2022–23 RPI Engineers men's ice hockey season

2022–23 RPI Engineers
men's ice hockey season
ConferenceT–7th ECAC Hockey
Home iceHouston Field House
Rankings
USCHONR
USA TodayNR
Record
Overall14–20–1
Conference9–13–0
Home12–6–1
Road2–13–0
Neutral0–1–0
Coaches and captains
Head coachDave Smith
Assistant coachesMathias Lange
Chuck Weber
Liam Thrawl
Captain(s)Kyle Hallbauer
Alternate captain(s)Jakob Lee
Ryan Mahshie
T. J. Walsh
RPI Engineers men's ice hockey seasons
« 2021–22 2023–24 »
Coach David Smith with players John Evans, Henri Schreifels, James McIsaac, and Jack Brackett.

The 2022-23 RPI Engineers Men's ice hockey season was the 103rd season of play for the program and the 61st in the ECAC Hockey conference. The Engineers represented Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, played their home games at Houston Field House and were coached by Dave Smith, in his 5th season.

Season

Entering the season, Rensselaer had to contend with the loss of each of their top 6 goal-scorers from last season. Early on, at least, the Engineers didn't appear to miss those players as RPI began the season 4–0. Unfortunately, as soon as the team left the friendly confines of the Houston Field House, the Engineers began to lose. Rensselaer lost its first 9 away game on the year and tumbled down the national rankings. During that stretch a slight lack of offense was apparent for the team and the Engineers scored 30 fewer goals than they had the year before, albeit in 9 fewer games. The bigger problem for the team was the decline in performance in goal. While the defense allowed an average of less the 30 shots against per game, the team saw its goals against average increase by more than half a goal. Jack Watson's less-than-stellar performance in the leading role saw the team regress and finish well below .500.

RPI ended the season in a tie for 7th in the conference standings but were able to receive a home site for the first round. They played host to one of the worst offenses in the nation, Yale, and had a good chance to at least make the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, the troubles with the offense and goaltending were on full display and the Engineers were knocked out with a 1–4 defeat.[1]

Departures

Player Position Nationality Cause
Justin Addamo Forward  France Graduation (signed with Wheeling Nailers)
Anthony Baxter Defenseman  Canada Graduation (retired)
Nick Bowman Forward  United States Graduate transfer to Canisius
Zach Dubinsky Forward  United States Transferred to Michigan State
Jake Johnson Defenseman  United States Graduate transfer to Quinnipiac
Simon Kjellberg Defenseman  Sweden Transferred to Northern Michigan
Jakub Lacka Forward  Slovakia Graduation (signed with HK Nitra)
Ottoville Leppänen Forward  Finland Graduate transfer to Merrimack
Ture Linden Forward  United States Graduate transfer to Penn State
Linden Marshall Goaltender  Canada Graduation (signed with Greenville Swamp Rabbits)
Shane Sellar Forward  United States Graduation (signed with Reading Royals)

Recruiting

Player Position Nationality Age Notes
Nicolas Ardanaz Defenseman  Canada 20 Surrey, BC
Finn Brown Forward  Canada 20 North York, ON
Brendan Budy Forward  Canada 22 Langley, BC; transfer from North Dakota
Carson Cherepak Goaltender  Canada 19 Winnipeg, MB
Danny Ciccarello Forward  Canada 21 Kirkland, QC
John Evans Forward  Canada 20 South Surrey, BC
Austin Heidemann Forward  United States 23 Maple Grove, MN; transfer from Mercyhurst
Sutter Muzzatti Forward  United States 19 Okemos, MI
Max Smolinski Defenseman  United States 19 Bloomfield Hills, MI
Nick Strom Defenseman  United States 22 Dayton, MN; transfer from Western Michigan

Roster

As of December 24, 2022.[2]

