A few weeks ago, RPI picked up a commitment from ‘06 Defenseman Guerin Slezak to complete their blue line. Slezak is a left shot listed at 5’10” and 187 LBs who has been with Cedar Rapids in the USHL for the last 3 years. He was previously committed to Princeton and originally supposed to spend another year in the USHL due to injury issues. He tore his ACL in the 2025 playoffs and then tore it again in November when he was due to make his return. The likely reason that he is moving on from Princeton is due to the new 5 in 5 rule that starts the eligibility clock at 19 years old and then allows players up to 5 seasons of play. If Slezak went back to junior hockey for another season as an overager, he would only have 3 years of collegiate eligibility. By enrolling now, he gets 4 years.

Slezak missed all of this season due to his injury, but the season prior, he had 3 goals, 8 assists, and 11 points with a +12 rating in 61 games. The past 2 seasons, he also served as the captain of the Roughriders, showcasing his exemplary character and leadership. On the ice, Slezak profiles as a defensive defenseman. He has a strong stick, which allows him to separate players from the puck. His defensive positioning is always very good to prevent passes to the slot area and stop scoring chances. He is a well-balanced skater who keeps a tight gap and forces opponents to the outside. Lastly, he is very safe with the puck and rarely makes mistakes or turns it over. Overall, he will add safe and reliable play in his own end.

Slezak will join the Engineers this fall and slot in as the 9th D to start behind Hilditch and Heroux as he comes back from his injury. He will provide valuable leadership and character in the locker room while being a safe option in a depth role on the blue line. I’m excited to see him at RPI soon. Congratulations to Guerin and his family!

A mid-summer recruiting flurry saw the Engineers nab the last 2 pieces to its ‘26-’27 roster, including Chicago Steel forward Luke Goukler. Goukler is a very well-regarded recruit and former Merrimack commit who came available late in the cycle. My best guess is Merrimack wanted him to do another year in the USHL, whereas RPI can offer the chance to compete for minutes in the top-9 immediately. It makes all the sense in the world for Lang, who is eager to put as many young players as he can into intense competition. Goukler’s the type of kid you want to pick up, flexing strong USHL production, a brief stint with NTDP, a Central Scouting ranking, and elite prep numbers. I’m confident that RPI’s tight checking system will harden his game enough to be a very impactful ECAC player.

His Speed and Skill Pop

Goukler’s biggest asset is undoubedtly his speed, which I think matters more given the circumstances. The ECAC is a tight checking league; it always has been. Guys that lack physicality get pushed around. But Goukler’s game is effective because he is excellent in small spaces, and his explosive skating gets him to those spots.

Look at how fast he pounces on a pocket of open ice, and before you know it the puck is in the net. He hasn’t fully reached his potential and rounded out his game in my view, but he’s intriguing to me because that skill is hard to teach. Lang is an elite player developer, and I’d rather see him nab prospects that have this ability and rely on his experience to help them fill in the gaps.

If you watch any of these clips, watch this one. Look at how quick he is getting out into open ice and making something out of nothing.

The Shot is Good but Can Be Developed

That last clip illustrates how Goukler really can tuck it under the cross bar with ease. He doesn’t need long to get the shot off and his release is super quick. However, I think his game slightly skews on the pass-first side, which is why the goal scoring production hasn’t been crazy. I think he’s at his best when he lets it rip and would love to see him do it more.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

It’s hard to really see how good his game IQ is without a full slate of tape to review. I think he has more physical skill/traits than most recruits I’ve watched, but the biggest factor is always the brain. If he can process the offensive game, I think he gets really good.

He needs to add weight. While he’s good in small spaces, puck transportation is essential to his game and he needs the strength to not get knocked off it. I think he will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the college weight room regiment. His game should look way different at 6’0 & 195 lbs than at 5’11 & 177 lbs.

Luke had a 6th round ranking from Central Scouting in 2024 and went undrafted. He played games for NTDP and developed with the Steel, two of the most prominent junior hockey organizations in the world. It’s not lost on me that Merrimack sniped a recruit from RPI at this time a year ago and now it’s seemingly come full circle. He’s got some development to do, and it might not happen immediately, but I do think Goukler can get really good. Another strong 4-star pickup from the staff, who seems entirely focused on adding youthful talent to this team. Welcome aboard Luke!

Hockey season is right around the corner, and RPI once again rolls out a roster smattered with new faces. 15 new Engineers will join the squad to be exact. This deviates a bit from the build through the draft, roster continuity approach that was promised, but I think it was necessary for quite a few reasons. We’ve spoken at length about the quick turnaround time for roster assembly last offseason, leading to a mix-and-match portal cycle. Second, this was a transformational recruiting year for the program. On our offseason pod, I equated it to uncovering a gold mine and needing to grab as much value as you possibly could. Thus, a lot of new faces, which gives us plenty of fodder to pontificate about, which is just about all we can do this time of year! Let’s look at how this roster shapes up and assess what seem to be the obvious strengths, question marks, and unknowns.

The Highs

Forward Depth

To borrow a baseball analogy, last year’s forwards had a lot of doubles, but Lang and Schneider went swinging for the fences up front this offseason. The 6 forward recruits are very high end and all of them have the chance to be top line or top 6 players at this level. Yurchuk and Ross have a history of scoring and the talent to thrive in the ECAC. Sitar, Rullers, and Scherzer proved they can produce here last season. I think McNeil and Bourgault are the only two guys who won’t see time on the scoring lines, and that is absolutely nothing against their games. It just goes to show that RPI has an abundance of forward talent that will be competing neck-and-neck for ice time. Iron sharpens iron, so this competition should be exactly what Lang wants to expedite player development.

Centers

Just like Dave Smith, Lang likes to recruit centers. Lots of them. Once again referencing baseball, centers are like shortstops, who have incredibly high game IQ and can play anywhere. Sitar and Rullers are a real good 1-2 punch, and from there you have options. Lodewyk won draws at nearly a 65% clip in the WHL, and I am sure he will stick in the middle. Lindberg, Scherzer, Yurchuk, Smith, Evaschesen, and Bono all have spent time at center. Lang has no shortage of options.

Emphasis on Hard Skill

I think it’s really easy to recruit a highly skilled team or a hard-working team. But I think it’s really, really hard to build a team that does both. RPI’s secret sauce is going to be building it like Cornell, Quinnipiac, and other teams that thread this needle so well. This team is building the right way and consistently adding talented players that are hard to play against. I think this year will be our first glimpse of what this looks like inside the new system.

A Very Athletic Defense

Take one look at Eric Lang’s best teams at AIC and you’ll realize that he loves athletic defenseman that can quickly break the puck out. This asset drives his system’s transition game and helps his teams get opponents stuck on their heels. He is starting to pull this together here, with a combination of quick skaters and skilled puck handlers. Michael, Guo, and Burzynski all have this in their game which will pair nicely with the returners in Sobieski and Klassek.

The Holes

It’s still super early to project how this thing comes together, and I think it’s actually a very well-rounded group. But for the purpose of the exercise, here would be my question marks on paper.

Defensive Depth

I think the defense is fun and exciting, but it’s young and could yield a variety of results. I thought last year’s unit was about as safe as you could get, with Sobieski and Klassek the bright spots, surrounded by a group of steady but unexciting veterans. 4 of those guys departed, making way for 3 freshman and likely one of Simon Motew or Landen Hilditch to take the final full-time role. I’m on the record saying that if this group can be retained and developed, it will be a top 2 defensive unit in the league in 2027-28. In the meantime? There might be some growing pains for a unit of guys in which none of the players have more than 1 full season of NCAA hockey under their belt.

Who are the go-to guys once again?

I love the depth on this team and think they will roll out 4 lines that can produce goals. I do think though, that they again lack players that opponents will be circling on the line charts. This is incredibly understandable; Lang needs some time to recruit and develop them. And we have also seen freshman step right into that role before, even as recently as Sutter Muzzatti, Tyler Hotson, and Felix Caron. I just think their goal is going to have to be to score with depth and wear teams down with effort until some of the freshmen have grown into true scoring threats.

