Thursday, January 31, 2013

ECAC Power Rankings - January

Here it is, the third and final edition of the monthly ECAC Power Rankings. As mentioned before, we skip October since the Ivies don't get their seasons fully underway until the end of the month, and we skip February because by the end of the month, all that really matters is the standings.

1 (1). Quinnipiac (18-3-3 -- 4-0-1) - Duh. I mean, name me another team on a 17-game unbeaten streak that has lost precisely never in league play heading into February. They're six points up on second place Yale, with a game in hand. They've got ten more games to play, and they've already clinched home ice for the playoffs, and they're about two points away from the number that, historically, is enough to nab the first round bye. Their only blemish on the month was a tie to RPI, still the only point they've lost in ECAC play. They're ranked #1 in the country pretty much everywhere but the human polls, where they're #2 instead. They still have to play Yale twice and Dartmouth once, but the rest of their schedule looks pretty OK from where they're standing, especially given their serious cushion at the top.

2 (4). Yale (12-5-3 -- 5-1-1) - It's a solid bounce back for the Bulldogs, who struggled in December but certainly picked themselves back up in January. If not for Quinnipiac's insane run, Yale would have more buzz nationally, but as it is they're instead a firm second choice right now in the ECAC. Five league wins in a row after tying Boston College to kick off the 2013 has the Bulldogs right back up where they want to be. They'll need to fend off challenges from Dartmouth and Union below them in the standings, and their schedule going forward is not easy by any stretch, but Yale has certainly found their offense again. Defense continues to be a point of contention, which means the offense has got to stay hot.

3 (2). Dartmouth (11-7-2 -- 3-4-0) - A disappointing January has the Big Green back down to earth and back in a maddeningly familiar spot over the last several years - on the NCAA bubble. This time a month ago, Dartmouth was looking very good to break their 33 year national tournament appearance drought, but now they have some work to do after a tough go of things to start 2013. They mostly won the games they needed to win - although losses to St. Lawrence and Princeton were less than optimal - but the Big Green fell to Quinnipiac and Yale in a couple of games they needed points in if they were going to prove their mettle as national contenders. Fortunately, there's still time for Dartmouth to get things turned around and headed back in the right direction so they can avoid biting their fingernails come March.

4 (6). Union (13-8-4 -- 4-4-0) - Union at the start of January and Union at the end of January are basically night and day, although they do have a little more work to do before they can pull themselves back toward the top of the league discussion. The start of January couldn't have been much worse, with a horrifyingly bad outing at Lake Superior State followed up with two losses in their next three league games. One was to Quinnipiac, but the other was to a Cornell team that had no other wins this month. They toughed out a win over Colgate and then squashed a hapless Harvard - then the best thing you can say about their game against RPI is that they found a way to win. Still, that's three in a row, and that's what you want heading into the end of the season. The top spot might be out of their grasp this year, but the Dutchmen still moving in the right direction at this point.

5 (5). Colgate (13-9-2 -- 4-2-0) - Besides a disappointing trip to the Capital District that featured a pair of one goal losses, the Raiders are still pretty much all systems go, at least when it comes to playing at home. They demolished Sacred Heart twice to start the month, then finished things with an impressive sweep of Yale and Brown. Colgate has played very well at home, but when they hit the road things have been a bit more dicey. Other than their December sweep at UMass, the Raiders are 0-4-2 away from Starr Rink since the beginning of November, all but one of which were league games. With five weekends left, only two are at home and both are against some tough opponents, so if  Colgate's going to make a play for a bye, they're going to need to be come road warriors.

6 (7). RPI (8-11-5 -- 2-4-1) - The Engineers continue to slog through what has been the most difficult schedule in the league to date, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Of their five non-wins in January, only one (Princeton) was not a nationally ranked team. Losses to Union and Princeton were certainly let downs, but only the latter counted against them in the ECAC standings, and they did draw blood against Quinnipiac, which is beyond what anyone else has done this year. For RPI, the way forward is much easier than the path behind, with only two more games all year against teams that are currently ranked (Dartmouth on Saturday, Yale in two weeks). They're still sitting down in 11th place, but they have to feel good about their chances of getting home ice as long as they execute down the stretch.

7 (3). Cornell (8-9-2 -- 1-5-0) - January was certainly one of the worst months for the Big Red in recent memory, so bad that they've tumbled from the upper reaches of the league where they're usually found, and it's going to be an uphill battle if they are going to finish in fourth or better for a 14th consecutive year. They had some tough competition, to be sure, having to go out to Denver and then visiting the Capital District, but they finished the month by being swept at home against a team they needed to beat (Yale) and one they should have beat (Brown). Having now played the entire league once (save Colgate, who they've played twice), Cornell is going to need an above average February if they're going to compete for a bye, and that means the return of their usually ballyhooed defense, which seems to have gone missing for the time being.

8 (9). St. Lawrence (11-10-3 -- 4-2-1) - The rollercoaster ride continues in Canton, where the month of January was certainly an up slope, although the Saints probably wish it had been a little steeper. Still, with just one loss in their last six (4-1-1), St. Lawrence is oriented in the right direction and they've got a key four-game league homestand to start February after picking up a huge road sweep at Dartmouth and Harvard. If they want to peg themselves as home ice favorites, it's going to be in the next two weeks against Central New York and the Capital District, teams that, while tough, can be vulnerable, especially in the North Country. That makes these next four games make or break, because after that it's two of their last three weekends on the road, including games at Quinnipiac and the Capital District.

9 (12). Princeton (7-8-4 -- 4-1-0) - The Tigers are on a mini-rollercoaster ride of their own. Couldn't buy a win in October, did well in November, couldn't finish in December, and then got back in the winning ways in January. Playing five games in a row at home will do that for a team, but now it's time to pay the piper as Princeton hits the road for the next two weekends. In many ways, the Tigers are like the anti-RPI - they've played decently in league this season but not so hot outside. That leaves them in a decent position for the stretch run, including a shot at a first round bye if they win on the road like they have at home, but they're going to need to step up their play considerably with two games against Yale and another with Dartmouth on the horizon.

10 (10). Brown (7-9-4 -- 3-3-0) - Still middling, and still 10th for the third consecutive month, the Bears aren't the league's worst team anymore, but they still have work to do if they're going to be mentioned as one of the better teams. They beat Clarkson and Harvard, but those are teams they should beat at this point. The Bears picked up a very impressive win last week at Cornell, but losses to St. Lawrence on the road and Dartmouth at home stung a little. This is a team right on the cusp of being very dangerous, and they're continuing to prove that they're dangerous enough in any single game - the problem is, they need to finish those games better. It won't be easy (especially not with two games against Quinnipiac in the next month), but should those finishes start coming, Brown could be an interesting team to play against come playoff time.