No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
1 Manitoba Carson Cherepak Freshman G 6' 0" (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2002-10-09 Winnipeg, Manitoba Dauphin (MJHL) —
3 Finland Lauri Sertti Junior D 6' 2" (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1999-07-11 Espoo, Finland Amarillo (NAHL) —
4 Colorado Mason Klee Senior D 6' 2" (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999-10-04 Morrison, Colorado Sioux Falls (USHL) —
6 Ontario Jack Agnew Junior D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2001-10-22 Oakville, Ontario Boston College (HEA) —
7 Michigan Max Smolinski Freshman F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 2003-04-02 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Fargo (USHL) —
8 Manitoba James McIsaac Junior F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1999-04-29 Winnipeg, Manitoba Brooks (AJHL) —
9 Virginia Reid Leibold Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2001-10-23 Ashburn, Virginia Maryland (NAHL) —
10 Michigan Dylan Davies Junior D 6' 3" (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2001-02-09 Traverse City, Michigan Sioux Falls (USHL) —
11 British Columbia Nick Ardanaz Freshman D 5' 10" (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2002-05-30 Surrey, British Columbia West Kelowna (BCHL) —
12 Minnesota Austin Heidemann Junior F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999-06-27 Blaine, Minnesota Mercyhurst (AHA) —
13 Massachusetts T. J. Walsh (A) Senior F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2000-04-29 Shrewsbury, Massachusetts Northeastern (HEA) —
14 British Columbia John Evans Freshman F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 150 lb (68 kg) 2002-04-08 South Surrey, British Columbia West Kelowna (BCHL) —
15 Finland Altti Nykänen Junior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 2001-09-26 Vihti, Finland Bishop's College (CISAA) —
17 Ontario John Beaton Junior F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2000-10-30 Stittsville, Ontario Youngstown (USHL) —
18 Ontario Jakob Lee (A) Junior F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-02-12 Owen Sound, Ontario Merrimack (HEA) —
19 Michigan Sutter Muzzatti Freshman F 6' 6" (1.98 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 2003-06-28 Okemos, Michigan Austin (NAHL) NSH, 143rd overall 2023
20 California Henri Schreifels Sophomore F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2000-07-01 Newbury Park, California Victoria (BCHL) —
22 Quebec Danny Ciccarello Freshman F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 2001-03-23 Kirkland, Quebec Fort McMurray (AJHL) —
23 Minnesota Nick Strom Sophomore D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2000-03-21 Dayton, Minnesota Western Michigan (NCHC) —
24 Virginia Jack Brackett Junior F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 2000-12-31 Manassas, Virginia Maryland (NAHL) —
25 Ontario Ryan Mahshie (A) Senior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1999-04-05 Stoney Creek, Ontario Brooks (AJHL) —
27 Quebec Jake Gagnon Junior F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1999-11-04 Pointe-Claire, Quebec Wellington (OJHL) —
28 New Jersey Kyle Hallbauer (C) Graduate D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1997-03-02 Howell, New Jersey Lone Star (NAHL) —
29 British Columbia Brendan Budy Senior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2000-06-06 Langley, British Columbia North Dakota (NCHC) —
30 Michigan Brett Miller Junior G 6' 2" (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1999-04-26 Northville, Michigan Austin (NAHL) —
34 Ontario Jack Watson Sophomore G 6' 3" (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2000-03-14 Toronto, Ontario Coquitlam (BCHL) —
51 Ontario Finn Brown Freshman F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2002-04-06 Toronto, Ontario Alberni Valley (BCHL) —

Standings

2022–23 ECAC Hockey Standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OTW OTL SW PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#1 Quinnipiac † 22 20 2 0 0 0 0 60 87 30 41 34 4 3 162 64
#10 Harvard 22 18 4 0 5 0 0 49 86 48 34 24 8 2 125 81
#9 Cornell 22 15 6 1 0 1 0 47 78 42 34 21 11 2 112 66
St. Lawrence 22 12 10 0 1 2 0 37 56 58 36 17 19 0 88 102
#18 Colgate * 22 11 8 3 4 1 3 36 71 58 40 19 16 5 113 109
Clarkson 22 9 10 3 0 1 0 31 60 60 37 16 17 4 102 98
Rensselaer 22 9 13 0 2 1 0 26 52 74 35 14 20 1 84 115
Union 22 8 13 1 0 0 1 26 45 68 35 14 19 2 86 117
Princeton 22 8 14 0 2 1 0 26 57 73 32 13 19 0 89 112
Yale 22 6 14 2 0 1 1 22 35 62 32 8 20 4 57 94
Brown 22 5 14 3 0 1 1 20 41 69 30 9 18 3 65 91
Dartmouth 22 4 17 1 0 2 1 16 44 70 30 5 24 1 64 106
Championship: March 18, 2023
† indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup)
* indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and results