It’s a very, very young team

RPI is slated to bring in 11 freshmen, which to my math will easily be the most in the ECAC. Only Ethan Bono, Alfred Lindberg, and Brad McNeil are slated to leave the program come next spring, which sets this team up to be very youthful. My view is as follows: This is clearly by design, as Lang felt there was more talent in juniors recruiting than the portal and it fit his program building culture better. He clearly knows this team will be inexperienced but thinks this approach will yield a more exponential success in years to come than recruiting solid, but safe 23-year-old transfers will.

The Unknowns

Goalie Development

Nate Krawchuk came on incredibly strong by the end of the 2026 campaign. For a kid originally recruited by the last staff and not given the starting role initially, it’s hard not to grade his freshman season an unequivocal win. How much is in the tank though? Can he be a top 3 or 4 goalie in the ECAC? Can Ethan McCallum push him in year 1? McCallum was good not great last year in the WHL but was invited to Toronto’s camp a few weeks ago. Krawchuk struggled to give them back-to-backs down the stretch despite having the hot hand. I think this young duo is formidable and has lots of potential, but how far can they take the Engineers in 2026-27?

How will all the WHL recruits translate?

This will be year 2 of the CHL-to-NCAA transition, and year 1 produced mixed results to say the least. Hockey pundits are still fleshing out their definitive league rankings, with most grouping the OHL and USHL as tier 1, with the WHL a close 3rd.

Year 1 CHL Translation

For a team with 8 WHL recruits slated to come in, the data illustrated in this piece disappoints me just a bit. It’s still very early and will take years to truly rank the recruiting prowess of each junior league. But, as this data suggests, you can expect all the point-per-game recruits coming in to produce roughly 0.37 of their point total last year. Only time will tell what leagues are most desirable to spend most of your recruiting time in. But for now, RPI’s high reliance on the WHL being a reliable feeder will be something to monitor.

Parting Thoughts

I tried to call it as fair as I could in this exercise, as I genuinely think RPI is close to great things under Lang despite still being in transition. This roster is young with only 3 seniors, but it is inherently more Lang’s which should excite fans. All of these players are here for a reason, most were recruited by this staff now, and most will be a part of his first true core of talent here. Even if the Engineers are a year away, expect this season to be much more revealing of what Lang’s program will look like.

RPI’s last 2+ decades have created lots of questions about what the program’s ceiling is and whether the program can realistically compete in this new era of college athletics. I wanted to write this article to layout if RPI can compete nationally with all the changes to the NCAA, if so, how they can do it. However, before even getting to all those changes and their impact, the way to win generally as a program is important to go over. This also isn’t just applicable to RPI; it’s the same for every small school out there.

What I (and many others I assume) have discovered over the years is that there’s a clear recruiting and on-ice formula that small schools have to follow in order to compete nationally. This is the formula that Quinnipiac has been following to be a top program nationally the past 5 or so years, and it’s also the one that Minnesota State followed under Mike Hastings during their excellent run. These are the two main examples I use since these are the two programs that I feel perfected the formula, and that’s why Quinnipiac was able to win it all while Mankato made it to the title game (and had a 3rd period lead that they gave up).

What this article won’t be focusing on is the recent NCAA landscape changes and the effect of that. Those matter a lot, and there will be a follow-up article (a part 2 if you will) about how you follow this recruiting and on-ice formula as a small school while disadvantaged by those rules. For this article though, let’s breakdown the recruiting and on-ice system.

Part 1: Recruit Top Older Players

At a school like RPI or even Quinnipiac, you’re not getting top prospects who are top NHL draft picks. When Brandon Pirri came to RPI, it was an entirely different era. That’s not going to happen again barring RPI getting a major upgrade in facilities and the ability to pay players, and even then, it is quite unlikely.

It is possible to get some mid to late round picks, and I’d say your ideal roster has a handful of these players. Quinnipiac brought in Elliott Groenewold as a true freshman last year and Ethan Wyttenbach this year, as examples, and usually has somewhere around 5-6 draft picks on the roster. Minnesota State had Nathan Smith on the roster when they made it to the National Championship in 2022. Cornell had Morgan Barron on their excellent 2020 team and has typically had a handful of mid to late round picks on the team. There’s plenty more examples, but you get the idea.

However, the majority of your roster is going to be made up of older players who have played at least 2-3 years of junior hockey (even a lot of their drafted players fit this bill and didn’t enroll until 19 or 20). They still have talent and skill, just not as much, but they are older and more experienced. Traditionally, these have been players that are playing multiple years in the USHL or BCHL.

These are players like Zach Metsa and Ethan De Jong on Quinnipiac’s national title team. Both are skilled, good players who played leading roles on that team, but they’ve both primarily only played in the AHL to this point with Metsa only just now getting NHL games. For Mankato, they had Ryan Sandelin and Julian Napravnik among the leaders of that national runner-up team in 2022. Those are just a few examples, but both programs have been littered with these types of players that come to college older, develop and become excellent college players, and then top out in the AHL or European leagues most likely.

Obviously, you also have to do a good job developing these players once they get to campus, but you can’t compete for national championships without great players. You have to recruit the players and then develop them. It has been a big challenge finding and keeping players of that caliber, even when they’re older, for small schools in the past.

However, it has now become a whole lot easier. With the rule change to allow CHL players to play college hockey, there is more talent than ever before to recruit. All 3 major junior leagues in Canada are high quality leagues. The consensus is the WHL and OHL are both on par with the USHL, if not better, while the QMJHL is a bit below. They’re all high quality leagues and clearly in the same ballpark talent wise. Not every player in the CHL will play college hockey, but the talent pool is nearly doubled from this. That’s huge for any small school. There’s so much talent that it’s going to introduce more parity as more schools recruit these talented older players that are now available from more than just the USHL and Junior A in Canada.

That’s why during the coaching change last year, I kept mentioning the ability to recruit the CHL as incredibly important for the next coach. With RPI’s location and league, they should be able to thrive at recruiting the CHL. They need to recruit players that contribute in these leagues and are coming in after 2-3 years in order to compete. While the staff ended up shifting to the WHL instead of staying more local with the OHL and QMJHL, the point is that the quality of these leagues are all stellar, and you need great players to compete. Good players come from everywhere, but most of the good players will be in the USHL, OHL, WHL, and QMJHL.

This is the most important part of the formula. You can’t win without good players, no matter how good your scheme and system are.

Part 2: Play a Strong Puck Possession Game

Puck possession for these small schools has to be the bread and butter for how they play on the ice. While still talented, they don’t have these high-level, blue-chip NHL prospects. Those prospects can break open a game by themselves by dangling through the defense and beating the goalie, or cutting to the middle and ripping one under the bar. They can create scoring chances from nothing, so the blue blood teams with more of these players don’t need as strong puck possession to score and control the game.

Small schools don’t have that luxury. While the older talent is still good and can score pretty well too, it’s a different level. They need sustained possession in the offensive zone to take over games and win a lot. Even more importantly, when you have the puck a lot, it means your opponent doesn’t have it and can’t score.

Quinnipiac has been absolutely elite in this regard during their reign, and Minnesota State was the same way under Hastings. They both were consistently top 5 in the country in close corsi percentage, which is a great measure of puck possession. For those that don’t know, corsi is just a measure of all shot attempts, and the percentage of shot attempts a team has is roughly how much possession they’re controlling. Close corsi is adjusted for score effects and only takes into account when the games are close at even strength. This is because teams that are losing in games tend to start throwing everything at the net in desperation, and it often skews the numbers, especially as it gets later in the game.

Both schools have been absolutely elite at possessing the puck, and that’s a big part of how they both have consistently been national championship contenders.

Part 3: Defend the Slot

This falls under puck possession to a certain extent, but I do think it’s distinct enough to mention separately. A hallmark of the Minnesota State teams were the way they defended the slot and made their goalies’ lives easier. Quinnipiac is the same way. Both teams have had good goaltenders, but their numbers have been a lot better than their talent level because of how well they defend. Call it the Dryden McKay effect. He would consistently have shutouts making less than 20 saves because of how good the defense was, and he had great numbers for his entire career because of it despite having only an ECHL career in the pros to date.

