RPI Men’s and Women’s hockey gear up for big weekend

Troy Record staff TROY, N.Y. » The Engineers host Dartmouth on Friday night in their only game of the week ... RPI played Harvard on January 9 due to the Crimson’s participation in the Beanpot Tournament that got underway on Monday ... Puck drop for Friday’s contest against the Big Green is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Sophomore Jacob Hayhurst leads the Engineers with 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists through 29 games ... Junior Evan Tironese (6 goals, 9 assists) and senior Mike Prapavessis (15 assists) have 15 points apiece, while senior Viktor Liljegren (9 goals, 3 assists) and sophomore Will Reilly (7 goals, 5 assists) each have 12 ... Senior Jared Wilson has a team-high four power play tallies, while Liljegren leads the club with three game-winners.

Freshman netminder Linden Marshall is 4-13-2 with a 2.94 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in 21 games (20 starts) ... Junior Chase Perry has started nine games for the Engineers this season, going 1-7-2 with a 3.55 goals against average and a .897 save percentage.

The Engineers have 10 players with doubledigit point totals, including freshmen Billy Jerry (7 goals, 3 assists) and Emil Ohrvall (1 goal, 9 assists) ... Sophomore Patrick Polino is one away with nine (9 assists).

Rensselaer is 46-40-5 alltime against the Big Green, dating back to their inaugural meeting on January 17, 1908 – a 4-4 tie in Albany ... The two teams did not meet against until December 28, 1973, when Dartmouth came away with a 5-2 win in Troy.

The Big Green have won eight of the last nine meetings, including six in a row ... Four of the last six have been one-goal games, including an overtime victory for Dartmouth on February 13, 2016 ... RPI’s last win at the Houston Field House came on November 8, 2014 – a 2-1 victory behind goals from Milos Bubela and Zach Schroeder.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Rensselaer (9-16-5, 6-10-2 ECACH) travels to Dartmouth (5-17-1, 3-14-1 ECACH) and Harvard (913-2, 7-9-2 ECACH) for crucial ECAC Hockey doubleheader Feb. 9-10… the Engineers will face the Big Green Friday night (6pm) followed by an afternoon matchup with the Crimson on Saturday (3pm).

Rensselaer is 3-4-1 coming off a win this season… the Engineers tend to perform better on Saturdays with a 6-6-3 record while the red and white are 3-10-1 on Fridays… additionally, RPI is a perfect 6-0-0 when leading after the first period.

As of right now, five of the eight ECAC Hockey playoff spots have been clinched by #1 Clarkson, #4 Colgate, #8 St. Lawrence, #6 Cornell and Quinnipiac… Clarkson and Colgate have both earned home ice advantages in the first round… five of the seven remaining teams are fighting for the remaining three playoff spots… making pushes in the final two weeks of conference play are Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Rensselaer and Union... RPI can finish between fifth and eleventh place.

Tomlinson (six goals, 13 assists) leads the Engineers in points (19) and assists, while Grigsby (nine goals, nine assists) is second on the team in points (18) and first in goals… Repaci (four goals, 10 assists) rounds out the top point getters with 14 points and the highest +/- margin with +2… Burnett paces RPI rookies with seven points (four goals, three assists) which comes in 17th in freshman scoring in the conference… Renn leads defensemen scoring with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) which is 18th in the ECACH… Raspa and Tomlinson currently lead the Engineers in penalty minutes with 20.

Selander, the Rensselaer single-season and career saves record holder, is 9-15-4 on the year with a 2.20 goals against average and a .933 save percentage with 26 starts… the junior ranks nationally in save percentage (6th NCAA-DI, 3rd ECACH)… Selander has registered one shutout this year in a 0-0 tie against UConn back in October for her seventh career shutout… the Swedish netminder registered a season-high 46 saves at Princeton on November 10 with her career high 66 saves coming at #5 Quinnipiac on February 27, 2016 in the ECACH quarterfinals… junior Kira Bombay is 0-1-1 with the tie decision coming against New Hampshire with 29 saves… the junior has a 1.79 goal against average with a .949 save percentage over four appearances.

Dartmouth holds a 17-6-2 advantage in the 25 game series… the #8 Big Green took the first matchup 5-1 on October 29, 2006 in Hanover, New Hampshire… RPI garnered their first win of the series on January 22, 2010, their only win at Thompson Arena, after starting 0-8-1 in the series … Allison Wright ‘10 scored the third period game winner and Sonja van der Bliek ‘11 registered 45 saves, including a 22 save first period, in the dramatic 2-1 finish.

Senior Hailey Noronha (two goals, 11 assists) leads the Big Green in points (13)