There is reputed to be an ancient Chinese proverb (its true origin may have been American English) that sounds like a blessing, but is meant as a curse: "May you live in interesting times."
As college hockey fans, the 2010 offseason absolutely qualifies as "interesting times." For fans of the Engineers, our "interesting times" have been... well, more interesting than most.
We've recounted very well here at Without a Peer the major personnel issues facing the college hockey world - the recruiting war with the CHL on the front end and the NHL's collective bargaining agreement on the back end - and as it has turned out, we were not vulnerable to these issues.
From the beginning of the offseason through the present, RPI has been kicked repeatedly while they're down... a category in which they are not alone. Let's recount the tough-to-hear news that we've encountered since we last watched the Engineers skate.
Jim Montgomery departs
The difficult summer got underway before the 2009-10 season had officially come to a close. Weeks after the disappointing loss to Brown in the ECAC First Round, news came down that assistant coach Jim Montgomery would be leaving RPI to take over as head coach and general manager of the USHL's Dubuque Fighting Saints. This didn't take many people by surprise and Monty's departure had been expected to be coming down the pike sooner rather than later because of his outstanding pedigree as a coach and recruiter, but it didn't make it easy to take, either.
Nick Quinn holds off
The next issue materialized shortly thereafter when Nick Quinn, a defenseman who had been expected to step in right away and provide some big-time blueline support, was moved back to 2011. This may have been a decision made by Seth Appert and the coaching staff, but it could have been Quinn's choice as well. At any rate, the decision to hold off Luke Curadi as well (who had never been firmly expected in 2010 at any point prior to or after his commitment) meant the Engineers were in need of another defenseman, necessitating the early arrival of Patrick Koudys, who was expected in 2011 and probably could have benefited from another year in juniors before starting his NCAA clock, but that's the way it goes.
Jacob Laliberté holds off
In early May, news came through the Record's Ed Weaver that prized recruit Jacob Laliberté would, for the second consecutive season, not be coming to Troy as expected. Ever since Laliberté committed to RPI in February 2008, Engineer fans have been hotly anticipating his arrival given his near total domination of the junior A ranks in Ontario and his stature being of a nature that has the NHL overlooking him - meaning he could ultimately spend more time in college than someone putting up his numbers with a bigger frame. The news was rather deflating - it was hoped that Laliberté would have the ability to come in and make RPI a much more feared team, seeing him playing alongside Chase Polacek, Jerry D'Amigo, and Brandon Pirri.
Jerry D'Amigo departs
From there, the bad news, at least as it pertained to RPI, was done for much of the summer, but in early August, a bombshell dropped when word started to leak out that star sophomore Jerry D'Amigo was close to signing a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After reports of D'Amigo's massively increased size started to leak out of the World Junior camp in Lake Placid, pundits began to believe that D'Amigo, even at the age of 19, might well be NHL ready. Given the developing situation in which dozens of talented underclassmen had already bolted the NCAA ranks for pro contracts, D'Amigo's signing ultimately took few people by surprise once it happened, even if it appeared likely at the beginning of the offseason that he'd probably be back for at least one more year.
Brandon Pirri departs
The other shoe dropped early last week, when Bob McKenzie and Ken Schott broke the news that Brandon Pirri was about to sign with Chicago, a situation, as we mentioned last Monday, that was more than likely brought on by Chicago's roster woes and possibly somewhat sparked by D'Amigo's leaving. For a few weeks, we'd thought the team wouldn't have been as good as they could have been with D'Amigo, but that they'd be perfectly fine as long as Pirri was still on board. Now, life seems a little bit harder, especially considering the amount of attention Chase Polacek is going to draw from defensemen without those two super sophomores to worry about.
Nick Quinn decommits
The capper on the worst week thus far in the offseason came at the end of last week, when recruiting guru Chris Heisenberg caught wind that Quinn had made the decision not to attend RPI in 2011, or ever, moving back into the pool of uncommitted recruits. The reasoning is unclear at this point, but some have conjectured that there may have been some unhappiness with his situation vis a vis Jim Montgomery, who apparently was the key element in recruiting Quinn. The young Canadian had been expecting to play alongside Curadi and under Montgomery in Dubuque, but a USHL ruling on the number of imports allowed to play on any given team meant that one had to leave Dubuque, and Quinn ended up being the odd man out in Monty's plans. Quinn will play instead for Des Moines, assuming he stays in the USHL. If he does, he's probably looking to go to another school (which would likely make him Chris Huxley's replacement among the RPI student section, especially if he goes to another ECAC school). If he doesn't, he's probably just another NCAA recruit who leaves to go to the OHL. At any rate, the departure leaves RPI with one defenseman (Curadi) and one forward (Laliberté) committed for 2011 at present. Three defensemen and five forwards graduate at the end of the upcoming season.
These events have RPI fans looking fairly punch drunk, waiting for the next bit of bad news to fall down like a sandbag from overhead. Well, not to sound like a negative Nancy, but brace yourself - the whole college hockey world, perhaps, should be bracing themselves.
Penn State
Year after year, one of the schools most often rumored to be starting a new varsity program has been Penn State, thanks to their wildly successful and popular club program. Now it appears that this rumor may actually be about to become reality. The school is apparently getting closer to announcing plans for a new 6,000 to 8,000 seat arena and men's and women's varsity programs which could get underway as independents in time for the 2012-13 season, potentially with an eye on the CCHA as an initial home.
Exciting, right? Well, it's also... "interesting." Penn State would more than likely change the face of the college hockey world more than any other school could. They would become the sixth Big 10 school to sponsor college hockey (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State). Six is the magic number for a conference with an autobid. Is a Big 10 super-conference in the works, one that would fundamentally alter the landscape of the sport, especially in the west, where the CCHA would be utterly devastated?
But western teams are not the only ones who should be watching the situation at Penn State. If they're going to have a team in 2012, especially at a big name school like theirs, recruiting has to start this season, which means, they need a coach. Know any that have shown a recent ability to bring outstanding players to a program without a lot of natural advantages? Wow, I can think of two of them right here in the Capital District - our own Seth Appert, and Union's Nate Leaman. Penn State would be fools not to inquire as to either man's availability, and both men would be fools not to at least consider the position if it were offered to them. The chance to be for Penn State what Ned Harkness was to either Capital District program is practically priceless.
So yes... if you're an RPI fan, there's got to be some cause for concern as we watch Penn State potentially become the 59th Division I program.
---
We asked the question at the beginning of the offseason "will he or won't he (be in Troy)?" for four talented scorers. The answer was "he won't" for three of the four. If all four had been coming, who knows what this team could have done. We'll never get the chance to find out, so it's time to move on, forget about what might have been, and focus on the future.
Be happy for them
We will miss their services dearly, but Montgomery, D'Amigo, and Pirri are moving on to bigger and better things. We've at least got the consolation of being able to watch them pursue those bigger and better things.
Nolan Graham arrives
At the very least, Montgomery's replacement among Appert's lieutenants is not only a familiar face, but a rising star among the coaching ranks. Nolan Graham has had success everywhere he's gone behind the bench since hanging them up, especially last season in Alberni Valley. He's an alum to boot, which likely gives him a little edge in the passion department when it comes to speaking to recruits. It will be good to have him back in Troy.
The new faces arrive
There's every bit of reason to be excited about the new players who will be pulling on the cherry and white this year. Viewed through the scope of last season's incoming crop, this group may not seem as exciting. Viewed through the scope of 10 years worth of incoming groups of freshmen, and it's another solid class. Nick Bailen will more than likely step in and provide the same type of outstanding defense we would expect from an upperclassman. Patrick Koudys is likely to be a high draft pick in 2011. Apparently, we got the right Tinordi after all, and Matt appears to have size and a scoring touch. Then there's Brock Higgs and Johnny Rogic, both of whom we have mentioned could be key players right off the bat.
Signs of success
In the modern game, losing players early is a sign that your program is successful in attracting the best. We'd like to remind some of the haters that RPI has sent more players to the NHL in the last month than most ECAC teams have sent there in the last few years, or in more than one case, more than they've ever sent there. And we don't want to get too far into rumor and innuendo, but... there may be some more blue-chippers in the near future. Stay tuned.
We don't suffer alone - or in poor company
The other teams to lose multiple players early to NHL contracts? Minnesota. Wisconsin. Boston University. Denver. Michigan State. Notre Dame. Ohio State. UMass. Northern Michigan. That's some pretty select company. Only Minnesota also lost two freshmen. The only downside to this company is that most of those teams are better suited to rebound from their losses this year or next year.
The rebound will be the challenge. With the team we've got right now... it's possible, as long as they believe. It won't be easy to stop thinking about what might have been, but that's exactly the hurdle the Engineers will need to overcome early in the season - there is no "might have been," there is only what is.
Classes start today on the hill. One month left. Wake me up when September ends.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Todd Milewski, International Man of Mystery (Media Pitstop #2)
For our second interview of the summer, we got the opportunity to sit down with another titan of the college hockey media world.
Todd Milewski is the executive editor of USCHO.com. The site is, for all intents and purposes, the grandfather of college hockey websites, having started publishing in the summer of 1996. The site revolutionized the way fans view the NCAA selection process when they began releasing the PairWise Rankings, a process of simple math that mimics the way the NCAA selection committee chooses at-large teams for the tournament. Today, the rankings, published weekly during the last third of the season, are closely
watched at all levels of the sport, from the casual fans to the coaches. USCHO also publishes the most widely cited weekly national Top 20 poll in the college hockey world.
Milewski, a 1999 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, has been with USCHO for quite some time, serving a number of years as the site's WCHA writer. He has also covered the Wisconsin Badgers for USCHO and the Capital Times of Madison, Wis. Last season, Milewski became the executive editor at USCHO, and also works as a multimedia editor for madison.com.
Without a Peer: So... you primarily have covered Wisconsin, we primarily cover RPI. Probably the two teams that have been hardest hit by the importance of talent lost in the Great Youth Drain of 2010. Hug?
Todd Milewski: Sure, why not.
WaP: What's it going to be like for these teams this season? I mean, it seemed like no one saw this coming.
TM: If they really didn't see it coming, it's a little tough to understand. I think Wisconsin knew it was going to be a mass exodus. Maybe RPI was a little surprised, but this is what happens these days when you've got that kind of talent, like it or not. That's another subject altogether.
WaP: Does this brave new world make the elite talents somewhat less desirable than the solid talents that'll stick around for four years?
TM: I think it changes the game, but what I've heard coaches say is that you're willing to accept the reality that comes with having a player who's good enough to go after one year - as long as you've planned for it. Look at the backlog of players Wisconsin had commit over the last few years. That was for a reason. Now, it bit them last year because they may have expected more players to go, but if you're going to be in the hunt for the elite guys, you have to have Plans A, B and C, if not more.
WaP: Don Lucia has been accused of letting some blue chip talents de-commit and head elsewhere, but if you have guys returning that you thought were going to be gone, suddenly you don't have room for everyone.
TM: Exactly. I don't know how you can fault a coach for being prepared. If it went the other way, and they were grabbing players that were clearly not ready for this level just to fill out the team because more players left than expected, that coach would get the heat, too.
WaP: Seems like it might even the playing field a touch.
TM: I think it has. All of a sudden, some schools that didn't have a chance at upper-level recruits are in the mix.
WaP: So what are we looking at in the WCHA this season? Everything we've been hearing out here has it pegged as a battle between UND and SCSU at the top and a big mess below that. Is that fair?
TM: If it's like any of the last few seasons, North Dakota will start slow, pick up steam around the return from break and go on a tear down the stretch. So I think they'll be in the mix. I think SCSU could be good. I really wonder what we're going to see from Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State. I get the feeling Dean Blais is going to have UNO up there somewhere - maybe not the top, but a good chance at top half. I don't think you can rule out Denver, either, even with the losses they took.
WaP: Speaking of Dean Blais... given what he accomplished at North Dakota and what he's done for USA Hockey, especially the unexpected gold medal at the World Juniors last year, is it fair to call him the Herb Brooks of our time? Is that a fair comparison?
TM: I read someone making that comparison once, and my first reaction was to dismiss it. Then you think about it a little more, and it's not too far off. I'd like to give him another year or two at UNO to see if he has magic there, but in terms of a presence among college hockey coaches, he's in that class with Brooks.
WaP: Now that the dust seems almost ready to settle - although, who knows, there could be some more sudden and unexpected defections - who are your early pre-season choices to meet in St. Paul in April?
TM: That's a good one. Way too early to pick this, but I'll take Boston College for sure. They're not on that early departures list yet, which should be big for them. Then maybe North Dakota, Miami and how about Denver. I'm not enthused about picking DU there, but I can see it happening.
WaP: Could Yale have a legit shot at making it that far, or is the ECAC just doomed to mediocrity in late March?
TM: When I was looking through teams trying to come up with a Frozen Four, they were one of those in the list. Are they going to try to play every goaltender on campus again this season? I wasn't a big fan of that, and I wonder if it held them back last year. It seems like they have enough talent up front.
WaP: Their attitude seems to be that if you can score enough goals, you usually don't have to worry about defense all that much. BC spiked that idea last year. They've got a heck of a forecheck, though.
TM: I saw them play a couple games last year at the Wisconsin tournament, and they seemed like one of those teams that could break out and be a real force, but I wonder if that's a short-term deal.
WaP: How about the NCAA's proposal to change the regional system into a home series for the top seeds? What's your take on that?
TM: I think you have to do it one way or another. If you're going to have it on campus in the first round, it has to be on campus in the second round. Otherwise, aren't you just pushing those same attendance issues onto the second round? I think the NCAA needs to figure out what its priority is - attendance or a fair bracket - and go with whatever works best. But going to campus sites seems like a step back to me.
WaP: One thought we had about it is that, if nothing else, it might build some interesting out-of-conference rivalries if a couple of teams play a particularly intense series. We try to find the good in everything... unfortunately, we were unable to find anything good about the concept of icing on the penalty kill.
TM: Yeah, that was kind of out of left field, wasn't it?
WaP: It was shocking to find that Forrest Karr actually had a background in hockey and he was still pushing it as a good idea.
TM: Forrest definitely has a strong hockey background, and I think there's one thing in the idea that has at least some merit, and it's that players should be taught how to work the puck out of trouble instead of flinging it down the ice. I think that's a valid concern, but it didn't have enough weight to change that rule so radically.
WaP: Our overriding concern was really that Paul Kelly's job is hard enough without suddenly trying to convince potentially reticent recruits to come spend a few years playing with a power play and penalty kill strategy that no one else uses anywhere.
TM: Yeah, that's the overriding concern that I think finally brought it down. I feel bad for Forrest because that was his last set of rule changes as part of the committee, and that's what he'll be remembered for.
WaP: Yeah, that's definitely true. Sticks out like a sore thumb. Are half-shields in the NCAA's future? If so, what kind of effect will it have on the game?
TM: It's not hard to find people who think it is. I'm not sure it's going to be very easy to get that through the NCAA. It opens up a pretty big liability if you go from full shields to half shields. But if those who are in favor of the change can effectively explain how it can make the game safer, it has a chance. As for the effect it would have, let's hope it would keep some of those sticks down. Seriously, it's scary out there sometimes, and that's just from watching from the press box. Imagine it down on the ice.
WaP: Last question - what is there that could possibly be done to create some semblance of peace between the CHL and the NCAA?
TM: I honestly think if there's peace to be made, it's going to have to come from the NHL. And with the way things look right now, I don't like the chances of that happening. The CHL isn't going to give up things easily, and college hockey doesn't have anything to give away, really. I just have trouble picturing what harmony between the NHL, CHL and college would look like. I'd love to see it, but it's going to be tough.