Both programs particularly have defended the slot well and prevented high danger chances. Only allowing around 20 shots is outstanding defending on its own, and out of those shots, very few of them would be big scoring chances. This smothering defense has been a trademark of these teams, and it is shown by their extremely low expected goals against numbers.

Expected goals is a measure of shot quality. Every shot has a chance of going in, but obviously shots taken in the slot or near the net have a much higher chance of going in than a point shot. Using historical data, every shot is assigned a percentage chance of going in based on the location and situation. That percentage is the expected goal value for that shot (e.g. a shot with a 30% chance of going in is worth 0.3 expected goals). You can sum up those expected goals over a game, season, etc. to see how well a team is playing in terms of earning or allowing dangerous shots and scoring chances. Quinnipiac and Minnesota State have consistently been elite in expected goals against per game, meaning they defend at a high level.

Both teams have had those elite suppression numbers lead to outstanding results in the actual goals department too.

To be competitive on the national stage as a small school, the team defense has to be elite at preventing dangerous scoring chances and keeping the puck out of the net. The recruiting from part 1 even plays into this because the older and stronger players make it more difficult for the younger, more skilled players to get to the dangerous areas. Defending the slot is a huge part of the blueprint.

Part 4: Control the Neutral Zone

The final piece to the puzzle is the neutral zone and transition play. Controlling the neutral zone is extremely important for any team in general because that’s what drives the rest of the game. The most dangerous opportunities come in transition and off of turnovers. Being able to generate off the rush and defend the rush is a big part to keeping the possession and game tilted in your favor, so a lot of this ties into the previous topics. I thought it was still worth mentioning though.

Think of it this way: if a team can enter the zone with possession, they’re able to start their offensive zone sequence immediately and look to attack the net. Since not all players on the other team are back in their own zone yet (typically), that also means there is more time and space to work with. If they are forced to dump it in, they start the sequence without the puck and have to spend the time and energy winning races and puck battles to earn possession before attacking. The time spent doing this also means that typically all the players on the other team are now back in the zone, which takes away space. If a team can do this well offensively while preventing it defensively, it’s pretty much always going to lead to good possession, chance generation and chance suppression.

Looking at controlled zone entries per game, the trend is clear here too. Controlled zone entries are zone entries either through stickhandling or through passing because the team is entering the offensive zone with control and possession.

Typically, the most skilled teams tend to be the best here, so it’s not totally shocking that the two programs were typically more in the 6-10 range rather than top 5. They’re not recruiting the blue-chip prospects with elite skill as noted earlier, but they’re still getting the talented older players with a good skill level. Then, they play to their system perfectly.

Unfortunately, data is not available for preventing controlled zone entries on the defensive side, but given everything we have analyzed, I’d be willing to bet that it would look similarly excellent. Both programs have controlled the neutral zone to tilt the possession in their favor and help contribute to also generating and preventing dangerous scoring chances.

The Formula

The formula for competing nationally with the chance to win a championship is clear. You need high-level recruiting of older players, great player development, and a system that effectively prioritizes puck possession, defending the slot, and controlling the neutral zone in order to maximize that talent. It sounds a whole lot easier than it is, and there’s a reason that ECAC, CCHA, and Atlantic Hockey programs are hardly competitors on the national scene. The coaching needed to execute this has to be elite; it cannot only be very good. Both Mike Hastings and Rand Pecknold are unanimously top 5 coaches in the sport for a reason.

They are elite in all of these areas. Recruiting, player development, and systems execution are all areas where they excel, and a small school coach cannot afford to be missing in even a single area. That’s hard to do; even really good coaches in college hockey tend to be slightly behind in at least one area. It takes a truly elite coach to excel in all of them and build a nationally competitive program. For the RPI fans, I think Eric Lang is one of these rare caliber of coaches after what he was able to do at AIC, winning 4 straight league titles for NCAA tournament berths with ZERO resources. Building them up to do it once or twice is one thing, but the ability to keep them there for so long is truly astounding. His accomplishments there were genuinely unreal.

The good news if you’re a small school fan? The blueprint is obvious, and I can practically guarantee you that every single coach at a small school is trying to replicate it. With the plethora of talent available now because of the CHL, it has never been easier to execute on the recruiting front of this. The depth of talent means there will be increasingly more parity in the sport. After that? It’s a matter of player development and system execution. Personally, I don’t think the small schools are dead. I think we will continue to see at least a couple per year with a legitimate shot at winning it all like a Quinnipiac or Minnesota State. The biggest blocker to there being more small schools competing is the transfer portal and ability to pay players. Stay tuned for part 2 for how small schools will have to navigate that in this new era of college sports.

A month ago, RPI picked up a commitment from ‘07 forward Kieran Witkowski. Witkowski is a LW for the Brampton Steelheads in the OHL after being selected as a 2nd round pick in the 2023 OHL Draft. This season, he had 14 goals, 20 assists, and 34 points in 62 games, which led the team in scoring. Brampton was in a rebuilding year and missed the playoffs after losing many talented players. Next year, they should be more improved, and Witkowski will be one of their top players and leaders.

Witkowski profiles as another speedy, competitive, and skilled forward that the coaching staff has frequently sought out. He plays with pace and uses his speed to get to the net and scoring areas. His speed also allows him to carry the puck through the neutral zone and create zone entries. He is a north-south player with a high compete level that adds energy to his team every shift. He is a great forechecker who regularly wins the puck back to keep possession for his team. Witkowski also can create offense through his playmaking and shot. He plays on the flank on the powerplay “where his puck movement and one-timer allow him to excel.” He’s got a pretty well-rounded skill set, and his main area to improve before getting to Troy is improving his processing ability to make quicker and better decisions with the puck to create even more offense.

Witkowski will return to Brampton in the OHL next year where he should play a leading role for them and wear a letter. He should improve to a near point-per-game level or even better and continue playing a clear top 6 role with power play time. This will be great for his development, and he will come to RPI in 2027 ready to make an immediate impact, likely in a 3rd line type role given how young this year’s team is and the amount of talent that is expected to return. Long term, Witkowski has top 6 potential on the wing. I’m very excited to see how he develops until he enrolls at RPI. Congratulations to Kieran and his family on his commitment!

Shane Smith’s late April commitment to RPI is big for the program in nearly every way. It’s the cherry on top to an absolutely outstanding recruiting class put together by the staff, one that has earned commitments from six 4-star or better recruits. After the surprise departure of Tyler Wallace, RPI needed another big body in the top 9, and they’re getting just that in Smith. Smith is a big, physical power forward with an excellent shot. He has a knack for the net, which culminated in 33 goals this year in the WHL. Shane brings a lot of junior hockey experience, and his combination of size and skill should be exactly what the Engineer offense needs. Not only is he very talented, but Shane also won the 2026 WHL Humanitarian of the Year, showing that he is an extremely high character kid to add to the program.

Elite Scoring Ability

Smith can absolutely rip it. I could sit here describing it, or you can just see it for yourself in this video.

In all seriousness, RPI’s forward group is littered with playmakers, but it badly needed a guy that can bury chances. Last year’s team really lacked players with this skillset, and Wallace’s departure only made matters worse. Gavin, Hadland, and Yurchuk are all pass first players, which makes Smith’s role really necessary and easy to define. Smith was the missing cog in the wheel, and his scoring and physicality should sew this unit together nicely.

Smith’s offensive game isn’t only about his wrist shot though, he has a genuine willingness to go to the most contested ice and score greasy goals. In the WHL, he excelled on the powerplay nearly everywhere. He has the size and physicality to play in front of the crease but has stick skill to go with it that allows him to play on the half wall and score on a one-timer.

High Compete and Physical Tools

Smith plays a very well-rounded game, which makes me confident that he’ll be a standout college player. I think his forechecking is really good and he consistently hunts pucks in the offensive zone. Despite having a college ready frame at 6’2 and 205 lbs., Smith has above average speed too. He’s not necessarily going to win a foot race, but he can really use his speed off the rush and to get into high percentage scoring areas.

