that had procured victory on Friday.

The Engineers actually controlled much of the play in the first 20 minutes but, as can happen against a solid team like Union, ended up trailing 1-0 due to a spot error that was pounced upon. After an early penalty kill, RPI got a power play of their own and were looking fairly decent on that advantage until the puck squirted away and into the neutral zone behind all five members of the top power play unit, all forwards. Shayne Gostisbehere raced after the puck, which preceded him down ice and into the RPI zone. Diebold elected not to play the puck, and the Union junior took it behind the RPI net and wrapped it around and in without any challenge from Engineer skaters, making it 1-0 on a shorthanded goal.

Union appeared to come out of the locker room flat in the second period, and the Engineers pounced to capitalize, dominating possession in the Union zone before Bubela notched his second goal of the weekend about five minutes in to make it 1-1. For the next five minutes, it appeared that a 2-1 RPI lead was inevitable, so out of sorts were the Dutchmen on defense. Interestingly, a Union penalty to Matt Hatch seemed to be the spark that snapped the Dutchmen out of their funk, as the ensuing power play by the Engineers never got out of the gate, only once even gaining the attacking zone and never truly getting set up.

That kill, along with a pair of RPI penalties that created a tense 3-on-5 penalty killing situation for the Engineers, definitely swung all the momentum back in the Union direction, but Diebold and his defense stood strong through the onslaught, making 9 saves in the final 10 minutes of the second period to preserve the 1-1 tie.

The referees swallowed their whistles during the third period, though they didn't have much of an excuse to use them anyway in what was definitely turning into a solid back and forth battle between the rivals. Union appeared to mostly have the upperhand for the third period, but RPI was getting their own scoring opportunities from time to time as well. The breakthrough came with 3:38 left in regulation, as Zalewski scored his second goal of the weekend to give the Engineers a 2-1 lead somewhat against the flow of play.

Union wasted no time in pulling their goaltender, going with six skaters just over a minute later. The Dutchmen buzzed the RPI zone, looking for that tying goal, and the Engineers could scarcely move the puck out of the zone. The Engineers iced the puck a few times, but that was the best they seemed to be able to do. Scott Diebold continued coming up large, including making a diving glove save with just about 30 seconds left on the clock.

An icing call with 1.7 seconds left created one final chance in the RPI zone for Union, but Zalewski won the faceoff back into an empty corner to kill the rest of the clock and give the Engineers the weekend sweep, the Mayor's Cup, and their first victory over Union in 11 tries over the last three seasons.

There were other things that happened in the immediate interim, you may have heard about them.

The victory completed RPI's first weekend sweep since twin victories over Sacred Heart and BU in late October, and marked the Engineers' first win of the season that did not include a goal by Ryan Haggerty.

Other junk - Despite the rebound, the Engineers are only at .500, still not enough to garner any votes in the latest USCHO poll. Ranked ECAC teams include #3 Quinnipiac (idle, up one), #4 Union (beat Harvard and lost to RPI, down one), #11 Cornell (tied SLU and beat Clarkson, up one), #13 Yale (split with Brown, down three), #15 Clarkson (swept at Colgate/Cornell, down two), and #18 Colgate (swept Clarkson/SLU, previously unranked). No other ECAC teams picked up votes. Eight different ECAC teams have been ranked this season with the addition of Colgate, including all six New York teams. Other ranked teams on the RPI schedule include #1 Minnesota (no change with 44 of 50 first place votes), #2 Boston College (no change with 6 of 50 first place votes), #6 Ferris State (no change), and #16 Denver (no change). New Hampshire (7) and Mercyhurst (2) also received votes.

Mike Zalewski and Luke Curadi picked up game-disqualifications in the unpleasantness after the Mayor's Cup game was over, they will not be able to play this coming Friday. Supplemental discipline handed down by the ECAC on Monday will also make Ryan Haggerty and Bo Dolan ineligible on Friday.

At 19 goals, Haggerty is tied for 2nd in the nation with Boston College's Kevin Hayes. Hayes' teammate, Johnny Gaudreau, leads with 22. Haggerty is 11th in the nation in points per game (1.30), second in goals per game (0.83), and fifth in power-play goals with 8.

Jacob Laliberte has jumped into the top 20 in the nation in assists per game at 0.78.

Jake Wood has 53 penalty minutes this season, Brock Higgs has 49 and Mike Zalewski 47, all more than Milos Bubela last season, the team leader with 43. Wood leads a team that is currently 3rd in the nation in total penalty minutes per game (17.3).

The North Country trip beckons at one of the most difficult points in the season to go - when it's massively cold out. The far tougher game will come on Friday, against nationally ranked Clarkson with four regular starters serving a suspension. They will all be available on Saturday, against a struggling St. Lawrence squad.

ECAC Standings
1. Union - 20 points (10-2-0)
2. Colgate - 19 points (9-3-1)
3. Quinnipiac - 19 points (8-2-3)
4. Clarkson - 16 points (8-4-0)
5. Cornell - 16 points (6-3-4)
6. Yale - 13 points (5-4-3)
7. Brown - 11 points (5-6-1)
8. RPI - 11 points (4-5-3)
9. St. Lawrence - 7 points (2-7-3)
10. Harvard - 7 points (2-9-3)
11. Princeton - 6 points (3-9-0)
12. Dartmouth - 5 points (2-10-1)

Dartmouth at RPI
ECAC Game - Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (Princeton, NJ)
1/24/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, Dartmouth 2

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RECORD: 9-10-4 (4-5-3 ECAC, 11 pts)

RPI vs. #3 Union
Mayor's Cup Game - Times Union Center (Albany, NY)
1/25/14 - 7:30pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Union 1

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RECORD: 10-10-4 (4-5-3 ECAC, 11 pts)

Upcoming games
31 Jan - at #15 Clarkson
01 Feb - at St. Lawrence
07 Feb - #13 Yale
08 Feb - Brown (Big Red Freakout!)
14 Feb - at #18 Colgate

Men's Hockey - Denver, US Under-18 Team (13/14/15 Dec)

The RPI Engineers closed out their 2013 schedule with a back-to-back-to-back home helping of hockey that will be their last in Troy for over a month, for the first time taking on a program from the new NCHC in welcoming Denver to town. A pair of very evenly matched games did not turn out 100% in the Engineers favor, but both games went to overtime, producing a 2-1 loss and a 1-1 tie to complete the calendar year's competitive game slate. On Sunday afternoon, an exhibition game gave RPI fans the first opportunity to see Jake Soffer in action, and he did quite well in backstopping an unofficial 2-1 victory over the US Under-18 national development program team.

