Rensselaer Announces 2009-10 Schedule

TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women’s ice hockey schedule for the 2009-10 season has been finalized. The Engineers, who are entering their fourth season in ECAC Hockey, will play 34 games, including 18 at the Houston Field House. Highlighting this year’s schedule are seven games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams and contests against two first-time opponents.

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RPI kicks off the season with an exhibition game at the Field House against the Bluewater Hawks on September 26. The regular season schedule begins at home the following weekend with games against Wayne State on October 2 and 3. The series against the Warriors marks the first of eight straight contests against College Hockey America foes.

RPI travels to Niagara for games on October 9-10, before returning home to open a four-game homestand. The Engineers face Mercyhurst, the 2009 national runner-up, for a two-game set on October 16-17 and welcomes Syracuse for the first time the following weekend (Oct 23-24).

The Engineers open their 22-game ECAC Hockey schedule on the road at the end of October, traveling to Princeton (Oct. 30) and Quinnipiac (Oct. 31). League play continues over the next two weeks as RPI has its second four-game homestand of the year against Colgate (Nov. 6), Cornell (Nov. 7), Yale (Nov. 13) and Brown (Nov. 14).

For the first time in program history, the Engineers travel to Durham, N.H., to face Hockey East foe New Hampshire (Nov. 21) and wrap up the month of November at Robert Morris (Nov. 27-28).

Rensselaer closes out the fall semester the following weekend, returning to the Capital Region for a home-and-home series against area-rival Union. The Engineers travel to Schenectady on December 5 and host the Dutchwomen the following day.

Following a month-long layoff, RPI welcomes league-rivals St. Lawrence (Jan. 8) and Clarkson (Jan. 9) to the Field House. It is on the road for its next four games, traveling to Brown (Jan. 15) and Yale (Jan. 16), before heading to Dartmouth (Jan. 22) and Harvard (Jan. 23).

After a two-game home series against Quinnipiac and Princeton (Jan. 29-30), the Engineers head to the North Country to battle Clarkson and St. Lawrence (Feb. 5-6).

Rensselaer concludes the home portion of its schedule on February 12 and 13 as it battles Harvard and Dartmouth, respectively. The Engineers close out the regular season with a trip to Central New York against Cornell and Colgate on February 19-20.

Under the direction of head coach John Burke, Rensselaer posted a 19-14-4 overall record in 2008-09 with an 11-8-3 ECAC Hockey mark. The Engineers finished as the conference’s runner-up at the league tournament. After defeating Princeton in the quarterfinals, RPI shocked Harvard in the semifinals with a 3-2 overtime victory to advance to its first championship appearance where they later fell to Dartmouth.

In addition to seven incoming freshmen, 17 upperclassmen, including 12 forwards, four defensemen and one goaltender are expected back from last year’s squad.