Todd Milewski is the executive editor of USCHO.com. The site is, for all intents and purposes, the grandfather of college hockey websites, having started publishing in the summer of 1996. The site revolutionized the way fans view the NCAA selection process when they began releasing the PairWise Rankings, a process of simple math that mimics the way the NCAA selection committee chooses at-large teams for the tournament. Today, the rankings, published weekly during the last third of the season, are closely
watched at all levels of the sport, from the casual fans to the coaches. USCHO also publishes the most widely cited weekly national Top 20 poll in the college hockey world.Milewski, a 1999 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, has been with USCHO for quite some time, serving a number of years as the site's WCHA writer. He has also covered the Wisconsin Badgers for USCHO and the Capital Times of Madison, Wis. Last season, Milewski became the executive editor at USCHO, and also works as a multimedia editor for madison.com.
Without a Peer: So... you primarily have covered Wisconsin, we primarily cover RPI. Probably the two teams that have been hardest hit by the importance of talent lost in the Great Youth Drain of 2010. Hug?
Todd Milewski: Sure, why not.
WaP: What's it going to be like for these teams this season? I mean, it seemed like no one saw this coming.
TM: If they really didn't see it coming, it's a little tough to understand. I think Wisconsin knew it was going to be a mass exodus. Maybe RPI was a little surprised, but this is what happens these days when you've got that kind of talent, like it or not. That's another subject altogether.
WaP: Does this brave new world make the elite talents somewhat less desirable than the solid talents that'll stick around for four years?
TM: I think it changes the game, but what I've heard coaches say is that you're willing to accept the reality that comes with having a player who's good enough to go after one year - as long as you've planned for it. Look at the backlog of players Wisconsin had commit over the last few years. That was for a reason. Now, it bit them last year because they may have expected more players to go, but if you're going to be in the hunt for the elite guys, you have to have Plans A, B and C, if not more.
WaP: Don Lucia has been accused of letting some blue chip talents de-commit and head elsewhere, but if you have guys returning that you thought were going to be gone, suddenly you don't have room for everyone.
TM: Exactly. I don't know how you can fault a coach for being prepared. If it went the other way, and they were grabbing players that were clearly not ready for this level just to fill out the team because more players left than expected, that coach would get the heat, too.
WaP: Seems like it might even the playing field a touch.
TM: I think it has. All of a sudden, some schools that didn't have a chance at upper-level recruits are in the mix.
WaP: So what are we looking at in the WCHA this season? Everything we've been hearing out here has it pegged as a battle between UND and SCSU at the top and a big mess below that. Is that fair?
TM: If it's like any of the last few seasons, North Dakota will start slow, pick up steam around the return from break and go on a tear down the stretch. So I think they'll be in the mix. I think SCSU could be good. I really wonder what we're going to see from Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State. I get the feeling Dean Blais is going to have UNO up there somewhere - maybe not the top, but a good chance at top half. I don't think you can rule out Denver, either, even with the losses they took.
WaP: Speaking of Dean Blais... given what he accomplished at North Dakota and what he's done for USA Hockey, especially the unexpected gold medal at the World Juniors last year, is it fair to call him the Herb Brooks of our time? Is that a fair comparison?
TM: I read someone making that comparison once, and my first reaction was to dismiss it. Then you think about it a little more, and it's not too far off. I'd like to give him another year or two at UNO to see if he has magic there, but in terms of a presence among college hockey coaches, he's in that class with Brooks.
WaP: Now that the dust seems almost ready to settle - although, who knows, there could be some more sudden and unexpected defections - who are your early pre-season choices to meet in St. Paul in April?
TM: That's a good one. Way too early to pick this, but I'll take Boston College for sure. They're not on that early departures list yet, which should be big for them. Then maybe North Dakota, Miami and how about Denver. I'm not enthused about picking DU there, but I can see it happening.
WaP: Could Yale have a legit shot at making it that far, or is the ECAC just doomed to mediocrity in late March?
TM: When I was looking through teams trying to come up with a Frozen Four, they were one of those in the list. Are they going to try to play every goaltender on campus again this season? I wasn't a big fan of that, and I wonder if it held them back last year. It seems like they have enough talent up front.
WaP: Their attitude seems to be that if you can score enough goals, you usually don't have to worry about defense all that much. BC spiked that idea last year. They've got a heck of a forecheck, though.
TM: I saw them play a couple games last year at the Wisconsin tournament, and they seemed like one of those teams that could break out and be a real force, but I wonder if that's a short-term deal.
WaP: How about the NCAA's proposal to change the regional system into a home series for the top seeds? What's your take on that?
TM: I think you have to do it one way or another. If you're going to have it on campus in the first round, it has to be on campus in the second round. Otherwise, aren't you just pushing those same attendance issues onto the second round? I think the NCAA needs to figure out what its priority is - attendance or a fair bracket - and go with whatever works best. But going to campus sites seems like a step back to me.
WaP: One thought we had about it is that, if nothing else, it might build some interesting out-of-conference rivalries if a couple of teams play a particularly intense series. We try to find the good in everything... unfortunately, we were unable to find anything good about the concept of icing on the penalty kill.
TM: Yeah, that was kind of out of left field, wasn't it?
WaP: It was shocking to find that Forrest Karr actually had a background in hockey and he was still pushing it as a good idea.
TM: Forrest definitely has a strong hockey background, and I think there's one thing in the idea that has at least some merit, and it's that players should be taught how to work the puck out of trouble instead of flinging it down the ice. I think that's a valid concern, but it didn't have enough weight to change that rule so radically.
WaP: Our overriding concern was really that Paul Kelly's job is hard enough without suddenly trying to convince potentially reticent recruits to come spend a few years playing with a power play and penalty kill strategy that no one else uses anywhere.
TM: Yeah, that's the overriding concern that I think finally brought it down. I feel bad for Forrest because that was his last set of rule changes as part of the committee, and that's what he'll be remembered for.
WaP: Yeah, that's definitely true. Sticks out like a sore thumb. Are half-shields in the NCAA's future? If so, what kind of effect will it have on the game?
TM: It's not hard to find people who think it is. I'm not sure it's going to be very easy to get that through the NCAA. It opens up a pretty big liability if you go from full shields to half shields. But if those who are in favor of the change can effectively explain how it can make the game safer, it has a chance. As for the effect it would have, let's hope it would keep some of those sticks down. Seriously, it's scary out there sometimes, and that's just from watching from the press box. Imagine it down on the ice.
WaP: Last question - what is there that could possibly be done to create some semblance of peace between the CHL and the NCAA?
TM: I honestly think if there's peace to be made, it's going to have to come from the NHL. And with the way things look right now, I don't like the chances of that happening. The CHL isn't going to give up things easily, and college hockey doesn't have anything to give away, really. I just have trouble picturing what harmony between the NHL, CHL and college would look like. I'd love to see it, but it's going to be tough.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Know Your Enemy: Yale
For years, this next installation of "Know Your Enemy" was a guaranteed afterthought when it came to sizing up the ECAC. No longer. After decades as an irrelevancy in the league, the Yale Bulldogs are riding a offensive renaissance to the upper echelons of not only the ECAC, but of the college hockey world as a whole. As we discussed with Adam Wodon last week, Yale should be among the favorites in the ECAC this season, but they aren't quite bullet-proof.
Yale
Nickname: Bulldogs
Location: New Haven, CT
Founded: 1701
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2010
Last Frozen Four: 1952
Coach: Keith Allain (5th season)
2009-10 Record: 21-10-3 (15-5-2 ECAC, 1st place)
Series: RPI leads, 51-38-6
First Game: January 22, 1909 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: January 30, 2010 (New Haven, CT)
Last YU win: February 14, 2009 (Troy, NY)
2010-11 games: December 3, 2010 (New Haven, CT); January 29, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Broc Little, sr.; F Denny Kearney, sr.; F Brendan Mason, sr.; F Brian O'Neill, jr.; F Andrew Miller, so.; F Kenny Agostino, fr.; D Jimmy Martin, sr.; D Kevin Peel, jr.; D Gus Young, fr.
Key losses: F Mark Arcobello, F Sean Backman, D Thomas Dignard, D Ryan Donald, G Billy Blase
That's certainly a lot of names that Yale is losing from their arrival on the doorstep of the Frozen Four last season, but the Bulldogs aren't rebuilding - they're certainly reloading.
Yale's arch-nemesis Harvard may have been part of the first college hockey contest to take place in the northeast between two schools that still offer hockey, but Yale's history dates back even farther - to the very first game of hockey played between two different schools. On February 1, 1896, a day after dropping a 3-2 game to the Baltimore Athletic Club in their first ever game, Yale took part in the first intercollegiate ice hockey game in history, skating to a 2-2 tie against Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While hockey at Johns Hopkins would die out only two years later, the Yale Bulldogs have been going strong for 115 consecutive seasons - the only program in the country that can claim to have survived World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II without missing a single year.
The Bulldogs lay claim to what are essentially some of the oldest titles in college hockey, essentially claiming de facto national titles in 1899, 1900, and 1902. Their first indoor game came in 1911, when the concept was still a novelty, and hired their first full-time coach in 1922. The 1920s in general produced some very good Yale teams, as the Bulldogs went a combined 32-4-2 in 1924 and 1925, and 60-7-3 from 1928 to 1931. That's not only an impressive record for that time period, that's a lot of games played for that time period.
Like Harvard, Yale has a pair of well-known and well-respected long time coaches. The first is Murray Murdoch, who came to Yale in 1938 after an outstanding career with the New York Rangers ended. He would coach the Bulldogs for the next 27 seasons. During Murdoch's tenure, Yale had a few solid eras, including the early 1940s and early 1950s, the latter of which included Yale's first NCAA tournament appearance in 1952, an appearance that ended with a third-place showing and a 17-8-0 record. Murdoch would stay in New Haven until 1965, seeing the team into the creation of the ECAC in 1961. After Yale's peak in 1955, the Bulldogs started to become a middle-of-the-pack team, respectable, but never in the doldrums.
That changed after Murdoch's departure. An interregnum of 11 seasons after Murdoch's departure saw Yale's fortunes drop off significantly, as the Bulldogs earned only two winning seasons between 1966 and 1976 under two different coaches, including the final three seasons of that period, which saw Yale compiling an overall record of 13-58-2.
In 1976, however, a new tradition of coaching excellence began at Yale as former Harvard captain Tim Taylor was named the new head coach, and Taylor began turning around the Bulldogs' fortunes immediately - Yale's win over Penn in Taylor's very first game behind the bench was Yale's first Ivy League victory in over two years. Taylor ultimately got Yale to much the same level Murdoch had - his teams became competitive, but not frequently in the hunt for titles. In 1981, in Taylor's fifth season, the Bulldogs did win their very first official Ivy League championship, and they won a share of the title in 1985 as Taylor brought Yale their very first 20-win season, a feat he duplicated the following year.
But Yale struggled through the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s, until the 1997-98 season. From 1994 to 2002, the Bulldogs had only one winning season, but in 1998 they won a school record 23 games on their way to a first place finish in the regular season standings, their very first ECAC title of any kind after 37 years in the league, and it led to Taylor's first (and only) NCAA tournament appearance.
Taylor would leave Yale in 2006 to take a job with USA Hockey as a well respected elder statesman of American hockey, but his final two seasons in New Haven were rough - a combined record of 15-45-5, the first time the Bulldogs had lost 20-games in consecutive season since the two years before Taylor became head coach. Taylor lost 91 more games than he won during his 28 seasons at Yale, but he won the school's first six Ivy League titles and their first ECAC honors. His replacement was one of his former players, Keith Allain, who would almost immediately bring the Bulldogs to new highs.
Allain, a former Yale goaltender who graduated in 1980, had plenty of coaching experience. He had previously been an assistant at Yale in the early 1980s, and had been working in the NHL since 1989 when he was summoned back to his alma mater. His first season was the 8th losing season in the 9 campaigns since the Bulldogs had finished first in the ECAC, but a shift in the paradigm in New Haven was fully underway, as Yale split the Ivy League title with Dartmouth. In 2008, Yale finished with a winning record, and in 2009, reached heights the program had not seen in the modern era - they finished atop the ECAC standings, won their first ECAC championship, another Ivy League title, and went to the NCAA tournament for the third time, and set a new school record with 24 wins. Last season, they nearly repeated the feat. They repeated as regular season champions, repeated as outright Ivy League champions for the first time in school history, and reached the doorstep of the Frozen Four as they advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season for the first time - making Allain the only coach in Bulldog history to reach the NCAAs twice. All that after only just four years as head coach.
Yes, Yale is clearly reaching one of the greatest peaks in their program history - and they aren't slowing down in the slightest. Their main weakness last season was goaltending, and it was on display in their final game last season, as there aren't too many teams out there that will score 7 goals in an NCAA regional final only to lose. Yet, just one night before, a goaltender who hadn't played since November had done well enough to upset the WCHA champions.
The Bulldogs, despite all of their wild success, were hit or miss sometimes last year. RPI swept them with seeming ease, yet Yale ran wild over the rest of the league. They were upset by Brown in the playoffs, and nearly reached the Frozen Four anyway. Much of the success was powered by the offense, which was freakishly good - the best in the nation at 4.15 goals per game, and despite the loss of Backman and Arcobello, they've still got a lot of firepower coming back, especially with Broc Little, who led the ECAC in goals scored last year. The team shoots often and usually shoots quite well, and they make efficient use of passing lanes. Frequently, when you have an offense as potent as Yale's, you don't need much defense in order to win, and the Bulldog defense was definitely average in the long run - which was usually enough.
The goaltending situation is still somewhat sketchy. Yale used four different goaltenders last season, all with a fairly decent amount of ice time. They return three - Nick Maricic and Jeff Malcolm will be sophomores, and Ryan Rondeau will be a senior. Maricic and Malcolm both had GAAs around 3.00 last season, and Rondeau was at 4.06 for the year, and yet it was Rondeau who did enough against North Dakota to earn the win.
The bottom line is that if Yale gets any decent goaltending on any given night, they're probably going to win more often than not with the dazzling barrage they have up front. The Bulldogs are easily the odds-on favorite to win a third consecutive Cleary Cup as regular season champions, because on paper, they appear to be in a league of their own when it comes to the ECAC. What's more, they do it with style and flair, making for interesting hockey games.
The key to beating Yale, obviously, is in shutting down their offense, and RPI had the knack for doing that last season, allowing only two goals in the 120 minutes the teams had on the ice together - both of those goals coming in Troy in the span of 2:12 of game time. If they can do that again, they'll need to victimize the Bulldog defense to get wins, but more likely than not, they'll need to do it quite a bit, because that offense of theirs is going to be tough to completely squelch out.
If you've never been on an ECAC road trip before, the trip to Yale is highly recommended if only for their beautiful rink. Ingalls Rink is easily one of the wonders of college hockey, designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen (who also designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis) and opened in 1958. It is called the "Yale Whale" because, well, it looks kinda like a whale. But the building itself is beautiful, inside and out, and is a true experience for any college hockey fan to take in. If you've never been, circle December 3rd on your calendar. You'll probably get an entertaining game to go with the majesty.
Yale
Nickname: Bulldogs
Location: New Haven, CT
Founded: 1701
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2010
Last Frozen Four: 1952
Coach: Keith Allain (5th season)
2009-10 Record: 21-10-3 (15-5-2 ECAC, 1st place)
Series: RPI leads, 51-38-6
First Game: January 22, 1909 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: January 30, 2010 (New Haven, CT)
Last YU win: February 14, 2009 (Troy, NY)
2010-11 games: December 3, 2010 (New Haven, CT); January 29, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Broc Little, sr.; F Denny Kearney, sr.; F Brendan Mason, sr.; F Brian O'Neill, jr.; F Andrew Miller, so.; F Kenny Agostino, fr.; D Jimmy Martin, sr.; D Kevin Peel, jr.; D Gus Young, fr.
Key losses: F Mark Arcobello, F Sean Backman, D Thomas Dignard, D Ryan Donald, G Billy Blase
That's certainly a lot of names that Yale is losing from their arrival on the doorstep of the Frozen Four last season, but the Bulldogs aren't rebuilding - they're certainly reloading.