Denver (Friday)
Neal-Higgs-Haggerty
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Leboeuf-Leonard

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Diebold

Parker Reno was pulled from the RPI lineup in favor of Phil Hampton for the two Denver games, with most of the remainder of the forward lineup consisting of the Engineers who were healthy - Travis Fulton was the lone healthy scratch up front.

The list of injuries for the forwards grew by one almost right off the bat as Jacob Laliberte suffered a separated shoulder mere seconds into his first shift of the game, leaving the Engieners with a short bench for just about the entire contest. That didn't stop them from jumping out to a quick lead as they have done for nearly the whole season, with Brock Higgs notching his 12th goal of the year just 2:30 into the contest to give RPI the 1-0 lead that they have earned with such frequency.

On the other end, Scott Diebold stood tall in net, stopping all 13 shots that he saw during the first period. The Engineers maintained that one goal lead for 32 solid minutes thanks in part to the junior netminder's play. RPI was outshot in the first 40 minutes 26-14, and in all honesty just about all of those shots for RPI came in the first 10 minutes of the 1st period and the last five or so of the 2nd.

The lead came to an end with just over five minutes left to play in the middle frame as Denver scored a goal in transition to tie things up. That woke up an RPI offense that had been sluggish to be kind during the 2nd period, which has become a habit almost as strong as the early goals.

A lackluster third period followed which was devoid of any real sense of drama despite the tie score. Neither team appeared close to scoring in the period, which saw Scott Diebold add another 10 saves to his record for the weekend.

Ultimately, the game hinged only on a defensive lapse while Denver was in transition with about two minutes left in the overtime period. The Pioneers took advantage of out-of-position defensemen to score with a considerable amount of open ice, providing the difference in a game in which RPI did not play its best hockey but was right in until the end.

Denver (Saturday)
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Diebold

Laliberte was listed on the initial line chart and planned to participate in the pre-game warmup, but was quickly replaced by Travis Fulton in what ended up a lost weekend for the junior. The lineup otherwise was exactly the same as Friday night.

The Engineers outshot Denver 7-4 in the opening period on Saturday, but failed to score a first period goal for only the fourth time this season. Meanwhile, the second period struggles continued, as RPI managed only 6 shots on goal in the period.

Saturday night's game was scoreless for the first 38 minutes and change, but Denver opened the scoring on a beautiful goal highly reminiscent of Brock Higgs' highlight reel goal against Princeton as the Pioneers took a 1-0 lead in the dying minutes of the second period.

But a pair of Denver penalties for roughing combined with a Mike Zalewski roughing call put RPI on the power play seconds later, and the Engineers converted with Matt Neal scoring his 7th goal of the season with only four seconds left in the period to tie the game back up just 1:08 after Denver had taken their only lead of the weekend.

For the second straight night, the third period only brought further deadlock and not much in the way of excitement. Denver turned on the jets in the overtime period, forcing Scott Diebold to be sharp with five saves, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Engineers managed only 19 shots on Saturday night, most of which did not feature a rebound from the solid Denver netminder, Sam Brittain.

The tie marked the first time this season the Engineers did not lose a game in which Ryan Haggerty failed to score a goal. Diebold put together a very solid weekend against a team that's struggling to score, but 68 saves on 71 shots is decent no matter how you slice it.

US Under-18 Team
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Soffer

Although exhibition rules allow a team to dress as many players as will fit on the bench, a lack of healthy forwards left RPI with just 12 up front, and with Phil Hampton seeing little ice time late in the Saturday game against Denver, only one extra defenseman suited up in Craig Bokenfohr. The biggest change, of course, was in net, where freshman Jake Soffer got his unofficial first start in net, or at least his first game action for RPI.

Soffer looked a little bit shaky on his first save, giving up a big rebound that the U-18s buried rather quickly to make it 1-0 just 66 seconds into the game, but it would be his only mistake of the evening. His team helped him have a relatively quiet first 40 minutes as Soffer faced just 9 shots in the first two periods.

Meanwhile, the game was rather chippy from the outset, and that eventually played into RPI's hands. Matt Neal scored 1:14 into the second period on the power play to make it 1-1, and Riley Bourbonnais followed up at 7:37 to make it 2-1. Neal would eventually leave with what was reported to be a dislocated elbow, a worse-case scenario for RPI to be sure, but while he would not return, he is not expected to miss time down the road.

Most notable other than the two RPI goals in the second period was the shot onslaught that the Engineers produced, unleashing 20 shots in the period alone, more than they had managed in the entire 65 minutes against Denver a night prior. That diminished sharply in the third period, as momentum changed drastically with the U-18s outshooting RPI 13-1 in the final period, but it was in the third that Soffer encouraged some optimism in the RPI faithful standing strong in net against a team that was definitely looking to get itself back into the game. He finished with 21 saves on 22 shots.

Other junk - The "one-point" weekend knocked the Engineers back out of the USCHO poll, becoming instead the top unranked vote getter for the second time in three weeks with 54, 13 away from #20 Minnesota State. Ranked ECAC teams include #6 Union (beat and tied St. Cloud State, up four), #8 Quinnipiac (idle, down one), #9 Clarkson (idle, up one), #11 Yale (idle, no change), and #15 Cornell (idle, down one). No other ECAC teams received votes this week. Other ranked teams on the RPI schedule include #1 Minnesota (up one with 32 first place votes), #2 Ferris State (up two with 12 first place votes), #7 Boston College (down one), and #17 Denver (up three). New Hampshire (18) and Mercyhurst (3) also received votes.

