Schedule Is Finalized!!

MEN’S HOCKEY ANNOUNCES 2006-07 SCHEDULE Engineers to open 35-game slate on October 7th against York TROY, N.Y. The 2006-07 schedule for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s hockey team has been finalized. The Engineers, who open their 105th season on October 7, will play 35 games, including 18 home games at the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y. Rensselaer’s season opener the first game under new head coach Seth Appert is an exhibition game against York University of Ontario at the Field House. The Engineers host perennial national power Boston University one week later before going to the University of Denver where Appert served as an assistant coach for the last nine years for a two-game set on October 20-21. Those games begin at 9pm eastern. RPI returns to the Capital District for a pair of games at the Pepsi Arena in Albany on October 28-29, beginning with a matchup with area-rival Union on October 28 at 8pm. The Engineers will face either Colgate or Quinnipiac the next night at 5pm or 8pm at the Pepsi Arena. Those two games are non-league affairs. Rensselaer kicks off its ECAC Hockey League schedule and its longest home stand of the season on November 3 when Princeton visits the Field House for the 4th Annual Black Friday. Quinnipiac, the Tigers’ travel partner, is in Troy the next night. The Engineers then play just one game in each of the next two weekends, including a 2pm contest against Merrimack on November 12 and a game against Sacred Heart on November 17. The home stand concludes with the 56th Annual Rensselaer/Bank of America Holiday Tournament, the oldest college hockey holiday tournament in the nation, on November 24-25. This year’s field features Colgate, Niagara and Ohio State with the Engineers opening against Niagara at 7pm. Colgate and Ohio State meet at 4pm. RPI is on the road for four league games over the next two weekends, including a trip to Central New York, before returning to the Field House to close out the fall semester with a non-league game against UMass Lowell on December 16. Following a 13-day layoff, Rensselaer travels to Burlington to participate in the University of Vermont’s Tournament on December 29-30. The month of January begins with three straight home league games as Harvard (Jan. 5), Dartmouth (Jan. 6) and Union (Jan. 12) visit the Field House. The game against the Dutchmen is the start of a home-and-home series between Rensselaer and Union. The Engineers travel to Schenectady the next night. Following the games with Union, the Engineers host Clarkson on January 19 and St. Lawrence on January 20. The game with the Saints, which will be preceded by the Annual Alumni Game (12pm), is the 30th Annual Big Red Freakout!. RPI will attempt to extend its Freakout! unbeaten streak to 17 games (12-0-4). Rensselaer returns to the road for its next four games, including trips to Yale (Jan. 26) and Harvard (Feb. 3), before welcoming Colgate and Cornell on February 9-10. The Engineers visit St. Lawrence and Clarkson on February 16-17 before finishing the regular season with home games against Brown and Yale on February 23-24. The contest against the Bulldogs is Senior Appreciation Night. Rensselaer finished the 2005-06 season with an overall record of 14-17-6, including an 8-8-6 league mark. The 2006-07 Engineers return 18 players from this year's team, including two of the top three scorers and their starting goaltender. In addition, Kirk MacDonald, the team's top scorer in 2004-05 who was a medical red-shirt this season, is also expected to return. 2006-07 SCHEDULE NOTES: The Engineers’ Annual Red/White Game is September 30 at 5pm, followed by the Annual Skate with the Engineers at 7:15pm … Rensselaer plays 13 non-league games, including seven at home … The Engineers’ start date of October 7 matches the earliest the team has ever opened. RPI hosted Ottawa last season on the same date … Rensselaer has never faced York … The game against Boston University is on Homecoming Weekend … RPI faces Denver for the first time since January 3, 1982, a 4-3 loss in Troy … The Engineers are 3-0 all-time on Black Friday … They are 18-7-4 all-time in the Big Red Freakout! … The last Freakout! loss came at the hands of St. Lawrence on January 27, 1990 … The Big Red Freakout! has been held in January on four previous occasions, most recently on January 31, 1998 … RPI is 1-3-0 in January Freakouts! … Three of the teams on RPI’s schedule played in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. They are Boston University, Cornell and Harvard … Based on the known opponents, the Engineers play one game against a Canadian school, three versus Hockey East foes, two games against a WCHA opponent, one each from College Hockey America and Atlantic Hockey and 24 against ECACHL teams … Rensselaer plays 15 games on Fridays, 18 on Saturdays and two on Sundays … The Engineers play six games in October and November, seven in December and eight in January and February … The ECACHL Playoffs run from March 2 to March 17, beginning with the best-of-three first round matchups March 2-4. The league semi-finals and finals are March 16-17 at Pepsi Arena … The NCAA Tournament runs from March 23 to April 7. The 2007 Frozen Four is at the Savvis Center in St. Louis … Of the Engineers’ 19 returnees, seven will be seniors, six will be juniors and six will be sophomores.