I don’t think there is anything more frustrating than a big-bodied player that doesn’t use his physicality. Smith isn’t an enforcer by any means, but he certainly uses his force to push guys off of pucks and win battles along the boards. This physicality is what really pushes his game over the top, as the combination of speed, size, and shooting makes his offense a lot to handle.

Smith’s game is so well-rounded that there are nearly no weaknesses to clean up. At times his defensive game lacks a little intensity, and he lacks explosive skating, but those are nitpicking. Shane might not be an all-league type at RPI, but he projects as a very, very dependable top 6 guy for RPI.

2026 WHL Humanitarian of the Year

I’d be remiss not to give Shane his credit for the work he has done off the ice. This graphic is from his nomination, but Shane was actually selected as the recipient of the award this spring. Smith’s niece suffers from CMV, so Shane donated $25 to the Canadian CMV Foundation for every point he scored in the 2025-26 campaign. His contributions have been truly incredible and are a testament to the character he possesses.

Article on Shane's Work

Smith brings an incredibly well-rounded game to RPI and has a real knack for the net. Shane can play center, but with RPI’s wealth of centreman, I expect him to start on the 3rd line LW. Congratulations to Shane and his family, and we look forward to seeing him in Troy soon!

About a month ago, RPI picked up a commitment out of the transfer portal from right shot defenseman Logan Heroux. Listed at 6’2” and 206 LBs, Heroux comes from Ferris State where he served as the 6th D for them the past two seasons with an average of 13 minutes a game. His first season at Ferris State, he had 14 points, but he dropped down to 4 this year. Prior to Ferris State, Heroux had two good seasons in the NAHL with 76 points and a +56 rating combined across them.

Heroux plays a mature style with a diverse skill set to fill a variety of roles. Offensively, he is excellent on the breakout and was described as “a breakout machine” by Neutral Zone. He “easily carried the puck and sucked forecheckers to him before passing the puck off. He used his partner well and hit the center over and over.” He has some skill in the offensive zone as well and loves firing the puck on net. Defensively, he uses his size to clog lanes and keep a good gap. Overall, his well-rounded skill set will let him play any type of role and in any situation.

Heroux will arrive at RPI this fall with two years of eligibility remaining. He projects as a depth defenseman who can play in all situations and fill in up the lineup if injuries hit. He will compete with Hilditch for the 7th D role and provides a bit more offensive upside than Hilditch while Hilditch is stronger defensively. They will probably mix and match the two of them depending on the opponent and situation. Heroux provides experience and stability on the backend, which will be important for a very young Engineers team this season. Congratulations to Logan and his family!

At the end of March, RPI picked up a commitment from ‘06 Goaltender Ethan McCallum. Listed at 6’4” and 202 LBs, McCallum is a 3 year WHL veteran who played for both the Saskatoon Blades and the Penticton Vees this season. Between the two, he had an overall 0.907 SV%, which was tied for 5th in the league among qualified goalies.

McCallum is a big, athletic goalie with very quick lateral movement and the ability to make highlight reel saves. He does a good job staying square to shooters and controlling rebounds. His ability to see the puck through traffic is also impressive. The main thing for McCallum to improve is his angles; he can tend to be deeper in his crease because of his size, but that will be taken advantage of by more skilled players. He can also overcommit sometimes and could use some improvement with his reads. Overall though, McCallum is a high quality goalie due to his size, athleticism, and rebound control. He has all the physical tools needed, and the areas of growth are mental with his angles and reads, which can be developed with more reps.

McCallum will enroll at RPI this fall and add a quality goalie to tandem with Krawchuk. While Krawchuk has definitely earned the net to start the year, McCallum is good enough to push him and compete with him for the #1 spot during the season, especially since Krawchuk did struggle with back to backs at times. It will likely start out with Krawchuk as the 1A with the majority of the starts and McCallum as the 1B, but it’s not an open and shut case for the season by any means. It’s easy to envision the two of them locking down the net for years to come, and that is now a very stable position for the Engineers. I’m excited to see McCallum in net for RPI this fall! Congratulations to Ethan and his family!

Eric Lang’s transfer portal recipe is starting to feel pretty obvious to anyone paying attention: find highly skilled East Coast players who were just a step away from a major role on a successful team. Former Merrimack Warrior Ben Yurchuk fits this to a tee. Yurchuk played for the Chicago Steel prior to Merrimack and has been a high-skill, point producing type of player everywhere he’s gone. He found himself just on the outside of the Hockey East champ’s scoring lines and thus came available in the portal. Lang has been on a quest to find some natural skill to complement some of the tight-checking types he had in the locker room last year. Yurchuk has it, it’s just going to be about slowing the ECAC game down enough to utilize it.

Elite Hands and Natural Skill

After watching his tape from MC and the Steel, I left pretty convinced that he’d be playing at BC or BU if he were 5 inches taller. Yurchuk’s speed, hands, and IQ jump off the page immediately upon turning on the tape. He is so crafty maneuvering around defenders and has outstanding speed. The creativity in the offensive zone stands out to me too, he is just so patient and always seems to make the right pass. It looks as if he has the puck on a string while dangling through the neutral zone. He plays with an elusiveness as a forechecker and offensive player that is highly translatable and effective. Yurchuk’s dynamic game can truly drive offense and flip puck possession in his team’s favor.

Playmaking

As I alluded to before, his vision is simply top notch, and he is at his best with the puck on his stick. Some players simply don’t have that level of talent where the game slows down for them on the attack, but Yurchuk undoubtedly has it. He plays the game on the edge, but I found that more often than not he makes the right play.

So why didn’t it translate to college right away?

We’ve seen this happen with this archetype of player before. Highly skilled, often smaller players that were elite in prep and AAA, with high point production in the USHL that then struggle as Freshman in tough conferences. RPI has had a mixed bag recruiting this type of transfer, although I’d say it’s been more good than bad. TJ Walsh, Chase Zieky, and Brendan Budy are 3 that come to mind. The college game is clearly more physical, faster, and experienced than junior hockey, which can cause a slow adjustment for some guys. The ECAC is a heavier, tighter checking league than Hockey East, but it generally has less skill (although not always true). Yurchuk may struggle with the physicality of the league, but I also think his offensive ability will shine where it’s a bit of a dime a dozen in Hockey East. He is going to need his speed to be the difference maker and use it to find gaps in heavy ECAC defenses.

Intangibles

The biggest thing that holds Yurchuk back is his size and defensive ability. At 5’8, 170, he just doesn’t give you much in your own end and lacks the physicality you covet. That’s not to say that smaller forwards haven’t had success here, as quite a bit of his game calls Jacob Hayhurst to mind for me. I just think you know what you're getting with Yurchuk, and he’s likely not coming in to improve the defensive tenacity. He does have top-notch speed though, which when combined with his great stickhandling should help RPI possess and move the puck.

Yurchuk is a former top 10 pick in the USHL draft and was committed to Northeastern for a time, suggesting that the pedigree is absolutely there. I think the big question with this commitment is if the game slows down enough after another year and in a new conference. If Yurchuk’s possession and playmaking skills can shine through, then RPI just found a diamond in the rough.

Congrats to Ben and his family! Let’s go red.

Back in the beginning of February, we reported that RPI picked up a commitment from ‘06 LW Jordan Gavin. Listed at 5’11” and 180 LBs, Gavin was one of the top prospects in all of Canada for his birth year as a teenager. He’s had a long and winding path to get to where he is now, which we will get to in a bit. This year, he played for the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL where he had 16 goals, 42 assists, and 58 points in 68 games. Let’s take a look at his path given how unique it is.

Before the WHL

Gavin was a prolific scorer in U15 hockey with his high-end skill and elite hockey sense. He put up a whopping 24 points in only 6 games when the season was shortened due to COVID. This led to his selection as the #2 overall pick in the WHL draft following the season, behind Berkly Catton who just played out the full season with the Seattle Kraken in the NHL as a 19 and 20 year old. He also was selected ahead of Charlie Elick, a 2nd round pick for Columbus, and Roger McQueen, who was taken in the top 10 by Anaheim. That should give you an idea of the type of can’t miss prospect he was at age 14.