Despite no goals on the weekend, Ryan Haggerty continues to lead the nation in goals with 18, still five ahead of second place. He remains the only player in the country with more than one goal per game at 1.06. With 1.53 points per game, he is alone in 6th in the nation in that category, and he leads the country in power play goals (8) and is tied for the national lead in game-winning goals (4) with Matt Bailey of Alaska-Anchorage.

Brock Higgs is now on 12 goals, which is tied for 7th in the nation - one more on the weekend (the Neal goal was originally credited to him) would have tied him for 2nd. His 1.11 points per game is tied for 36th in the country.

Jacob Laliberte and Matt Neal are both sitting on 1.00 points per game, tying them for 49th in the nation there. Laliberte is 23rd in assists per game with 0.76.

RPI's team offense, thanks to a pair of one goal efforts, is now outside the national Top 10 for the first time this season at 3.44 goals per game.

The Engineers have a tall task ahead of them after the New Year, as they take on the #2 team in the country, Ferris State. The Bulldogs have the longest unbeaten streak in the nation at 15 games. Beyond that game, RPI could find itself facing off with #1 Minnesota on the Gophers' home ice if the chips fall correctly. That's a tough weekend no matter how you slice it.

ECAC Standings
1. Union - 16 points (8-1-0)
2. Quinnipiac - 14 points (6-2-2)
3. Clarkson - 12 points (6-2-0)
4. Colgate - 11 points (5-3-1)
5. Cornell - 10 points (4-3-2)
6. Yale - 9 points (3-2-3)
7. RPI - 9 points (3-3-3)
8. Brown - 7 points (3-4-1)
9. St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-4-2)
10. Harvard - 6 points (2-6-2)
11. Dartmouth - 4 points (2-8-0, -16 GD)
12. Princeton - 4 points (2-8-0, -19 GD)

#20 Denver at #18 RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/13/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Denver 2, RPI 1 (OT)

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RECORD: 8-6-3 (2-3-3 ECAC, 7 pts)

#20 Denver at #18 RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/14/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 1, Denver 1 (OT)

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RECORD: 8-6-4 (3-3-3 ECAC, 9 pts)

US Under-18 Team at #18 RPI
Exhibition Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/15/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, US Under-18 Team 1

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RECORD: 8-6-4 (3-3-3 ECAC, 9 pts)

Upcoming games
03 Jan - vs. #2 Ferris State (Minneapolis, MN)
04 Jan - vs. #1 Minnesota OR Colgate (Minneapolis, MN)
10 Jan - at Princeton
11 Jan - at #8 Quinnipiac
24 Jan - Dartmouth

Men's Hockey - Harvard, at Harvard/Dartmouth (29 Oct, 1/2 Nov)

The Engineers played a rare (very rare) 3-games-in-5-days schedule to open the ECAC season and complete their entire season series with the Harvard Crimson, and the results were fairly mixed. A difficult home tie on Tuesday was followed by a tough loss at Harvard on Friday and a big road win over a struggling Dartmouth team on Saturday. That starts the Engineers off with a .500 record in league play through 3 games, a position they're going to need to improve on going forward.

Harvard - Tuesday
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Leboeuf-Dolan
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno

Diebold

There were no changes in the RPI lineup from the previous Saturday's victory over New Hampshire - the lines and the players were exactly the same. As it turned out, much of the gameflow from the UNH game ended up being exactly the same, too.

It got underway with an early goal by Johnny Rogic - not quite as early as his first minute tally against the Wildcats, but plenty quickly nonetheless at 4:33 of the first period, giving RPI a 1-0 lead on their very first shot of the game. Ryan Haggerty added another goal, his 9th of the season, about two and a half minutes later on RPI's second shot of the game during the first power play opportunity for either team to make it 2-0. The score was actually a bit of a reversal in fortunes, as Harvard controlled the opening faceoff and then pinned the Engineers in their own zone for a good chunk of the game's opening moments.

Brock Higgs netted his 3rd goal of the campaign at 15:30, and it looked as though the Engineers were ready to start putting the hammer down with a commanding 3-0 lead, given that the Crimson did not appear likely to break through against Scott Diebold any time soon.

The Crimson did eventually make that breakthrough seven minutes into the second period as the tide of the game slowly turned very much in Harvard's favor during the course of the middle frame. RPI was still putting pucks on net in the 2nd, forcing Steve Michalek to make 11 saves in the period, but gradually the Crimson started winning more puck battles and owning the puck more frequently. Despite the trailing off in intensity, the Engineers still had a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.

The final 20 minutes of regulation was almost a complete collapse for the Engineers as they finished blowing the three-goal lead they'd earned in the first 15 minutes. Harvard scored three minutes into the third to cut the remaining RPI lead in half, then proceeded to completely dominate play for the remaining 17 minutes, earning the tying goal at 10:48 and on many occasions coming close to taking the lead.

RPI, fortunate to survive the third without completing their collapse, seemed to wake up in the overtime period, nearly gaining back the league point they'd coughed up in the third period but ultimately failing to record even a single shot on goal in the extra five minutes. In all honesty, Harvard probably deserved the win more than RPI, but given the 3-0 edge the Engineers held, the tie was probably more difficult to swallow for the home team than for the Crimson.

Harvard - Friday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Laliberte-Schroeder-Haggerty
Zalewski-Neal-Bubela
Wood-McGowan-DeVito

Leboeuf-Dolan
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno

Diebold

Despite the lethargic play for most of the Tuesday game, only one substitution was made in the lineup as Jimmy DeVito came in to replace Mark Miller, who sat out a game for the first time in his collegiate career. Zach Schroeder was moved up to center the second line, while Mark McGowan took Miller's place centering the fourth line.