11 (11). Clarkson (5-13-6 -- 1-5-1) - Like Princeton, Clarkson has themselves in a place where they can salvage a difficult season with a decent ECAC finish, but like their travel partners from St. Lawrence, they're going to need to strike now while they're at home over the next two weeks. But besides stomping Harvard and tying St. Lawrence, January was still unkind to the Golden Knights. They have just three wins in 13 games since Thanksgiving, and with the exception of the Harvard game, offense has been hard to come by. Still, if they can muster some goals, the defense has been good enough to get points - since November, the Knights are 4-1-4 when they get to three goals. That is what they need to capitalize on their position in the standings, which is, at this point, still a home ice spot.

12 (8). Harvard (5-13-1 -- 1-8-0) - This is a team in utter freefall right now. Sure, two of their losses in January were in overtime, but so was their only win (albeit, against Boston University on national television). When the epitaph is written for the Crimson, it's going to have a lot to say about the players who had to leave school due to the academic scandal that swept up many other athletic teams as well. Harvard is in a very bad way. Not only are they in last place with three points separating them from everyone else, they also have played a game or two more than everyone else, leaving them with less of an opportunity to get back into things. Harvard has lost nine straight league games, six games in a row overall and 10 of the last 11. Toss in a Beanpot against three solid Hockey East teams coming up, and the future is not looking good.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

It Never Gets Old

OK, let's get this out of the way, since everyone's talking about it.

The WaP Screw made its third appearance in as many seasons this past weekend - frequently enough that it now apparently has a name. It's the second time it has popped up in a game against Union, which sucks primarily because losing against Union is annoying.

In fact, this isn't the first time we've lost to Union in the last several years on a questionable call. From what I can recall off the top of my head...

January 16, 2002: Doug Christiansen scores on a net that was clearly off its moorings to put Union ahead 5-4, which would prove to be the final score of the game. This goal would have been legitimate today, but probably shouldn't have counted back then. Referee: Tim Kotyra.

February 7, 2009: Kelly Zajac scores an overtime winner after a Union player shoves a defender into freshman netminder Allen York, putting him on the ice as the puck goes in top shelf. Referee: Bryan Hicks.

November 12, 2010: C.J. Lee gets called for a phantom goaltender interference with 10 seconds left to nullify what would have been a game-tying goal by Nick Bailen. Seth Appert is suspended by the league for the mere act of showing the video replay of the call without commentary. Referee: Bryan Hicks. (As an aside, this also happened in a game against Sacred Heart this season - Lee called for interference that no one but the referee could see to disallow a goal, though RPI was cruising by that point so it was fairly inconsequential. Referee: Tim Kotyra.)

January 26, 2013: Nick Bailen gets called for interference after standing up the man with the puck at the blueline with 1:23 left in a tied game, Union scores on the ensuing power play. Referee: Tim Kotyra.

Well now... pretty sure you know who our favorite referees are.

First off, this isn't a knock on Union, not in the slightest. You get your opportunities, you take them and you walk away. Personally, I prefer to feel like we won fair and square to having to sneak out with a win served up for you by a bonehead call, but a win is a win and you can't fault Union for taking the win.

Bonehead calls can go both ways. I can recall feeling like we stole one in 2007 when Tyler Helfrich scored his first collegiate goal off a puck batted in with a high stick against Sacred Heart in overtime for a 1-0 victory. And of course, perhaps karma is just battering us over the head repeatedly for winning a national championship on a highly questionable goal in 1985 (and if it is... enough already, karma, I think we're square by now.)

And believe me, it doesn't take a loss to recognize awful officiating. RPI beat Boston University 4-1 two seasons ago in a game that was dreadfully officiated (hello, Bryan Hicks!). Heck, there was plenty of grumbling about the officiating this season after the second Mercyhurst game (Hicks again), and the Colgate game two weeks ago (yup), both wins.

Personally, I prefer to know in tight situations whether a win was legit. The night after Lee's phantom interference call, RPI tied Union with a Marty O'Grady goal at 19:59.8 of the third period, and won on a power play goal in overtime off a cross-checking call in the Union zone. I recall examining both the goal and the penalty with a high level of scrutiny - ultimately, I was satisfied (the goal beat the horn, and the penalty was pretty dangerous), but not by much.

These guys don't have some kind of weird vendetta against RPI or something. The Engineers are 13-25-4 all time in games where Tim Kotyra is on the ice, a .357 winning percentage against a .454 total winning percentage without him during that span (since 1999-2000). That's not outrageous. In fact, RPI has a winning record with Bryan Hicks on the ice (9-7-1 since 2008-09), which is better than their overall winning percentage during the same time period.

That's not what this is about. It's about making the right call at crunch time, and these guys just seem to keep turning up like bad pennies. We're not here making complaints about Bob St. Lawrence, Jean-Yves Roy, or Andy O'Brien, and we see these guys plenty, too. Makes you wonder.

Both teams have to play with the referees they are given, but the bottom line when certain zebras are out there is that when you play in close games - and RPI/Union is frequently close, and one or the other has done 11 of them over the years - you are leaving yourself open to having to deal with the consequences of a bad call.

Paul Stewart likes to respond to criticism of referees with something along the lines of "tryouts in August, come lace them up!" In other words, if you personally cannot do a better job, keep your mouth shut.

Sorry, Stewie. This isn't our problem. It's yours, whether you want to admit that it exists or not.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Men's Hockey - vs. Union (26 Jan)

Even when you're playing well, you can still be stopped - that much we've learned over the last couple of months when it pertains to the Engineers. On Saturday, RPI played well for the most part against a team that certainly was not playing well largely speaking, but when it came to going up against one of the better teams on the power play and the penalty kill in the nation, the difference was made, and despite playing a tight game for much of the night, a questionable late penalty provided the opening for Union to pick up a 3-2 win in the inaugural Mayor's Cup game.

Union
Lee-Laliberte-Haggerty
Zalewski-Higgs-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Tinordi
Rogic-Miller-O'Grady

Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan

Kasdorf

Greg Burgdoerfer came out of the lineup for Brock Higgs, and essentially all of the centers were juggled to make an accommodation for it.

Guy Lebeouf's cross-checking penalty two minutes into the game put Union on the power play for the first time, and they delivered the game's first goal with a shot from the point that glanced off Jason Kasdorf's glove and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. That was about the only high point for the Dutchmen during the first period, as RPI controlled the puck well after going down on the scoreboard. Troy Grosenick made the difference, stopping all 16 shots that he saw in the first period, keeping Union ahead despite the 16-7 shot differential.

RPI got themselves on the board quickly in the second as Ryan Haggerty notched his 10th goal of the year just 16 seconds into the period to tie the game up. After that, things settled in with both teams getting plenty of possession opportunities in the attacking zone, but fewer decent scoring opportunities both ways.

The third period was where things started to unravel. Early in the period, icing was called against the Engineers despite a Union player choosing not to play the puck in the neutral zone. The ensuing faceoff (after an RPI timeout) was won by the Dutchmen, and just a few seconds later resulted in Union's second goal of the contest.