Yale's arch-nemesis Harvard may have been part of the first college hockey contest to take place in the northeast between two schools that still offer hockey, but Yale's history dates back even farther - to the very first game of hockey played between two different schools. On February 1, 1896, a day after dropping a 3-2 game to the Baltimore Athletic Club in their first ever game, Yale took part in the first intercollegiate ice hockey game in history, skating to a 2-2 tie against Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While hockey at Johns Hopkins would die out only two years later, the Yale Bulldogs have been going strong for 115 consecutive seasons - the only program in the country that can claim to have survived World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II without missing a single year.
The Bulldogs lay claim to what are essentially some of the oldest titles in college hockey, essentially claiming de facto national titles in 1899, 1900, and 1902. Their first indoor game came in 1911, when the concept was still a novelty, and hired their first full-time coach in 1922. The 1920s in general produced some very good Yale teams, as the Bulldogs went a combined 32-4-2 in 1924 and 1925, and 60-7-3 from 1928 to 1931. That's not only an impressive record for that time period, that's a lot of games played for that time period.
Like Harvard, Yale has a pair of well-known and well-respected long time coaches. The first is Murray Murdoch, who came to Yale in 1938 after an outstanding career with the New York Rangers ended. He would coach the Bulldogs for the next 27 seasons. During Murdoch's tenure, Yale had a few solid eras, including the early 1940s and early 1950s, the latter of which included Yale's first NCAA tournament appearance in 1952, an appearance that ended with a third-place showing and a 17-8-0 record. Murdoch would stay in New Haven until 1965, seeing the team into the creation of the ECAC in 1961. After Yale's peak in 1955, the Bulldogs started to become a middle-of-the-pack team, respectable, but never in the doldrums.
That changed after Murdoch's departure. An interregnum of 11 seasons after Murdoch's departure saw Yale's fortunes drop off significantly, as the Bulldogs earned only two winning seasons between 1966 and 1976 under two different coaches, including the final three seasons of that period, which saw Yale compiling an overall record of 13-58-2.
In 1976, however, a new tradition of coaching excellence began at Yale as former Harvard captain Tim Taylor was named the new head coach, and Taylor began turning around the Bulldogs' fortunes immediately - Yale's win over Penn in Taylor's very first game behind the bench was Yale's first Ivy League victory in over two years. Taylor ultimately got Yale to much the same level Murdoch had - his teams became competitive, but not frequently in the hunt for titles. In 1981, in Taylor's fifth season, the Bulldogs did win their very first official Ivy League championship, and they won a share of the title in 1985 as Taylor brought Yale their very first 20-win season, a feat he duplicated the following year.
But Yale struggled through the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s, until the 1997-98 season. From 1994 to 2002, the Bulldogs had only one winning season, but in 1998 they won a school record 23 games on their way to a first place finish in the regular season standings, their very first ECAC title of any kind after 37 years in the league, and it led to Taylor's first (and only) NCAA tournament appearance.
Taylor would leave Yale in 2006 to take a job with USA Hockey as a well respected elder statesman of American hockey, but his final two seasons in New Haven were rough - a combined record of 15-45-5, the first time the Bulldogs had lost 20-games in consecutive season since the two years before Taylor became head coach. Taylor lost 91 more games than he won during his 28 seasons at Yale, but he won the school's first six Ivy League titles and their first ECAC honors. His replacement was one of his former players, Keith Allain, who would almost immediately bring the Bulldogs to new highs.
Allain, a former Yale goaltender who graduated in 1980, had plenty of coaching experience. He had previously been an assistant at Yale in the early 1980s, and had been working in the NHL since 1989 when he was summoned back to his alma mater. His first season was the 8th losing season in the 9 campaigns since the Bulldogs had finished first in the ECAC, but a shift in the paradigm in New Haven was fully underway, as Yale split the Ivy League title with Dartmouth. In 2008, Yale finished with a winning record, and in 2009, reached heights the program had not seen in the modern era - they finished atop the ECAC standings, won their first ECAC championship, another Ivy League title, and went to the NCAA tournament for the third time, and set a new school record with 24 wins. Last season, they nearly repeated the feat. They repeated as regular season champions, repeated as outright Ivy League champions for the first time in school history, and reached the doorstep of the Frozen Four as they advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season for the first time - making Allain the only coach in Bulldog history to reach the NCAAs twice. All that after only just four years as head coach.
Yes, Yale is clearly reaching one of the greatest peaks in their program history - and they aren't slowing down in the slightest. Their main weakness last season was goaltending, and it was on display in their final game last season, as there aren't too many teams out there that will score 7 goals in an NCAA regional final only to lose. Yet, just one night before, a goaltender who hadn't played since November had done well enough to upset the WCHA champions.
The Bulldogs, despite all of their wild success, were hit or miss sometimes last year. RPI swept them with seeming ease, yet Yale ran wild over the rest of the league. They were upset by Brown in the playoffs, and nearly reached the Frozen Four anyway. Much of the success was powered by the offense, which was freakishly good - the best in the nation at 4.15 goals per game, and despite the loss of Backman and Arcobello, they've still got a lot of firepower coming back, especially with Broc Little, who led the ECAC in goals scored last year. The team shoots often and usually shoots quite well, and they make efficient use of passing lanes. Frequently, when you have an offense as potent as Yale's, you don't need much defense in order to win, and the Bulldog defense was definitely average in the long run - which was usually enough.
The goaltending situation is still somewhat sketchy. Yale used four different goaltenders last season, all with a fairly decent amount of ice time. They return three - Nick Maricic and Jeff Malcolm will be sophomores, and Ryan Rondeau will be a senior. Maricic and Malcolm both had GAAs around 3.00 last season, and Rondeau was at 4.06 for the year, and yet it was Rondeau who did enough against North Dakota to earn the win.
The bottom line is that if Yale gets any decent goaltending on any given night, they're probably going to win more often than not with the dazzling barrage they have up front. The Bulldogs are easily the odds-on favorite to win a third consecutive Cleary Cup as regular season champions, because on paper, they appear to be in a league of their own when it comes to the ECAC. What's more, they do it with style and flair, making for interesting hockey games.
The key to beating Yale, obviously, is in shutting down their offense, and RPI had the knack for doing that last season, allowing only two goals in the 120 minutes the teams had on the ice together - both of those goals coming in Troy in the span of 2:12 of game time. If they can do that again, they'll need to victimize the Bulldog defense to get wins, but more likely than not, they'll need to do it quite a bit, because that offense of theirs is going to be tough to completely squelch out.
If you've never been on an ECAC road trip before, the trip to Yale is highly recommended if only for their beautiful rink. Ingalls Rink is easily one of the wonders of college hockey, designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen (who also designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis) and opened in 1958. It is called the "Yale Whale" because, well, it looks kinda like a whale. But the building itself is beautiful, inside and out, and is a true experience for any college hockey fan to take in. If you've never been, circle December 3rd on your calendar. You'll probably get an entertaining game to go with the majesty.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Without a Pirri
Breaking news from TSN's Bob McKenzie (apparently, via Ken Schott, who isn't "The King" for nothing), one of the most reliable NHL sources on the planet, not to mention one of the more knowledgeable pro pundits when it comes to the ECAC considering that his son Mike just graduated from St. Lawrence, has reported via Twitter that RPI forward will forgo his final three years of NCAA eligibility and sign a professional contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.
D'Amigo's departure was a punch in the gut. This is a follow-up kick in the crotch.
One of the things that the Engineers weren't expecting to have question marks on in the upcoming season was offense - because there was so much of it returning. Losing one of Pirri and D'Amigo was expected to be a major blow, but nothing RPI wouldn't probably recover from. Losing both is going to be very difficult to overcome. For one thing, having fewer major threats on the ice is going to put a lot more defensive pressure on Chase Polacek next season - his Hobey Baker finalist season was due not only to his talent and ability, but when the other team has to tangle with two other guys who can burn you, you are going to find yourself just a little bit more ice to operate with. That means other forwards are going to need to step up to be the type of threats that Pirri and D'Amigo were.
Pirri's signing is a little more head-scratching than D'Amigo's, but it could at least in part be explained by D'Amigo's departure. The conventional wisdom on D'Amigo is that he has at worst an outside chance at making the Maple Leafs out of camp and should at the very least end up in the AHL barring a complete disaster. Pirri is different - if he earns a spot on the Blackhawks' roster out of camp it would be a complete surprise. The one saving grace is that Pirri's signing is probably at least partially due to Chicago's serious need for bodies in their system - that might see him sent to the AHL rather than sent to major junior, where the Saginaw Spirit owns his rights, which would be a bad end result all around, as he could have ultimately have stayed with RPI if that happens. But D'Amigo's leaving may well have left Pirri with the idea that with the offer on the table likely trumped the prospects of the upcoming season at RPI.
As we mentioned earlier this month, Chicago's entire system has been decimated by their need to squeeze under the NHL's salary cap after playing hard and fast with salaries on their way to a Stanley Cup - for you baseball fans out there, recall what the Florida Marlins did after both of their World Series victories... the exact same thing is happening in Chicago, only the Marlins were basically trying to fit under a self-imposed cap. That means the Blackhawks need cheap young talent to restock their system - Pirri happens to fit that mold. That may work to Pirri's advantage in being able to catch on in the AHL, but whether he is necessarily "pro ready" is a matter for some debate. Most observers expected that he would probably need another season or two in Troy before he was ready to sign a pro deal and run with the big dogs in the AHL.
Pirri is a tremendous hockey talent. Hockey Canada, quite frankly, was foolish to leave him out of their World Junior camp this summer (which disqualifies him from the team in December due to their rules) in what was really a provincial snub as you have to just about be Jonathan Toews to even earn a camp invite if you're a Canadian playing college hockey. But there is definitely some question as to whether he will get run over playing in the AHL at this point in his career. I hope he's ready to go, or this exciting development could ultimately be a net negative for what absolutely has the potential to be a long and fruitful NHL career.
As for RPI... this development deserves a look at the offensive corps that will be taking the ice in October.
Departing: Paul Kerins, Garett Vassel, Christian Morissette, Jerry D'Amigo, Brandon Pirri, Jordan Watts, Kevin Beauregard (moving to defense).
Returning: Bryan Brutlag, Scott Halpern, Joel Malchuk, Tyler Helfrich, Justin Smith, Alex Angers-Goulet, Patrick Cullen, Chase Polacek, C.J. Lee, Josh Rabbani, Marty O'Grady.
Incoming: Brock Higgs, Matt Tinordi, Greg Burgdoerfer, Johnny Rogic.
That means there'll still be three healthy scratches at forward on any given night (assuming there aren't any injuries, of course). Go ahead, pick three guys on that list that don't have the talent to vie for lots of ice time. You really can't. At any rate, of the seven departing forwards, only four saw serious ice time last year, and they are all being replaced. Seth Appert was thinking ahead when he recruited more forwards than it looked like we needed.
Higgs and Rogic may not be D'Amigo and Pirri, but they are coming into Troy with a decent amount of buzz... and aren't flight risks. Tinordi isn't a slouch either.
After D'Amigo's departure, there were murmurs that perhaps Appert would try to get Jacob Laliberté on campus as a replacement. That didn't happen then. There will surely be some more murmurs now that another top name has left, but don't count on it - classes start in a week. I doubt "he's got a great finishing touch" is going to fly with admissions to sneak him into the Class of 2014.
This turn of events absolutely puts RPI near, or even at the top of the list of college teams devastated by the slow bleed of young talent to the professional ranks this summer. Programs like Boston University, Wisconsin, Denver, and Notre Dame lost a larger number of top talents that would have had eligibility, but all four of those teams have a whole host of top-notch talent to fall back on even if all four are probably heading for rough seasons. Things just got a whole lot harder for the Engineers.
But look on the bright side - the Chicago Blackhawks, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, seem to be satisfied with how quickly Pirri developed during his time in Troy, or at the very least, they aren't hurling invectives at Seth Appert the way the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild did to Minnesota's Don Lucia when they pulled and dealt Kyle Okposo and Nick Leddy respectively. Going forward, that can only be a feather in Seth Appert's cap. Is there cause to worry that he might be the next talent to skip town? Maybe that ought to be a more overriding concern - but while he's still here, the laudatory comments coming down on him from the pro ranks can only help him in his efforts to draw in the best talents on the continent.
To quote Geoff Tate: "Wide awake, you face the day, your dream is over... or has it just begun?"
(Hat-tip to Tyler Hinman for the title.)
D'Amigo's departure was a punch in the gut. This is a follow-up kick in the crotch.
One of the things that the Engineers weren't expecting to have question marks on in the upcoming season was offense - because there was so much of it returning. Losing one of Pirri and D'Amigo was expected to be a major blow, but nothing RPI wouldn't probably recover from. Losing both is going to be very difficult to overcome. For one thing, having fewer major threats on the ice is going to put a lot more defensive pressure on Chase Polacek next season - his Hobey Baker finalist season was due not only to his talent and ability, but when the other team has to tangle with two other guys who can burn you, you are going to find yourself just a little bit more ice to operate with. That means other forwards are going to need to step up to be the type of threats that Pirri and D'Amigo were.
Pirri's signing is a little more head-scratching than D'Amigo's, but it could at least in part be explained by D'Amigo's departure. The conventional wisdom on D'Amigo is that he has at worst an outside chance at making the Maple Leafs out of camp and should at the very least end up in the AHL barring a complete disaster. Pirri is different - if he earns a spot on the Blackhawks' roster out of camp it would be a complete surprise. The one saving grace is that Pirri's signing is probably at least partially due to Chicago's serious need for bodies in their system - that might see him sent to the AHL rather than sent to major junior, where the Saginaw Spirit owns his rights, which would be a bad end result all around, as he could have ultimately have stayed with RPI if that happens. But D'Amigo's leaving may well have left Pirri with the idea that with the offer on the table likely trumped the prospects of the upcoming season at RPI.
As we mentioned earlier this month, Chicago's entire system has been decimated by their need to squeeze under the NHL's salary cap after playing hard and fast with salaries on their way to a Stanley Cup - for you baseball fans out there, recall what the Florida Marlins did after both of their World Series victories... the exact same thing is happening in Chicago, only the Marlins were basically trying to fit under a self-imposed cap. That means the Blackhawks need cheap young talent to restock their system - Pirri happens to fit that mold. That may work to Pirri's advantage in being able to catch on in the AHL, but whether he is necessarily "pro ready" is a matter for some debate. Most observers expected that he would probably need another season or two in Troy before he was ready to sign a pro deal and run with the big dogs in the AHL.
Pirri is a tremendous hockey talent. Hockey Canada, quite frankly, was foolish to leave him out of their World Junior camp this summer (which disqualifies him from the team in December due to their rules) in what was really a provincial snub as you have to just about be Jonathan Toews to even earn a camp invite if you're a Canadian playing college hockey. But there is definitely some question as to whether he will get run over playing in the AHL at this point in his career. I hope he's ready to go, or this exciting development could ultimately be a net negative for what absolutely has the potential to be a long and fruitful NHL career.
As for RPI... this development deserves a look at the offensive corps that will be taking the ice in October.
Departing: Paul Kerins, Garett Vassel, Christian Morissette, Jerry D'Amigo, Brandon Pirri, Jordan Watts, Kevin Beauregard (moving to defense).
Returning: Bryan Brutlag, Scott Halpern, Joel Malchuk, Tyler Helfrich, Justin Smith, Alex Angers-Goulet, Patrick Cullen, Chase Polacek, C.J. Lee, Josh Rabbani, Marty O'Grady.
Incoming: Brock Higgs, Matt Tinordi, Greg Burgdoerfer, Johnny Rogic.
That means there'll still be three healthy scratches at forward on any given night (assuming there aren't any injuries, of course). Go ahead, pick three guys on that list that don't have the talent to vie for lots of ice time. You really can't. At any rate, of the seven departing forwards, only four saw serious ice time last year, and they are all being replaced. Seth Appert was thinking ahead when he recruited more forwards than it looked like we needed.
Higgs and Rogic may not be D'Amigo and Pirri, but they are coming into Troy with a decent amount of buzz... and aren't flight risks. Tinordi isn't a slouch either.