As has become the norm, the Engineers started Friday's game off quickly, unleashing a number of shots toward Harvard netminder Raphael Girard, but unlike most of their previous games, there was no breakthrough in the first 20 minutes. After failing to score on two power play opportunities in the first five minutes of the game, RPI started to back off considerably, especially once forced to kill a 1:49 5-on-3 opportunity for Harvard. They escaped the long kill unscathed, and there was no score after one period.

Harvard got all the offense they would need off the opening faceoff in the second period, scoring just 19 seconds into the middle stanza to take a 1-0 lead. From there on, they needed just 15 saves from Girard for the final 40 minutes of play to secure two points and a 3-1 series win over the Engineers in just four days time. RPI did not seem to be close to even threatening to score in the final two periods. Harvard would pick up an empty net goal with just over a minute left in the game to secure the victory.

Scott Diebold actually had a very good game and could hardly be blamed for the loss - he stopped 30 of 31 shots as a hard-luck loser, actually improving both his GAA and his save percentage despite losing. Oddly, there were no penalties called in the second or third periods after the teams had combined for five during the first 15 minutes of the first period.

Dartmouth
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Diebold

Mark Miller's return dovetailed with Milos Bubela following his lead from the previous night and sitting out for the first time in his collegiate career. Riley Bourbonnais made his college debut as well, replacing Jake Wood in the lineup.

Desperately in need of some points to salvage what was becoming a lost week, the Engineers weathered an early storm by killing off a penalty to Bo Dolan that came 4 minutes into the affair, then about a minute later went up 1-0 on Ryan Haggerty's national leading 10th goal of the season. That was followed just 13 seconds later by Brock Higgs' 4th goal of the year to make it 2-0 RPI. The senior would pick up a second goal on RPI's first power play of the evening at 16:23 to give the Engineers a 3-0 first period lead for the third time in five games. Notably, Haggerty picked up his first assist of the season on Higgs' second goal.

The onslaught continued in the second period, as Matt Neal scored his 2nd of the year just 1:32 in to make it 4-0, and Higgs completed the hat trick later in the period for his 6th goal of the season, like his second one on the power play, giving RPI a 5-0 lead through two periods.

In previous games, the Engineers had maintained cruise control with big leads in the 3rd period, but they continued pouring it on. Jacob Laliberte lit the lamp for the first time this year at 5:26 to make it 6-0. Dartmouth got one back on the power play following a hitting from behind call to Curadi with just over five minutes left to play to scuttle Scott Diebold's shutout efforts, but Curadi made up for it by scoring his first collegiate goal on a blast from the blue line on RPI's subsequent power play chance just over two minutes later to make the final score 7-1.

Diebold was brilliant again, stopping 31 of 32 shots on the evening for a road weekend total of 61 for 63 on saves.

Other junk - Given the up-and-down nature of the weekend, it's not too shocking to see that RPI has not moved at all in the USCHO poll this week, staying at #10 for the second consecutive week. Other ranked ECAC teams this week are #5 Quinnipiac (swept at Colgate/Cornell, up two), #9 Yale (tied SLU and beat Clarkson, up two), #15 Cornell (beat Princeton and lost to Quinnipiac, down one), and #16 Clarkson (beat Brown and lost to Yale, up one). St. Lawrence (34 votes), Union (30), Harvard (22), and Brown (8) also received votes. Other teams on the Engineers' schedule that are ranked include #1 Minnesota (all 50 first place votes, no change), #8 Boston College (no change), #17 Boston University (up one), and #19 Ferris State (previously unranked). New Hampshire (13) also received votes.

Ryan Haggerty's 10 goals is the most in the nation, his closest trailer is Miami's Riley Barber with 8. His 1.25 goals per game leads the nation, and he's one of five players in the country scoring a goal per game or higher.

Haggerty is also tied (with seven other players) for the national lead in power play goals with 4. Brock Higgs is tied with 16 players nationally who are right behind with 3.

Scott Diebold's 1.58 GAA is fifth in the nation, while his .946 save percentage has him tied for fourth.

RPI is tied with Union for the 6th highest scoring offense in the nation (4.00 GPG), and with Denver and UMass-Lowell for the 9th strongest team defense (2.12 GAA). The 1.88 GPG average scoring margin is fourth in the country, behind Minnesota, Providence, and Quinnipiac.

The Engineers' discipline has been superb on a national level - only UConn takes fewer penalty minutes per game.

Next up for RPI is the home weekend against Central New York - Cornell and Colgate. Home points are always a must, but they're even more important now with most of the league having a game in hand over the Engineers, as well as the 1 point showing for the season against Harvard.

ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 4 points (2-0-0, +8 GD)
2. Union - 4 points (2-0-0, +7 GD)
3. Yale - 3 points (1-0-1)
4. RPI - 3 points (1-1-1, +4 GD)
5. Harvard - 3 points (1-1-1, 0 GD)
6. St. Lawrence - 2 points (1-1-0, 0 GD)
7. Cornell - 2 points (1-1-0, -1 GD)
8. Clarkson - 2 points (1-1-0, -2 GD)
9. Colgate - 2 points (1-1-0, -3 GD)
10. Brown - 1 point (0-1-1, -1 GD)
11. Princeton - 0 points (0-2-0, -4 GD)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-2-0, -11 GD)

Harvard at #10 RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/29/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Harvard 3

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RECORD: 4-1-1 (0-0-1 ECAC, 1 pt)

#10 RPI at Harvard
ECAC Game - Bright Hockey Center (Boston, MA)
11/1/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Harvard 2, RPI 0

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RECORD: 4-2-1 (0-1-1 ECAC, 1 pt)

#10 RPI at Dartmouth
ECAC Game - Thompson Arena (Hanover, NH)
11/2/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 7, Dartmouth 1

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RECORD: 5-2-1 (1-1-1 ECAC, 3 pts)

Upcoming games
08 Nov - #15 Cornell
09 Nov - Colgate
15 Nov - Union
16 Nov - at Union
22 Nov - at Mercyhurst

Men's Hockey - Ferris State (12/13 Oct)

The Engineers concluded their season last year playing some very good team hockey, especially on the road. They arguably controlled play in their final nine road games of the year, going 5-3-1 in those contests and sparking a run to the ECAC Quarterfinals. At home, it was a very different story for RPI. Welcoming the national runners-up to Houston Field House, it didn't seem to be a good opportunity for the Engineers to shine in Troy, but instead they picked up their first home win since January 27, taking down 11th-ranked Ferris State 3-1 on Friday and picking up a 2-2 tie on Saturday.