The Engineers didn't give up, but the power play was very ineffective all night long thanks to some good penalty killing by Union. RPI had two opportunities on the man advantage after going down 2-1, but they could not convert on either, going 0-for-5 on the evening.

RPI was fortunate not to go down a man or even worse just a few minutes after falling behind, as an Engineer basically assaulted Grosenick behind the play, shaking up the goaltender for a little bit. Nothing was called.

Mark McGowan's fifth goal of the year, and second in as many games, lifted RPI back into a tie at just the right time, putting the score at 2-2 with just under five minutes to play. Things started shifting down toward the Union end just a little following the goal, and as time ticked down it started to appear as though overtime was inevitable.

Then, against play, Union brought the puck down ice. Nick Bailen, marking the man with the puck, shoved him down at the blue line, and was whistled for interference despite the fact that the puck was sitting at both men's feet. The penalty came with 1:23 left in regulation, and put Union in exactly the position they wanted to be in late in the game - on special teams. Just under a minute later, with 37 seconds left until overtime, the Dutchmen scored their second power play tally of the game, lifting them to a 3-2 victory - though RPI nearly scored on a late flurry off the ensuing faceoff.

Other junk - Quinnipiac very nearly earned the #1 ranking in the nation this week, as it is they are ranked #2 with 22 first place votes after defeating UConn on Tuesday. Other ranked ECAC teams include #8 Yale (beat Cornell and lost to Colgate, no change), #16 Dartmouth (lost to SLU and beat Clarkson, down four), and #18 Union (beat Harvard and RPI, up one). Also receiving votes were Colgate (19) and Cornell (5). Other ranked teams on the RPI schedule are #3 New Hampshire (up one), #11 Boston University (no change), #12 St. Cloud State (up four), and #15 Minnesota State (down one). Also receiving votes was Ferris State (42).

RPI has had the most difficult schedule in the ECAC (and 12th most difficult in the nation) according to KRACH, but the way forward from here is significantly easier than it has been on the whole so far. The Engineers will not leave the state of New York until March at the earliest (if at all), and face only two teams currently ranked nationally the rest of the way - Dartmouth and Yale, both at home. That could be beneficial going forward, especially since RPI has been playing some very good hockey of late, even in defeat.

Most immediately, it's Freakout! weekend, which produces two games RPI will need to bounce back into a home-ice playoff spot. Sitting in 11th but only 4 points out of 5th, a game against last-place Harvard at home is followed by Freakout! against nationally ranked but also struggling Dartmouth. For the Engineers, the time is now to make a move.

ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 23 points (11-0-1)
2. Yale - 17 points (8-4-1)
3. Dartmouth - 15 points (7-5-1)
4. Union - 15 points (6-4-3)
5. Princeton - 13 points (5-4-3)
6. Colgate - 11 points (5-6-1)
7. St. Lawrence - 11 points (4-5-3)
8. Clarkson - 10 points (4-6-2, 0 GD)
9. Cornell - 10 points (4-6-2, -6 GD)
10. Brown - 10 points (3-6-4)
11. RPI - 9 points (3-6-3)
12. Harvard - 6 points (3-11-0)

#19 Union vs. RPI
Non-Conference Game - Times Union Center (Albany, NY)
1/26/13 - 7:30pm

RESULT: Union 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
RECORD: 8-11-5 (3-6-3 ECAC, 9 points)

Upcoming games
01 Feb - Harvard
02 Feb - #16 Dartmouth (Big Red Freakout!)
08 Feb - at St. Lawrence
09 Feb - at Clarkson
15 Feb - Brown

Women's Hockey - Union Home & Home (25/26 Jan)

When looking to stay ahead of the pack fighting for the final playoff spots in the ECAC, it helps to beat the teams the rest of the league is beating. This weekend, the Engineers did just that, sweeping Union handily (2-1, 2-0) for a four-point boost in the standings.

In so doing, RPI has built a six point lead to sit comfortably in seventh place, and inched closer to 6th place Dartmouth who the Engineers now trail by just three points.

Friday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Cox/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Wash/Mahoney/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Sanders

Daniels/Le Donne
Banks/Godin
Schilter/Marzario
Middlebrook

O'Brien

Union has been fighting to move up in the ECAC world over the past several seasons, but it has been a hard road for the Dutchwomen who have struggled to pick up league points. They gave RPI a test on Friday evening, but Taylor Horton's two goals proved enough to give RPI a 2-1 victory in the opening half of the weekend's home-and-home in Schenectady.

Horton opened the scoring late in the opening period, putting home a pass from Jordan Smelker on the power play to give RPI a 1-0 lead.

The Dutchwomen tied the score almost a full period later, with Kelly McGrath putting a point shot past Kelly O'Brien on the power play to make it a 1-1 game.

Horton notched the game winner (and her team-leading 11th goal of the season) at 5:24 of the third period, cashing in on an opportunity close in on Union netminder Shenae Lundberg for the 2-1 lead.

The Engineers held off a late push by Union with the extra attacker to earn the 2-1 win. Union ended up outshooting RPI by a 13-10 margin in the third period. Lundberg finished with 28 saves in the loss while O'Brien stopped 23 for the win.

Oddly enough, with the game's result, the two teams ended up sharing the same overall record (7-15-3) however the difference in ECAC records was notable, with RPI holding a 5-7-1 league mark compared to Union's 0-10-3.

Saturday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Cox/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Wash/Mahoney/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Sanders

Daniels/Le Donne
Banks/Godin
Schilter/Marzario
Middlebrook

O'Brien

While Union put up a good fight against RPI on Friday evening, it was all Engineers on Saturday afternoon, as RPI held Union to five shots in the opening 40 minutes en route to a 2-0 shutout at Houston Field House.

Lundberg kept the Dutchwomen in the game despite the puck spending the vast majority of the game in the Union end of the ice, tallying 31 saves on the afternoon, but one of the two she missed came just 59 seconds into the game.

After the Engineers held the Union zone from the opening faceoff, Toni Sanders broke out of a pileup along the near side boards and fired a shot through a screening defender to beat Lundberg top-shelf for the early 1-0 lead.

What ensued after the opening goal can best be described as something that looked like a period-long power play for the Engineers, where Union was credited with two shots on goal but they were on dump-ins down the ice which found their way on net.

RPI peppered Lundberg with 15 shots in the period, finally breaking through for a second goal at 16:09 when Mariana Walsh picked up the first of her career, banging home a loose puck in front of the Union net after several tries were turned aside by the Union goalie.

RPI's momentum was slowed somewhat in the second period by a series of consecutive penalties, but the Engineer defense continued to stifle the Dutchwomen, holding them to three shots on goal despite having three power play opportunities.

