RPI jumps into lion's den

Stephen Van Rensselaer decided upstate New York was in need of a university that would serve "the application of science to the common purposes of life." The university opened in Troy, N.Y., in 1824 and came to be known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

"People in the academic refer to us as Rensselaer," Seth Appert said. "In hockey, we stick with RPI. Then, we don't have to spell it."

Appert, 33, started his second season as RPI's hockey coach Tuesday night with a 4-0 nonconference victory at home over Bentley.

"We were looking for a game before we go into the lion's den," he said. "We wanted to give our freshmen some outside competition before we test ourselves against three of the premier hockey programs in the country."

RPI will arrive in the Twin Cities on Thursday, practice at Xcel Energy Center, and then will face the Gophers on Friday night in St. Paul. The other semifinal game in the Ice Breaker tournament has Boston College playing Michigan.

"I appreciate [Gophers coach] Don Lucia inviting us for the tournament," Appert said. "We're going to have a chance to play in front of 16,000 to 18,000 fans, which is something our kids have never experienced. And, personally, it's exciting because I get to come home and see my family."

Appert is the middle of three sons who were raised in Cottage Grove and went to Park High. Abe, 35, works in commercial real estate in the Twin Cities. Luke, 27, is a former Gophers baseball player who batted .352 in Class A and .276 in Class AA in the Oakland system this summer.

Seth played hockey at Ferris State and wound up at Denver University as an assistant coach to George Gwozdecky.

"I was there for nine seasons, working for the one of the best coaches in the college game, and being part of two national championships," Appert said. "When I was contacted by RPI, I wasn't sure. I came here for the interview, saw the commitment from the administration, saw this great campus, felt the enthusiasm from the people, and I wanted to be here."

RPI's hockey program was dormant for a dozen years before and after World War II. It was restarted in 1949 simultaneously with the opening of the Houston Fieldhouse. From the photos, it looks a lot like the hockey portion of Williams Arena in which the Gophers played before moving across the street to the new Mariucci Arena.

"We're undertaking a major renovation of Houston Fieldhouse and we're also building a Division III complex for the rest of our athletic teams and students," Appert said. "We're going to spend $110 million over the next four years on these facilities."

RPI's first national championship came in 1954, when Ned Harkness' team defeated John Mariucci's Gophers 5-4 in the title game. The second title came in 1985 with a victory over Providence.

"There aren't that many schools with two national titles in men's hockey," Appert said. "There are people who remember both titles who still come to our games. They have passed down that loyalty to other generations. We didn't have a great team last year, but we still averaged 4,000 fans per game in a 5,000-seat arena."

RPI was 10-18-8 in Appert's first season. He impressed the administration by bringing in nine freshmen in a highly regarded recruiting class. He will sign six more players for the fall of 2008 in the early period in November.

Appert was recently rewarded with a two-year extension through the 2011-12 season.

Harkness turned RPI into a hockey power, before leaving for Cornell and then the Detroit Red Wings. Those three letters carried much magic in Canadian junior circles.

"They still know who we are when we go into Ontario or Quebec to recruit a player," Appert said. "We also recruit the Western provinces to some extent. We're split evenly on our roster this year -- 12 Canadians, 12 Americans and we have two Europeans."

The freshmen group includes three Minnesotans: defenseman Bryan Brutlag and forward Chase Polacek, two standouts at Holy Angels, and defenseman Jeff Foss from Moorhead.

"Bryan, Chase and Jeff were all high school seniors last season," Appert said. "We are recruiting juniors from the USHL, but we felt it was important to get an influx of talent in here right away. Our three Minnesota kids have helped do that for us.

"We're a better hockey team than we were last year. And we're getting thrown into it right away with what might be the three best programs in college hockey."

Minnesota and Michigan have an advantage over RPI that goes beyond the tradition of the past two decades. Financially, the two U of Ms can offer percentages of scholarships -- rather than full rides -- because of the price of public education.

Appert learned to deal with this at Denver, a private university that now costs $40,000 a year. And the tariff at RPI -- a renown academic school with 5,000 undergraduates -- is even higher at $48,000.

"We can't split many scholarships," Appert said. "Because of the cost of school here, we have to give full rides. And then we have recruited walk-ons who have to try to get academic scholarships or go through the application process to qualify for need.

"The financial means we don't have the depth of a Minnesota, Michigan or Wisconsin. So, what we can tell the recruited walk-ons is if they come to RPI, they will get a chance to play."

Patrick Reusse • preusse@startribune.com