After D'Amigo's departure, there were murmurs that perhaps Appert would try to get Jacob Laliberté on campus as a replacement. That didn't happen then. There will surely be some more murmurs now that another top name has left, but don't count on it - classes start in a week. I doubt "he's got a great finishing touch" is going to fly with admissions to sneak him into the Class of 2014.
This turn of events absolutely puts RPI near, or even at the top of the list of college teams devastated by the slow bleed of young talent to the professional ranks this summer. Programs like Boston University, Wisconsin, Denver, and Notre Dame lost a larger number of top talents that would have had eligibility, but all four of those teams have a whole host of top-notch talent to fall back on even if all four are probably heading for rough seasons. Things just got a whole lot harder for the Engineers.
But look on the bright side - the Chicago Blackhawks, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, seem to be satisfied with how quickly Pirri developed during his time in Troy, or at the very least, they aren't hurling invectives at Seth Appert the way the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild did to Minnesota's Don Lucia when they pulled and dealt Kyle Okposo and Nick Leddy respectively. Going forward, that can only be a feather in Seth Appert's cap. Is there cause to worry that he might be the next talent to skip town? Maybe that ought to be a more overriding concern - but while he's still here, the laudatory comments coming down on him from the pro ranks can only help him in his efforts to draw in the best talents on the continent.
To quote Geoff Tate: "Wide awake, you face the day, your dream is over... or has it just begun?"
(Hat-tip to Tyler Hinman for the title.)
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Media Pitstop #1: Adam Wodon
As the season gets closer, we're going to sit down with some media personalities from around the college hockey universe to get their takes on the offseason that has been and the seas
on that will be. Our first sucker volunteer is Adam Wodon. Wodon is the Managing Editor of College Hockey News (CHN), and he's been covering college hockey since 1988. He's a former play-by-play man in the ECAC, having served in that role for Cornell and Princeton over the years, and in the mid-2000s was an occasional college hockey analyst for ESPN and was a regular color man for college broadcasts on CSTV. Before starting CHN - considered one of the "Big Three" news sites for college hockey on the Internet - in 2006, he was a senior writer at USCHO.com for nine years. Basically, he knows what he's talking about.
Believe it or not, we did not photoshop his picture. He should probably be thankful, although we should probably point out that the picture is almost five years old and he's no longer in his mid-30s. (Happy birthday, Adam.)
Without a Peer: It seems like with this so-called "World Hockey Summit" coming up in Toronto that the CHL/NCAA war is ready to heat up even more. What's your take?
Adam Wodon: Well, originally we'd been told that (College Hockey Inc. President) Paul Kelly hadn't been invited, which is true, except that Tom Anastos of the CCHA was invited.
WaP: Is that really a good substitute?
AW: There may be more to the issue than meets the eye. I don't know if it's personal between the people involved, but to me, Tom is as good of a power broker as anyone. Theoretically, Paul Kelly is supposed to be that guy, but I'm sure Tom will get the job done as well as anybody could. Whether that will actually accomplish anything... I don't know if anyone could accomplish anything.
WaP: Bruce Ciskie had a commentary yesterday talking about how the CHL is whining about Paul Kelly doing essentially the same thing they've been doing for 15 years.
AW: Well, it's true. Obviously, we're all biased from our point of view, and they have the right to sell their product, so to speak. I just think it's unfortunate that so much of it is propaganda, and I think that's what really upset people. I don't really know what you can do about it, but a lot of it is misleading and really, it's a disservice to the kids that are involved. From that standpoint, what Paul Kelly is trying to do as far as education is great. That's only going to go so far unless the NHL steps in to do something, and they haven't shown any inclination to do that. I don't think you're going to get anywhere getting the NCAA to change its rules and regulations, so the only option is to hope the CHL plays nice. Otherwise, the only thing that might fix it is if the NHL were to lay out some sort of restrictions on things the way its done in other sports.
WaP: Supposedly there was some hope that the two sides could come to an agreement whereby neither side would poach the others' commitments, even though it's fairly one-sided in that CHL teams are poaching NCAA commits well more frequently.
AW: From what I understand, they've changed a lot of the rules, where you can't play junior A unless you're 16, and there's only a few 16-year-olds allowed on a junior A team. They've eliminated the holding areas for those guys, so they're pumping them into major juniors faster in order to get them wiped off the NCAA radar before NCAA teams even get the chance to recruit them. That's one of the "dirty tricks" out there. It's not illegal, but it's a disservice to the kid, forcing them into those ranks that way, before they have a chance to get educated or really decide what they want to do. We can debate this all day long, but I steadfastly remain behind the idea that (major junior) is not a faster route to the NHL for 99% of hockey players.
WaP: Especially specific types of players that might be better suited for the college route.
AW: Unless you're among the elite of the elite, and even then, I don't believe the NCAA hurts your progress whatsoever. Just look at (Jarred) Tinordi right now, he's a great example. They tell him, "oh, it'll be a faster route to the NHL." Please. It'll still be two or three years. The same thing could have happened going to college for two or three years and then jumping to the NHL. The fact of the matter is, the guys who play four years of college often are then ready for the NHL, whereas guys that leave early spend two or three years in the minors quite frequently. There's so much evidence out there that supports that, but the myth continues. They've certainly won the propaganda war, that's for sure. Ultimately, what are you going to do? They're not going to stop doing that.
WaP: With almost 40 underclassmen that have left to sign pro contracts, what kind of effect is that going to have on the level of play this season?
AW: I'd already thought in the last couple of years that it had leveled the playing field quite a bit. Look at all the teams in the last few years that have made the NCAAs and advanced. It's not just RIT and Bemidji State, but Northeastern a few years ago, and Yale recently. There have been teams in the NCAAs that hadn't even been there recently, like Northern Michigan and Alaska for the first time last season. St. Cloud State won a game! So the playing field had already started to become more level in the years leading up to this even though we haven't seen a team come from nowhere to win the national championship that's never won it before. The funny thing is, it's like, how many more guys could it possibly be? We've set a record this year. The trend has always been growing, but it just keeps happening. Either (the NHL) is digging even deeper to get guys, or the recruiting has improved and they're just taking them faster. It's a shame when RPI and Harvard lose guys, because they don't have much margin for error. RPI in particular, that was a bad one, but unfortunately, Harvard's going to have a huge drop off.
WaP: Well, hopefully you don't have to feel too bad for us.
AW: They should still be OK, but obviously, D'Amigo's a big loss. He wasn't really lights out for (the Engineers), but he was certainly on his way to becoming that for them. He was going to probably be one of the elite players in the nation this year. But overall, the trend is definitely leveling the playing feels. To some extent, you might say that's good looking at it from that standpoint. We did have the feeling in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the rich were getting richer. It does help in that regard, but it helps in a way you wish it wasn't helping for the overall picture.
WaP: Turning to the ECAC... who's going to beat Yale?
AW: Well, I thought it was going to be RPI!
WaP: Do we still have a shot?
AW: I was talking to Ken Schott, and I probably still would have picked Yale regardless. He was saying "oh, who's the favorite now," and I hadn't been aware that RPI was to begin with, but they'll be contenders. If (Yale) gets any semblance of goaltending this year, they'll be fine. If they'd had any to speak of last year they would have been in the Frozen Four.
WaP: How about Boston College? Can anyone beat them nationally?
AW: It's so easy to say that the national champion is going to be the team to beat, but we were talking about it on the way back from Detroit last season, thinking about the top 10 for this year and (BC) was so clearly number one. They have so many players coming back that they're heads and shoulders. But we've seen before that things don't necessarily play out like that. There have been years where teams that have seemed to be so clear-cut number one all year long have something happen and they dive bomb at the end. There are no foregone conclusions, but you'd be crazy not to pick them number one if you're doing a ranking.
WaP: They're so far ahead just in Hockey East, and then you look at some of the other elite teams around the country and they're far ahead there too.
AW: Michigan State loses three underclassmen, Michigan has been losing guys to the NHL and major junior, Notre Dame's had a rough offseason and then Tinordi bails out. Wisconsin got hammered. North Dakota's probably in the mix, though. At this point you just have to thumb through the top programs and find out who's lost the least. Going back to the ECAC, though, I would not overlook Cornell. They will take a step back and I'm not sure they're going to make the NCAA's but they're not going to plummet or anything.
WaP: They're Cornell. They're never that far from the top even when they're having a down season.
AW: The key is their new goalie (Andy Iles). He put up better numbers on the Under-18 team than Jack Campbell did last year. We'll see what happens. He's 5'8" which is practically unheard of at Cornell, but he's a local guy (from Ithaca). If he does anything, they'll be fine. They're not going to compete as well nationally. But do you know who my dark horse is nationally this year? Merrimack.
WaP: Merrimack?
AW: (chuckles) Yeah. My dark horse to make the NCAAs.
WaP: Bombshell. How do you think the WCHA realignment is going to play out?
AW: Obviously, Bemidji State will instantly have rivalries and whatnot. Nebraska-Omaha's a little bit outside that scope, but with (UNO coach) Dean Blais coming back into the league they'll find their way into the mix pretty quick. It only makes the WCHA stronger, as if they really needed to be stronger, so it's a little crazy, but now they've got even more teams to beat each other up with. It remains to be seen what kind of effect that has for them on the national level, whether it helps or hurt them. I'm more interested to see how the three new coaches in the CCHA (at Bowling Green, Ohio State, and Western Michigan) work out. We won't be able to tell this year, but Western and Bowling Green, if they can get their act together and start competing for the same types of players Miami is getting, we might see the CCHA have some more compelling races. They've been a pretty top-heavy league for a number of years.
on that will be. Our first Believe it or not, we did not photoshop his picture. He should probably be thankful, although we should probably point out that the picture is almost five years old and he's no longer in his mid-30s. (Happy birthday, Adam.)
Without a Peer: It seems like with this so-called "World Hockey Summit" coming up in Toronto that the CHL/NCAA war is ready to heat up even more. What's your take?
Adam Wodon: Well, originally we'd been told that (College Hockey Inc. President) Paul Kelly hadn't been invited, which is true, except that Tom Anastos of the CCHA was invited.
WaP: Is that really a good substitute?
AW: There may be more to the issue than meets the eye. I don't know if it's personal between the people involved, but to me, Tom is as good of a power broker as anyone. Theoretically, Paul Kelly is supposed to be that guy, but I'm sure Tom will get the job done as well as anybody could. Whether that will actually accomplish anything... I don't know if anyone could accomplish anything.
WaP: Bruce Ciskie had a commentary yesterday talking about how the CHL is whining about Paul Kelly doing essentially the same thing they've been doing for 15 years.
AW: Well, it's true. Obviously, we're all biased from our point of view, and they have the right to sell their product, so to speak. I just think it's unfortunate that so much of it is propaganda, and I think that's what really upset people. I don't really know what you can do about it, but a lot of it is misleading and really, it's a disservice to the kids that are involved. From that standpoint, what Paul Kelly is trying to do as far as education is great. That's only going to go so far unless the NHL steps in to do something, and they haven't shown any inclination to do that. I don't think you're going to get anywhere getting the NCAA to change its rules and regulations, so the only option is to hope the CHL plays nice. Otherwise, the only thing that might fix it is if the NHL were to lay out some sort of restrictions on things the way its done in other sports.
WaP: Supposedly there was some hope that the two sides could come to an agreement whereby neither side would poach the others' commitments, even though it's fairly one-sided in that CHL teams are poaching NCAA commits well more frequently.
AW: From what I understand, they've changed a lot of the rules, where you can't play junior A unless you're 16, and there's only a few 16-year-olds allowed on a junior A team. They've eliminated the holding areas for those guys, so they're pumping them into major juniors faster in order to get them wiped off the NCAA radar before NCAA teams even get the chance to recruit them. That's one of the "dirty tricks" out there. It's not illegal, but it's a disservice to the kid, forcing them into those ranks that way, before they have a chance to get educated or really decide what they want to do. We can debate this all day long, but I steadfastly remain behind the idea that (major junior) is not a faster route to the NHL for 99% of hockey players.
WaP: Especially specific types of players that might be better suited for the college route.
AW: Unless you're among the elite of the elite, and even then, I don't believe the NCAA hurts your progress whatsoever. Just look at (Jarred) Tinordi right now, he's a great example. They tell him, "oh, it'll be a faster route to the NHL." Please. It'll still be two or three years. The same thing could have happened going to college for two or three years and then jumping to the NHL. The fact of the matter is, the guys who play four years of college often are then ready for the NHL, whereas guys that leave early spend two or three years in the minors quite frequently. There's so much evidence out there that supports that, but the myth continues. They've certainly won the propaganda war, that's for sure. Ultimately, what are you going to do? They're not going to stop doing that.
WaP: With almost 40 underclassmen that have left to sign pro contracts, what kind of effect is that going to have on the level of play this season?
AW: I'd already thought in the last couple of years that it had leveled the playing field quite a bit. Look at all the teams in the last few years that have made the NCAAs and advanced. It's not just RIT and Bemidji State, but Northeastern a few years ago, and Yale recently. There have been teams in the NCAAs that hadn't even been there recently, like Northern Michigan and Alaska for the first time last season. St. Cloud State won a game! So the playing field had already started to become more level in the years leading up to this even though we haven't seen a team come from nowhere to win the national championship that's never won it before. The funny thing is, it's like, how many more guys could it possibly be? We've set a record this year. The trend has always been growing, but it just keeps happening. Either (the NHL) is digging even deeper to get guys, or the recruiting has improved and they're just taking them faster. It's a shame when RPI and Harvard lose guys, because they don't have much margin for error. RPI in particular, that was a bad one, but unfortunately, Harvard's going to have a huge drop off.
WaP: Well, hopefully you don't have to feel too bad for us.
AW: They should still be OK, but obviously, D'Amigo's a big loss. He wasn't really lights out for (the Engineers), but he was certainly on his way to becoming that for them. He was going to probably be one of the elite players in the nation this year. But overall, the trend is definitely leveling the playing feels. To some extent, you might say that's good looking at it from that standpoint. We did have the feeling in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the rich were getting richer. It does help in that regard, but it helps in a way you wish it wasn't helping for the overall picture.
WaP: Turning to the ECAC... who's going to beat Yale?
AW: Well, I thought it was going to be RPI!
WaP: Do we still have a shot?
AW: I was talking to Ken Schott, and I probably still would have picked Yale regardless. He was saying "oh, who's the favorite now," and I hadn't been aware that RPI was to begin with, but they'll be contenders. If (Yale) gets any semblance of goaltending this year, they'll be fine. If they'd had any to speak of last year they would have been in the Frozen Four.
WaP: How about Boston College? Can anyone beat them nationally?
AW: It's so easy to say that the national champion is going to be the team to beat, but we were talking about it on the way back from Detroit last season, thinking about the top 10 for this year and (BC) was so clearly number one. They have so many players coming back that they're heads and shoulders. But we've seen before that things don't necessarily play out like that. There have been years where teams that have seemed to be so clear-cut number one all year long have something happen and they dive bomb at the end. There are no foregone conclusions, but you'd be crazy not to pick them number one if you're doing a ranking.
WaP: They're so far ahead just in Hockey East, and then you look at some of the other elite teams around the country and they're far ahead there too.
AW: Michigan State loses three underclassmen, Michigan has been losing guys to the NHL and major junior, Notre Dame's had a rough offseason and then Tinordi bails out. Wisconsin got hammered. North Dakota's probably in the mix, though. At this point you just have to thumb through the top programs and find out who's lost the least. Going back to the ECAC, though, I would not overlook Cornell. They will take a step back and I'm not sure they're going to make the NCAA's but they're not going to plummet or anything.
WaP: They're Cornell. They're never that far from the top even when they're having a down season.
AW: The key is their new goalie (Andy Iles). He put up better numbers on the Under-18 team than Jack Campbell did last year. We'll see what happens. He's 5'8" which is practically unheard of at Cornell, but he's a local guy (from Ithaca). If he does anything, they'll be fine. They're not going to compete as well nationally. But do you know who my dark horse is nationally this year? Merrimack.
