Skating Engineers

Hockey at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) began on a frozen pond in Cohoes in 1902 and has twice reached the pinnacle of the collegiate game. Along the way, championship performances and awe-inspiring play have made hockey at RPI an institution. Starting with the nearly forgotten early years and continuing to the present, Skating Engineers: Hockey at RPI follows the course of the sport at Rensselaer, which emerged as a powerhouse a few short years after the program was resurrected following World War II. Highlights include the legendary coach Ned Harkness, who led an underdog team to the national title in 1954; the high-scoring early-1960s teams that returned to the national stage; the powerful mid-1980s squad that won the championship again; and the modern era, in which the women skate on the same historic field house ice as the men.