Union's best opportunity came early in the third period where they got possession set up in the RPI zone and quickly put a handful of shots on O'Brien, but it was short-lived as RPI soon regained control and kept up pressure on Union for most of the third period.

RPI never managed to definitively put the game away as they couldn't extend the lead beyond two, and found themselves several times with nobody near the net looking for deflections and rebounds. Without the traffic out front, Lundberg made short work of most of the Engineers' scoring chances.

Union pulled the goalie for the final two minutes of regulation, looking to get on the board, but neither they nor the Engineers managed a goal in the stretch - although RPI held the Union zone for nearly a minute with the net empty, they couldn't get a shot on goal in that time.

While four points are four points, the Engineers continue to have trouble scoring, having not notched more than two goals in any of their past eight games. On the brighter side, Kelly O'Brien earned her second shutout of the season in Saturday afternoon's contest.

RPI takes to the road for games at Colgate (7pm Friday) and Cornell (4pm Saturday) next weekend. The Raiders are tied for eighth place, six points back of RPI, so a win in Hamilton would help solidify that lead for RPI.

Cornell has been the strong team we have come to expect the past several seasons, currently tied with Quinnipiac for second in the ECAC behind Harvard, and should prove to be a very difficult challenge for the Engineers on Saturday.

-----

RPI at Union
ECAC Hockey Game – Messa Rink (Schenectady, NY)
1/25/13 - 7pm
RPI 2, Union 1

BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/25/rensselaer-vs-union/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wrenuni1.j25

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/25/WICE_0125131828.aspx
Union: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2013/1/25/WICE_0125130629.aspx

RECORD: 7-15-3 (5-7-1 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Union
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/26/13 - 4pm
RPI 2, Union 0

BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/26/union-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wrenuni1.j26

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/26/WICE_0126135157.aspx
Union: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2013/1/26/WICE_0126131238.aspx
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Va-32yPfU0

RECORD: 8-15-3 (6-7-1 ECAC)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Harvard - 28 points (14-1-0)
2t. Cornell - 24 points (12-2-0)
2t. Clarkson - 24 points (12-2-0)
4. St. Lawrence 19 points (9-4-1)
5. Quinnipiac - 17 points (8-5-1)
6. Dartmouth - 16 points (7-6-2)
7. RPI - 13 points (6-7-1)
8t. Colgate - 7 points (2-9-3)
8t. Yale - 7 points (3-10-1)
10t. Brown - 6 points (3-11-0)
10t. Princeton - 6 points (2-10-2)
12. Union - 3 points (0-11-3)

-----

Upcoming Games

Feb. 1 - at Colgate (7pm)
Feb. 2 - at Cornell (4pm)
Feb. 8 - Clarkson (7pm)
Feb. 9 - St. Lawrence (4pm)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Union of Old?

November might as well have been last season.

Ken Schott last week, while Union was splitting against Cornell and Colgate to run their 2013 record to 2-4-0, said the Dutchmen were not looking like the "Union of old." We agree, but only in the sense that they haven't looked like the "Union of old" in a couple of years. But, perhaps, their play lately has been closer to the Union we're "used to" than the one that was in the Frozen Four last year.

They bounced back on Tuesday by thrashing Harvard in a mid-week Beanpot helper game (Harvard reschedules the two games that would have originally taken place the Saturday before Beanpot games, the first two Mondays in February), but Harvard has been losing badly to pretty much everyone lately (including Clarkson last night).

Meanwhile, RPI is looking nothing like the team that last played the Dutchmen in November. They've fought their way through what KRACH has rated as the most difficult schedule in all of the ECAC, and they've put together some decent results of late. They placed the lone blemish to date on Quinnipiac's league record. They dominated Princeton despite losing at the end - and they just swept Colgate and Cornell. Their freshman goaltender, now healthy again, is playing very, very well.

Preseason favorites to top the ECAC for the third year in a row, that's now a longshot for Union. It's a long way to fall from the Frozen Four. Let's help things out tonight.



Friday, January 25, 2013

Dutch Oven

There's been a little bit of complaining about the timing of this year's non-conference game against Union - some complaining that it's still going on. That can pretty much cease, folks. First off, the non-conference game isn't going anywhere. Not sure if you've noticed, but it's been in place in some fashion since 2006 and before that it existed for a few years as well between 1996 and 2000, so... enough already. It's a local rivalry and whereas it used to be a joke, now it means something and it's only for the benefit of college hockey in the area now that Union sucks less than they used to. OK?

And yeah, we're going to rag on the Mayor's Cup because the physical trophy is probably the most generic thing ever, no one cared about the last "trophy" these teams played for (I bet most of you didn't even realize there was such a thing, or could name it) and no one is probably going to care about this one, least of which the players who have never needed a reason to get up for RPI-Union, but at least they're trying to market this game to the general public, which are the ones who need it marketed. So in that spirit, game on.

The Albany Devils are taking on their rivals in an afternoon game at the TU Center as the precursor to RPI-Union. Compare attendance accordingly and then understand why this game needs a future.

It worked out perfectly, by the way, that the non-conference game ends up being the same weekend as the women's home-and-home against the Dutchwomen. These are a couple of must wins for the Engineers, and considering that they lost to them for the first time in Division I back in October during their non-conference game. Then again, the Dutchwomen have been... treated poorly in the last couple of weeks, so it's time for RPI to strike while the iron is how. They're playing well, Union isn't, and these are four points the Engineers will want when they're counting them up at the end of the season and finding out if they get to go to the playoffs.

Two pump-ups for you this weekend due to the staggered start, and due to the fact that there wasn't much we felt the need to talk about this week. Enjoy the lame homemade video that goes with it (though it gets an A for effort).

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Behold the Majesty of the Mayor's Cup

Presented without (further) commentary.

Captions welcome (and highly encouraged), both in the comments below and on Twitter.


Photo shamelessly ripped off from @slapschotts.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Men's Hockey - Colgate/Cornell (18/19 Jan)

One-goal games can boost your season or they can ruin it - all depending on which side of the margin you're on. For RPI this weekend, a pair of positive one-goal outcomes boosted them from the very basement of the ECAC all the way up to 7th place, with room to grow. That's the good news. The bad news is that they now have to take a week off from league games before getting back into things for the first weekend of February. That's going to be tough to do, but at the very least, a pair of tight wins has the Engineers back into the hunt in league play.

Colgate
Lee-McGowan-Haggerty
Zalewski-Laliberte-Bubela
Neal-Miller-Tinordi
Rogic-O'Grady-Burgdoerfer

Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan

Kasdorf

Two upperclassmen have been struggling this season with injuries - Brock Higgs and Marty O'Grady. On Friday, Higgs came out of the lineup in favor of O'Grady, and freshman goaltender Jason Kasdorf returned from injury to play in his first game since a game just after Christmas against St. Cloud.