WaP: Merrimack?
AW: (chuckles) Yeah. My dark horse to make the NCAAs.
WaP: Bombshell. How do you think the WCHA realignment is going to play out?
AW: Obviously, Bemidji State will instantly have rivalries and whatnot. Nebraska-Omaha's a little bit outside that scope, but with (UNO coach) Dean Blais coming back into the league they'll find their way into the mix pretty quick. It only makes the WCHA stronger, as if they really needed to be stronger, so it's a little crazy, but now they've got even more teams to beat each other up with. It remains to be seen what kind of effect that has for them on the national level, whether it helps or hurt them. I'm more interested to see how the three new coaches in the CCHA (at Bowling Green, Ohio State, and Western Michigan) work out. We won't be able to tell this year, but Western and Bowling Green, if they can get their act together and start competing for the same types of players Miami is getting, we might see the CCHA have some more compelling races. They've been a pretty top-heavy league for a number of years.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Know Your Enemy: Harvard
The next installment of "Know Your Enemy" focuses on the most mortal enemy of no fewer than five ECAC teams. If there's one eternal truth, it's that a tradition of winning can breed contempt, and there's no Ivy League team with a target on its back more frequently than Harvard. The Engineers and the Crimson may not share Ivy hatred with each other, but they've been involved in their share of interesting matchups in the distant and recent past.
Harvard
Nickname: Crimson
Location: Cambridge, MA
Founded: 1636
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 1 (1989)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2006
Last Frozen Four: 1994
Coach: Ted Donato (7th season)
2009-10 Record: 9-21-3 (7-12-3 ECAC, 9th place)
Series: Harvard leads, 45-34-3
First Game: December 27, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: February 12, 2010 (Boston, MA)
Last HU win: November 4, 2008 (Boston, MA)
2010-11 games: November 6, 2010 (Boston, MA); January 21, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Michael Biega, sr.; F Alex Killorn, jr.; F Conor Morrison, so.; F Tom O'Regan, fr.; D Chris Huxley, sr.; D Ryan Grimshaw, jr.; D Danny Biega, so.
Key losses: F Louis Leblanc, F Doug Rogers, D Alex Biega, D Chad Morin
The ECAC is home to some of the oldest programs in the nation, but there's only one that can claim to be as old has Harvard.
As a humorous line on the Harvard website goes, Harvard hockey dates back to just before the war - the Spanish-American War. On January 19, 1898, Harvard played Brown on a rink built on Boston's Franklin Field in the very first college hockey game in the northeast. Two years later, the Harvard-Yale rivalry was kindled on ice for the first time at New York City's renowned St. Nicholas Rink.
Shortly thereafter, the Crimson became the first true giant of college hockey. After taking down MIT to start the 1903 season, Harvard rattled off 22 straight victories over the course of six seasons to set the early standard for long winning streaks. Harvard's first coach, Alfred Winsor, coached for 15 years and finished with an impressive record of 124-29.
After shuttering the program for a season in 1918 due to World War I, the Crimson were back the following year. In 1923, an important innovation in hockey tactics came out of Cambridge when coach William Clafin began changing all of his forwards at the same time instead of just having individual players come off. We know this today as the "line change" and it quickly became a basic tenet of hockey play.
The Crimson put some solid teams on the ice in the 1930s, but had to close the program down again in 1943 due to World War II. The team was not immediately successful upon returning in 1946, due in part to Dartmouth's dominance, but Harvard would establish themselves as one of the top hockey programs in the country during the NCAA Championship era over the next four decades under two legendary coaches - Ralph "Cooney" Weiland and Bill Cleary.
After winning the first ever Beanpot in 1952, Weiland made the Crimson one of the top teams in the East in the mid to late 1950s, guiding Harvard to their first three NCAA tournament appearances in 1955, 1957, and 1958. When the Ivy League championship was first officially established in 1954, it was Harvard that dominated the competition under Weiland, winning the first five titles from 1954 to 1958, and winning another three in a row from 1961 to 1963.
The Ivy League teams became a part of the original ECAC in 1962, and Harvard would skate away with the ECAC regular season and tournament championships in the league's second season in existence, led by team captain Tim Taylor, who would go on to become a legendary coach himself at rival Yale.
Weiland would leave after leading the Crimson to two more NCAA tournament appearances in 1969 and 1971, but his replacement, Bill Cleary, would largely pick up where he left off. The Crimson would win the ECAC regular season in 1973 and 1975, with NCAA tournament berths in '74 and '75. That made seven NCAA appearances for Harvard during an era where only four teams made the tournament, but they still had yet to see a national championship game.
That would eventually change. After the Crimson struggled through the late 1970s, Cleary had Harvard back in the NCAAs in 1982, and in 1983, with an ECAC title in their pocket, the Crimson finally broke through to play in the national championship game, falling to Wisconsin 6-2. It was a bitter defeat, but it was the start of what has, to date, been the height of Harvard's power in college hockey throughout the 1980s. After a losing record the following season, Cleary and the Crimson appeared in five consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1985 to 1989, winning four consecutive ECAC regular season crowns from '86 to '89, and made two more appearances in the national championship game, losing to Michigan State 6-5 in 1986 before finally reaching the top of the college hockey world in 1989 when Ed Krayer scored in overtime to beat what many fans still consider the greatest Minnesota team of all time and win the national championship, 4-3.
Harvard's domination of the 1980s extended beyond the ECAC and the NCAA tournament as well. Three different Crimson players won the Hobey Baker Award during the decade - Mark Fusco in 1983, his brother Scott Fusco in 1986, and Lane MacDonald in 1989 - and Harvard claimed at least a share of every Ivy League championship from 1982 to 1990. Oddly, Harvard's dominance did not extend to the Beanpot tournament, which they only won twice during the decade (1981 and 1989) in their only two Beanpot championship appearances.
Cleary's run as head coach would end in 1990 when he became the Director of Athletics at Harvard. He was replaced by RPI graduate Ronn Tomassoni, a long time assistant. At first, the Crimson did fairly well under Tomassoni. He guided Harvard to three consecutive regular season titles from 1992 to 1994, the ECAC championship in 1994 (beating his alma mater in the title game), and NCAA appearances in 1993 and 1994, the latter of which included an appearance in the Frozen Four, where the Crimson lost to eventual champions Lake Superior State in overtime. But that would be the last winning season under Tomassoni, who would stay on until 1999, when he would be replaced by Mark Mazzoleni.
Under Mazzoleni, Harvard would become a feared team in March, often despite playing .500 hockey during the season. From 2002 to 2006, Harvard would reach in the ECAC title game every season, winning the title in the even numbered years (and facing Cornell in each game with the exception of 2004) and advancing to the NCAA tournament in each of those five consecutive seasons. But even after a better than average 2003 season, the 2004 ECAC title was not enough for Mazzoleni to keep his job, and he was replaced by an alum with loads of NHL experience and a national championship ring to boot, Ted Donato.
Donato was the coach behind the Crimson's last ECAC title in 2006 - his second season as coach - but things have generally been going downhill in Cambridge ever since. The Crimson's one winning season since then, 2008, featured a sixth title game appearance in seven seasons, but in 2009 and 2010, Harvard finished the season without reaching 10 wins for the first times since 1979 and 1980. Since Cleary's departure in 1990, the Crimson have won only four Ivy League crowns.
That's not to say Harvard hasn't had its share of talent in the last few years, but some important names have left - most notably, Alex Biega's graduation and one of last year's freshman phenoms, Louis Leblanc, leaving to pursue his professional career. Leblanc led the Crimson in scoring last season with only 23 points, which underscores the problems that Harvard had in putting the puck in the net. They'll need major contributions from Michael Biega, Killorn, and Morrison, who had 22, 20, and 18 points respectively last season, if they are going to snap back.
Defensively, Harvard boasts some decent talent in Huxley, Grimshaw, and Danny Biega (who was drafted in the 3rd round of the NHL draft this year), but that didn't translate to keeping the puck out of the net as frequently as they needed it last year. Kyle Richter is a former Dryden Award winner as the top goaltender in the ECAC (2008), but his play last season, returning from an academic dismissal, was a far cry from his sophomore year as he turned in a 3.30 GAA and .908 save percentage. He split time in net with Ryan Carroll, who was only marginally better. Both will be seniors this season.
The bottom line for Harvard is that they need a better effort all around in order to avoid missing the 10-win mark for the third straight season (which hasn't happened since before Weiland was the coach). They need more offense despite losing some of their top offensive talents. They need more defense despite having a talented defensive corps in front of their goaltenders. If there's one thing out there to make Ted Donato happy heading into the season, it's that expectations are going to be pretty low for Harvard, which will make any level of success look good. That's probably minor consolation, though.
RPI lucks out on the schedule, as well. Due to the Ivy League rules on season length, the game in Boston between the Engineers and the Crimson will only be Harvard's second competitive game of the season (their first coming the night before against Union), while RPI will have played eight games over the course of a month. They'll be much closer to the mid-season stride than Harvard.
The Engineers are currently on a three-game winning streak against Harvard - and if they play to potential against them again this season, there's not much reason to suspect that the streak can't be extended.
Harvard
Nickname: Crimson
Location: Cambridge, MA
Founded: 1636
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 1 (1989)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2006
Last Frozen Four: 1994
Coach: Ted Donato (7th season)
2009-10 Record: 9-21-3 (7-12-3 ECAC, 9th place)
Series: Harvard leads, 45-34-3
First Game: December 27, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: February 12, 2010 (Boston, MA)
Last HU win: November 4, 2008 (Boston, MA)
2010-11 games: November 6, 2010 (Boston, MA); January 21, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Michael Biega, sr.; F Alex Killorn, jr.; F Conor Morrison, so.; F Tom O'Regan, fr.; D Chris Huxley, sr.; D Ryan Grimshaw, jr.; D Danny Biega, so.
Key losses: F Louis Leblanc, F Doug Rogers, D Alex Biega, D Chad Morin
The ECAC is home to some of the oldest programs in the nation, but there's only one that can claim to be as old has Harvard.
As a humorous line on the Harvard website goes, Harvard hockey dates back to just before the war - the Spanish-American War. On January 19, 1898, Harvard played Brown on a rink built on Boston's Franklin Field in the very first college hockey game in the northeast. Two years later, the Harvard-Yale rivalry was kindled on ice for the first time at New York City's renowned St. Nicholas Rink.
Shortly thereafter, the Crimson became the first true giant of college hockey. After taking down MIT to start the 1903 season, Harvard rattled off 22 straight victories over the course of six seasons to set the early standard for long winning streaks. Harvard's first coach, Alfred Winsor, coached for 15 years and finished with an impressive record of 124-29.
After shuttering the program for a season in 1918 due to World War I, the Crimson were back the following year. In 1923, an important innovation in hockey tactics came out of Cambridge when coach William Clafin began changing all of his forwards at the same time instead of just having individual players come off. We know this today as the "line change" and it quickly became a basic tenet of hockey play.
The Crimson put some solid teams on the ice in the 1930s, but had to close the program down again in 1943 due to World War II. The team was not immediately successful upon returning in 1946, due in part to Dartmouth's dominance, but Harvard would establish themselves as one of the top hockey programs in the country during the NCAA Championship era over the next four decades under two legendary coaches - Ralph "Cooney" Weiland and Bill Cleary.
After winning the first ever Beanpot in 1952, Weiland made the Crimson one of the top teams in the East in the mid to late 1950s, guiding Harvard to their first three NCAA tournament appearances in 1955, 1957, and 1958. When the Ivy League championship was first officially established in 1954, it was Harvard that dominated the competition under Weiland, winning the first five titles from 1954 to 1958, and winning another three in a row from 1961 to 1963.
The Ivy League teams became a part of the original ECAC in 1962, and Harvard would skate away with the ECAC regular season and tournament championships in the league's second season in existence, led by team captain Tim Taylor, who would go on to become a legendary coach himself at rival Yale.
Weiland would leave after leading the Crimson to two more NCAA tournament appearances in 1969 and 1971, but his replacement, Bill Cleary, would largely pick up where he left off. The Crimson would win the ECAC regular season in 1973 and 1975, with NCAA tournament berths in '74 and '75. That made seven NCAA appearances for Harvard during an era where only four teams made the tournament, but they still had yet to see a national championship game.
That would eventually change. After the Crimson struggled through the late 1970s, Cleary had Harvard back in the NCAAs in 1982, and in 1983, with an ECAC title in their pocket, the Crimson finally broke through to play in the national championship game, falling to Wisconsin 6-2. It was a bitter defeat, but it was the start of what has, to date, been the height of Harvard's power in college hockey throughout the 1980s. After a losing record the following season, Cleary and the Crimson appeared in five consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1985 to 1989, winning four consecutive ECAC regular season crowns from '86 to '89, and made two more appearances in the national championship game, losing to Michigan State 6-5 in 1986 before finally reaching the top of the college hockey world in 1989 when Ed Krayer scored in overtime to beat what many fans still consider the greatest Minnesota team of all time and win the national championship, 4-3.
Harvard's domination of the 1980s extended beyond the ECAC and the NCAA tournament as well. Three different Crimson players won the Hobey Baker Award during the decade - Mark Fusco in 1983, his brother Scott Fusco in 1986, and Lane MacDonald in 1989 - and Harvard claimed at least a share of every Ivy League championship from 1982 to 1990. Oddly, Harvard's dominance did not extend to the Beanpot tournament, which they only won twice during the decade (1981 and 1989) in their only two Beanpot championship appearances.
Cleary's run as head coach would end in 1990 when he became the Director of Athletics at Harvard. He was replaced by RPI graduate Ronn Tomassoni, a long time assistant. At first, the Crimson did fairly well under Tomassoni. He guided Harvard to three consecutive regular season titles from 1992 to 1994, the ECAC championship in 1994 (beating his alma mater in the title game), and NCAA appearances in 1993 and 1994, the latter of which included an appearance in the Frozen Four, where the Crimson lost to eventual champions Lake Superior State in overtime. But that would be the last winning season under Tomassoni, who would stay on until 1999, when he would be replaced by Mark Mazzoleni.
Under Mazzoleni, Harvard would become a feared team in March, often despite playing .500 hockey during the season. From 2002 to 2006, Harvard would reach in the ECAC title game every season, winning the title in the even numbered years (and facing Cornell in each game with the exception of 2004) and advancing to the NCAA tournament in each of those five consecutive seasons. But even after a better than average 2003 season, the 2004 ECAC title was not enough for Mazzoleni to keep his job, and he was replaced by an alum with loads of NHL experience and a national championship ring to boot, Ted Donato.
Donato was the coach behind the Crimson's last ECAC title in 2006 - his second season as coach - but things have generally been going downhill in Cambridge ever since. The Crimson's one winning season since then, 2008, featured a sixth title game appearance in seven seasons, but in 2009 and 2010, Harvard finished the season without reaching 10 wins for the first times since 1979 and 1980. Since Cleary's departure in 1990, the Crimson have won only four Ivy League crowns.
That's not to say Harvard hasn't had its share of talent in the last few years, but some important names have left - most notably, Alex Biega's graduation and one of last year's freshman phenoms, Louis Leblanc, leaving to pursue his professional career. Leblanc led the Crimson in scoring last season with only 23 points, which underscores the problems that Harvard had in putting the puck in the net. They'll need major contributions from Michael Biega, Killorn, and Morrison, who had 22, 20, and 18 points respectively last season, if they are going to snap back.
Defensively, Harvard boasts some decent talent in Huxley, Grimshaw, and Danny Biega (who was drafted in the 3rd round of the NHL draft this year), but that didn't translate to keeping the puck out of the net as frequently as they needed it last year. Kyle Richter is a former Dryden Award winner as the top goaltender in the ECAC (2008), but his play last season, returning from an academic dismissal, was a far cry from his sophomore year as he turned in a 3.30 GAA and .908 save percentage. He split time in net with Ryan Carroll, who was only marginally better. Both will be seniors this season.
