2023–24 RPI Engineers men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 RPI Engineers Men's ice hockey season was the 104th season of play for the program and the 62nd in ECAC Hockey. The Engineers represented Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, played their home games at Houston Field House and were coached by Dave Smith in his 6th season.
==Season==
From the very start of the season, Rensselaer encountered a problem that would plague them all year long. In their first four games, the defense surrendered a veritable avalanche of shots to the opposing teams. While their opposition at this time would all end up finishing the year ranked in the top 20, the porous defense persisted. Their three goaltenders, who weren't brilliant to begin with, suffered as a result. RPI allowed at least 4 goals in ten of their first twelve games and gave the team little chance to win from night to night. At one point, the team turned to Brett Miller, a senior who had seen very little playing time in his college career, as starter but that experiment lasted just a few games. It wasn't until after Christmas that the Watson was able to settle down and string together some decent performances.
After winning four of five coming out of the winter break, Rensselaer miraculously found itself in the middle of the conference standings. The reprieve, however, was short-lived. The defense faltered and team won just twice in its final fourteen games. The Engineers stumbled to a last-place finish in ECAC Hockey and entered the postseason with no momentum or expectations. However, once the postseason began, RPI found itself with an opportunity. Rensselaer was pitted against its long-time rival, Clarkson, and they relished the chance to ruin the Golden Knights' season. The Engineers scored twice in the first period to take an early lead all the while letting Clarkson sleep-walk through the opening 40 minutes. After Sutter Muzzatti increased the team's lead in third, the Knights finally fought back and ended up firing 22 shots in the third period. They managed to get the puck past Watson twice but he held up over the final two minutes and carried the Engineers to victory.
The rather surprising upset caused RPI to be set against defending national champion Quinnipiac in the quarterfinals. The first match was entirely controlled by the Bobcats but RPI gave a good performance in the rematch. The match remained close throughout until Quinnipiac scored two-empty-net goals in the final 70 seconds.
Rensselaer finished the season with one of its worst defensive performances. RPI had allowed more than 4 goals against on average and were the second-worst defensive team that season. Only Stonehill, who was in the process of transitioning from Division II, was worse.
==Departures==
Kyle Hallbauer 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with Adirondack Thunder)
Louis Helsen 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Rory Herrman 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Cardiff Devils)
Mason Klee 	Defenseman		Graduate transfer to Ohio State
Reid Leibold 	Defenseman		Left program (retired)
Ryan Mahshie 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Connecticut
James McIsaac 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Henri Schreifels	Forward 		Transferred to Stonehill
T. J. Walsh 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Sacred Heart
==Recruiting==
Ryan Brushett 	Forward 		25	Verdun, QC; graduate transfer from Massachusetts Lowell
Tyler Hotson 	Forward 		20	Stratford, ON
Lucas Matta 	Defenseman		20	Kleinburg, ON; transfer from Western Michigan
Brad McNeil 	Forward 		21	Royal Oak, MI
Jérémie Payant 	Forward 		20	Saint-Lazare, QC
C. J. Regula 	Defenseman		25	West Bloomfield, MI; graduate transfer from Ohio State
Nathan Sullivan	Forward 		19	Calgary, AB
Dovar Tinling 	Forward 		20	Pointe-Claire, QC; transfer from Vermont
==Roster==
As of September 19, 2023.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
|-
!colspan=12 ! style=""; | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	F 	37	11	16 	27 	8
 	F 	33	10	15 	25 	79
 	F 	37	13	9 	22 	32
 	C 	37	6 	15 	21 	14
 	C 	34	5 	12 	17 	43
 	RW 	30	8 	6 	14 	8
 	D 	37	2 	11 	13 	50
 	C 	32	4 	8 	12 	2
 	C 	23	7 	4 	11 	41
 	F 	16	4 	6 	10 	2
 	F 	33	1 	8 	9 	4
 	F 	36	4 	4 	8 	9
 	D 	36	2 	6 	8 	16
 	D 	29	2 	5 	7 	22
 	D 	37	2 	5 	7 	16
 	D 	37	0 	7 	7 	10
 	D 	22	3 	3 	6 	19
 	F 	25	4 	1 	5 	6
 	C 	19	2 	2 	4 	10
 	F 	7 	1 	3 	4 	0
 	D 	18	1 	2 	3 	6
 	D 	32	1 	1 	2 	12
 	LW 	16	0 	1 	1 	0
 	F 	21	0 	1 	1 	10
 	D/F	3 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	7 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	9 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	15	0 	0 	0 	8
 	G 	23	0 	0 	0 	0
Total	 	 	95	152	247	429
==Goaltending statistics==
 	23	1351:41	8 	12	3	81 	681 	0	.894	3.60
 	7 	397:00 	1 	5 	0	25 	198 	0	.888	3.78
 	9 	473:53 	1 	6 	1	34 	242 	0	.877	4.30
Empty Net	- 	22:17 	- 	- 	-	10 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	37	2243:51	10	23	4	150	1121	0	.882	4.01
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week
Poll 	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 (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 	
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.
==References==
Category:RPI Engineers men's ice hockey seasons
RPI
RPI