TROY, N.Y. – Freshman Brock Higgs scored the first two goals of his career and junior Allen York stopped 24 of 25 shots he faced to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 4-1 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in a non-league game at the Houston Field House. With the victory the Engineers improve to 2-1-2, extending their unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2). The Tigers fall to 0-3-1.

Rensselaer opened a 1-0 lead in the first period when Higgs (Kingston, ON/Kingston Voyageurs), a forward, swept in a loose puck from just outside the crease at 13:18. With RPI on the power play, defenseman Mike Bergin (Kanata, ON/Smiths Falls Bears) controlled a loose puck in the left circle and sent it towards the net. Teammate Marty O'Grady (London, ON/Wellington Dukes) chipped the puck but it was knocked down in front, where Higgs managed to slide the loose puck past RIT senior Jan Ropponen (Espoo, Finland/Espoo Blues).

The Tigers tied the score with just 52.2 seconds remaining in the first period when junior Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/Green Bay Gamblers) picked up the puck off the left side boards, skated toward the net and found space underneath York (Wetaskiwin, AB/Camrose Kodiaks) off the backhand. The goal was the first of the season for Burt.

RPI re-gained the lead in the second period with a pair of goals. Higgs tallied his second on a wrap-around at the 4:05 mark and senior Tyler Helfrich (Calgary, AB/Prince George Spruce Kings) tallied at 15:46. With the teams skating four-on-four, two RIT players got tangled up with an RPI player on the side boards, leaving the puck for Higgs, whose initial shot was stopped. He picked up the rebound and beat Ropponen to the far post. Helfrich made it 3-1 when he took a backhanded saucer pass from linemate Chase Polacek (Edina, MN/Academy of Holy Angels), who was at the top of the opposite circle, and scored his third goal of the season.

Bryan Brutlag (Lakeville, MN/Academy of Holy Angels) made it 4-1 when he finished a rush up the ice for his second goal of the game. The play started with a defensive zone face-off win by the Engineers' Joel Malchuk (Brandon, MB/Dauphin Kings). Alex Angers-Goulet (St. Augustin, PQ/Langley Chiefs) picked up the puck, drove up the left side of the ice and centered a pass to Brutlag, who knocked it over Ropponen at the 4:43 mark.

York improved to 2-1-2 by stopping seven shots in the first period, eight in the second and nine in the third. Ropponen made 27 saves on the other end.