Friday
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Diebold

Friday's lines were actually just as advertised in the exhibition matchup against Acadia - the extra skaters of Andrew Commers, Greg Burgdoerfer, and Phil Hampton were dropped from the lineup, and sophomore Scott Diebold was given the surprise start in net for the Engineers in the season opener for both teams. Excluding both teams' exhibition matchups, it was RPI's first game since dropping Game 2 of the ECAC Quarterfinals, and Ferris State's first since falling to Boston College in the national championship.

Things started out very poorly for the Engineers, and it seemed a harbinger of things to come. The Bulldogs would score with their very first shot on goal just a minute and a half into the game, a tip-in after a spin-around pass from Diebold's left putting RPI behind the eight ball from the get-go, down 1-0.

Eight minutes in, the Engineers would finally notch their first ever goal against Ferris State (after failing to score in two games last year) to tie the game at one. Nick Bailen found Mark McGowan with a perfect cross-ice head-man pass, allowing McGowan to go in all alone on Ferris goaltender C.J. Motte. McGowan ripped a wrister from the top of the slot that beat Motte top shelf to knot the score.

Ryan Haggerty's first goal of the season midway through the second period broke the deadlock and gave the Engineers a lead they would not relinquish. After an initial shot from the point by Guy Leboeuf, Haggerty eventually picked up a rebound in the slot which he put past a sprawling Motte to make it 2-1 Engineers.

Ferris State was able to maintain some good puck control in the final 40 minutes, but Diebold proved up to the task, stopping 11 shots in the second and 12 in the third, having to make a number of outstanding saves in the final stanza to preserve the Engineers' lead. In total, he finished the contest with 30 saves.

There were a dearth of penalties in the game, with RPI taking only two minors in 60 minutes and Ferris State only three. The Bulldogs' third penalty could not have come at a worse time, as an interference call put them down a man with about two and a half minutes left in regulation, forcing FSU to kill a penalty for most of the time they had left to find the tying goal.

The RPI power play sealed things up about a minute into that man advantage, as a sharp shot by Bailen from the top of the left faceoff circle was redirected in front by Jacob Laliberte to make it 3-1 with just a minute and a half left, giving the Engineers the upset victory at home in the first game of the season.

Saturday
Lee-McGowan-Schroeder
Zalewski-Higgs-Tinordi
Neal-Laliberte-Haggerty
Miller-Rogic-Bubela

Leboeuf-Bailen
Curadi-Leonard
Bradley-Dolan

Merriam

Not surp risingly, the same lines that worked on Friday were rolled out again on Saturday, and on a team with three legitimate goaltenders, a new goalie was between the pipes for RPI in senior Bryce Merriam.

Where Friday's game had seen a low number of penalties, the Bulldogs managed to match their total from that contest in Saturday's first period alone, and much like on Friday, it was RPI's third power play opportunity that would lead to a goal - albeit a goal that had a little controversy to it. After extended pressure in the Ferris State zone, Matt Neal took a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that Motte stopped, and while Ryan Haggerty and Laliberte tried to work the puck free, the net was knocked off its pegs by a defender. Laliberte put the puck across the goal line, and the goal was upheld after review. The defender knocking the net loose was key; this would not have been a goal last year but the situation was changed as part of the new "Union rule," so-named because Union nullified a Michigan State goal in last year's NCAA Tournament in a similar fashion.

Ferris State's first goal of the game came with the Bulldogs pouncing on RPI at the outset of the second period. Just 39 seconds into the middle frame, a tight angle shot from the boards on Merriam's right side bounced in to tie the score at one. For the second straight night, it would be a solid second for Ferris State as Merriam made 10 saves over the course of the period to maintain the tie.

After a slow start to the third period, Ferris State picked up their first lead of the game midway through the period on a rip from the blue line, making it 2-1 and giving them a very serious edge given the way the third period had been playing out to that time. Things didn't look promising for the Engineers to crawl back into things.

However, it took only 24 seconds for RPI to find the equalizer, and it was Laliberte notching his third consecutive goal. After a turnover in the Ferris State zone, Laliberte poked at the puck while fading back toward the blue line to bring the game level again, 2-2.

The Engineers maintained an even keel heading into overtime, even though they managed only three shots on goal in the entire third period. The final five minutes was a different story, as RPI blasted Ferris State with five shots on goal in the extra stanza. Motte was up to the task, however, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie which completed a virtual three-point weekend for the Engineers.

Other junk - The surprise showing vaulted the Engineers up in the consideration for the always volatile early season polls, picking up 40 votes in this week's USCHO rankings. #6 Cornell (idle, down one), #8 Union (swept Bowling Green, up two with one first-place vote for some reason), #17 Harvard (idle, no change), and #20 Quinnipiac (split with Robert Morris, down two) are the ranked ECAC teams this week, St. Lawrence (6) and Yale (3) are the other league teams receiving votes this week. Other ranked teams on RPI's schedule are #11 Boston University (up one), #15 New Hampshire (previously unranked), and #16 Ferris State (down five). St. Cloud State (9) and Minnesota State (3) also received votes.

RPI's penalty kill was 4-for-4 on the weekend, but 17 teams have a similar 100% penalty kill ratings (including Quinnipiac, who has killed all 15 penalties they've taken in three games). RPI's 10 total penalty minutes in two games has them 46th out of 48 teams that have played games thus far in penalties, which won't last given the Engineers' reputation for penalties.