RPI played well in what was a fairly even first period. Kasdorf got himself back into the groove in a hurry, stopping 13 shots in the first period against 9 shots by the Engineers in the first twenty minutes. A penalty to Curtis Leonard for high-sticking was the only notable event of the period, and it was killed by RPI with some ease.

After a quick first, RPI started getting the lion's share of the action in the second, and once Colgate took their first penalty of the game midway through the second, the Engineers' power play appeared to put them ahead 1-0 on a goal by Leonard, but it was immediately disallowed by referee Bryan Hicks, who claimed that C.J. Lee was interfering with the goaltender. It was shades of the game at Union two years ago when a tying goal with 10 seconds left was disallowed because of Lee interfering with the goaltender. This time, goal review was available, but even with video evidence apparently showing a lack of any real interference, it was still disallowed.

After failing to score for the remainder of the power play, RPI had to regroup after the disallowed goal, and they did end up netting the first goal of the game a few minutes later as Johnny Rogic scored his second goal of the season to make it 1-0 Engineers.

Early in the third period, a boarding call against C.J. Lee put Colgate on the power play, but an odd facemasking minor against a Colgate player (and, for some reason, Lee as well even though it was his facemask being yanked) riled the RPI crowd, considering that facemasking is supposed to be an automatic major and game misconduct. The Engineers killed the power play, but a weak slashing call against Bo Dolan on a Colgate breakaway just under a minute later put them back on the penalty kill.

Late in the power play, Colgate scored to tie things up at one, and for much of the third period it looked as though the Raiders would be the team more likely to break that tie. Kasdorf had to have another big period in the third, stopping 12 of 13 shots. Meanwhile, the Engineers were having a hard time putting rubber on net, and were equally frustrated by good goaltending on the other end as well.

With 7:46 left in regulation, it was Matt Tinordi's third goal of the year that elevated the Engineers to a 2-1 lead, and an insurance goal was not forthcoming. Colgate worked hard to find their second equalizer of the game, but even after a flurry of activity with an empty net, they couldn't find it. RPI got the puck out of their zone with 10 seconds left, but they could not convert the empty netter. Instead, Ryan Haggerty took the puck into the corner and got absolutely crushed for his efforts. That gave Colgate's Thomas Larkin a five-minute major at 20:00 of the third period in a game that wasn't tied. Whoopee. Haggerty was very slow to get up, and the teams did eventually shake hands. Haggerty would be OK to go the next night despite what looked like a wrist injury.

Cornell
Lee-Laliberte-Haggerty
Zalewski-McGowan-Bubela
Neal-Miller-Tinordi
Rogic-O'Grady-Burgdoerfer

Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan

Kasdorf

Only one, minor change from Friday's victory as Jacob Laliberte and Mark McGowan swapped the lines they were centering, but otherwise the same players that dressed against Colgate also dressed against Cornell.

An early holding penalty against Cornell put RPI on the power play, and they did not mess around - Nick Bailen netted his fifth goal of the season just 18 seconds in to put the Engineers up 1-0 for the second straight night. Seconds later, RPI went on the penalty kill and had to be feeling good after getting through it unscathed.

Midway through the period, however, Greg Burgdoerfer was shown the gate with a five-minute major and game misconduct for blowing up returning US junior gold medalist Cole Bardreau against the boards. That penalty turned into a goal for Cornell less than a minute later, but it was the only one the Big Red would pull out of the major power play.

The Engineers responded well in the second period, but solid goaltending and team defense by Cornell kept things 1-1 until late in the period, when Ryan Haggerty scored on the power play to make it 2-1 Engineers with less than five to play in the second.

RPI's discipline was decent against the Big Red if you take out Burgdoerfer's ill-conceived hit. They did have to kill a carryover penalty to Mark McGowan into the third period, but they made it through with their lead intact. McGowan would later provide a key insurance goal, his fourth tally of the season, to put the Engineers up 3-1 with less than eight minutes to play.

The Engineers killed a penalty to Bailen shortly thereafter, but Cornell did not quit down two. The goaltender was pulled with a minute to play, and the Big Red pulled within one with an extra attacker goal coming with 32 seconds left in the game. However, that was as close as they would get as the Engineers held on for the 3-2 victory, picking up their first home sweep of Colgate and Cornell since 1998-99.

Jason Kasdorf's return to the net was... successful to say the least. He made 66 saves on 69 shots faced over the course of the weekend, and none of the three goals he allowed was at even strength, having given up two power play goals and an extra attacker goal. That bodes well for the Engineers moving forward.

Other junk - Ranked teams in the ECAC this week include #2 Quinnipiac (idle, up two with two first place votes), #8 Yale (swept Harvard/Dartmouth, up four), #12 Dartmouth (beat Brown and lost to Yale, down one), #18 Cornell (beat Union and lost to RPI, down two), and #19 Union (lost to Cornell and beat Colgate, down two). Also receiving votes was Colgate (6, formerly #20). Other teams on the RPI schedule ranked this week are #4 New Hampshire (down one), #11 Boston University (down two), #14 Minnesota State (no change), and #16 St. Cloud State (up three). Ferris State (39) also received votes.

Three of Mark McGowan's four goals have been game-winners. That places him in a tie for 11th in the nation.

Kasdorf's return also brought him back to the national stats race, since he again has over 33% of the team's total minutes. His 1.60 GAA and .943 save percentage are both good for fifth in the nation, while his 4-1-2 record and .714 winning percentage has him tied for 7th in the country with Boston College's Parker Milner, who you may remember won a national championship last year.

Next up for RPI, unfortunately, is not more games for ECAC points, as they have the "Mayor's Cup" game against Union coming up this coming Saturday. It's a non-conference game, the last one of the season. Union is closer to the Union of old right now than they are to the Union of last year, but it should still be a close game nonetheless. They're at least more vulnerable, apparently, than they've been in previous games between these schools.

Otherwise, the upcoming schedule for the Engineers is very solid. They have two more games at home against Harvard and Dartmouth, then take to the road for the annual North Country trip, which is a pair of games against teams that have struggled greatly of late. Then there's two more games at home against Brown and Yale. In all, 7 of the remaining 11 games will take place in the Capital District. Not bad at all.