Since the WHL does its draft a year earlier than the other junior leagues, the players who are picked don’t join their team full time until a year later. Gavin played his age 14-15 year old season at the U17 level, where he again put up ridiculous numbers despite playing up an age group. He had 48 goals, 57 assists, and 105 points in 28 games! Players are still allowed to get a handful of WHL games as an affiliate player at that age, and Gavin played 9 games with the Tri-City Americans after turning 15 years old.

The 2022-23 Season

Gavin was able to join Tri-City full time in 2022 despite still only being 15 at the start of the season due to his late birthday in November. Despite his age, he was immediately a dynamic player in the league with 54 points in 62 games, which is extremely impressive for a 15-16 year old playing in junior. That was 3rd in the league in points for U17 players, and he was only 1 point behind Berkly Catton and Ryder Ritchie despite being younger than both.

He was as good as anyone in his age group, and that was evidenced by his selection to Team Canada Black for the World U17 Hockey Challenge. Joining him on the team were Macklin Celebrini, Sam Dickinson, Zayne Parekh, and Lynden Lakovic just to give a few names.

The 2023-24 Season

While most of the players in his age group were in their draft year this year, Gavin was not yet because of his November birthday. He started off the year playing for Team Canada in the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup as one of Canada’s best U18 players and as part of an absolutely loaded team that included 16 top 3 round picks, 10 first round picks, and 7 top 15 picks! He took a backseat to all of that talent, but the fact he was on that team shows he was in that conversation.

Gavin lit up the scoresheet again during the season although he didn’t take a huge jump in production. He went up to a point per game with 68 points in 68 games, which was 8th in the league among U18 players and still an elite mark for his age. Among players who were not yet draft eligible though, he was 2nd in the league only behind Gavin McKenna. He ended the year as a clear NHL draft prospect and one of the top prospects in western Canada.

The 2024-25 Season

Entering into his draft year, Gavin had a statistical profile in line with a clear first round pick. However, he wasn’t looked at as a first round pick and top NHL prospect anymore heading into the year due to questions about how his game would translate up levels. He was viewed as more of a top 3 round pick in the preseason. Scott Wheeler had him listed in his honorable mentions in his preseason top 32 rankings.

The NHL downgrades undersized players unless they have elite skating and compete level to go along with elite production. When Gavin’s production started stagnating during the year, his status as an NHL prospect fell alongside it. In the NHL Central Scouting October watch list, Gavin was rated as a C prospect, meaning projected for rounds 4-5.

In November, Scott Wheeler ranked him 59th in his rankings, but as the year went on, Gavin fell out of Wheeler’s rankings entirely and didn’t make his final top 100. In NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings in January, he came in at 123rd among North American skaters. In their final rankings in April, he was unranked and did not make the cut out of 224 skaters in North America. Obviously, he ended up going undrafted after finishing the season with 57 points in 68 games.

Scott Wheeler’s report in his November rankings do a very good job in explaining the slide and the question marks surrounding him, in my opinion.

Neutral Zone had an in-depth NHL scouting report on him last year as well, which also explains why scouts saw shortcomings in his projection.

This Year

That all brings us to this year, where Gavin stayed at around the same production level with 58 points in 68 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings, and he will again go undrafted in the NHL draft this summer.

To be clear, this isn’t meant to have a negative slant whatsoever; it’s just adding context on how a former top prospect in all of Canada ended up going undrafted and is now slated to attend RPI this fall. To be quite frank, RPI basically never lands players of this stature and raw talent, and it was a huge recruiting win to beat out some big programs to land him!

From watching Gavin, he is clearly a dynamic player, especially with the puck on his stick. He has high-end skill with outstanding hands. The puck is practically on a string when it’s on his stick, and he can dangle defenders regularly. He also has a great shot and can finish his chances with an accurate wrister and a pretty good one-timer.

The main strength of his game though is his absolutely elite IQ level. He processes the game at a high level and always seems to find impossible seams and passing lanes (seriously, watch those highlight videos). He then executes those passes easily with his skill. Gavin also has excellent decision making with the puck and creates scoring chances frequently in the offensive zone with his reads.

Another example of his incredible hockey sense is his ability to stay out of the box. He went 3 YEARS without taking a penalty in the WHL. When taking his first penalty in 3 years, the WHL felt they had to record a video to make note of the incident, which was a delay of game penalty. In total, Gavin record 10 penalty minutes in his entire WHL career, which was 275 games!

Fit at RPI

Gavin will enroll this fall at RPI and will likely slide immediately into the top 6 at LW. He will be one of the most naturally gifted players to ever don the Cherry and White, and his skill and hockey sense will instantly boost RPI’s scoring ability at the top of the lineup. He has the ability to be one of the top freshmen in the league, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he’s on the All-Rookie team at season’s end. He is going to come in with a chip on his shoulder to prove the NHL scouts wrong and show that he can add more strength, pace/speed and competitiveness, and he will have every opportunity to do that at RPI. I can’t wait to see him suit up for the Engineers. Congratulations to Jordan and his family on his commitment!

Simon Motew’s path to RPI has been an unconventional one, and one that college hockey fans 10 years ago wouldn’t have been able to fathom. Motew hails from Highland Park, IL, just like former RPI center Zach Dubinsky. He was a standout for the Chicago Mission in AAA, before moving up to Ontario to start a great career with the Kitchener Rangers. Motew played 4 seasons in the OHL and was highly successful, but aged out prior to the NCAA’s inclusion of the CHL. He spent 1 year at St. Francis Xavier in USports where he was very good, before transferring over the border after the rule change to Ben Barr’s Maine Black Bears. Motew fell out of the lineup for Maine and now comes to RPI in search of regular minutes. There is a lot to like about Simon’s game, and I think RPI is a great place for him to develop with his final 2 years of NCAA eligibility.

Dependable, 2-Way Game

Motew plays a very reliable 2-way game that is so coveted by Lang’s staff. He has good size at 6’1, 190lbs and even plays a bit bigger than that with his physicality. What intrigues me most about Simon’s play is his ability to defend attackers looking to gain zone entry, as his size, speed, and long reach make him very difficult to gain entry on. He uses this reach to keep attackers to the outside and then move play back towards the neutral zone. He has above average speed for a defenseman of his size and seems very comfortable with the puck on his stick in transition. There’s clearly some offense in the tank too given his offensive output in the OHL and at St. Francis Xavier.

Developing Offense

Motew has produced points at every level except for Maine, with most of his offense coming as a blue-line facilitator. He has good speed and passes it well, thus I expect him to benefit from a slightly slower pace of play in the ECAC. I’d like to see his processing and deceptiveness at the blue line improve to get to the next level. I don’t expect him to see a primary offensive role at RPI, as Sobieski, Klassek, and Burzynski figure to get the lion’s share of PP time on the back end. However, he is skilled enough as a 2-way that he can help out on both ends.

This pickup pretty effectively threads the risk-reward needle that makes sense for the program right now. What I mean by that is, the team is in transition and is looking for high upside players that can be pieces to build with. You just saw 4 defensemen leave for the portal in an effort to get younger and more skilled. Motew has the upside to fit this theme, and his OHL and Hockey East pedigree is attractive even if he hasn’t found a collegiate home to stick at thus far. However, the defensive unit is also going to be very young, and Motew is 23 with a lot of hockey under his belt. In some sense you are getting a safe bet to balance the youth, but there seems to be more upside here than with some of the other options that were on the table.

Motew seems like a solid pick-up to me with the chance to earn a major role. He has attended Senators and Canadiens development camps, and is clearly well regarded in hockey circles. What he needs right now is ice time to develop, and RPI has room to provide that for him. Sobieski will garner the most minutes on the right side, but it seems Motew, James Guo, and Landen Hilditch will be competing for the last 2 spots. Congrats to Simon and we look forward to watching him this coming fall! Let’s go red!

