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A look at the ECAC hockey standings shows RPI in a three-way tie for fifth place, one point behind fourth-place Dartmouth and two points behind third-place Harvard.
A closer look at the standings reveals that the Engineers have played three more league games than the teams they are currently tied with (Colgate and Quinnipiac) and two more games than Dartmouth as the Big Green heads to Troy to face RPI at 7 p.m. Friday at Houston Field House.
The top four teams in the conference standings earn a first-round playoff bye and home ice for the second round while teams finishing fifth through eighth host a first-round best-of-three series.
RPI (10-12-2, 7-7-1) is in the midst of a three-week span — the Engineers tied Union 1-1 last week in the nonleague Mayor’s Cup that RPI won in a shootout — where it will play just one ECAC game as Vermont of Hockey East visits Saturday for the 43rd Annual Big Red Freakout and the Engineers hit the road next weekend for a pair of games at Western Michigan of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
“We only have two available points between last weekend and next weekend in a three-week span, that is only two available points and that is against Dartmouth,” RPI coach Dave Smith said. “I think our guys understand what that means. Regardless of where Dartmouth is in the standings, it is the only two points available to RPI.”
Dartmouth holds a pair of victories over the league’s top two teams this year (Clarkson and Cornell) and has won six of its past 10 games with a pair of ties and two losses.
“They’ve got a top line, they’ve got some good size on it,” Smith said. “They’ve got some good depth, really good team speed. They’ve played really well in big games and have showed consistency in their game that, we use the term mature for teams that have that, they play a mature game.”
Sophomore goaltender Owen Savory continued his run of solid play with 26 saves in the Mayor’s Cup game and has allowed just two goals in his past four games, a span of 245 minutes.
“We’re in an awesome mood right now but when we came in Monday, it was back to work,” Savory said. “That is something we strive for all year. It doesn’t matter who we played and who we beat, it's back to business when we start a new week.”
Dartmouth is the only ECAC opponent RPI has not played yet this season. The teams will meet in Hanover, N.H., for the regular-season finale.
“We haven’t seen them yet but we are always keeping eyes on what teams are doing,” Savory said. “We have a few games left. These points matter and it will be a good test coming off the weekend we just had.”
While the mid-week focus was squarely on Dartmouth, RPI will take a look at the scouting tape on Vermont following the Big Green game with hopes of winning a Freakout game for the first time since 2014.
“We’ll talk about that more on Saturday. We need to focus on Dartmouth right now but we’ve talked about how important the Freakout is to the freshmen,” senior captain Will Reilly said. “We haven’t won one in my class.”
Sean Martin, a local freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.
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January 31, 2020 at 08:33AM
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RPI hockey looks to make up ground when it can - Times Union
"make up" - Google News
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