In reflecting back on Rensselaer's recently completed athletic season, it quickly becomes obvious that there were – yet again – many memorable individual and team accomplishments, as well as other significant events that occurred. In an effort to relive, remember and celebrate some of our student-athletes and staff members who played major roles in making those occasions a reality, we introduce 11 4 2010-11.

The story below is one in the 11-part series, which will run throughout the next couple of months. The events are not ranked in any particular order. For the full list, along with some 'honorable mentions', eventually, please click HERE.

Are there significant events you remember? You can submit them by clicking HERE. Thank you and enjoy!

Men's Hockey Returns to NCAA Tournament

The year was 1995 and the Rensselaer men's hockey team was making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Although they suffered their second consecutive shutout and First Round ousting, no one could have guessed it would be another 16 years before the Engineers stepped onto the ice as one of the final 16 schools vying for a national title.

Fast-forward to Sunday, March 6, 2011. A, 2-1, overtime loss at the hands of Colgate in the First Round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament seemed as though it was end of the road for the Engineers. Head coach Seth Appert stood outside a somber RPI locker room and answered questions, quite possibly for the final time of the year. “This is not how we wanted it to end,” he said.

Although their season wasn't officially over, the Engineers (20-12-5) were going to need to rely on their body of work as well as help from other teams if they were going to make the field of 16.

“We have an outside chance [to make the NCAA Tournament], but it's a long shot. Very long,” Appert added.

After giving the club a week off, Rensselaer reconvened and began to practice again. Although it admittedly seemed odd to be preparing for a game that may never come, the team stayed positive. Helping matters was the fact that some early conference tournament results favored the Engineers' odds of earning one of the final spots in the tournament.

“Realistically, there a lot of combinations that will get us in,” explained Appert.

The Engineers had built a solid resume over the course of the year, picking up big wins all along the way. A victory over then 12th-ranked Union College on November 13 got the ball rolling for the Cherry & White, as it kicked off an 8-2-1 run.

Rensselaer avenged an early-season loss the then first-ranked Yale in the 34th Annual Big Red Freakout! on January 29, downing the Bulldogs, 5-2, in front of a raucous crowd of 4,780 at the Houston Field House.

Despite these quality triumphs and a 20-win campaign, the team did not control its own fate and needed assistance from a number of other schools to secure a spot in the field.

Although a number of outside results went into RPI ultimately making it into the NCAA Tournament, the ECAC Championship game, in which Yale downed Cornell, 6-0, may have been the biggest. Had the Big Red managed a win, it would have earned the automatic bid and eliminated the Engineers.

On the morning of March 20, the field was set to be announced on ESPNU. The Engineers waited anxiously in the locker room, anticipating something that the Rensselaer hockey community had been ready to see for over a decade. When their name was finally called and an “RPI” logo flashed across the screen, the dreams of 26 hard working young men had finally come to fruition.

“We're elated,” Appert exclaimed. “We felt all year that his could be a national tournament team.”

A trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin was set, and a date with No. 1 seed North Dakota loomed ahead, but for the time being it was time to celebrate, if only for a minute. A 16-year wait was over.

The Engineers were back.