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Decision Result Attendance Record
Exhibition
October 2 3:00 PM Toronto* Houston Field House • Troy, New York (Exhibition) ESPN+ Cherepak L 1–2  1,087
Regular Season
October 7 7:00 PM Mercyhurst* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 6–3  1,278 1–0–0
October 8 7:00 PM Mercyhurst* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 3–2  1,732 2–0–0
October 14 7:00 PM Long Island* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 1–0  1,549 3–0–0
October 15 7:00 PM Army* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 7–4  2,085 4–0–0
October 18 7:00 PM at Canisius* LECOM Harborcenter • Buffalo, New York FloHockey Watson L 2–3  647 4–1–0
October 21 7:00 PM USNTDP* Houston Field House • Troy, New York (Exhibition) ESPN+ Miller L 4–7  0
October 28 7:00 PM Union Houston Field House • Troy, New York (Rivalry) ESPN+ Watson W 2–1  4,700 5–1–0 (1–0–0)
October 29 7:00 PM at Union Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York (Rivalry) ESPN+ Watson L 0–6  2,115 5–2–0 (1–1–0)
November 4 7:00 PM at St. Lawrence Appleton Arena • Canton, New York ESPN+ Watson L 2–3  1,732 5–3–0 (1–2–0)
November 5 7:00 PM at Clarkson Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York (Rivalry) ESPN+ Watson L 0–3  2,659 5–4–0 (1–3–0)
November 11 7:00 PM at #13 Harvard Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson L 2–3  2,425 5–5–0 (1–4–0)
November 12 7:00 PM at Dartmouth Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 2–1  1,810 6–5–0 (2–4–0)
November 18 7:00 PM Alaska* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson L 1–3  1,965 6–6–0
November 19 7:00 PM Alaska* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson T 3–3  1,711 6–6–1
November 25 7:00 PM at Vermont* Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont ESPN+ Watson L 3–4 OT 2,316 6–7–1
November 27 4:00 PM Vermont* Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 2–1  1,861 7–7–1
December 9 7:00 PM at #2 Quinnipiac M&T Bank Arena • Hamden, Connecticut ESPN+ Cherepak L 3–8  2,921 7–8–1 (2–5–0)
December 10 7:00 PM at Princeton Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey ESPN+ Watson L 5–6  1,575 7–9–1 (2–6–0)
December 29 7:00 PM at Bowling Green* Slater Family Ice Arena • Bowling Green, Ohio FloHockey Cherepak L 1–3  1,678 7–10–1
December 30 7:00 PM at Bowling Green* Slater Family Ice Arena • Bowling Green, Ohio FloHockey Watson L 2–5  1,989 7–11–1
January 6 7:00 PM Colgate Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 5–3  1,847 8–11–1 (3–6–0)
January 7 7:00 PM #18 Cornell Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson L 4–6  2,724 8–12–1 (3–7–0)
January 13 7:00 PM at Yale Ingalls Rink • New Haven, Connecticut ESPN+ Watson L 1–4  1,400 8–13–1 (3–8–0)
January 14 7:00 PM at Brown Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island ESPN+ Cherepak L 0–3  798 8–14–1 (3–9–0)
January 20 7:00 PM Clarkson Houston Field House • Troy, New York (Rivalry) ESPN+ Watson W 3–2  2,723 9–14–1 (4–9–0)
January 21 7:00 PM St. Lawrence Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Miller W 4–3  1,989 10–14–1 (5–9–0)
January 28 6:00 PM vs. Union* MVP Arena • Albany, New York (Mayor's Cup)   Watson L 0–6  5,883 10–15–1
February 3 7:00 PM at #11 Cornell Lynah Rink • Ithaca, New York ESPN+ Miller L 1–3  3,723 10–16–1 (5–10–0)
February 4 7:00 PM at Colgate Class of 1965 Arena • Hamilton, New York ESPN+ Watson W 2–1  959 11–16–1 (6–10–0)
February 10 7:00 PM Brown Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson L 2–3  2,325 11–17–1 (6–11–0)
February 11 7:00 PM Yale Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 4–2  4,117 12–17–1 (7–11–0)
February 17 7:00 PM at Dartmouth Thompson Arena • Hanover, New Hampshire ESPN+ Watson W 3–1  1,267 13–17–1 (8–11–0)
February 18 7:00 PM at #9 Harvard Bright-Landry Hockey Center • Boston, Massachusetts ESPN+ Watson L 0–4  3,095 13–18–1 (8–12–0)
February 24 7:00 PM Princeton Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Watson W 6–4  2,155 14–18–1 (9–12–0)
February 25 7:00 PM #2 Quinnipiac Houston Field House • Troy, New York ESPN+ Cherepak L 1–4  2,225 14–19–1 (9–13–0)
ECAC Hockey Tournament
March 4 7:00 PM Yale* Houston Field House • Troy, New York (First Round) ESPN+ Watson L 1–4  1,556 14–20–1
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.
Source:[3]