College Hockey’s black Monday is nearly complete, with 253 players headed to the transfer portal according to Gopher Puck Live. The portal gives as much as it takes, depending on where your favorite program’s resources stack up against the rest. The Engineers have actually fared okay in the portal with the exception of last year’s coaching change, and day 1 brought some much-expected turnover. 9 Engineers headed to the transfer portal as the clock struck midnight, most notably senior forward Tyler Wallace. Wallace’s departure is unfortunate, but most of the other changes were likely the choice of the coaching staff. RPI nabbed one commitment today from Providence forward Brendan Ross. Ross played sparingly for the Friars in 2025-26 but had a productive freshman season at Alaska before transferring to Providence. He will have 2 years of eligibility left and look to regain his freshman year form at RPI.

Game Breakdown

Ross has all the physical tools you can ask for and has a pedigree of scoring in junior hockey. He is 6’3, 200 lbs., and skates well with a long stride. His hands are above average, and he effectively dekes around defenders to gain space in the zone. The shot looks highly effective to me and resulted in 47 goals in his final junior season for the Blackfalds Bulldogs. Ross has the tenacity to fill bottom 6 minutes for the Engineers, but he has the type of game that could break out into a much bigger 2-way role.

He’s had an interesting and tumultuous path from Blackfalds to RPI. The Bulldogs were one of the teams that left the AJHL for the BCHL in 2024, and Ross remained very productive after the move. His freshman year in Alaska was productive (3-11-14) and clearly Providence saw something in him to pry him away from Fairbanks. The Friars earned a late commitment from Roger McQueen which pushed Ross out of the top 9, and Providence’s complete lack of injuries held him out of the lineup this year. Obviously, you would like to see him have made more of an impact for PC, but they had a very deep forward group and undoubtedly the best 4th line in college hockey. Ross was the odd man out, and heads to RPI looking for the chance to produce in the top 9. At the very worst, he should be able to provide something on the 4th line.

Departures

9 Engineers headed for the doorway this morning in search of a new opportunity.

Forwards: Tyler Wallace (35-9-9-18), Cole Gordon (34-1-2-3), Jack Gorton (12-2-0-2), Jackson Kyrkostas (12-0-2-2)

Defense: Lucas Lemieux (20-1-1-2), Matthew Jovanovic (2-0-0-0), Gunnar VanDamme (33-0-5-5), Gustavs Ozolins (34-1-2-3), Jimmy Goffredo (25-1-4-5)

First and foremost, we’d like to thank all these guys for their contributions to the program. With that being said though, Wallace is the only one I’d make anything of. I expect him to move up a level and try to play a similar top 6 role on a program that’s further alone. Lemieux was a good recruit and flashed some but clearly was recruited over in favor of Burzynski and Michael. Gordon, Gorton, and Kyrkostas will go looking for programs where they can play more. Lang alluded to Jovanovic moving on due to injury concerns on the podcast last week. Lastly, Ozolins and Goffredo have played a bunch the past 2 years but are likely being recruited over too.

If there are no more entries, RPI’s depth chart looks roughly as follows:

Gavin-Sitar-Buckley
Evaschesen-Rullers-Tapper
Hadland-Scherzer-Ross
Lindberg-Lodewyk-Bono
McNeil

Burzynski-Sobieski
Klassek-Guo
Michael-Hilditch

Krawchuk
McCallum
Bruveris
Dorfman

I would not expect Bruveris back and expect 2-3 more forwards and defenseman to come in. Players have 2 more weeks to enter, but I would expect the bulk of the entries will be done by tomorrow or Wednesday. Congrats to Brendan and let’s go red!

We haven’t done a piece like this in a while (2023), and it was pretty jarring to go back and look at what the pipeline was just 2.5 short years ago. Of the 19 commitments at the time, 8 went on to suit up at RPI and just 5 are on the current roster, which reflects the amount of turnover that’s happened in this program of late. Nonetheless, the coaching staff is solidified and seemingly has a plan for the type of recruit that they want to bring in. The 2026 freshman class looks pretty set to me, but there may be room for one more addition depending on roster changes in the coming weeks. Beyond that, only 2 of the remaining commits were brought here by Lang, so expect that to get turned over and filled out. Most junior leagues are nearing the end of their regular season and approaching their playoffs, so most of these stat lines are nearly final.

2026 Arrivals

Jordan Gavin - F, Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
2026 Stats: 68GP-16-42-58

Gavin is by far the highest pedigree recruit of RPI’s and one that was expected to be a draft pick a few years back. His production in the WHL has flatlined a bit, settling around a point-per-game the past 4-5 years. His commitment was a big deal for RPI and sent a message that Lang & Schneider were not afraid to go after the top talent in western Canada. Gavin is a very talented player with some of the best hockey IQ you’ll find in juniors. Expect him to immediately plug into the middle or top 6 this fall.

Josh Evaschesen - F, Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
2026 Stats: 67GP-33-40-73

Evaschesen is the complete opposite of Gavin, who has been scouted and widely covered since he was 14 years old. Evaschesen played for Trail in the BCHL with Lucas Lemieux and former RPI commit Dylan Lariviere last year, where he put up very modest numbers. He wasn’t on many radars before breaking out in the WHL this year, which is historically a much, much tougher league. Next thing he knew, top programs in the country were calling him and RPI worked very hard to nab his commitment. He finished in the top 25 of WHL scoring, where most players above him have an NHL logo next to their name. If Evaschesen continues on this trajectory, he will make a significant impact at RPI.

Harrison Lodewyk - F, Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
2026 Stats: 54GP-18-22-40

Lodewyk is another recruit who found his stride in his last year of junior. Harrison missed some time due to a midseason injury but has produced around a point-per-game besides that stretch where he was banged up. He was traded early in the year from Prince Albert to Calgary and carved out a nice role for himself near the top of the lineup. Lodewyk comes in to play a different role than the prior two, one where he will use his blazing speed and tenacity to improve the 4th line. I think he has enough skill to play a bigger role than that, but as a freshman he can plug right into the bottom 6 and be an upgrade.

Caleb Hadland - F, Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
2026 Stats: 56GP-15-29-44

Hadland has captained the Wheat Kings this year and is putting together his best WHL season despite a recent injury. He was a pretty coveted recruit at the time of his commitment and has been one of the better ‘06 forwards in the league. Similar to Gavin, his hockey sense is outstanding, and he plays the game with a lot of tenacity. Brandon has a very balanced attack which has held back his output a bit but make no mistake: Hadland will make an immediate impact at RPI and get opportunities to produce right away.

James Guo - D, Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
2026 Stats: 63GP-8-31-39

There is a lot of discourse, rightfully so, about what the top junior league is to feed the NCAA now that the CHL is allowed. Most will tell you that the OHL is the best, and Guo is one of the best ‘05 defenseman in the league. He has grown into a big role on the top pair in his final year in Saginaw and is known as an athletic, puck-moving D. He has good size at 6’1, 200lbs, and could contribute on the 2nd pair right away if he’s asked to do so. He won an academic award in Saginaw and figures to be the exact type of recruit Lang wants, with a high priority on education, experience, and hard skill.

Grayson Burzynski - D, Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
2026 Stats: 59GP-11-47-58

After being traded from Swift Current to Brandon in the offseason, Burzynski put together his best season of junior hockey this year. We’ve spoken at length about Burzynski’s offensive prowess and his comfortability running an offensive attack from the blue line. He is a 4.25-star recruit at Neutral Zone and a point-per-game recruit out of the WHL as a defenseman. Those recruits don’t grow on trees and RPI supposedly beat out some very high-end programs to get him here. I don’t have any doubt that he can contribute offense at a high-level, the question will be how much of the defensive load can he shoulder?

Ryan Michael - D, Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
2026 Stats: 67GP-3-30-33

We highlighted Michael last week and are pretty excited for the two-way game he will bring to the Engineer blue line. Michael is uber steady and the type of leader you want in your locker room. He has played 5 seasons with the Blazers, worn a letter for 3, and put together his best season this year as their Captain. He might not have the flash and offensive upside to run a powerplay like Burzynski and Guo, but he is as reliable as they come. I expect Michael to start on the 3rd pair and get time on the PK next fall.

