Engineers hockey with key twinbills on tap this weekend

TROY, N.Y. » The RPI men’s ice hockey team embarks on its second to last road trip of the regular season this week, when they head west to face Colgate and nationally first-ranked Cornell on Friday at 7p.m. and Saturday at 7p.m. Entering the weekend, the Colgate Raiders are 11-114, including a 7-6-1mark in ECAC Hockey play ... They are led offensively by sophomore Bobby McMann, who has 11goals and 11assists for 22points ... Junior Adam Dauda (8goals, 6 assists) has 14points, while sophomore John Snodgrass (1goal, 12assists) has 13. Colgate sophomore sophomore Colton Point (11-8-4) has a 1.81goals against average and a .945save percentage in 23games ... The Canadian Junior Championships netminder has four shutouts this season. The Big Red are 62-36-10 in the all-time series, which dates back to January 31, 1908– a 4-0Cornell win in Albany ... RPI went 2-2-1 during that season, with wins over Carnegie Tech and Union.

RPI has enjoyed moderate success at Lynah Rink as of late, going 1-1-2in its last four trips ... Prior to last season’s 2-0defeat, the three-game unbeaten streak in Ithaca was the Engineers’ longest since they went 2-0-1from 1996to 1998. Nationally first-ranked Cornell is 18-2-1overall this season, including a 12-1-1 record in ECAC Hockey play ... The Big Red are riding an 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1), including six straight victories ... Cornell last loss came on December 1at Miami (2-1) ... Junior Anthony Angello (12goals, 8assists) has 20points to pace the team offensively ... Senior Trevor Yates (11 goals, 8assists is right behind him with 19points, while Mitch Vanderlaan (4 goals, 12assists) rounds out the top three with 16points. TROY, N.Y. » Rensselaer (815-5, 5-9-2ECACH) hosts a critical ECACH weekend at Houston Field House… the Quinnipiac Bobcats (13-132, 9-7ECACH) come to Troy, N.Y. on Friday night at 6p.m. with the Princeton Tigers (8-10-4, 7-8-1ECACH) taking on the Engineers on Saturday afternoon at 3p.m. With their Mayor’s Cup win on Saturday, the Engineers end a nine-game winless drought… prior to their win over Union, RPI’s last victory was December 2, 2017at Yale with a 3-1win. Grigsby (eight goals, nine assists) leads RPI with 17 points with senior Shayna Tomlinson (five goals, 11 assists) has registered 16 points while leading the squad in assists… Repaci (four goals, nine assists) rounds out the top point getters with 13points… freshman Madeleine Burnett paces RPI rookies with six points (three goals, three assists)… senior Whitney Renn leads defensemen scoring with ten points (three goals, seven assists) which is 17th in the ECACH… senior Marisa Raspa currently lead the Engineers in penalty minutes with 20.

Selander, the Rensselaer single-season and career saves record holder, is 8-14-5on the year with a 2.22goals against average and a .932save percentage with 26starts…the junior ranks nationally in save percentage (7th NCAA-DI, 3rd ECACH)… Selander has registered one shutout this year in a 0-0tie against UConn back in October for her seventh career shutout… the Swedish netminder registered a season-high 46saves at Princeton on November 10with her career high 66saves coming at #5 Quinnipiac on February 27, 2016in the ECACH quarterfinals… junior Kira Bombay is 0-1-1with the tie decision coming against New Hampshire with 29saves… the junior has a 1.79goal against average with a .949 save percentage over four appearances.

Earlier this year, the Engineers dropped a 2-1decision at Frank Perrotti, Jr. Arena on November 11, 2017… Quinnipiac opened up the scoring seven minutes into the game on a goal from Taylor House that was assisted by Raquel Pennoyer… RPI tied the game with 19 seconds left in the second period when Grigsby found the back of the net off an assist from Hansen… Samoskevich scored the gamewinner for the Bobcats halfway through the final period off a Lancaster assist… Ives was credited with win on a 21save effort while Selander picked up the loss with 28saves.

Back on November 10, 2017, Rensselaer took a road game against Princeton in a 2-1 decision… Repaci opened up scoring five minutes into the game off an Orosz assist… junior Makenna Thomas added the eventual gamewinner on a power play at the beginning of the second period off assists from Burnett and freshman Lauren Severson… Princeton broke through the RPI defense with less than four minutes left in regulation off a Shannon Griffin goal that was assisted by Amanda Harris and Sylvie Wallin… Selander was credited with the win on a season-high 46saves while Neatby picked up the loss on a 23save effort. Grigsby leads the Engineers in power play points with eight on five goals and three assists which is tied for 13th in the ECACH… the junior’s five power play goals are 12th in NCAA-DI and 4th in the ECACH... Hansen is second on the squad in power play goals with three on the year (8th ECACH)… on the other end, RPI has an 88.0% kill percentage, 7th in the country and 4th in the ECACH.

The RPI defense, led by Renn and Hansen, is one of the strongest defenses in the country (16th NCAA-DI, 6th ECACH), with opponents averaging 2.25 goals per game… when the Engineers give up one goal or less, the red and white are 7-2-3… Renn, senior Amanda Kimmerle and Hansen lead Rensselaer in blocked shots with 65, 59, and 56respectively… Renn recorded a season high eight blocks in the 3-3overtime draw to Dartmouth on January 6, 2018. TROY, N.Y. >> The Engineers (10-9; 5-7Liberty League) bring a three-game home winning streak into Friday’s game with Union, having defeated Bard, RIT and Skidmore at East Campus Arena ... The Dutchmen (11-6; 7-4) are riding a four-game winning streak with each of those victories coming in Schenectady.

With six league games to play, Rensselaer sits in sixth place in the standings with five victories ... RPI is just one win from fourth place ... Union is in a tie for second place, four games from first ... Hobart leads the conference with 11wins ... The top six schools qualify for the post-season. Andreas Kontopidis was RPI’s first half catalyst on Tuesday at Hobart, scoring 17points on 7of 11shooting ... Tom Horvat then connected for 16second half points, including 4of 6from three-point range, to register 22in the contest ... He also totaled two rebounds, a block, an assist and a steal ... Kontopidis finished with 27points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal ... Marcus Giese scored four points with nine boards. With 22points on Tuesday, junior guard Tom Horvat moved into 11th place in Rensselaer history in points with 1,042... He is 57points from 10th, a spot currently held by Tom Schneider ‘06 (1,099) ... Tom Ronan ‘92is Rensselaer’s all-time leading scorer with 1,724points. The Dutchmen held a 12-point lead at halftime (38-26) and held off Ithaca, 82-79, on Saturday ... Greg King led Union with 24 points and 19rebounds, while Kevin Weckworth notched 20and six ... Two others also reached double figures ... Four players had 10-or-more points for Ithaca.

Union went on a 6-0run to break a tie with under three minutes remaining and the Dutchmen defeated RPI, 64-59... With the score tied 56-56with 2:53to play, Union made four free throws and a basket to go ahead 62-56with 32 seconds remaining ... Rensselaer cut the deficit in half with a three-pointer with 18seconds left, but Kevin Weckworth answered with two free throws for the fivepoint margin ... Weckworth scored the final seven points of the contest for the Dutchmen ... RPI held a 3028lead at halftime.

Tom Horvat scored 20 points with seven rebounds, three assists and four steals in the first meeting with Union ... Greg King scored 19points to earn game-high honors for the Dutchmen