The Rensselaer Engineers represent Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Engineers were playing their fourth season in ECAC Hockey. The Engineers were coached by John Burke, and he is the Engineers all-time winningest coach (118-82-21).[1] He was in his seventh season as head coach. His assistant coaches were Colette Bredin-Youlen and Rob Dils. Kevin Anderson was the Hockey Operations Coordinator. The Engineers played their home games in the Houston Field House. They were a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. During the season, the team won 16 games. It was the second highest mark in school history since joining Division 1. The record is still 19 wins, which was set in 2008-09 (19-14-4). Rensselaer is 16-14-6 overall and finished with an 11-7-4 mark in ECAC Hockey. The Engineers ranked 11th nationally in scoring defense (2.00 goals allowed per game).
May 12: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) head announced that seven student-athletes will make up the program's Class of 2013. Joining the team this fall are:
Allison Wright leads all players in scoring with 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) after 36 games played. Currently, she leads the Engineers in game-winning goals with three. Whitney Naslund ranks second in team scoring with 24 points (team-best 14 goals, 10 assists). Sophomore center Alisa Harrison ranks third with 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists). Naslund and Harrison have played in all 36 games for the Engineers.
In goal, junior Sonja van der Bliek has a 15-14-5 overall record. She is now the all-time career record holder at RPI in six categories, including wins (42-31-11), games played (84), games started (83), minutes played (5161:36), saves (1922) and shutouts (16).[12]
On February 28, Rensselaer made NCAA history. The Engineers beat Quinnipiac, 2–1, but it took five overtimes. It is now the longest college hockey game in NCAA history. Senior defenseman Laura Gersten had the game-winning goal. She registered it at 4:32 of the fifth overtime session to not only clinch the win, but the series victory.[13] RPI advanced to the ECAC Hockey Women's Semifinals for the second consecutive season. The Engineers will face top ranked Cornell University.
Of note, Sonja van der Bliek stopped 98 of the 101 shots as RPI triumphed in a best two out of three playoff series against Quinnipiac. She allowed only three goals while appearing in 293:18 minutes. For the weekend, she posted a goals against average of 0.61. She registered 49 saves on Sunday, February 28 as RPI defeated the Bobcats, in five overtimes. The match was the longest game in NCAA hockey history. This was the fifth Goaltender of the Week honor for van der Bliek in her NCAA career.[14]