ECAC Standings (by winning percentage in parentheses)
1 (1). Quinnipiac - 23 points (11-0-1)
2 (2). Yale - 15 points (7-3-1)
3 (3). Dartmouth - 13 points (6-4-1)

4 (4). Union - 13 points (5-4-3, +5 GD)

5 (5). Princeton - 13 points (5-4-3, 0 GD)
6 (6). Cornell - 10 points (4-4-2)
7 (8). RPI - 9 points (3-6-3)
8 (7). Clarkson - 8 points (3-5-2)
9 (9). Brown - 8 points (2-5-4)
10 (10). Colgate - 7 points (3-6-1)
11 (11). St. Lawrence - 7 points (2-5-3)
12 (12). Harvard - 6 points (3-8-0)

#20 Colgate at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/18/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Colgate 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 7-10-5 (2-6-3 ECAC, 7 points)


#16 Cornell at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/19/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Cornell 2

BOX SCORES
RECORD: 8-10-5 (3-6-3 ECAC, 9 points)

Upcoming games
26 Jan - vs. #17 Union (Albany, NY)
01 Feb - Harvard
02 Feb - #12 Dartmouth (Big Red Freakout!)
08 Feb - at St. Lawrence
09 Feb - at Clarkson

Women's Hockey - at Harvard & Dartmouth (18/19 Jan)

The Engineers faced what is likely the toughest weekend remaining on their schedule this weekend, hitting the road for a pair of games at Harvard and Dartmouth. The Crimson continued to run roughshod over the ECAC, defeating the Engineers 4-1, while RPI managed a comeback in the third period at Dartmouth to salvage a 2-2 tie after entering the period down 2-0.

Harvard

Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mankey
Wash/Cox/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Sanders

Le Donne/Daniels
Godin/Banks
Schilter/Marzario
Middlebrook

O'Brien

Harvard (#2/#3 ranked) has been dominant in ECAC play all season - still undefeated past the midpoint of the schedule - and continued that this weekend as it received scoring from three lines and two defensive pairs in a 4-1 victory over RPI.

Michelle Picard gave the Crimson an early lead with a shorthanded goal at 3:52 of the first period. On the ensuing faceoff after a Harvard penalty, Picard collected the puck and broke past the RPI defense on a breakaway, beating Kelly O'Brien for the tally.

Taylor Horton evened the score at one less than two minutes later, cashing in on a third chance after shots by Le Donne and Smelker were stopped.

Lyndsey Fry gave the lead back to Harvard just over two minutes after Horton's goal, scoring her first of two in the game after a nice move to get around the RPI defense and break in alone on O'Brien.

The second period saw Harvard stifle the Engineers, holding them to a single shot which didn't come until the final two minutes, while putting nine of their own on O'Brien. One of those shots, by Miye D'Oench, beat O'Brien from the slot to make it a 3-1 lead.

A pair of penalties on RPI's Godin and Middlebrook in the third period put Harvard on a 5-on-3 and the Crimson cashed in with Fry potting her second of the game to put the game away by its final score of 4-1.

Dartmouth

Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mankey
Wash/Cox/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Sanders

Daniels/Le Donne
Banks/Godin
Schilter/Marzario
Middlebrook

O'Brien

After the defeat at Harvard the night before, RPI looked to bounce back against Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon and found some success in battling back late in the third to earn a 2-2 tie and finish the season series against Dartmouth with three points - points which many of the other teams chasing the Engineers in the standings will likely not pick up. It was the first game of the season where Dartmouth did not win when leading heading into the third period.

The Big Green jumped out to an early lead, with Sasha Nanji getting one past O'Brien to make it 1-0 at 2:53 of the opening frame.

The Engineers couldn't cash in on a series of Dartmouth penalties in the first, mustering just four shots on goal in the period despite having four power play opportunities. Instead it was Dartmouth who picked up another goal just seconds before the buzzer, when Sally Komarek put one in at 19:53.

The second period passed without scoring, although the teams traded power play opportunities. Dartmouth once again held RPI to four shots, while the Engineers allowed nine on O'Brien.

RPI picked up the pressure in the third period, outshooting the Big Green 10-3 in the frame. It was well into the latter half of the period before the Engineers could get on the board however, with Eleeza Cox scoring a big power play goal at 14:01 to get RPI back into things and make it a one-goal game.

Dartmouth used their timeout at 17:48 after getting caught out on an icing, but it took just four seconds from the ensuing faceoff for Jenn Godin to tie things up at two for RPI.

The Engineers had a good chance to win it when Nanji went off for checking with less than a minute left in regulation, but RPI couldn't break through for another goal. The game went to overtime where RPI outshot Dartmouth 2-0, but the 2-2 score held up to give each team a point.

The standings are resolving themselves into a clear upper and lower half of the league, with sixth-place Dartmouth leading seventh-place RPI 16 points to 9. Brown and Princeton trail the Engineers by three points with Colgate and Yale just one point back of that. The Engineers can go a long way toward solidifying their hold on the 7th spot by picking up wins in the six games which remain against Union (2), Colgate (2), Yale and Brown - however their chances of catching Dartmouth for sixth appear slight unless the Big Green falter down the stretch.

Next weekend is RPI's home-and-home with Union, which has frequently proven to be a tough weekend regardless of how the Dutchwomen are otherwise faring in the season. Friday's game at Union is slated for 7pm, while the home game on Saturday will be at 3, presumably to leave fans of both teams enough time to make it to Albany to watch the same two teams on the men's side face off at the Times Union Center.

-----

RPI at #2/#3 Harvard
ECAC Hockey Game – Bright Hockey Center (Boston, MA)
1/18/13 - 7pm
Harvard 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/18/rensselaer-vs-harvard/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wharren1.j18

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/18/WICE_0118132219.aspx
Harvard: http://gocrimson.com/sports/wice/2012-13/releases/20130118dg0uwz
Video Highlights (Harvard goals and interviews only): http://youtu.be/LkZt8Hq6TIE

RECORD: 6-15-2 (4-7-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI at Dartmouth
ECAC Hockey Game – Thompson Arena (Hanover, NH)
1/19/13 - 4pm
RPI 2, Dartmouth 2

BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/19/rensselaer-vs-dartmouth/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wdarren1.j19

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/19/WICE_0119135304.aspx
Dartmouth: http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=48905&SPID=4726&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=206034462&DB_OEM_ID=11600

RECORD: 6-15-3 (4-7-1 ECAC)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Harvard - 26 points (13-0-0)
2t. Cornell - 20 points (10-2-0)
2t. Clarkson - 20 points (10-2-0)
4t. St. Lawrence 17 points (8-3-1)
4t. Quinnipiac - 17 points (8-5-1)
6. Dartmouth - 16 points (7-4-2)
7. RPI - 9 points (4-7-1)
8t. Princeton - 6 points (2-10-2)
8t. Brown - 6 points (3-9-0)
10t. Colgate - 5 points (1-8-3)
10t. Yale - 5 points (2-9-1)
12. Union - 3 points (0-9-3)

-----

Upcoming Games

Jan. 25 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 26 - Union (3pm)
Feb. 1 - at Colgate (7pm)
Feb. 2 - at Cornell (4pm)

Friday, January 18, 2013

Varying Point Requirements

The women are in a very good place. Not yet ready to compete among the very top end of the ECAC, they're in 7th place and a full five points out of 6th place Dartmouth, so there's a bit of a gap. However, that does place the Engineers ahead of their main competition for making the playoffs.

The bottom line is that RPI is very much in control of its own destiny. Games against other would be playoff teams - Yale, Brown, Princeton, Colgate, and Union - are now must earn points. Games against other teams are good for gravy points, and that's what the Engineers have this weekend.

