SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - No. 7/8 Union men's ice hockey (20-7-7), the No. 1 seed in the ECAC Hockey Tournament will take on Route 7 rival Rensselaer (12-22-3), the No. 10 seed, in a quarterfinal series set to begin with Game 1 at Messa Rink on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. The Engineers earned a spot in the ECAC Quarterfinals after an opening round win at No. 7 seed Clarkson. Rensselaer won Game 3 on Sunday night, clinching the series with a 4-1 victory at Cheel Arena, one night after falling 4-3 to the Golden Knights in triple overtime in Game 2. Union won all three meetings against the Engineers this season, including a 5-1 win on Jan. 14 at Messa Rink, a 5-2 victory on Dec. 10 at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., and a 5-1 win at Houston Field House on Nov. 15.

»Rivals Meet For The Fourth Time in ECAC Playoffs                                             
The weekend series will mark the fourth time that Union and Rensselaer have met in the postseason, and the first time that the schools have met in the ECAC Hockey playoffs since an opening round series on March 7-8, 2003 at Messa Rink. Rensselaer earned a 2-0 series win, rallying from a one-goal deficit in the third period with two shorthanded goals from Ben Barr to earn the clinching 3-2 victory in Game 2. The two programs also met on March 7-8, 1997 in the quarterfinals at Houston Field House, with RPI earning a 2-0 series win, and on March 11-13 in another quarterfinal series at Houston Field House, with RPI earning a 2-1 series win.

»Welsh Nears Single Season Goals Record                                                           
Junior forward Jeremy Welsh, who scored his 21st and 22nd goals of the season on Feb. 24 against Cornell, is just one goal shy of the school single-season record of 23 goals set by Mario Valery-Trabucco '10 in 2009-10. Welsh is just the fourth Union player in the Division I era to reach the 20-goal mark.

»Zajac Sets Single-Season Assists Mark, Seeks More History                                                            
Senior forward Kelly Zajac leads the Dutchmen in scoring with eight goals and 31 assists. With an assist on Feb. 17 against Princeton, Zajac set the school single-season assists record in the Division I era, previously held by current volunteer assistant coach Joel Beal ('05) in 2001-02. With 125 points (37 goals, 88 assists), Zajac is currently in sole possession of second place on the Union scoring list in the Division I era and passed Adam Presizniuk '11 for the career assists record in the DI era with an assist against Cornell on Feb. 4. Zajac trails Presizniuk by six points for the school scoring record in the DI era.

»A Closing Mentality                                                                
Over the past two seasons, Union has made a habit of playing their best hockey in January and February. Union finished the month of January with a 6-1-1 record in eight games, the team's best month since finishing February 2011 with a record of 7-0-1. The Dutchmen finished February at 5-1-1 in seven games. Combined, Union is 11-2-2 in its last 15 games, all ECAC Hockey contests, since the calendar turned to 2012.

» About Union in the Playoffs        
• Union is playing in its 15th ECAC Hockey playoff series since making the jump to the Division I level in 1991-92.

• The Union-RPI quarterfinal series at Messa Rink marks the ninth time the Dutchmen have hosted a home playoff series.

• Of Union's 36 D-1 postseason games, 16 have been decided by one goal and nine have gone to overtime.

»The Union-RPI Series           
Union's biggest rival owns a 45-26-10 overall record against the Dutchmen, including a 29-23-9 Division I mark. However, Union has gone 7-2-1 in the last ten outings, including a 5-1 win over RPI on Jan. 14 at Messa Rink. All-time against the Engineers, the Dutchmen are 14-17-2 at Messa Rink.

»Scouting Rensselaer
The Engineers are playing their best hockey of the season over the past few weeks. ending the regular season with wins at No. 11 Cornell and No. 20 Colgate, and earning a first round series win at Clarkson last weekend. While RPI has managed just 74 goals in 37 games (2.00 goals/game. 54th NCAA), it has scored three or more goals in four of the last five games (18 goals). RPI has proven to be a tough road team over the second half of the season, with a 7-1-1 record in its last nine road contests. Junior Nick Bailen (seven goals, 15 assists), a defenseman, sophomore forward Brock Higgs (two goals, 20 assists) and junior forward CJ Lee (eight goals, 10 assists) lead RPI in scoring. Freshman forward Ryan Haggerty (seven goals, eight assists) leads all RPI newcomers in scoring. Junior Bryce Merriam has started 29 games in goal for RPI, posting a 10-17-2 record with a 2.28 goals against average and a .912 save percentage. Freshman Scott Diebold has seen action in 10 games. He is 2-5-1 with a 3.22 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. The Engineers are 25 for 171 (14.6%) on the power play (48th NCAA). RPI is 161 for 191 (84.9%) when shorthanded (13th NCAA) with three shorthanded goals.

»The Last Meeting                   
On Jan. 14 at Messa RInk, sophomore forward Matt Hatch had a shorthanded goal and two assists, and junior forward Jeremy Welsh added two power play goals to lead No. 14/13 Union to a 5-1 win over Rensselaer in front of 2,273 fans at Messa Rink. Sophomore goaltender Troy Grosenick made 39 saves, while RPI goaltender Scott Diebold stopped 35 shots in net for the Engineers.
The Dutchmen used special teams play to earn the victory, scoring two power play goals, and two shorthanded goals in the first and second periods to build a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Welsh took a pass from senior forward Kelly Zajac (three assists) and fired a wrist shot over the shoulder of Diebold to put Union up 1-0 at 4:15. Union, which entered the contest without a shorthanded goal on the season, scored two in the span of 4:08 midway through the period.

With junior defenseman Greg Coburn in the penalty box for cross-checking, sophomore defenseman Mat Bodie took a lead pass from Hatch, skated across the middle and beat Diebold high at 8:41. Hatch beat Diebold low from five feet out to give Union a 3-0 lead at 12:49. Welsh scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season, and second power play goal of the night at 14:38 of the second period. Junior forward Wayne Simpson would add an empty net goal at 17:43.