Ethan McCallum - G, Penticton Vees (WHL)
2026 Stats: 34GP-2.63-.907%

RPI’s most recent commitment is Penticton goalie Ethan McCallum. McCallum comes to the Engineers from the Western Hockey League and has split time between Saskatoon and Penticton this year. He started his WHL career in Medicine Hat, where he teamed up with presumptive #1 overall pick Gavin McKenna. We will have a piece out on McCallum soon and how his journey to Penticton has culminated in his best junior season. His .907 Sv% is T-6th in the WHL and he has great size to go with the improving numbers. McCallum will come in next year and presumptively start as the backup to Nate Krawchuk.

Future Arrivals

Ryan Hecker - D, Avon Old Farms (USHS-Prep)
2026 Stats: 28GP-2-6-8

Hecker committed to the Engineers in the fall, as he wraps up his final season at Avon Old Farms before heading off to junior hockey. It’s hard to glean much from high school hockey box scores, but Hecker is well regarded as a good skater with high IQ. His numbers dropped off a bit from last season, going from 14 points to 8. Hecker’s USHL rights were traded from Waterloo to Dubuque during the season, and I’d expect him to go to their camp this summer with the hopes of making the team. He’s still 2-3 years away from college, but making a USHL roster next year would be big for his development.

Leo-Gabriel Gosselin - F, SSFB (QM18AAA) & Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)
2026 Stats: 37GP-21-30-51 (QM18AAA) ; 8GP-0-2-2 (QMJHL)

Gosselin had a great year for Seminaire St-Francois Blizzard, finishing around 10th in scoring in their league. His point total from last year swelled from 21 to 51 on less games, which resulted in a number of QMJHL callups. He was a 2nd round pick of Chicoutimi but saw his rights traded this winter to a much worse Baie-Comeau team. This will likely be a good thing for his development and allow him to play in a scoring role when he goes to the QMJHL full time next year. Gosselin also is multiple years away but he has the look of a prospect whose stock is rising.

Smith Recruits

This group of players was originally recruited by Dave Smith’s staff and still seems to be committed to RPI. I would put a pretty low probability of any of them arriving in Troy, but I will briefly highlight each of their years here as they remain in the pipeline for now.

Kamyl Chemrouk - F, Powell River Kings (BCHL)
2026 Stats: 46GP-14-15-29

Chemrouk came out guns blazing when he started the season with the Brooks Bandits, producing well above a point-per-game. He cooled off quite a bit and was traded from Brooks to Coquitlam, and then again to Powell River. He has some work to do next year to be in line for a roster spot in ‘27-28.

Ryan Dwyer - F, Newfoundland Regiment (QMJHL)
2026 Stats: 45GP-5-4-9

Like Chemrouk, Dwyer committed last winter under Smith while they played in Canadian prep. Dwyer made his QMJHL team this summer and mostly played a bottom 6 role for Baie-Comeau and Newfoundland. He may have a chance to make it as a checking forward, but his offense likely needs to develop to make the D1 level.

Carter Matthews - D, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
2026 Stats: 18GP-0-2-2

Matthews started the year with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCHL, where he had played his prior 2 seasons. He signed into the WHL halfway through the season and has been fairly quiet since moving up. As an ‘06 birth year, Matthews has one more year of junior hockey left. Given RPI’s surplus of LD’s right now, he seems like a long shot to make it to RPI.

Tafari Chingwaru - D, Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)
2026 Stats: 36GP-1-6-7

Chingwaru has had stints in the BCHL, WHL, and the AJHL and struggled to stick in each spot. He is still very young and has more time to develop over the next several years.

I expect those 8 recruits and maybe 1 late addition to head to Troy this fall. Lang has completely turned over the pipeline, and he still has quite a bit of work to do to fill it out for years to come. I can’t wait to see these guys suit up for RPI soon. Let’s go red!

Back in early February, RPI picked up another commitment from the WHL. This time it was Brandon Wheat Kings captain Caleb Hadland. Hadland is an ‘06 wing listed at 5’10” and 190 LBs. He finished the regular season with 15 goals, 29 assists and 44 points in 56 games after missing some time due to injury. He has played for Brandon all 4 years of his WHL career and totaled 227 games for them. Hadland was the 8th ranked ‘06 player in the entire WHL per Neutral Zone and is a big time get for RPI.

Hadland is a very smart and skilled forward. Neutral Zone describes him as having “high end hockey sense” and “the intelligence to play at the NHL level.” He consistently makes subtle plays, and he has impressive details, playing the game the “right way.” His competitiveness is noteworthy with those details and intelligence. EliteProspects said, “If there’s a battle on the ice, chances are Hadland is involved – and winning. He uses his small stature to get low, dig underneath opponents, and slide in front. That core skill makes a threat when driving the net with the puck or battling for space without it. The opponents he can’t outwork, he outthinks.” Neutral Zone noted that he “consistently wins one on one confrontations through sheer determination before finding teammates quickly to extend zone time.”

Hadland is also a very skilled player with creativity in the offensive zone. He has the stick skill to make plays with the puck and transport it through the neutral zone. He “packs a punch with his shot. He gets every pound of his frame behind his shot like he is trying to break the netting.” Based on his pedigree, it’s no wonder that Hadland has the skill, intelligence and competitiveness combo that coaches covet. Hadland was a first round pick in the WHL draft back in 2021, and he played for the New Jersey Devils in the annual prospects challenge last fall.

Hadland will enroll at RPI this fall where he will make an immediate impact. He will likely slot somewhere in the middle 6, and he has the versatility to play either wing. I expect he is going to be an outstanding Engineer over the course of his career here with his character, leadership, competitiveness, and skill. I can’t wait to see him suit up in October! Congratulations to Caleb and his family!

RPI earned a commitment from Kamloops Blazers captain Ryan Michael back in January, as Eric Lang’s defensive overhaul continues to take shape. Michael’s commitment marks the continuum of a strategic shift into the WHL by the staff. Lang has spoken at length about wanting players with “hard skill”, and Ryan Michael fits that to a tee. He plays a highly reliable game and is well-known for his leadership qualities, with size and stick skill to go with it.

Michael joins Grayson Burzynski and James Guo as defenseman slated to come to RPI in the fall, in what figures to be a very young and promising unit. With Michael and Burzynski coming in, RPI now projects to have 7 LDs on the 2026 roster. I'd be willing to wager that this will not be the case so keep an eye out for some turnover as Michael and Burzynski have to go to college this year and can’t be delayed. Let’s take a look at Ryan’s game and what has us so excited:

Game Breakdown:

Michael’s game is all about hockey IQ and reliability. He has been on the top pair for Kamloops this season and worn the C, which is a testament to his leadership ability. Scouting reports describe him as a player that coaches can heavily trust in his own end and is relied upon on the PK. He combines his intelligence with size and skating ability which makes him a very well-rounded prospect. Michael stands 6’2 and 200 lbs and is one of the oldest eligible prospects, so he will certainly be ready to play on day 1.

Goal # 1

Goal # 2

Shot Block

I wouldn’t say Michael touts the offensive game of Thomas Klassek or Grayson Burzynski, but he is a good fit for the RPI defense which is quickly filling up with offensive types. He has good hands and can pass and move the puck the way Lang values in defenseman. I see some of former Engineer Jake Johnson in his game due to his skating, IQ, and willingness to block shots.

Team Fit

Ryan is the type of “hard skill” player that Lang’s staff covets, and I think he can be a real staple on the back end. His game is less flashy than others but puck-moving defenseman with a simple style thrive in this system. RPI is quickly developing a young core of defenseman with potential to be a top unit in the ECAC. Lang had success with this style of puck-mover at AIC in the late 2010s, and this unit figures to have the same skill with a bit more size.