The bottom line for Harvard is that they need a better effort all around in order to avoid missing the 10-win mark for the third straight season (which hasn't happened since before Weiland was the coach). They need more offense despite losing some of their top offensive talents. They need more defense despite having a talented defensive corps in front of their goaltenders. If there's one thing out there to make Ted Donato happy heading into the season, it's that expectations are going to be pretty low for Harvard, which will make any level of success look good. That's probably minor consolation, though.
RPI lucks out on the schedule, as well. Due to the Ivy League rules on season length, the game in Boston between the Engineers and the Crimson will only be Harvard's second competitive game of the season (their first coming the night before against Union), while RPI will have played eight games over the course of a month. They'll be much closer to the mid-season stride than Harvard.
The Engineers are currently on a three-game winning streak against Harvard - and if they play to potential against them again this season, there's not much reason to suspect that the streak can't be extended.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Seth Appert: Don't Stop Believin'
Funny how much can change in 12 months.
This time last season, some RPI fans were ruminating about whether Seth Appert was the right man for the program. Others were being more patient, understanding the process underway in Troy transitioning the Engineers into a high-flying, speed based team.
There's little question that the team was back last season. But that wasn't good enough for some segment of the fanbase. "Where are the titles?" they invariably ask, as though a team could go from nothing to winning championships overnight. "Why can't we win Freakout?" others ask. They point to Keith Allain, who came into the league at the same time as Appert, and ask why that couldn't have been RPI.
At this point, the refrain from the whiners is starting to get a little tired. Let's take a look at the year-by-year breakdown since Seth Appert arrived in Troy and see what's going on.
2006-07 (10-18-8)
Appert Recruits: 8% (Peter Merth and Garett Vassel)
Let's be honest - this was not Appert's team. He was not involved in the recruiting of hardly anyone on the roster besides Merth and Vassel, and none of them had been recruited to play the style of hockey Appert decided to play - a style that helped him earn two national championship rings as an assistant in Denver. The team got out of the box quickly, but fizzled after November. The up-tempo, high speed style isn't easy to just pick up and run with, and the team started running out of gas early in games.
Appert could have come in and cut players who didn't fit in with his new style wholesale, cleaning house and taking on a truckload of recruits. He could have done that from the very beginning. But he didn't. He decided to honor the commitments the players had received from the school under Dan Fridgen - a move which is worthy of praise. No one left ahead of his first season (except for Chris Huxley, who dropped his commitment after Fridgen's resignation and quickly committed to Harvard for 2007), and only three players left the team after the season - Reed Kipp (who stayed at RPI as a student), Jordan Cyr, and Jason Fortino. It's not uncommon for players to leave if they are frustrated with playing time. The truth is, Cyr and Fortino were not likely to receive lots of playing time under the new system.
2007-08 (11-23-4)
Appert Recruits: 32%
More growing pains during the second year, but the potential for future growth was obvious immediately. The top two scorers in Appert's second season behind the bench were two freshmen from his first full recruit class - Tyler Helfrich and Chase Polacek. Expectations were pretty low coming into the year, and the end result was hardly unexpected, especially given the exceptionally difficult schedule that Appert had pieced together for the year. Two games against Miami, two games against Notre Dame, a game against Colorado College and a game against Maine? That's a rough non-conference schedule even for solid teams. But the tough games accomplished their purpose, challenging the young team to raise their game.
2008-09 (10-27-2)
Appert Recruits: 64%
This season, at the time, seemed like a huge disappointment and really led to the minor cacophony of questioners that came out of the woodwork. The feeling before the season was, essentially, that the turnaround was due to begin this season since more than half of the squad were now Appert guys.
And yet, the conversion was still ongoing and obvious from the stat sheet. All of the top four, and 7 of the top 8 scorers on the team were freshmen and sophomores - Appert's recruits, playing the style he recruited them to play. To their credit, guys like Matt Angers-Goulet, Seth Klerer, and Kurt Colling stuck in there playing up-tempo hockey. But any time you're depending on that many young players to carry the team, it's probably going to be a long season, no matter who they are and what kind of style they play. We saw something similar from Dartmouth last season, which was heavy on young players and not so much on veterans.
This season, for those who could see the building blocks being put into place, was made much more bearable with the news that Appert had three blue chippers coming into the program - Jerry D'Amigo, Jacob Laliberté, and Brandon Pirri. For those who only go to games and see the team struggling, the questions were abounding. The way the season ended, just a game away from going to Albany against some tough competition in the playoffs, set the table for this year.
2009-10 (18-17-4)
Appert Recruits: 82%
Ten less losses and eight more wins as the Engineers finally finished with a winning record for the first time since 2004. At this point it was a lot more obvious to see that Appert's plans for RPI were beginning to come to fruition. RPI had their first non-local Hobey Baker finalist in a decade in Polacek, had two of the top freshman scorers in the nation in Pirri and D'Amigo, and was the only ECAC team to have a player in the World Junior Championships. Did the season end too soon? Yes, of course. They shouldn't have lost to Brown - but then again, neither should Yale have lost to Brown. But there's no reason to let a bad weekend at the end of the season completely drown the overall picture. This team was picked to be on the road in the first round. They very nearly landed a first-round bye.
2010-11
Appert Recruits: 96% (Joel Malchuk)
As pointed out earlier in the week, the Engineers now have a proven offense and a proven goaltender. If the defense is up to snuff - and 4 of the expected regular starters (Bailen, Bergin, Kennedy, and Foss) have some solid college experience under their belts - RPI will be a very solid team. For the first time, the team will be 100% comprised of players who were either recruited by Appert or have fully bought into (and become an integral part of) the uptempo style. This team, even without Jerry D'Amigo, could well be positioned to claim a first-round bye for the ECAC Playoffs for the very first time.
Would it be nice to win Freakout! for the first time since Appert took over? Sure. But it's one game in 34 on the schedule, worth two points, same as any other league game. It's important to alums, but in terms of "must win" games, it's no more or less important than the game played a day prior. Let's not forget that the Engineers have mostly been playing very tough teams in Freakout! since Appert came aboard. St. Lawrence in 2007 and Yale in 2009 won the Cleary Cup as the ECAC regular season champions. Princeton in 2008 finished in 2nd. Princeton had been expected to be a bye-worthy team last year, and they played like it at Freakout (though I'm still at a loss to explain that game, generally). Guess what? Freakout! is against Yale again this season, and they're probably going to be right there at the top.
What's been going on these last four years? Quietly, Seth Appert has made RPI a destination for top recruits again. If you've never met him before, just talk to him for five minutes and you'll understand why good players want to come play for him. It's no wonder that Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke heaped the praise onto RPI and Appert (6:01 through 7:43 in that audio clip) for his ability to mold talent. 12 months ago, while the most shrill voices in the room were calling for a second coach search in less than half-a-decade, Jerry D'Amigo was a sixth round draft pick. Today, he's considered one of Toronto's top prospects. That's just another reason for RPI fans to be excited for D'Amigo's jump to the NHL - other top prospects are going to see the conversion that he made in such a short time and be interested in playing for the man that helped put Jerry D'Amigo on the road to NHL stardom.
In practically every facet, Seth Appert has proven himself to be worthy of the title of Division I head coach. He recruits well. He interacts with the school and the community well. He's even proven that he has the guts and the patience to build a strong program rather than shoot for short-term success at the expense of long-term success. He puts together solid schedules for his teams. The only thing that is missing at this point are the titles and title game appearances that the whiners are demanding.
But if you've been paying attention, you can see how those could well be right around the corner.
This time last season, some RPI fans were ruminating about whether Seth Appert was the right man for the program. Others were being more patient, understanding the process underway in Troy transitioning the Engineers into a high-flying, speed based team.
There's little question that the team was back last season. But that wasn't good enough for some segment of the fanbase. "Where are the titles?" they invariably ask, as though a team could go from nothing to winning championships overnight. "Why can't we win Freakout?" others ask. They point to Keith Allain, who came into the league at the same time as Appert, and ask why that couldn't have been RPI.
At this point, the refrain from the whiners is starting to get a little tired. Let's take a look at the year-by-year breakdown since Seth Appert arrived in Troy and see what's going on.
2006-07 (10-18-8)
Appert Recruits: 8% (Peter Merth and Garett Vassel)
Let's be honest - this was not Appert's team. He was not involved in the recruiting of hardly anyone on the roster besides Merth and Vassel, and none of them had been recruited to play the style of hockey Appert decided to play - a style that helped him earn two national championship rings as an assistant in Denver. The team got out of the box quickly, but fizzled after November. The up-tempo, high speed style isn't easy to just pick up and run with, and the team started running out of gas early in games.
Appert could have come in and cut players who didn't fit in with his new style wholesale, cleaning house and taking on a truckload of recruits. He could have done that from the very beginning. But he didn't. He decided to honor the commitments the players had received from the school under Dan Fridgen - a move which is worthy of praise. No one left ahead of his first season (except for Chris Huxley, who dropped his commitment after Fridgen's resignation and quickly committed to Harvard for 2007), and only three players left the team after the season - Reed Kipp (who stayed at RPI as a student), Jordan Cyr, and Jason Fortino. It's not uncommon for players to leave if they are frustrated with playing time. The truth is, Cyr and Fortino were not likely to receive lots of playing time under the new system.
2007-08 (11-23-4)
Appert Recruits: 32%
More growing pains during the second year, but the potential for future growth was obvious immediately. The top two scorers in Appert's second season behind the bench were two freshmen from his first full recruit class - Tyler Helfrich and Chase Polacek. Expectations were pretty low coming into the year, and the end result was hardly unexpected, especially given the exceptionally difficult schedule that Appert had pieced together for the year. Two games against Miami, two games against Notre Dame, a game against Colorado College and a game against Maine? That's a rough non-conference schedule even for solid teams. But the tough games accomplished their purpose, challenging the young team to raise their game.
2008-09 (10-27-2)
Appert Recruits: 64%
This season, at the time, seemed like a huge disappointment and really led to the minor cacophony of questioners that came out of the woodwork. The feeling before the season was, essentially, that the turnaround was due to begin this season since more than half of the squad were now Appert guys.
And yet, the conversion was still ongoing and obvious from the stat sheet. All of the top four, and 7 of the top 8 scorers on the team were freshmen and sophomores - Appert's recruits, playing the style he recruited them to play. To their credit, guys like Matt Angers-Goulet, Seth Klerer, and Kurt Colling stuck in there playing up-tempo hockey. But any time you're depending on that many young players to carry the team, it's probably going to be a long season, no matter who they are and what kind of style they play. We saw something similar from Dartmouth last season, which was heavy on young players and not so much on veterans.
This season, for those who could see the building blocks being put into place, was made much more bearable with the news that Appert had three blue chippers coming into the program - Jerry D'Amigo, Jacob Laliberté, and Brandon Pirri. For those who only go to games and see the team struggling, the questions were abounding. The way the season ended, just a game away from going to Albany against some tough competition in the playoffs, set the table for this year.
2009-10 (18-17-4)
Appert Recruits: 82%
Ten less losses and eight more wins as the Engineers finally finished with a winning record for the first time since 2004. At this point it was a lot more obvious to see that Appert's plans for RPI were beginning to come to fruition. RPI had their first non-local Hobey Baker finalist in a decade in Polacek, had two of the top freshman scorers in the nation in Pirri and D'Amigo, and was the only ECAC team to have a player in the World Junior Championships. Did the season end too soon? Yes, of course. They shouldn't have lost to Brown - but then again, neither should Yale have lost to Brown. But there's no reason to let a bad weekend at the end of the season completely drown the overall picture. This team was picked to be on the road in the first round. They very nearly landed a first-round bye.
2010-11
Appert Recruits: 96% (Joel Malchuk)
As pointed out earlier in the week, the Engineers now have a proven offense and a proven goaltender. If the defense is up to snuff - and 4 of the expected regular starters (Bailen, Bergin, Kennedy, and Foss) have some solid college experience under their belts - RPI will be a very solid team. For the first time, the team will be 100% comprised of players who were either recruited by Appert or have fully bought into (and become an integral part of) the uptempo style. This team, even without Jerry D'Amigo, could well be positioned to claim a first-round bye for the ECAC Playoffs for the very first time.
Would it be nice to win Freakout! for the first time since Appert took over? Sure. But it's one game in 34 on the schedule, worth two points, same as any other league game. It's important to alums, but in terms of "must win" games, it's no more or less important than the game played a day prior. Let's not forget that the Engineers have mostly been playing very tough teams in Freakout! since Appert came aboard. St. Lawrence in 2007 and Yale in 2009 won the Cleary Cup as the ECAC regular season champions. Princeton in 2008 finished in 2nd. Princeton had been expected to be a bye-worthy team last year, and they played like it at Freakout (though I'm still at a loss to explain that game, generally). Guess what? Freakout! is against Yale again this season, and they're probably going to be right there at the top.
What's been going on these last four years? Quietly, Seth Appert has made RPI a destination for top recruits again. If you've never met him before, just talk to him for five minutes and you'll understand why good players want to come play for him. It's no wonder that Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke heaped the praise onto RPI and Appert (6:01 through 7:43 in that audio clip) for his ability to mold talent. 12 months ago, while the most shrill voices in the room were calling for a second coach search in less than half-a-decade, Jerry D'Amigo was a sixth round draft pick. Today, he's considered one of Toronto's top prospects. That's just another reason for RPI fans to be excited for D'Amigo's jump to the NHL - other top prospects are going to see the conversion that he made in such a short time and be interested in playing for the man that helped put Jerry D'Amigo on the road to NHL stardom.
In practically every facet, Seth Appert has proven himself to be worthy of the title of Division I head coach. He recruits well. He interacts with the school and the community well. He's even proven that he has the guts and the patience to build a strong program rather than shoot for short-term success at the expense of long-term success. He puts together solid schedules for his teams. The only thing that is missing at this point are the titles and title game appearances that the whiners are demanding.
But if you've been paying attention, you can see how those could well be right around the corner.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Renovation: The Saga Continues
As the summer continues, so do the renovations to Houston Field House. We first chronicled in picture some of the construction underway back in mid-July. A few weeks later, we got another chance to go through and take a look at how far along the process has gotten on the inside. The natural lighting, for one, has improved dramatically, so some of these pictures are going to be a lot more clear than they were the last time.
Thanks again to John Crawford for the pictures.
Here, we can see that the front end has been fully opened up and now, and looks to be waiting for the glass to be put into place. The front circle in front of the Field House has been closed off to traffic, including the path over to Harkness Field, which at present is only accessible by going around behind the Field House near ECAV.
Much of the clutter behind the Field House is gone, a lot of it put back inside now. What's left is probably some stuff that's going to get tossed out. This row of ad space that hung beneath the catwalk was rarely, if ever, used for anything but the Rensselaer logo, and it's still sitting outside.
An assortment of other junk also sits behind the Field House. It looks as though they've done a pretty clean sweep of stuff that was either old, outdated, or superfluous.
As you can see, the interior of the Field House is done being painted, and the tarps have been removed from the seating sections and the rink surface. That has allowed for a lot of the stuff that was stored outside, including the Zambonis and the glass, to be moved back into the Field House. Notable in this picture is the lack of a stage on the eastern end, it has not been put back together yet. From what we're hearing, it doesn't look like there are any plans to have it raised higher above the glass when it is.
Also notable in this picture (which faces the press box and the north side) is the natural light coming in from the west.
The superstructure for the suites that are being constructed in Section 1's former location is coming along nicely and is better seen in this picture than we got last time. You can see generally what it's going to look like, now, nestled between Section 2 and Section 21.
The current state of the Field House viewed from Section 2. As you can see, the old scoreboard is back in place. According to what I've heard, it's either a mockup for the new scoreboard with video boards, or it will be used for one more season. The reason for the latter would be related to the sound system in the Field House, which is a little substandard to get good use out of the video boards, and there isn't enough time left before the season to get that taken care of. If that is the case, it may be pushed back to next year.