Boston College fell in their first game of the season (to Northeastern), ending their 19-game winning and unbeaten streak. Northeastern, ironically, was the only other team in the nation that won their last game of the season last year, and now has the longest unbeaten streak in the nation with three wins in a row.

Next on the docket for RPI is a trip to Mankato, MN for the second half of the home-and-home series with Minnesota State. The teams split in Troy last year, with the Mavericks winning 1-0 in the season opener for both sides last year and the Engineers winning 4-1 in the Saturday game. Minnesota State also picked up a win and a tie to open this season, taking three points at Alabama-Huntsville over the weekend 4-1 and 2-2.

#11 Ferris State at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/12/12 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Ferris State 1

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RECORD: 1-0-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)

#11 Ferris State at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/13/12 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Ferris State 2

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RECORD: 1-0-1 (0-0-0 ECAC)

Upcoming games
19 Oct - at Minnesota State
20 Oct - at Minnesota State
02 Nov - #8 Union (Black Friday)
03 Nov - at #8 Union
09 Nov - at Dartmouth

Men's Hockey - at Colgate & Cornell (24/25 Feb)

Road warriors indeed. For the fifth and sixth straight time away from Houston Field House, the Engineers picked up ECAC points, this time completing just their second weekend sweep of the season (the other was also on the road) with a 4-2 victory over Colgate and a 2-1 overtime win at Cornell. The surprise sweep, coming against the travel partner pairing with the most combined points on the year, followed a dismal Senior Night low, and the 4 points brought the Engineers' total in the last six road games to 11, a full 65% of their final total for the season.

Colgate

Lee/McGowan/Schroeder

Cullen/Higgs/Tinordi

Neal/Laliberte/Haggerty

Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Rogic

Leonard/Bergin
Leboeuf/Bailen

Curadi/Dolan

Diebold

Marty O'Grady was sidelined all weekend after picking up an upper-body injury - Seth Appert said he would have played had it been a playoff week, but was kept out to heal in time for the playoffs instead.

Penalties were the name of the game in the first period, with referees refusing to allow either team to get into a groove, calling nine minor penalties during the first 20 minutes including four which were coincidental (and another two close enough that they were almost coincidental), creating a lot of four-on-four action. Colgate's high-flying offense unleashed 18 shots in the first period alone, but Scott Diebold turned all of them away. The Engineers, meanwhile, managed just six in the first.

Johnny Rogic picked up a kneeing penalty five minutes into the second period to give Colgate their fourth power play of the game, but it was RPI who found the back of the net with Rogic in the penalty box. Just 16 seconds after the call, Mark McGowan scored a shorthanded goal, his second goal of the year, putting RPI up 1-0.

The Engineers maintained that lead for over 10 minutes, but a bad clearance attempt by Rogic put the puck on a Colgate player's stick right in front of the net, and just like that things were even again. Things got even worse 10 seconds later when Brock Higgs was called for elbowing, and a boarding call just over a minute into the ensuing power play against Mike Bergin gave Colgate a 5-on-3 advantage, and they capitalized with goal on that extra bonus, putting the Raiders up 2-1.

Colgate took a hitting from behind penalty with just six ticks left on the clock in the second period, which looked to give the Engineers a power play to start the third period on fresh ice with plenty of time to work with. Instead, Jacob Laliberte won the faceoff in the Colgate zone, sending it back to Nick Bailen who immediately blasted a shot that was redirected in front by Laliberte to the back of the net with two seconds left in the second period. It was Laliberte's fourth goal of the season, tying the game at two and giving RPI the momentum heading into the third.

That momentum powered the Engineers off the opening faceoff of the third, as just 15 seconds into the period - technically, 17 seconds removed from the tying goal - C.J. Lee scored his team leading seventh goal of the year to give RPI the lead.

From there, it was largely the Scott Diebold show. The freshman netminder stood on his head in the third period, making a total of 19 saves on 19 shots in the final frame to give him a total of 49 for the contest to power the Engineers to victory. McGowan would pick up an insurance goal just seconds after a late RPI timeout, his third point of the game and second goal of the night to put the Engineers up 4-2 with two minutes to play.

After years of failing to win at Starr Rink, the win was the second straight for the Engineers in Hamilton.

Cornell

Lee/McGowan/Schroeder

Cullen/Higgs/Tinordi

Neal/Laliberte/Haggerty

Rogic/Malchuk/Burgdoerfer

Leonard/Bergin
Leboeuf/Bailen

Curadi/Koudys

Merriam

Despite - or possibly, because of - Diebold's amazing effort on Friday, junior Bryce Merriam returned between the pipes on Saturday for the final game of the regular season, a game Cornell needed to win in order to guarantee themselves the #1 seed in the ECAC Tournament. Size, as is always the case with Cornell, was also valued in the RPI lineup, as Pat Koudys and Greg Burgdoerfer also made return appearances.

As one would expect with a game at Cornell, the Engineers were the recipients of the only two penalties of the first period, but the Big Red were unable to get anywhere with them. Cornell looked fairly lost during the first 20 minutes, but RPI was unable to take advantage of the forecheck-induced possession advantage, pulling only a 6-5 shot edge out of the first period and nothing more.

The second period also ended with no pucks ending up in the back of the net, and unlike Friday's game, it was hardly a goaltender's duel. Merriam and Andy Iles combined for just 20 saves (10 each) in the first two periods, just two more than Diebold nabbed alone in the first period on Friday. Both teams had one power play chance in the second period, but there was still no scoring.

Cornell just missed scoring about six minutes into the period during a power play caused by a boarding call on Nick Bailen, but after a lengthy review the initial call of "no goal" was upheld. This was made moot, however, about two minutes later when the Big Red finally broke onto the scoreboard with a goal that came with 12 minutes left in regulation.

From there, Cornell was served up an additional two power plays (they had six against RPI's one on the evening), but the Big Red could not find the insurance tally and still led 1-0 as time began to get tight in the third period.

With just over two minutes left to play, the Engineers tied things up on a redirect in front by Matt Tinordi, scoring his fourth goal of the season by tipping a blast from Patrick Cullen to create the late tie for RPI.

