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Two weeks after ushering in the new season with a home-ice sweep of WCHA opponent Bemidji State University, Colorado College plays on the road for the first time in a two-game series against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of the Eastern College Athletic Conference this Friday and Saturday.
Faceoff is 7 p.m. ET both nights at Houston Fieldhouse in Troy, N.Y.
The 2-0 Tigers, who remain No. 2 nationally in
Inside College Hockey's weekly Power Rankings, have climbed to No. 3 in the two national polls published on Monday by
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and
U.S. College Hockey Online. RPI is not ranked in either, and is not among the 20 teams listed in the
INCH Power Rankings.
CC owns a 3-0-2 advantage in five previous encounters against the Engineers after skating to a 2-1 victory and 2-2 tie at the World Arena on opening weekend of the 2010-11 season. The Tigers also prevailed, 3-2, at the Lightning College Hockey Classic in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 29, 2007, and at the old Broadmoor Ice Palace on Jan. 30, 1954. In between, at the Brown University Invitational on Dec. 22, 1976, the teams battled to an 8-8 deadlock.
Rensselaer, which begins ECAC play with single games at Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University next week, is 1-4 for the young campaign. Coached by former University of Denver assistant Seth Appert, the Engineers have suffered three consecutive losses on the road – including a 5-2 setback at Notre Dame last Friday – since beating Minnesota State University, 4-1, at home on Oct. 8 to earn a split of their season-opening series.
RPI is the first of seven Colorado College regular-season opponents in 2011-12 that earned a bid to the national playoffs last spring, falling 6-0 to the University of North Dakota in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
CC plays its next five games, as well as seven of the next nine, away from home. All seven of those road games will be on NHL-size ice sheets – at Nebraska Omaha, Denver and North Dakota in addition to the two this week.
