RPI opens it up its season on Friday with an exciting series against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Engineers last faced off against Ohio State in 2017 where they earned two 1-1 ties on the road. It should be a great homecoming weekend this time around with an excited crowd ready to see this young team in action!
Last Year
Ohio State had an interesting year last year where they were a better team than their raw record showed. They went 14-21-2, but there’s a couple things in there that are worth noting.
First, they were 21st in the NPI because their strength of schedule was in the top 10. The record was more of a product of a tough schedule than it was indicative of poor performance. They were also 2-8 in OT games, which is a bit unlucky since 3v3 OT isn’t real hockey. Lastly, the goaltending was terrible. Ohio State had a 0.877 team save percentage last year, which was tied with SLU(!!) for the lowest in the country. They actually did a pretty good job at possessing the puck, generating chances, and scoring goals, but that goaltending really let them down. They averaged 3.22 goals per game but allowed 3.62 per game.
Despite all of this, Ohio State was still only one game away from getting into the NCAA tournament. They lost to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship.
Roster Breakdown
Ohio State returns most of last year’s group. At forward, they return 4 out of their top 6, at defense, they return 3 out of their top 4, and in net, they return their starting goalie. Ohio State also brought in a great recruiting class with 9 NHL draft picks coming in either as freshmen or through the transfer portal. They should be a pretty talented and deep team.
Starting up front, those 4 returners all had at least 23 points. Jake Karabela led the team in scoring as a freshman with 37 points and returns for his sophomore year where he’ll serve as the top line center again. Familiar face Felix Caron had 30 points last season and will probably be on Karabela’s wing on the top line. The other two players both play center, which will give Ohio State great depth down the middle. Max Montes had 28 points while Ryan Gordon broke out with 23 points.
The newcomers at forward should give them a pretty good top 9 with depth scoring. Erik Pahlsson transferred in from Minnesota and will no doubt slot in somewhere in the top 3 lines. I expect the remaining spots will get taken up by returner James Hong who had 13 points last season and some combination of the 5 incoming freshmen who are all NHL draft picks.
Ben Wilmott had a point per game in the OHL last year and was selected in the 3rd round as a double overager. Ryan Rucinski and Jackson Crowder both had over a point per game in the USHL after being selected in the 2025 NHL draft. Evan Jardine was selected in the 4th round in the summer and had 61 points in 53 games in the USHL. Lastly, William Tomko had 60 points in 59 games and was selected in the 7th round this summer. I assume all of them will find their way into the lineup, but it’s tough to tell who will end up in the top 9. I’d assume Wilmott and Jardine have the edge.
On defense, the top 3 in ice time last year are all back and will likely get top 4 minutes again. William Smith, Nathan McBrayer, and Chris Able all played at least 18 minutes a game last season. None of them are high end talents, but they are all steady and reliable players. The high end talent is coming as newcomers. Sascha Boumedienne is a first round pick and transfers in from BU where he played nearly 22 minutes per game. He will slot in as their #1 defenseman.
There’s a couple other newcomers on the back end. Jakub Fibigr is a very capable two way defenseman who was consistently very good over the course of his OHL career. Frankie Marrelli is undrafted, but he was pretty underrated in my opinion. He is excellent in his own end, and he can move the puck and produce offensively as well.
Kristoffer Eberly returns in net, and Jakub Milota is an NHL draft pick coming in from the QMJHL. The two of them will compete for the starting role.
Preview
Ohio State will be a very tough opponent. They have a deep roster with a lot of talent distributed throughout it, and they scored a lot last season.
That being said, I don’t think they have a profound advantage in the series. In the past, the talent advantage would have been quite large for Ohio State over RPI. With this year’s recruiting class coming in for the Engineers though, I’d say the advantage is only moderate now. Ohio State is without a doubt the favorite, but I think RPI can get a split here for a couple reasons.
First, Ohio State hasn’t played at all yet this season. They didn’t even have an exhibition last week, while RPI got in an exhibition at Army. That will give RPI a bit of an extra advantage. It’s hard to come out of the gate against the first real opponent and have it go smoothly. Only going against your own team in practice is VERY different from game action. Even just the exhibition should help RPI in the first game as Ohio State adjusts.
Second, their goaltending is still questionable heading into the year. Eberly was their primary starter and a big reason why the goaltending struggled. He had a 0.885 SV% in his first year as the full time starter (26 GP). He did well part-time as a freshman and sophomore with a 0.911 SV% (14 GP) and 0.915 SV% (17 GP) in those years, respectively. Overall, he has a 0.900 SV% for his career.
Jakub Milota was a 4th round pick by the Nashville Predators, but I’d say there’s even question marks with him. Last year, he was out the entire season due to injury and only played in 3 games. He was excellent in those 3 games, but it’s still just 3 and who knows how he will do coming back from such a long-term injury. The year before that, he had a 0.903 SV%, which is solid but not anything special. That put him 16th in the QMJHL in SV%. I think he’ll be good long-term. The injury is a major question though, especially since it’ll be his first action in nearly a year, and his track record before the injury isn’t overly convincing despite being an NHL draft pick.
I expect the two goalies to split the games, and I expect RPI to split the games with Krawchuk and McCallum as well. With Ohio State’s questions in net, I could easily see RPI taking one of these games. Which version of Eberly will show up for them? Will Milota be ready in his first game action in almost a year? I think RPI has the advantage in net, and that’s a big deal despite the talent gap.
Prediction
I think the rustiness for Ohio State having not played a game yet plus that goaltending difference will open the door for RPI to take game 1 behind a strong performance from Krawchuk. Then, I think Ohio State will adjust and come back strong in game 2 to earn the split. I can’t wait for this opening weekend to see this new look Engineers squad on the ice, and it’s exciting they will be immediately tested by a high quality opponent! Let’s Go Red!