The game went into overtime, and the Engineers took complete control during the extra period. Despite the much shorter length of the overtime period, the Engineers put an amazing seven shots on goal, which was more than either team had done in any one period all night long. In the end, good forechecking by the Engineers kept the puck in the Cornell zone late, and Patrick Cullen blasted home a Tinordi rebound into an open net to give the Engineers a 2-1 victory, their first in the regular season at Lynah Rink since the 2003-o4 season.

The victory deprived Cornell of the #1 seed, which went to Union thanks in part to the Dutchmen's victory over Colgate minutes before.

The win, coupled with Princeton's 1-1 tie against Brown that afternoon, pushed the Engineers past the Tigers into sole possession of 10th place in the final reckoning. That draws them against 7th place Clarkson, who were in 4th place coming into the week but were swept by Harvard and Dartmouth in the final weekend to drop them down. In typical ECAC fashion, only 4 points separated 3rd place (Harvard) from 8th place (St. Lawrence).

Other junk - After two weeks on top, Ferris State fell out of the #1 slot this week, falling two places to #3 (with one first place vote). Other RPI opponents ranked this week are #7 Union (up one), #8 UMass-Lowell (down one), #13 Cornell (down two), #18 Notre Dame (no change), and #19 Colorado College (down three). Also receiving votes were Quinnipiac (26), Harvard (25), and Colgate (ex-#20, 12).

The Engineers were the only team in the ECAC to pick up four points on the road against Colgate and Cornell this season.

Defense has played a huge role in RPI's success on the road. In the last six road contests, the Engineers have given up just seven goals, one less than they gave up in the Freakout! loss to Colgate alone. On the flip side, RPI has scored 15 markers of their own outside of the Capital District in 2012.

The weekend sweep guaranteed RPI its 30th consecutive season of 10 wins or more. The Engineers nabbed only 9 wins in 1981-82, and reached double digits by the slimmest of margins - exactly 10 - in 1995-96, 2006-07, and 2008-09. The team could technically still notch its second straight 20-win season, but it would require winning the national championship, and would still result in a losing overall record.

This will be Seth Appert's fourth losing season behind the bench for RPI - Dan Fridgen and Mike Addesa also had four losing seasons.

Believe it or not, RPI and Clarkson have met only once before in a playoff series. The #5 Golden Knights won a two game series in Troy over the #4 Engineers  3-1 and 6-4 to end the defending national champions' season. On the flip side, however, Clarkson is 0-2 (0-4 in games) as the #7 seed hosting the #10 seed.  Clarkson fell 3-2 and 6-1 to Vermont in 2003 and lost 2-1 and 6-4 to Harvard in 2011.

RPI was a Dartmouth loss (to Clarkson, on Friday) away from skating away with their best possible result coming into the weekend. That result would have put the Engineers in a tie with the Big Green, which they would have won based on a better record against the Top 4 teams (which would have seen Clarkson as #4) thanks to RPI's win over Cornell. That would have had the #9 Engineers playing at #8 St. Lawrence rather than at Clarkson.

Final ECAC Standings

1. Union - 32 pts (14-4-4)
2. Cornell - 30 pts (12-4-6)
3. Harvard - 25 pts (8-5-9)

4. Colgate - 23 pts (11-10-1)

5. Quinnipiac - 23 pts (9-8-5)
6. Yale - 22 pts (10-10-2)

7. Clarkson - 22 pts (9-9-4)

8. St. Lawrence - 21 pts (10-11-1)

9. Dartmouth - 19 pts (8-11-3)

10. RPI - 17 pts (7-12-3)

11. Princeton - 16 pts (6-12-4)

12. Brown - 14 pts (5-13-4)

RPI at #20 Colgate
ECAC Game - Starr Rink (Hamilton, NY)
2/24/12- 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 4, Colgate 2

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RECORD: 9-21-3 (6-12-3 ECAC, 15 pts)

RPI at #11 Cornell
ECAC Game - Lynah Rink  (Ithaca, NY)
2/25/12 - 7:00pm
RESULT:  RPI 2, Cornell 1 (OT)

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RECORD: 10-21-3 (7-12-3 ECAC, 17 pts)

Upcoming games

02 Mar - at Clarkson (ECAC First Round, Game 1)

03 Mar - at Clarkson (ECAC First Round, Game 2)

04 Mar - at Clarkson (ECAC First Round, Game 3, if necessary)

09 Mar - at #7 Union, #13 Cornell, or Harvard (ECAC Quarterfinals, Game 1, if qualified)

10 Mar - at #7 Union, #13 Cornell, or Harvard (ECAC Quarterfinals, Game 2, if qualified)

Men's Hockey - American International (10 Jan), at Union (14 Jan)

What a difference four days makes. Less than a week after finally getting the monkey off their back with a mid-week win over American International (3-1) that snapped a seven-game winless streak, the Engineers backslid considerably on Saturday, getting overwhelmed early with a long two-man penalty kill followed by two shorthanded goals given up on consecutive power plays, falling to Union 5-1 in a game they never really were in.

American International

Lee/Higgs/Schroeder 

Neal/McGowan/Haggerty

Laliberte/O'Grady/Tinordi

Cullen/Malchuk/Rabbani

Burgdoerfer

Leonard/Bergin
Leboeuf/Bailen

Koudys

Merriam

Following the tie against Harvard that snapped a losing streak of six straight, RPI played its final non-conference game of the season on a Tuesday without school being in session - it made for a pretty empty Field House to begin the game (plus no band), although the final attendance did reach over 3,000, which is impressive considering all of that and the team's record.

Alex Angers-Goulet suffered a leg injury against Harvard and was out of action - a sickness affecting a few undisclosed members of the team also had an effect on the lineup, which led to 13 forwards and 5 defensemen dressing for the game against the Yellow Jackets.