A look toward the concession area in the southwest corner of the Field House. It is being reconfigured to accommodate the entrance staircase to the suites.
Another look at the concession stand. I'm not quite sure exactly what the new configuration is going to be, but you can tell by the picture that they are putting something different in place.
A look down toward ice level from the stairs near Section 44. Still no curtain, obviously, and definitely some more work left to be done on this side.
The dasher borders are all that remains to separate the refrigeration surface from the area behind the eastern net area. Looks odd without the stage there.
Finally, a look at the goal horn on the ceiling offers a good look at the newly painted rafters. The lighting, while still using metal halide lamps, appears to also be a little different - at any rate, the lighting system was due to be replaced anyway. We'll have to see what it looks like with the lights on to be sure. The newly brilliant white ceiling will reflect that light better regardless.
Thanks again to John Crawford for the pictures.
Here, we can see that the front end has been fully opened up and now, and looks to be waiting for the glass to be put into place. The front circle in front of the Field House has been closed off to traffic, including the path over to Harkness Field, which at present is only accessible by going around behind the Field House near ECAV.
Much of the clutter behind the Field House is gone, a lot of it put back inside now. What's left is probably some stuff that's going to get tossed out. This row of ad space that hung beneath the catwalk was rarely, if ever, used for anything but the Rensselaer logo, and it's still sitting outside.
An assortment of other junk also sits behind the Field House. It looks as though they've done a pretty clean sweep of stuff that was either old, outdated, or superfluous.
As you can see, the interior of the Field House is done being painted, and the tarps have been removed from the seating sections and the rink surface. That has allowed for a lot of the stuff that was stored outside, including the Zambonis and the glass, to be moved back into the Field House. Notable in this picture is the lack of a stage on the eastern end, it has not been put back together yet. From what we're hearing, it doesn't look like there are any plans to have it raised higher above the glass when it is.
Also notable in this picture (which faces the press box and the north side) is the natural light coming in from the west.
The superstructure for the suites that are being constructed in Section 1's former location is coming along nicely and is better seen in this picture than we got last time. You can see generally what it's going to look like, now, nestled between Section 2 and Section 21.
The current state of the Field House viewed from Section 2. As you can see, the old scoreboard is back in place. According to what I've heard, it's either a mockup for the new scoreboard with video boards, or it will be used for one more season. The reason for the latter would be related to the sound system in the Field House, which is a little substandard to get good use out of the video boards, and there isn't enough time left before the season to get that taken care of. If that is the case, it may be pushed back to next year.
A look toward the concession area in the southwest corner of the Field House. It is being reconfigured to accommodate the entrance staircase to the suites.
Another look at the concession stand. I'm not quite sure exactly what the new configuration is going to be, but you can tell by the picture that they are putting something different in place.
A look down toward ice level from the stairs near Section 44. Still no curtain, obviously, and definitely some more work left to be done on this side.
The dasher borders are all that remains to separate the refrigeration surface from the area behind the eastern net area. Looks odd without the stage there.
Finally, a look at the goal horn on the ceiling offers a good look at the newly painted rafters. The lighting, while still using metal halide lamps, appears to also be a little different - at any rate, the lighting system was due to be replaced anyway. We'll have to see what it looks like with the lights on to be sure. The newly brilliant white ceiling will reflect that light better regardless.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
While out on the golf course at Shaker Ridge Country Club for the RPI Mens' Hockey tournament, my cell phone started blowing up somewhere around the 6th or 7th hole - word had come down that Jerry D'Amigo had signed or was about to sign a professional contract. As of now, nothing is official, and there's still a lot of questions left to be answered. But signs for the most part point to Jerry's departure from Troy after one phenomenal year in which he won the ECAC's Rookie of the Year award and brought home a gold medal in the World Junior Championships.
As the initial Yahoo! Canada article said, D'Amigo is likely to sign a contract, possibly tomorrow. But that article, which makes it sound like his signing is a fait accompli, seems to jump the gun slightly, as Jerry told the Waterloo Record last night,"
Reactions have been largely positive. D'Amigo's departure would be a blow for the Engineers, but most RPI fans thus far, especially those which were in attendance at Shaker Ridge, have been expressing excitement over the situation as the primary emotion, myself included. What Jerry D'Amigo did in just a year in the cherry and white will echo for years - he and Brandon Pirri made Troy a destination for the development of top players again simply by showing up and doing what they did over this past year. The effect this will have on recruiting in the near future, especially if he lives up to the lofty expectations that Maple Leafs fans are placing on him, will only help the program moving forward. It will be an amazing thrill to watch Jerry play in the NHL - no question.
Our friends at Union Hockey Blog are somehow spinning a D'Amigo departure as a win for Union, a touch confusing because the Dutchmen only play RPI three times a season, but the heated rivalry aspect might be playing a role in the more perverse joy in Schenectady. But honestly, worrying about players who may or may not leave early is a good problem for a team to have. Riley Nash and Louis Leblanc being gone from Cornell and Harvard may make it easier to play those two teams, but I wouldn't necessarily describe those events as "good news" for RPI fans. Their signings represent recruitment victories for both programs. Their departure, along with D'Amigo's if it happens, does make the ECAC as a conference worse for the wear. But such is the reality in the current professional hockey atmosphere with the current collective bargaining agreement, as we touched upon last week.
And fret not, Engineer faithful. Jerry D'Amigo is one of the stars of this team, but let's not forget about the rest of the collection of talented scorers we've got. Brandon Pirri - who Ed Weaver said needed a new wardrobe after the weight he added this summer - is still an Engineer, we've got a Hobey Baker candidate returning in Chase Polacek, Patrick Cullen just had a monster camp with the Washington Capitals despite not being one of their draft picks, and we've got a new injection of talent with guys like Brock Higgs and Johnny Rogic coming in. We've got, by the numbers, the top returning goaltender in the ECAC (he putts well too, for what it's worth). We've got a blueline anchored by stalwart guys like Jeff Foss, Mike Bergin, and John Kennedy and we're adding a tremendous talent there in Nick Bailen and a slew of freshmen with size.
It's going to be a great season. The opportunity to watch one of our own skate for one of the most hallowed franchises in the sport just made it that much more exciting.
Jerry D'Amigo - Pride of the Engineers
As the initial Yahoo! Canada article said, D'Amigo is likely to sign a contract, possibly tomorrow. But that article, which makes it sound like his signing is a fait accompli, seems to jump the gun slightly, as Jerry told the Waterloo Record last night,"
Reactions have been largely positive. D'Amigo's departure would be a blow for the Engineers, but most RPI fans thus far, especially those which were in attendance at Shaker Ridge, have been expressing excitement over the situation as the primary emotion, myself included. What Jerry D'Amigo did in just a year in the cherry and white will echo for years - he and Brandon Pirri made Troy a destination for the development of top players again simply by showing up and doing what they did over this past year. The effect this will have on recruiting in the near future, especially if he lives up to the lofty expectations that Maple Leafs fans are placing on him, will only help the program moving forward. It will be an amazing thrill to watch Jerry play in the NHL - no question.
Our friends at Union Hockey Blog are somehow spinning a D'Amigo departure as a win for Union, a touch confusing because the Dutchmen only play RPI three times a season, but the heated rivalry aspect might be playing a role in the more perverse joy in Schenectady. But honestly, worrying about players who may or may not leave early is a good problem for a team to have. Riley Nash and Louis Leblanc being gone from Cornell and Harvard may make it easier to play those two teams, but I wouldn't necessarily describe those events as "good news" for RPI fans. Their signings represent recruitment victories for both programs. Their departure, along with D'Amigo's if it happens, does make the ECAC as a conference worse for the wear. But such is the reality in the current professional hockey atmosphere with the current collective bargaining agreement, as we touched upon last week.
And fret not, Engineer faithful. Jerry D'Amigo is one of the stars of this team, but let's not forget about the rest of the collection of talented scorers we've got. Brandon Pirri - who Ed Weaver said needed a new wardrobe after the weight he added this summer - is still an Engineer, we've got a Hobey Baker candidate returning in Chase Polacek, Patrick Cullen just had a monster camp with the Washington Capitals despite not being one of their draft picks, and we've got a new injection of talent with guys like Brock Higgs and Johnny Rogic coming in. We've got, by the numbers, the top returning goaltender in the ECAC (he putts well too, for what it's worth). We've got a blueline anchored by stalwart guys like Jeff Foss, Mike Bergin, and John Kennedy and we're adding a tremendous talent there in Nick Bailen and a slew of freshmen with size.
It's going to be a great season. The opportunity to watch one of our own skate for one of the most hallowed franchises in the sport just made it that much more exciting.
Jerry D'Amigo - Pride of the EngineersMonday, August 9, 2010
Know Your Enemy: Dartmouth
We've got a feeling about the team we're profiling in Part 11 of "Know Your Enemy." No, they didn't have a great season last year. No, they aren't bringing in anyone who's being touted as a game-changing, blue chip, can't miss prospect. But still... there's something to be said about bringing back nearly your entire team, another year older and another year wiser, with solid senior leadership.
Dartmouth
Nickname: Big Green
Location: Hanover, NH
Founded: 1769
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 1980
Last Frozen Four: 1980
Coach: Bob Gaudet (14th season)
2009-10 Record: 10-19-3 (7-12-3 ECAC, 10th place)
Series: RPI leads, 38-30-5
First Game: January 17, 1908 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: January 22, 2010 (Troy, NY)
Last DC win: February 13, 2010 (Hanover, NH)
2010-11 games: November 5, 2010 (Hanover, NH); January 22, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Scott Fleming, sr.; F Adam Estoclet, sr.; F Matt Reber, sr.; F Doug Jones, jr.; F Dustin Walsh, so.; D Evan Stephens, sr.; D Joe Stejskal, sr.; G Jody O'Neill, jr.; G James Mello, jr.
Key losses: F Joe Gaudet; D Peter Boldt
Those two key losses happen to be the only regular players from last season leaving the program, representing 8 goals and 13 assists. Literally every other everyday player is back this season, and as you can tell by looking at the key players, if there's one thing Dartmouth is heavy with this season, it's experience.
Dartmouth hockey may not seem to have an exceptionally distinguished past viewed from our present position in time, if you go back far enough, they were the best of the best. The Big Green have a longevity one would expect to see from an Ivy League team - they have played in every single year since their first game in 1906 with the exception of 1919. Dartmouth had some outstanding years against mostly Ivy League competition in the 1930s, but the team got very dominant during the decreased competition years of World War II. Legendary coach Eddie Jeremiah helmed some exceptional teams in the late '30s, and he helped the Big Green put together a 21-2-0 record in 1942.
Jeremiah left the team in the middle of the war, but the Big Green didn't skip a beat in his absence, going 26-0-1 from 1943 to 1945, helping to establish Dartmouth as the first true juggernaut of college hockey. When Jeremiah returned in 1946, the exceptional play continued as Dartmouth dominated eastern hockey in the last few years before the establishment of the NCAA tournament. In 1948, for the very first Frozen Four, the Big Green were a no-brainer selection as one of the two eastern representatives after a 20-3-0 regular season. Dartmouth defeated hosts Colorado College to reach the first ever national championship game, but would fall 8-4 to Vic Heyliger and Michigan, though forward Joe Riley would be the first ever Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.
The following season, Dartmouth made a repeat appearance in the tournament and again advanced to the national championship game, but were denied once again, this time by Boston College, 4-3, with goaltender Dick Desmond making the Big Green 2-for-2 in Tournament MOPs. 1949 would, however, be the end of the Dartmouth juggernaut. After dropping off a bit in 1950, the Big Green would have their first losing season since the mid-30s in 1951, and from there the program struggled through much of the 1950s. Jeremiah would stay with the team through 1967, when he would retire three months before he died of cancer. He had guided the team into the ECAC, and had won 3 Ivy League titles as the only team to deprive Harvard of the honor between 1954 and 1964, but the team would not regain the form he had them in through the '30s and '40s.
The Big Green couldn't crack 10 wins from 1966 to 1971, and the team largely treaded water through the 1970s, but in a flash of brilliance, the Big Green were injected back into the national discussion at the end of the decade. On the back of back-to-back Ivy League titles in 1979 and 1980, Dartmouth again qualified for back-to-back Frozen Fours, their third and fourth respectively, losing in the semifinals both times but winning the third-place game both years.
After that, Dartmouth entered into a two-decade slumber which saw them at the bottom of the ECAC standings on a regular basis. Immediately after their final Frozen Four appearance to date in 1980, the Big Green had a jaw dropping 20 consecutive losing seasons, including 12 seasons between 1983 and 1996 in which Dartmouth failed to reach 10 wins. During that 20 season stretch, they never won more than 11 games in a season, bottoming out in 1991 with a miserable 1-24-3 record.
Bob Gaudet, who'd been a member of the Dartmouth teams that had gone to the Frozen Four in 1979 and 1980, returned to Hanover as head coach in 1997 after a nine-year run at Brown. It took a few season to get the program turned back around, but by 2001 the team had turned in a winning record for the first time in 20 years. In 2003 and 2005, Gaudet guided the Big Green to 20-win seasons for the first time since 1948, and Dartmouth won the ECAC regular season title in 2006 (technically splitting with Colgate, though Dartmouth was the top seed). Throughout the last decade under Gaudet, the Big Green have turned in solid teams year in and year out, but they've never quite gotten over the hump to fully join the elite of the ECAC. They became regulars in Albany, but still have never won an ECAC championship in their history, nor have they returned to the NCAA tournament despite being close many times in the last decade.
After those 20 years of despair, Gaudet and his teams rattled off 7 winning seasons in a row before sliding back over the past three seasons. This year, with the experience that Dartmouth brings back, the Big Green could be right back in the thick of things again.
It starts with offense. There are few teams that are returning multiple proven scoring threats, but in Fleming and Estoclet, that's exactly what Dartmouth has. Classmate Reber rounds out what was one of the more dangerous lines in the league last season. In all, however, Dartmouth returns all of its top seven scorers from last season - five seniors and two juniors.
The catch for the Big Green will be on defense, where they struggled last season. Dartmouth was 10th in the ECAC on defense last year with a team GAA of 3.59, but they do have the potential to be better in this category. For starters, the experience factor could play a role. The Dartmouth defensive corps consisted of just one regularly playing senior last year - Boldt - and that number is three this year with Stephens, Stejskal, and Danny Markowitz, plus a pair of solid juniors in Connor Goggin and Jim Gaudet. The potential is there in net as well. In his freshman year, Jody O'Neill put up a 2.61 GAA and an impressive .927 save percentage on his way to becoming the ECAC Rookie of the Year. He fell into a sophomore slump last year, sliding to 3.80/.890, but James Mello showed potential of his own last season in splitting time with O'Neill at 2.97/.912.
Throw in a competent power play which clicked at a 20% rate last season and a perfectly average penalty kill despite the over-reaching defensive struggles (80.7%) , and the recipe is there in Hanover for a very solid team that could be contending for a first-round bye in 2010-11 - as long as the defense improves and/or the goaltenders return to their previously demonstrated potential.
The Engineers did not generally play well against Dartmouth last season, struggling to an uninspiring 2-1 come from behind win at home before serving up 2 points on a platter late in Hanover, blowing a 3-1 lead in the third period (and a 3-2 lead with 3 minutes to play) to lose 4-3 in regulation. To some extent, Dartmouth plays the type of slow-down, clog-up style of Cornell, but it isn't nearly as forward. If both teams are playing to potential, the two RPI-DC games do have the possibility to be intriguing matchups, and ones that could determine the shape of things at the top of the table.
