2022–23 RPI Engineers men's ice hockey season

2022–23 RPI Engineers
men's ice hockey season
2022–23 RPI Engineers; men's ice hockey season
Conference	T–7th ECAC Hockey
Home ice	Houston Field House
Rankings
USCHO	NR
USA Today	NR
Record
Overall	14–20–1
Conference	9–13–0
Home	12–6–1
Road	2–13–0
Neutral	0–1–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Dave Smith
Assistant coaches	Mathias 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 »

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.	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1	Carson Cherepak	Freshman	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2002-10-09	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Dauphin (MJHL)	—
3	Lauri Sertti	Junior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1999-07-11	Espoo, Finland	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
4	Mason Klee	Senior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1999-10-04	Morrison, Colorado	Sioux Falls (USHL)	—
6	Jack Agnew	Junior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2001-10-22	Oakville, Ontario	Boston College (HEA)	—
7	Max Smolinski	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2003-04-02	Bloomfield Hills, Michigan	Fargo (USHL)	—
8	James McIsaac	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-04-29	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Brooks (AJHL)	—
9	Reid Leibold	Sophomore	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2001-10-23	Ashburn, Virginia	Maryland (NAHL)	—
10	Dylan Davies	Junior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2001-02-09	Traverse City, Michigan	Sioux Falls (USHL)	—
11	Nick Ardanaz	Freshman	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2002-05-30	Surrey, British Columbia	West Kelowna (BCHL)	—
12	Austin Heidemann	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1999-06-27	Blaine, Minnesota	Mercyhurst (AHA)	—
13	T. J. Walsh (A)	Senior	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-04-29	Shrewsbury, Massachusetts	Northeastern (HEA)	—
14	John Evans	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	2002-04-08	South Surrey, British Columbia	West Kelowna (BCHL)	—
15	Altti Nykänen	Junior	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2001-09-26	Vihti, Finland	Bishop's College (CISAA)	—
17	John Beaton	Junior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-10-30	Stittsville, Ontario	Youngstown (USHL)	—
18	Jakob Lee (A)	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-02-12	Owen Sound, Ontario	Merrimack (HEA)	—
19	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	Henri Schreifels	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2000-07-01	Newbury Park, California	Victoria (BCHL)	—
22	Danny Ciccarello	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2001-03-23	Kirkland, Quebec	Fort McMurray (AJHL)	—
23	Nick Strom	Sophomore	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-03-21	Dayton, Minnesota	Western Michigan (NCHC)	—
24	Jack Brackett	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2000-12-31	Manassas, Virginia	Maryland (NAHL)	—
25	Ryan Mahshie (A)	Senior	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	1999-04-05	Stoney Creek, Ontario	Brooks (AJHL)	—
27	Jake Gagnon	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-11-04	Pointe-Claire, Quebec	Wellington (OJHL)	—
28	Kyle Hallbauer (C)	Graduate	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1997-03-02	Howell, New Jersey	Lone Star (NAHL)	—
29	Brendan Budy	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-06-06	Langley, British Columbia	North Dakota (NCHC)	—
30	Brett Miller	Junior	G	6' 2" (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-04-26	Northville, Michigan	Austin (NAHL)	—
34	Jack Watson	Sophomore	G	6' 3" (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2000-03-14	Toronto, Ontario	Coquitlam (BCHL)	—
51	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 v t e
	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^#	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

Poll	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	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

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

[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.

[ECAC-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.

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v t e RPI Engineers men's ice hockey
Formerly the RPI Bachelors
Playing venues	Houston Field House (1949–present)
Head coaches	Leroy Clark (1917–1923) W. J. Cook (1924–1925) Marvin Callan (1925–1931, 1936–1937) Ned Harkness (1949–1963) Rube Bjorkman (1963–1964) Garry Kearns (1964–1969) Leon Abbott (1969–1972) Jim Salfi (1972–1979) Mike Addesa (1979–1989) Buddy Powers (1989–1994) Dan Fridgen (1994–2006) Seth Appert (2006–2017) Dave Smith (2017– )
Seasons	1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1936–37 1937–38 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	Tri-State League (1950–1972) ECAC Hockey (1961–present)
Rivalries	Union Dutchmen Clarkson Golden Knights
Culture & lore	Rensselaer Holiday Tournament
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Frank Chiarelli (265 Points) Frank Chiarelli (155 Goals) Neil Little (58 Wins)
National championships	1954 1985
Frozen Four appearances	1953 1954 1961 1964 1985
NCAA Tournament appearances	1953 1954 1961 1964 1984 1985 1994 1995 2011
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC: 1984 1985 1995
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY