Brendan Ross commits to RPI & 9 Engineers Hit Portal
Day 1 of the portal brought much expected roster turnover and a commitment
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!