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.
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.[1]
| 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 |
| Ryan Brushett | Forward | 25 | Verdun, QC
| ||
| Tyler Hotson | Forward | 20 | Stratford, ON | ||
| Lucas Matta | Defenseman | 20 | Kleinburg, ON
| ||
| Brad McNeil | Forward | 21 | Royal Oak, MI | ||
| Jérémie Payant | Forward | 20 | Saint-Lazare, QC | ||
| C. J. Regula | Defenseman | 25 | West Bloomfield, MI
| ||
| Nathan Sullivan | Forward | 19 | Calgary, AB | ||
| Dovar Tinling | Forward | 20 | Pointe-Claire, QC
|
As of September 19, 2023.[2]
|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition|-!colspan=12 ! style=""; | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |
| 37 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 8 | |||
| 33 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 79 | |||
| 37 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 32 | |||
| 37 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 14 | |||
| 34 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 43 | |||
| 30 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 8 | |||
| 37 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 50 | |||
| 32 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 2 | |||
| 23 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 41 | |||
| 16 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2 | |||
| 33 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 4 | |||
| 36 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 9 | |||
| 36 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 16 | |||
| 29 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 22 | |||
| 37 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 16 | |||
| 37 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 10 | |||
| 22 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 19 | |||
| 25 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |||
| 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | |||
| 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |||
| 18 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |||
| 32 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |||
| 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |||
| 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 95 | 152 | 247 | 429 |
|---|
| 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 |
|---|
See main article: 2023–24 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 (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 | |