RPI Engineers women's ice hockey

History

The RPI Engineers women’s ice hockey team first took the ice in the 1995–96 season, competing in the ECAC East at the Division III level. In 2004–05, their last year in Division III, they made it to the ECAC East Tournament final for the second year in a row. That season, the team posted a 21–6–0 overall record and a 17–2–0 mark in league play. Nationally, they ranked second in scoring defense, allowing just 1.22 goals per game, fourth in power play percentage, and eighth in scoring offense.

Sophomore Julie Aho, who led the team in scoring during her first two seasons, was named an AHCA National All-American. The next year, 2005–06, RPI played as a Division I independent and finished 18–6–2, with victories over Colgate, Northeastern, Connecticut, and Boston University. Despite being an independent, the Engineers ranked fourth nationally in winning percentage (.731) and seventh in scoring offense, averaging 3.23 goals per game.

Senior goaltender Rosina Schiff set program records for wins (40) and games played (65), both of which have since been broken. Rensselaer joined the ECAC in 2006–07. In the 2007–08 season, they went 13–15–5 overall and 6–12–4 in conference play, tying the single-season record for ties and earning their first-ever point against a nationally ranked opponent, Dartmouth, in a 1–1 draw in Hanover.

The program’s best Division I win total is 19, achieved in 2008–09 (19–14–4). On February 28, 2010, the Engineers beat Quinnipiac 2–1 in a game that lasted five overtimes. Senior defenseman Laura Gersten scored the winner at 4:32 of the fifth extra period. That contest stands as the second-longest in NCAA hockey history, surpassed only by a men’s game between Quinnipiac and Union on March 12, 2010.

Engineers in Pro Hockey

By the fall of 2016, six former Engineers had played professional women's hockey. This group includes Whitey Naslund (graduated 2010), Sonja van der Bliek (2011), Andie LeDonne (2013), Delaney Middlebrook and Jordan Smelker (both 2015), and Alexa Gruschow (2016). Naslund played for the Boston Blades under coach Digit Murphy and earned a Clarkson Cup in 2013. LeDonne and van der Bliek also played in the CWHL, with van der Bliek tending goal for the Brampton Thunder and Toronto Furies.

Middlebrook played in Sweden’s Riksserien. Smelker won the NWHL’s first championship with the Boston Pride in 2016 and had previously won a Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades in 2015. Gruschow led the NWHL in regular-season scoring in 2018, was named MVP of that year’s Isobel Cup Finals, and won the Cup with the Metropolitan Riveters.

Players

As of September 6, 2022, notable players include Ena Nystrøm (G, 2019–2020), Lovisa Selander (G, 2015–2019), Jordan Smelker (F, 2010–2014), Sonja van der Bliek (G, 2007–2011), and Alison Wright (F, 2006–2010). As of the end of the 2009–10 season, van der Bliek held RPI single-season records in games played (84), games started (83), wins (42–31–11), minutes played (5161:36), saves (1922), and shutouts (16). In the 2017–18 season, junior goaltender Lovisa Selander overtook van der Bliek as the all-time leader in career saves; she entered her senior season in 2018–19 with 2,935 career stops.

Awards and honors

Julie Aho was named AHCA National All-America in 2005. Laura Gersten received the Sarah Devens Award. Alisa Harrison was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team in 2009. Whitney Naslund was selected to the ECAC Hockey Championship All-Tournament Team in 2009.

Sierra Vadner was named to the 2009 ECAC All-Rookie Team. Sonja van der Bliek was named ECAC Goaltender of the Week for the week of March 1, 2010. Sarah Daniel was a two-time Academic All American and two-time captain in 2006 and 2007. Lovisa Selander earned ECAC Rookie of the Year and Goalie of the Year Finalist honors, ECAC Third Team All-Conference, and ECAC All-Rookie Team in 2015–16; All-ECAC Hockey Preseason Team in 2016–17; ECAC Hockey Second Team All-Conference in 2017–18; and in 2018–19 she was named to the ECAC Hockey Pre-Season Team, ECAC Goaltender of the Year, ECAC First Team All-Conference, CCM Hockey/AHCA Division I First Team All-America, a Top-10 Patty Kazmaier Award Nominee, and became the NCAA All-Time Division I Women's Hockey career saves record holder (4,167).

Did You Know?

• After transitioning to Division I, head coach Burke served for 11 more seasons before being fired in June 2017; Bryan Vines was named interim head coach later that month.