Dartmouth
Nickname: Big Green
Location: Hanover, NH
Founded: 1769
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 1980
Last Frozen Four: 1980
Coach: Bob Gaudet (14th season)
2009-10 Record: 10-19-3 (7-12-3 ECAC, 10th place)
Series: RPI leads, 38-30-5
First Game: January 17, 1908 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: January 22, 2010 (Troy, NY)
Last DC win: February 13, 2010 (Hanover, NH)
2010-11 games: November 5, 2010 (Hanover, NH); January 22, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Scott Fleming, sr.; F Adam Estoclet, sr.; F Matt Reber, sr.; F Doug Jones, jr.; F Dustin Walsh, so.; D Evan Stephens, sr.; D Joe Stejskal, sr.; G Jody O'Neill, jr.; G James Mello, jr.
Key losses: F Joe Gaudet; D Peter Boldt
Those two key losses happen to be the only regular players from last season leaving the program, representing 8 goals and 13 assists. Literally every other everyday player is back this season, and as you can tell by looking at the key players, if there's one thing Dartmouth is heavy with this season, it's experience.
Dartmouth hockey may not seem to have an exceptionally distinguished past viewed from our present position in time, if you go back far enough, they were the best of the best. The Big Green have a longevity one would expect to see from an Ivy League team - they have played in every single year since their first game in 1906 with the exception of 1919. Dartmouth had some outstanding years against mostly Ivy League competition in the 1930s, but the team got very dominant during the decreased competition years of World War II. Legendary coach Eddie Jeremiah helmed some exceptional teams in the late '30s, and he helped the Big Green put together a 21-2-0 record in 1942.
Jeremiah left the team in the middle of the war, but the Big Green didn't skip a beat in his absence, going 26-0-1 from 1943 to 1945, helping to establish Dartmouth as the first true juggernaut of college hockey. When Jeremiah returned in 1946, the exceptional play continued as Dartmouth dominated eastern hockey in the last few years before the establishment of the NCAA tournament. In 1948, for the very first Frozen Four, the Big Green were a no-brainer selection as one of the two eastern representatives after a 20-3-0 regular season. Dartmouth defeated hosts Colorado College to reach the first ever national championship game, but would fall 8-4 to Vic Heyliger and Michigan, though forward Joe Riley would be the first ever Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.
The following season, Dartmouth made a repeat appearance in the tournament and again advanced to the national championship game, but were denied once again, this time by Boston College, 4-3, with goaltender Dick Desmond making the Big Green 2-for-2 in Tournament MOPs. 1949 would, however, be the end of the Dartmouth juggernaut. After dropping off a bit in 1950, the Big Green would have their first losing season since the mid-30s in 1951, and from there the program struggled through much of the 1950s. Jeremiah would stay with the team through 1967, when he would retire three months before he died of cancer. He had guided the team into the ECAC, and had won 3 Ivy League titles as the only team to deprive Harvard of the honor between 1954 and 1964, but the team would not regain the form he had them in through the '30s and '40s.
The Big Green couldn't crack 10 wins from 1966 to 1971, and the team largely treaded water through the 1970s, but in a flash of brilliance, the Big Green were injected back into the national discussion at the end of the decade. On the back of back-to-back Ivy League titles in 1979 and 1980, Dartmouth again qualified for back-to-back Frozen Fours, their third and fourth respectively, losing in the semifinals both times but winning the third-place game both years.
After that, Dartmouth entered into a two-decade slumber which saw them at the bottom of the ECAC standings on a regular basis. Immediately after their final Frozen Four appearance to date in 1980, the Big Green had a jaw dropping 20 consecutive losing seasons, including 12 seasons between 1983 and 1996 in which Dartmouth failed to reach 10 wins. During that 20 season stretch, they never won more than 11 games in a season, bottoming out in 1991 with a miserable 1-24-3 record.
Bob Gaudet, who'd been a member of the Dartmouth teams that had gone to the Frozen Four in 1979 and 1980, returned to Hanover as head coach in 1997 after a nine-year run at Brown. It took a few season to get the program turned back around, but by 2001 the team had turned in a winning record for the first time in 20 years. In 2003 and 2005, Gaudet guided the Big Green to 20-win seasons for the first time since 1948, and Dartmouth won the ECAC regular season title in 2006 (technically splitting with Colgate, though Dartmouth was the top seed). Throughout the last decade under Gaudet, the Big Green have turned in solid teams year in and year out, but they've never quite gotten over the hump to fully join the elite of the ECAC. They became regulars in Albany, but still have never won an ECAC championship in their history, nor have they returned to the NCAA tournament despite being close many times in the last decade.
After those 20 years of despair, Gaudet and his teams rattled off 7 winning seasons in a row before sliding back over the past three seasons. This year, with the experience that Dartmouth brings back, the Big Green could be right back in the thick of things again.
It starts with offense. There are few teams that are returning multiple proven scoring threats, but in Fleming and Estoclet, that's exactly what Dartmouth has. Classmate Reber rounds out what was one of the more dangerous lines in the league last season. In all, however, Dartmouth returns all of its top seven scorers from last season - five seniors and two juniors.
The catch for the Big Green will be on defense, where they struggled last season. Dartmouth was 10th in the ECAC on defense last year with a team GAA of 3.59, but they do have the potential to be better in this category. For starters, the experience factor could play a role. The Dartmouth defensive corps consisted of just one regularly playing senior last year - Boldt - and that number is three this year with Stephens, Stejskal, and Danny Markowitz, plus a pair of solid juniors in Connor Goggin and Jim Gaudet. The potential is there in net as well. In his freshman year, Jody O'Neill put up a 2.61 GAA and an impressive .927 save percentage on his way to becoming the ECAC Rookie of the Year. He fell into a sophomore slump last year, sliding to 3.80/.890, but James Mello showed potential of his own last season in splitting time with O'Neill at 2.97/.912.
Throw in a competent power play which clicked at a 20% rate last season and a perfectly average penalty kill despite the over-reaching defensive struggles (80.7%) , and the recipe is there in Hanover for a very solid team that could be contending for a first-round bye in 2010-11 - as long as the defense improves and/or the goaltenders return to their previously demonstrated potential.
The Engineers did not generally play well against Dartmouth last season, struggling to an uninspiring 2-1 come from behind win at home before serving up 2 points on a platter late in Hanover, blowing a 3-1 lead in the third period (and a 3-2 lead with 3 minutes to play) to lose 4-3 in regulation. To some extent, Dartmouth plays the type of slow-down, clog-up style of Cornell, but it isn't nearly as forward. If both teams are playing to potential, the two RPI-DC games do have the possibility to be intriguing matchups, and ones that could determine the shape of things at the top of the table.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Don Lucia and the Changing Face of Recruiting
If you have yet to read the outstanding interview with Minnesota head coach Don Lucia at College Hockey News, you owe it to yourself to give it a look. Lucia and Adam Wodon touch on some of the issues surrounding the Gophers - issues that have led to frustration among the Gopher faithful and amusement among the many Gopher haters - but, like an onion, this interview has layers. As you peel away the layers, you delve into some core issues that every team has to deal with when it comes to recruiting and holding onto players that are relatively new and that Minnesota, perhaps, highlights most brightly.
For years, Minnesota recruited only the best high school players in the state of Minnesota. The team went decades without having a player who hailed from outside of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. It was tradition, but tradition didn't lead to a great deal of success, especially on the national level. When Don Lucia first arrived in Minneapolis, he broke the status quo almost right away. The game winning goal in the Gophers' first national championship victory in almost a quarter-century was scored by a North Dakotan (Grant Potulny). Soon, the Gophers were bringing in Europeans (like Thomas Vanek) and Canadians (like Kris Chucko), and Minnesota won a second consecutive national title and were top contenders for years.
But then, a slow slide began. Last season, the Gophers finished with a losing record for the first time under Lucia (and the first time he was personally under .500 in 17 straight seasons as a college coach), and missed the national tournament for the first time since his first season in Minneapolis. What happened?
As the interview discusses, Minnesota, as one of the giants of college hockey, attracts gobs of blue-chip talent. But in the new recruiting atmosphere, created in part by the collective bargaining agreement put into place after the 2004-05 NHL lockout, sees many of the top talents leaving for the pros much quicker than they did in the past.
But there's another element: the growing war for talent with the Canadian Hockey League, colloquially referred to as the "major junior" leagues - the WHL, the OHL, and the QMJHL. College teams have a major disadvantage to major junior when it comes to attracting talent: college players can leave for major junior, but the opposite is not true. Once you're in major junior, you're there, but going to college doesn't preclude a player from leaving for the CHL. Thus, NCAA teams increasingly are becoming concerned not only with losing players (and recruits) to pro contracts, but also to major junior contracts.
Michigan, another titan of college hockey, is growing to be the poster child for the major junior problem. They've lost two top recruits that had been expected in Ann Arbor - last winter, losing US Junior Team goaltender Jack Campbell to the OHL, and just last week losing top forward prospect Lucas Lessio, also to the OHL.
RPI is not immune from this phenomenon, especially with the successful recruiting of late. Even before Brandon Pirri and Jerry D'Amigo arrived on campus, the wonder was whether one or both would suddenly jump to the OHL, but they spurned Sudbury and Kitchener respectively. Wanna freak out? Type "Brandon Pirri" into a Google search box. Google will suggest "brandon pirri ohl" before "brandon pirri rpi." In June, the Saginaw Spirit traded for his rights, suggesting they think there's at least a chance Pirri could come to the OHL.
But Pirri's flight risk isn't limited to Saginaw - the Chicago Blackhawks own his rights and have loomed ominously in the background. The collective bargaining agreement set up a salary cap that the Blackhawks played hard and fast with in building a Stanley Cup winning team, and the time has come to pay the piper, leading to an absolute fire sale that has decimated Chicago's farm system. In need of bodies to fill out their roster and the roster in Rockford, their AHL affiliate, they have looked to sign rookies - they're far cheaper than veterans, especially in the minor leagues, and they've already gone shopping in the college ranks, plucking Nick Leddy away from Lucia with three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Is Brandon Pirri coming back to RPI? Probably. There hasn't been much to definitively indicate that he would take either route. Will he be here after this season? That would be shocking. The same is true of Jerry D'Amigo - anything RPI gets from these super sophs after this season, it has to be said, is going to be gravy. That's just the way things are for the very best players
When Kyle Palmieri left Notre Dame this week to sign with Anaheim, he became the 37th player in all of college hockey (one, Oswego's Eric Selleck, was from D-III) to forfeit college eligibility to sign a pro contract. Of those, 17 (including Selleck) were giving up either two or three years of remaining eligibility. That's practically an unheard of number of underclassmen jumping ship, and the very best players are starting to leave after just one or two seasons in college, with the talent war with major junior only exacerbating the situation.
So what ends up happening? For the top teams like Minnesota and Michigan, who bring in top players left and right, it means more and more frequently that they're only going to be as good as their most recent freshman class - the ones they can bring onto campus, anyway. It also means that they are actively making plans to lose some of their players early, recruiting even more top talent than they might normally expect to need, and managing their arrival dates.
But how can teams mitigate this problem without necessarily yo-yoing up and down the league standings every year? Coaches understand college's role as a development level for professional hockey. But there are prototypes out there for top players they can get maximum production from - players like Chase Polacek, overlooked in high school and considered to be too small for the NHL, but he works just fine in college, doesn't he? Jacob Laliberté projects to be very similar, and as we've mentioned before, his size makes it more likely that he'd develop better in college than in major junior, though he too is a question mark when it comes to possibly heading to the CHL. These are the diamonds in the rough that will be the anchors of top teams in the near future, working hand in hand with the shooting stars that will be gone after a year or two.
Those types will be just as important as the blue chippers as the recruiting trail continues to evolve.
For years, Minnesota recruited only the best high school players in the state of Minnesota. The team went decades without having a player who hailed from outside of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. It was tradition, but tradition didn't lead to a great deal of success, especially on the national level. When Don Lucia first arrived in Minneapolis, he broke the status quo almost right away. The game winning goal in the Gophers' first national championship victory in almost a quarter-century was scored by a North Dakotan (Grant Potulny). Soon, the Gophers were bringing in Europeans (like Thomas Vanek) and Canadians (like Kris Chucko), and Minnesota won a second consecutive national title and were top contenders for years.
But then, a slow slide began. Last season, the Gophers finished with a losing record for the first time under Lucia (and the first time he was personally under .500 in 17 straight seasons as a college coach), and missed the national tournament for the first time since his first season in Minneapolis. What happened?
As the interview discusses, Minnesota, as one of the giants of college hockey, attracts gobs of blue-chip talent. But in the new recruiting atmosphere, created in part by the collective bargaining agreement put into place after the 2004-05 NHL lockout, sees many of the top talents leaving for the pros much quicker than they did in the past.
But there's another element: the growing war for talent with the Canadian Hockey League, colloquially referred to as the "major junior" leagues - the WHL, the OHL, and the QMJHL. College teams have a major disadvantage to major junior when it comes to attracting talent: college players can leave for major junior, but the opposite is not true. Once you're in major junior, you're there, but going to college doesn't preclude a player from leaving for the CHL. Thus, NCAA teams increasingly are becoming concerned not only with losing players (and recruits) to pro contracts, but also to major junior contracts.
Michigan, another titan of college hockey, is growing to be the poster child for the major junior problem. They've lost two top recruits that had been expected in Ann Arbor - last winter, losing US Junior Team goaltender Jack Campbell to the OHL, and just last week losing top forward prospect Lucas Lessio, also to the OHL.
RPI is not immune from this phenomenon, especially with the successful recruiting of late. Even before Brandon Pirri and Jerry D'Amigo arrived on campus, the wonder was whether one or both would suddenly jump to the OHL, but they spurned Sudbury and Kitchener respectively. Wanna freak out? Type "Brandon Pirri" into a Google search box. Google will suggest "brandon pirri ohl" before "brandon pirri rpi." In June, the Saginaw Spirit traded for his rights, suggesting they think there's at least a chance Pirri could come to the OHL.
But Pirri's flight risk isn't limited to Saginaw - the Chicago Blackhawks own his rights and have loomed ominously in the background. The collective bargaining agreement set up a salary cap that the Blackhawks played hard and fast with in building a Stanley Cup winning team, and the time has come to pay the piper, leading to an absolute fire sale that has decimated Chicago's farm system. In need of bodies to fill out their roster and the roster in Rockford, their AHL affiliate, they have looked to sign rookies - they're far cheaper than veterans, especially in the minor leagues, and they've already gone shopping in the college ranks, plucking Nick Leddy away from Lucia with three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Is Brandon Pirri coming back to RPI? Probably. There hasn't been much to definitively indicate that he would take either route. Will he be here after this season? That would be shocking. The same is true of Jerry D'Amigo - anything RPI gets from these super sophs after this season, it has to be said, is going to be gravy. That's just the way things are for the very best players
When Kyle Palmieri left Notre Dame this week to sign with Anaheim, he became the 37th player in all of college hockey (one, Oswego's Eric Selleck, was from D-III) to forfeit college eligibility to sign a pro contract. Of those, 17 (including Selleck) were giving up either two or three years of remaining eligibility. That's practically an unheard of number of underclassmen jumping ship, and the very best players are starting to leave after just one or two seasons in college, with the talent war with major junior only exacerbating the situation.
So what ends up happening? For the top teams like Minnesota and Michigan, who bring in top players left and right, it means more and more frequently that they're only going to be as good as their most recent freshman class - the ones they can bring onto campus, anyway. It also means that they are actively making plans to lose some of their players early, recruiting even more top talent than they might normally expect to need, and managing their arrival dates.
But how can teams mitigate this problem without necessarily yo-yoing up and down the league standings every year? Coaches understand college's role as a development level for professional hockey. But there are prototypes out there for top players they can get maximum production from - players like Chase Polacek, overlooked in high school and considered to be too small for the NHL, but he works just fine in college, doesn't he? Jacob Laliberté projects to be very similar, and as we've mentioned before, his size makes it more likely that he'd develop better in college than in major junior, though he too is a question mark when it comes to possibly heading to the CHL. These are the diamonds in the rough that will be the anchors of top teams in the near future, working hand in hand with the shooting stars that will be gone after a year or two.
Those types will be just as important as the blue chippers as the recruiting trail continues to evolve.
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