Burzynski (FR) - Sobieski (JR)
Klassek (SO) - Guo (FR)
Michael (FR) - Hilditch (SO)

Extras: Ozolins (JR), VanDamme (SR), Lemieux (SO), Jovanovic (SO)

I am not suggesting that RPI’s defensive alignment will look like that next year, but merely trying to illustrate what I think a lineup centered on the higher potential, young guns looks like. I do think that a defensive alignment the following year would pretty much exactly like that though. It is a young core of defensemen with a lot of potential and the chance to be the backbone of teams to come.

Michael is listed as a 4-star by Neutral Zone and has been for years. His D partner in Kamloops is a 2nd-round pick with NHL and World Junior experience for the Penguins and Canada respectively. Michael clearly belongs and is the type of recruit that RPI wants to continue pursuing. If they can make a living recruiting older 4-stars and better, this program will be in great shape.

Ryan is a plug-and-play defenseman that projects into the top-4 in years to come. 3 years of wearing a letter in Kamloops suggests that he will be an excellent voice to have in the locker room and is a future captain here. Congratulations to Ryan and his family, we look forward to watching him this fall!

Well, it has been a week since RPI’s season officially ended, and it’s given us some time to reflect on the season that was. The 2025-26 RPI Engineers were a team defined by progress and hard work. It was a team starved for goal-scoring talent back in October as 20 new faces came together for the first time. And while they failed to advance out of the first round, the growth that this team had was nothing short of remarkable. Engineer fans should leave this season feeling incredibly optimistic for what’s to come in this program.

Clarkson Game Breakdown

We highlighted in our previews how RPI was a bit fortunate in the season series to get timely scoring and some strong goaltending. The reason we like to use metrics in our work is because they should act as a regression to the mean. While RPI had won those two regular season games, Clarkson did possess the puck more and out chance them, which is why this game made me a bit nervous. It was no surprise that RPI’s tight defensive style showed through in this one, but Clarkson really cleaned it up in their own end and made it tough for the Engineers to generate anything.

The one lapse that the Knights made was a misplay in their own end leading right to an Ian Scherzer goal. Clarkson answered just a minute later on a goal from Tate Taylor to make it 1-1. This one had the makings of a playoff classic as it grinded deep into the 3rd, but Justin Cote’s shot from between the circles gave the Knights all they would need. Krawchuk probably wants that one back, but he had made 4-5 saves before that to keep RPI in this one. Clarkson was always going to be a tough draw for RPI given their heavy possession style, hunger to avoid a 3rd loss to RPI, and the challenge of Cheel Arena. RPI wasn’t bad on this night, they just didn’t quite generate enough to put Clarkson on their heels. It’s a disappointing finish for a team that was surging and had high hopes of playing another weekend.

Offseason Lookahead

We have a bunch of offseason content planned where we will go more in-depth on what needs to be upgraded, potential departures, arrivals, and the recruiting class. For now though, here is what we know:

Definitely Departing (4): Dovar Tinling (F), Luc Wilson (F), Lucas Matta (F/D), Trevor Russell (D)
Expected Arrivals (7): Jordan Gavin (F), Caleb Hadland (F), Josh Evaschesen (F), Harrison Lodewyk (F), James Guo (D), Grayson Burzynski (D), Ryan Michael (D)

In our opinion, the high priority keeps are: Rainers Rullers (F), Filip Sitar (F), Matthew Buckley (F), Ian Scherzer (F), Tyler Wallace (F), Thomas Klassek (D), Kaz Sobieski (D), Nate Krawchuk (G)

Well, 4 does not equal 7, and Lang said on his radio spot this week that they will look to upgrade anywhere they can, so I do think some departures will come. I don’t expect heavy usage of the transfer portal like last year, but that is another thing to monitor too.

To wrap the ‘25-’26 season, we want to thank all of you that support us here at The Field House and have been behind the program every step of the way. It has been a transformational year for RPI Hockey and we truly feel that this is just the tip of the iceberg for things to come. Stay tuned here as we take you through the Engineer offseason and look ahead to the ‘26-’27 season in a few short months. Let’s go red!

One of the best rivalries in eastern college hockey, RPI and Clarkson, will be renewed this Friday night at Cheel Arena in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The Engineers swept the season series and also won at Cheel in the 5-12 game two years ago, but this will by no means be easy. Not only is Clarkson a very talented team, but the trip to Potsdam is a tough one and the building figures to be raucous. They seem to be finding their footing at the right time with 4 wins in a row prior to Saturday’s loss at Cornell. RPI is peaking too with a record of 5-2-1 in their last 8 and will certainly make things tough on Clarkson. Let’s break down the two rosters and the matchup:

Clarkson

Record: 15-16-3 (8th in ECAC)
Head Coach: JF Houle (2nd Year)

Clarkson lost a bunch of guys and elected to lean heavily into the CHL rather than the portal to replace them. The results were a bit disappointing despite those players producing, as they fell from 2nd to 8th in the league. Their underlying metrics are still good though, which is why this has been a confusing year. Ethan Langenegger put up a save percentage of .914% last year while getting the lion’s share of play, but Shane Soderwall has only given them a .900% this year.

Secondly, while they are talented, they lack experience. 9 of their 12 available forwards last weekend are underclassmen and 6 of the 7 defensemen are as well. With wins over Penn State and North Dakota but some bad losses to go with it, it’s fair to say this has been a confusing year for the Knights. With a good offseason, I expect Clarkson to be one of those teams picked to jump back into the top 4 next year. I think RPI could be constructed similarly next year with the talented recruiting class they have lined up.

Players to Watch:

Ryan Bottrill (Sr, Forward): 34-9-27-36
Owen Van Steensel (Fr, Forward): 34-12-13-25
Tristan Sarsland (Sr, Defense) 34-6-10-16
Shane Soderwall (Jr, Goalie) 31-2.68-.900%

RPI

Record: 11-22-1 (9th in ECAC)
Head Coach: Eric Lang (1st Year)

RPI’s lineup has completely stabilized over the last few weeks, including the insertion of Landen Hilditch for Trevor Russell, who seems to be hurt. The Rullers line with the two grads has really gelled, and Sitar centering the two freshman is probably RPI’s most talented line. Thomas Klassek just won his 2nd straight (!) ECAC defenseman of the week and has a real case for the all-rookie team. And how can you not mention Nate Krawchuk, the reigning ECAC goaltender of the week with one of the hottest hands in college hockey right now. The freshman is giving RPI a chance to win every night right now and is not a guy anyone wants to face. We know the book on this group by now: stay out of the box, be opportunistic, and get good goaltending. It’s working brilliantly right now.

Players to Watch:

Luciano Wilson (Gr, Forward) 33-8-14-22
Thomas Klassek (Fr, Defenseman) 33-3-15-18
Filip Sitar (So, Forward) 34-8-9-17
Nate Krawchuk (Fr, Goalie) 23-2.85-.908%

Assessing the Matchup

Team Statistics:

As I alluded to earlier, Clarkson has a talented team and struggled to get the results they wanted all year. On the other hand, RPI has the better goaltender, is more disciplined, and frankly has a coach with an incredibly amount of postseason success. This is much more evenly matched than it was 2 years ago when RPI won at Cheel in the playoffs. Clarkson is slightly more skilled, but RPI is red hot with a lot of self-belief right now.

Season Matchup:

RPI swept the season series despite Clarkson out chancing them in those games. It’s not easy to beat a team for a 3rd time and I reckon Clarkson is motivated to change the narrative around the series.

Keys to the Game:

1. Play your game

   RPI is 5-2-1 in the last 8 and 2-0 against Clarkson. Lang said on his radio spot this week that the team plays a playoff style already and isn’t searching for how to defend harder. The emphasis will be to stick to their tight checking style on Friday.

2. Get pucks to the net

   Simply getting pucks towards the goaltender and getting bounces and deflections worked brilliantly against Yale. RPI needs to test Soderwall and keep the puck in deep.

3. Be the more urgent team

   I spoke before about Clarkson being motivated to prevent a sweep, plus they will be on their home ice. RPI will need to be completely locked in and play intelligently to win the effort battle.