RPI dominated play throughout the first two periods as we have rarely seen them dominate all year. Through the first 40 minutes, the Engineers uncorked 31 shots, while Bryce Merriam saw only 6 - three in each period - on the other end of the ice. However, some very solid play by AIC goaltender Ben Meisner kept RPI from scoring in the first period despite 14 shots on goal. He kept the Engineers out of the net for the first 13 minutes or so of the second period as well; although RPI thoroughly controlled the game, it was 0-0 halfway through.

The Engineers finally broke through with a shot right off a faceoff win from the point. Marty O'Grady won a draw in the AIC zone back to Curtis Leonard, whose shot beat a screened Meisner for the freshman's first career goal and point, making it 1-0 RPI.

Another blast from the point made it 2-0 about five minutes later, as Greg Burgdoerfer found Nick Bailen at the blue line, and the junior defenseman ripped a shot that was saved by Meisner, but C.J. Lee, who had been robbed on a similar play by  Cab Morris against Dartmouth just a few days earlier, swatted home the rebound into an open net.

AIC found some life in the third period, as they began to control the puck more frequently. RPI had only 6 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, while the Yellow Jackets pushed to get themselves back into the game, which they did on a 4-on-4 goal with three minutes left to play, cutting the RPI lead in half and placing things in doubt. Meisner was pulled from the net, and AIC had some good chances to draw level, but eventually Joel Malchuk scored RPI's first empty net goal of the season with 28 seconds remaining to seal the Engineers' fourth win of the season.

Regardless of the win, there was much to dislike about the game. RPI was 0-for-6 on the power play and could only manage two goals despite a total domination of the first two periods.

Union

Lee/Higgs/Schroeder 

Neal/McGowan/Haggerty

Laliberte/O'Grady/Tinordi

Rabbani/Malchuk/Burgdoerfer

Leonard/Bergin  

Leboeuf/Bailen

Curadi/Koudys

Diebold

It was hoped that the victory would give the Engineers the push they needed to bounce back into league play with a push for home ice, but it was not to be on Saturday in Schenectady. Although Union had been through a tough outdoor game the previous night in Boston (a 2-0 win over Harvard at Fenway Park), they appeared no worse for the wear against a relatively rested RPI squad.

The Engineers dressed 13 forwards for the pre-game warmup, and Patrick Cullen was removed from the lineup as a game-time decision.

If it could go wrong for RPI early on, it did. Matt Tinordi picked up a hitting from behind penalty just 2:13 into the game, and after getting burned on a move in his own zone, Curtis Leonard added a holding penalty 18 seconds later, giving Union a long 5-on-3. While the Dutchmen technically didn't capitalize on the two-man advantage, they scored two seconds after Tinordi's penalty expired, too early for RPI to add the fourth skater back to the defensive scheme, so it was functionally a 5-on-3 goal that put Union ahead 1-0.

It only got worse as RPI ostensibly got opportunities to draw even. On the Engineers' first power play chance three minutes later, a lazy effort moving down ice ended with Union moving quickly in transition and netting a shorthanded goal to make it 2-0. Four minutes after that, RPI's second power play resulted in yet another shorthanded goal, this one from an exceptionally lackadaisical pass in the defensive zone that caused a turnover right in front of Scott Diebold, who had no chance as Union went up 3-0 after about 13 minutes of play.

That was a bridge too far for the Engineers, but Union dominated play in the first two periods almost as much as RPI had against AIC - the only difference being that they managed goals during that domination. Another power play goal came in the latter half of the second period, making it 4-0.

RPI supposedly put 40 shots on net - a questionable tally - and got only one goal, oddly enough, coming in a shorthanded situation as Nick Bailen scored his fourth goal of the season with six minutes left to play, but by this time it was far too late. Union added an empty netter four minutes later for the final tally.

Both teams officially combined for 80 shots in the game (40 each), which again is questionable, but it does at least underscore perhaps the one player who had an OK game for the Engineers - Scott Diebold. He did not give up a single goal at even strength and was hung out to dry completely on three of the four goals he allowed.

RPI heads back on the road next weekend to face an unpredictable Brown team and an also-down-on-their-luck Yale squad. Time is running out for a turnaround.

Other junk - Ranked teams on the RPI schedule this week are #7 Notre Dame (down four), #9 Cornell (no change), #11 Colorado College (down three), #12 Union (up two), #13 Ferris State (no change), #14 UMass-Lowell (down three) and #18 Colgate (down six). Also receiving votes were Quinnipiac (15), Harvard (6), Minnesota State (4) and RIT (2).

The Engineers are now 6 points behind the rest of the field. To show how big of a gap that is, 11th place Dartmouth and St. Lawrence are 7 points behind first place. 8th place, the last home ice spot, is 7 points out as well. Not looking good for hockey at Houston Field House past Senior Night.

ECAC Standings (by win% in parentheses)

1 (1). Cornell - 16 pts (7-1-2)
2 (2). Union - 15 pts (6-2-3)

3 (8). Quinnipiac - 14 pts (5-5-4)

4 (3). Colgate - 12 pts (6-4-0)

5 (11). Princeton - 12 pts (5-8-2)

6 (4). Yale - 11 pts (5-4-1)
7 (7). Clarkson - 11 pts (4-4-3)

8 (6). Brown - 10 pts (4-4-2)

9 (9). Harvard - 10 pts (3-3-4)

10 (5). Dartmouth - 9 pts (4-4-1)

11 (10). St. Lawrence - 9 pts (4-6-1)

12 (12). RPI - 3 pts (1-8-1)

American International at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/10/12- 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 3, American International 1

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RECORD: 4-16-1 (1-7-1 ECAC, 3 pts)

RPI at #14 Union
ECAC Game -  Achilles Center (Schenectady, NY)
1/14/12 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Union 5, RPI 1

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RECORD: 4-17-1 (1-8-1 ECAC, 3 pts)

Upcoming games

20 Jan - at Brown

21 Jan - at Yale

27 Jan - St. Lawrence

28 Jan - Clarkson

03 Feb - #9 Cornell