Scoring statistics

Name Position Games Goals Assists Points PIM
Ryan Mahshie F 31 15 7 22 6
Jakob Lee C 28 10 12 22 61
Sutter Muzzatti F 35 7 15 22 42
Austin Heidemann F 34 10 10 20 6
T. J. Walsh LW 35 7 10 17 4
Jake Gagnon RW 31 6 10 16 4
Lauri Sertti D 35 4 11 15 31
Max Smolinski D 35 3 11 14 16
Kyle Hallbauer D 35 2 11 13 14
Jack Agnew D 32 2 10 12 24
John Evans F 29 5 3 8 6
John Beaton C 31 2 6 8 4
Mason Klee D 31 1 6 7 39
Jack Brackett F 23 3 3 6 2
Nick Strom D 35 1 5 6 6
Brendan Budy LW 30 0 5 5 6
Altti Nykänen F 20 2 2 4 17
Nick Ardanaz D 20 0 3 3 8
James McIsaac C/RW 16 2 0 2 23
Danny Ciccarello F 24 1 1 2 8
Henri Schreifels F 21 1 0 1 8
Rory Herrman F 16 0 1 1 10
Dylan Davies D/F 21 0 1 1 23
Reid Leibold F 2 0 0 0 0
Brett Miller G 4 0 0 0 0
Carson Cherepak G 6 0 0 0 0
Finn Brown F 10 0 0 0 0
Jack Watson G 30 0 0 0 0
Total 84 143 227 383

[4]

Goaltending statistics

Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
Jack Watson 30 1695:02 13 15 1 87 740 1 .895 3.08
Carson Cherepak 7 250:37 0 4 0 13 112 0 .896 3.11
Brett Miller 6 149:06 1 1 0 9 50 0 .847 3.62
Empty Net - 19:56 - - - 6 - - - -
Total 35 2114:41 14 20 1 115 902 1 .887 3.26

Rankings

Main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings
Poll Week
Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 (Final)
USCHO.com NR - NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR - NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR - NR
USA Today NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.[5]

Awards and honors

Player Award Ref
Sutter Muzzatti ECAC Hockey Rookie Team [6]

Players drafted into the NHL

2023 NHL Entry Draft

Round Pick Player NHL team
5 143 Sutter Muzzatti Nashville Predators

† incoming freshman [7]

References

  1. ^ "Saturday, March 4, 2023". College Hockey Inc. March 4, 2023. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  2. ^ "RPI Engineers – 2022–23 Men's Hockey Roster".
  3. ^ "2022-23 Men's Hockey Schedule". RPI Engineers. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  4. ^ "RPI (Rensselaer Polytech. Inst.) 2022-2023 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  5. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  6. ^ "ECAC Hockey Announces 2022-23 Men's All-League Teams". ECAC Hockey. March 16, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  7. ^ "NCAA player rankings, selections in 2023 NHL Draft". USCHO.com. Retrieved June 30, 2023.