Points tonight especially are going to be gravy. Harvard may well be the best team in the country, and the Engineers came closer than anyone has this season to actually taking points from the Crimson when last they met on January 5 in Troy. RPI scored one of only four goals Harvard has allowed in ECAC play this season (11 games... yeah) and got within 15 minutes of a draw before settling for a 2-1 loss, the only one-goal victory of the year for Harvard if you don't count the empty-netter victory over Cornell.

Still... all that together combined with the game being in Boston is a great reason you can't count on points tonight. Tomorrow is different. Dartmouth is in 6th, and the Engineers picked up a victory at home over the Big Green. It's still gravy right now, but if the Engineers are going to take their eyes off the bottom of the pack, a season sweep over Dartmouth could focus their attention on 6th instead, a far better place to be than fighting for a road trip to Harvard or Clarkson at the end of the year.

For the men, they're at a position where points are a must wherever and whenever they can get them. That one point against Quinnipiac last week was huge in that no other team in the league can claim points against the Bobcats, but it was also the only one of the weekend and RPI's still in last place. If you've seen this team in the last six weeks, you know they're not a "last place team," but the stark statistical reality speaks otherwise.

With far more parity than women's hockey, the points have got to come from everywhere they can be had, and with the vast majority of remaining games coming at home, it's officially go time. Colgate's a young team that can score goals, but the defense has been suspect at times. Tonight's game could well set the tone for the next couple of weeks, and if the Engineers can pull themselves out of last place with a win... well, let's put it this way, they might be in last place, but a weekend sweep at home can put them as high as sixth. There's a gap between 5th and 6th, but 6th is better than 12th no matter how close it is or what time of year it is.

Let's do this. By the way, if you have pump-up requests, tweet them at us or shoot us an email.

Crossing the border for this one, off the Hip's newest album (skip to about 55 seconds in for the music, if you like).

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Pipeline 2013: Stockpiling

No two college teams are ever the same from year to year. Seniors graduate and freshmen arrive, making each team different than the last. Four years on from any point in time, the team is a completely different animal. When Without a Peer first started publishing, we were watching Marty O'Grady and C.J. Lee in their freshman seasons (along with a couple of their classmates) with fellow first-year Bryce Merriam backing up an interesting young sophomore who had just been handed the reins in net - Allen York.

Now, we watch those players as they enter the final months of their careers in the Cherry and White. But just as sure as they added to the team they joined, so too will others as a new class of freshmen arrive on campus in August to replace them.

Believe it or not, the current season marks the first in which head coach Seth Appert has a roster made up entirely of players he recruited to play for the Engineers - Joel Malchuk was one of Dan Fridgen's last recruits, and he did not arrive until Appert's second season, eventually staying for five years due to a medical redshirt. Regardless, this has certainly been Appert's team for the last three or four seasons now, and there's been one thing that his supporters and detractors tend to agree on: if nothing else, Appert tends to bring in recruits with outstanding potential.

That's what we're hoping will continue as the years continue to roll by. Right now, there are seven known recruits expected at the Institute in the coming years, and they continue to come from the right places in terms of pre-college experience. The United States Hockey League (USHL) and the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) are generally considered the top two Junior "A" leagues in North America, and as of now, five of the seven recruits are regulars in those leagues, with a sixth logging some time in the USHL around his high school schedule and the seventh a highly-rated prospect from the top public high school league in the United States.

The future of RPI hockey is below, ordered first by their expected arrival dates and then in the order of their commitment. As of now, there are five recruits expected on campus in August 2013 and two expected in 2014. Next year's freshman class is almost certainly set with the exception of a replacement for Merriam, likely to be a walk-on goaltender that we won't learn about until August.

Once again, great thanks to RPI TV alum Reilly Hamilton for his help with the visuals. The recruit's current jersey number is followed by their position and their birth year.

Team: Lincoln Stars (USHL)
Projected to Replace: C.J. Lee

We expected to see Wood play in either the USHL or BCHL in final preparation for college hockey after graduating from The Gunnery last year, and we were right. The Stars scooped him up with a third round pick in the USHL Futures Draft, and he is now playing for them as one of four "imports," as USHL teams are limited in the number of non-American players on their roster. That means teams must be judicious with their import slots, and is a solid indicator that Wood is thought highly enough to be worth using one of those slots.

He has speed, which has been the hallmark of forwards Appert has brought in recently, and he demonstrated in Connecticut the ability to both score goals and move the puck. Wood was compared last year to Chase Polacek at a similar level of development, and at RPI that can only mean good things. He's got a physical edge to his game (as his penalty minutes show very well), willing to go into the corners and fight for puck possession, which means he'll fit in well in the ECAC. We've been watching him develop since his commitment to RPI in January 2011, and we can, with some confidence, project that he will eventually play a very solid offensive role for the Engineers.

Whether that is something that will manifest itself immediately is difficult to tell, but keep in mind that Appert went out and snapped Wood up relatively early - early enough that this is now the third time he's appeared in our yearly pipeline feature. More often than not, that's a sign of higher than usual expectations. He's currently seventh at Lincoln in scoring, but he's behind a couple of North Dakota recruits, a Penn State guy (transferring there after playing at Alaska-Anchorage last season), and a future Gopher. If you're going to be seventh, those are some pretty solid guys to be behind.

Regardless, Wood seems to have transitioned well from the prep level into juniors, and while we've found in recent years that even many well-hyped players are unable to be major contributors right away, RPI certainly seems to have a recruit with lots of potential in Wood, and you're going to be hearing his name quite a bit in the coming years.


Team: Omaha Lancers (USHL)
Projected to Replace: None (additional roster spot)

The "none" in this case, is kind of an anomaly - the Engineers had a 29-man roster in 2008-09, and it was 28 in 2009-10, which it hasn't returned to since Brandon Pirri, Jerry D'Amigo, and Jordan Watts departed in August of 2010, all earlier than expected. There have been 16 forwards on the roster since then, and with Marty O'Grady, C.J. Lee, and Greg Burgdoerfer graduating in May, the four expected forwards will bring that number back up to 17 for the first time since that August three years prior.

But certainly don't take that to mean that Melanson should be looked at as an afterthought - far from it. Based on his exploits in New Jersey over the last couple of seasons and for Team USA at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in Europe over the summer, he may well be one of the most highly anticipated forwards since Pirri and D'Amigo.

Melanson possesses some lightning-fast speed and a demonstrated scoring ability - in 25 games for the Delbarton School last year in New Jersey, he produced 57 points, including 40 assists, in helping his team to a state championship. Without much left to prove in the Garden State, he began play in the USHL this season as a 17-year-old. While the numbers aren't nearly as gaudy, one has to expect a bit of a drop-off with the improved competition, especially since most of his competition is older (and a bit bigger) than he is. Given all of that, the numbers aren't half bad.

