SCHENECTADY,NY – Riley Bourbonnais had a goal and an assist and Jason Kasdorf made 22 saves to lead Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to a 5-1 ECAC Hockey victory over Union College at Messa Rink Friday night. It was the league opener for both teams, and Union fell to 2-2-3 overall while RPI improved to 2-4.

RPI had a 32-23 shot advantage and a late Union goal avoided the first RPI shutout in the series since 2000. Alex Sakellaropoulos made seven saves in just over 16 minutes in the Union net while Jake Kupsky had 20 stops in nearly 44 minutes of play.

RPI had a 15-4 shot advantage in the first period of play but the contest remained scoreless after one.

RPI got on the board at Travis Fulton's third of the year at 10:38 of the second period. Jake Wood broke up a Union rush and got the puck at center ice, feeding Fulton for a shot from the far left for the lead. Just under five minutes later, at 15:22, Phil Hampton gave the Engineers a 2-0 lead. Hampton took a wrist shot from the right point through traffic that found its way through, and it was assisted by Evan Tironese and Bourbonnais for Hampton's second of the year.

Just 58 second later, it was a 3-0 RPI lead. Kenny Gillespie notched his first of the season at 16:20. Zach Shroeder passed to Fulton, who found Gillespie at the left point, and his drive gave the guests the three goal lead. Union's Jake Kupsky took over in the net.

Union had a two man advantage for a 59 second window later in the period but the Engineers killed it off. With 1:48 left in the period, Bourbonnais scored his fourth of the season for the 4-0 lead. A shot from the point was stopped and the rebound came out to the left of the goalie, banged in by Bourbonnais.

RPI made it 5-0 on a Milos Bubela tally 2:06 into the third, his third of the season. He picked up a loose puck at mid ice and broke in alone while scoring in close. Union avoided the shutout with 2:46 remaining when Mark Dufour notched his third with an assist from Noah Henry. His pass from Henry was converted quickly from the slot.

The two teams match up again Saturday night at RPI's Houston Field House in Troy.