It is known that Melanson spurned offers from Yale and Princeton (both schools where some of his Delbarton teammates have committed), from Union, and even Boston University to accept a scholarship at RPI - and as we've seen in the past, when you can ace schools like BU for recruits (and, in the semi-recent past, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan), you're usually getting someone worthwhile.

There had been some ambiguity as to when Melanson was coming to RPI. For over a year after his commitment, it was in doubt whether he would come in 2013 or 2014, and many had expected that 2014 would be a more likely scenario given Melanson's age and the fact that eventually there were three other forwards coming in to replace the three graduating at the end of this year. But after Melanson tweeted that he had signed a National Letter of Intent, that made things academic and he will be on campus in the fall.

It could be argued that Melanson would be better off waiting a year to come to RPI, but given his talent level and the current composition of the team, it could make sense to aim for him to have a season of college hockey under his belt when today's sophomores are seniors - it could contribute to what may be a very dangerous RPI team. He needs to get bigger, but there's no shortage of players recently who have played an undersized freshman year and returned for their sophomore year with the requisite size.


Team: Lincoln Stars (USHL)
Projected to Replace: Marty O'Grady

Most observers had thought that Bourbonnais would have been on campus in time for the start of this season, but an extra year of seasoning in the USHL certainly never hurt anyone. Although it was a bit surprising when it was announced that he would arrive in 2013 instead of 2012, Seth Appert insisted that it was always the plan to have him turn out in 2013.

He made his visit to RPI during the 2010-11 season, which was certainly a good time to see the Engineers in action. Hailing from a college hockey family - his father and uncle both played for RIT - he was ranked as one of the top prospects in eastern prep hockey when he committed to RPI in September 2011 shortly after his graduation from Berkshire Prep in Massachusetts.

Last year was his first in the USHL, and there was a bit of a learning curve. He put up 39 points in 53 games, certainly a good start right out of high school, but this year he has picked it up a bit, as you can see. He played the first 17 games of the season for Cedar Rapids, where he played last year, and produced nearly a point per game with seven goals and nine assists, and after being traded to Sioux City, his point production has been practically as steady. He was the team's leading scorer measured by points per game by quite a bit for the last place Musketeers, who then turned around and traded him to Lincoln, where he'll play with two other soon-to-be-Engineers.

Bourbonnais may need to improve his foot speed a bit according to his own admission and some scouting reports, but he projects well as a playmaker for the Engineers, someone who can both score goals himself and find the open man. Last year we projected him as an early contributor, and with his improved play in the USHL that's certainly something we're still hoping for when he arrives in the fall.


Team: Lincoln Stars (USHL)
Projected to Replace: Greg Burgdoerfer

Last year, we kicked off the Jimmy DeVito preview by highlighting some of the many fights he had been involved with while playing with his hometown Chicago Steel - so many, that he had his own YouTube channel. While that channel doesn't appear to be getting updated, his stat line certainly indicates that not much has changed. He's still the tough guy he was likely recruited to be.

DeVito was dealt from the Steel this offseason, where he'd played 102 games in two seasons - impressive, given that he is now only 18 years old. That kind of experience playing in the USHL is certainly a positive; he'll be hard pressed to play as many games in the Cherry and White during his career as he did in juniors, but that's partially a function of season length, too. You have to be pretty decent to be playing in the USHL at age 16, even with a hometown squad, but that's what he was doing in the 2010-11 season.

DeVito's toughness sticks out like a sore thumb in any of his stat lines, but his scoring line last year in Chicago - 24 points in 57 games - shows that he can chip in offensively as well. He obviously will not be able to throw down in college the way he did in the USHL, but given how frequently we've been hearing from Seth Appert about the physical game, there's no question he'll be a welcome addition to the roster and a must-start grind line guy for games against any of the more notoriously physical teams like Cornell, Union, and Brown at the very least.

As a bit of a bonus, DeVito will come to Troy having played a season with Jake Wood already (and the end of the season with Riley Bourbonnais), which will make them the first set of Engineers to join the team at the same time having been teammates immediately beforehand since Chase Polacek and Bryan Brutlag came aboard from the Academy of Holy Angels (Zach Schroeder and Andrew Commers played together at St. Thomas Academy but were not and are not classmates, it had been anticipated that Luke Curadi and Nick Quinn would have joined together from Dubuque of the USHL but Quinn decommitted).


Team: Edina High School (MSHSL)
Projected to Replace: Nick Bailen

The lone defenseman expected to come to RPI in 2013, Reno could potentially be coming to school as an NHL draft pick given his position in the most recent rankings from the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau. The Lincoln Stars hold his USHL draft rights, but given that Reno has signed a National Letter of Intent, it doesn't look like he'll see time there unless he joins their roster at the end of the high school season (which, incidentally, would give Lincoln four future Engineers on their roster).

Reno is one of three captains for the Edina Hornets, currently ranked second in Minnesota's Class AA behind Hill-Murray. Like Melanson, Reno played on the US Under-18 select team at the Ivan Hlinka tournament in Europe this past summer. He's the first (and possibly only) top-level Minnesota high school defenseman to commit to an eastern school this year.

From the sound of things, there aren't too many flaws in Reno's game. He's bigger than the guy he's replacing on the roster (although it's not difficult to be bigger than Nick Bailen), he's got a heavy shot and has good speed considering his size. He's reportedly a stay-at-home defenseman with good passing skills, and word is he's not afraid to throw his weight around when he has to. Perhaps the one thing he's missing in comparison to Bailen is an offensive outlook, but you don't always need that when you're talking about defensemen.

The other things that keep coming up with regards to Reno is that he sees the play well enough that he is rarely out of position, and makes excellent decisions on where to place the puck when it's in his possession. The only knock that seems to be out there on Reno is that his overall speed could potentially be better, but considering that it's already decent for his size (and there's room for improvement), that's just more to be excited about when it comes to Reno.

If there were nothing else, Reno's addition to the lineup next year makes an already large corps of blueliners even bigger. That's certainly something worth being excited over.


Team: Selects Hockey Academy (USEHL)
Projected to Replace: Bo Dolan

Last year, when we first found out about Manley, there wasn't much to report on him. He played for a new program in Connecticut that we didn't know much about, knew he was really young, and knew he had a much bigger relative playing Division III hockey. We've learned a little bit since then, especially since the Selects Hockey Academy is in a new environment.

The USEHL is basically a regional midget league started this season among midget programs and a few prep schools. Selects Hockey Academy is kind of both - their players attend the South Kent School in Northwestern Connecticut while playing hockey for the Selects, which functions more as a midget team than a prep team like Albany Academy. South Kent actually maintains a separate varsity hockey program from the Selects. Manley, for sure, is playing on an elite squad.

Manley has described himself as a "puck moving defenseman." He's a junior in high school, which means he has options for next season before arriving in Troy in 2014. He can either stay with the Selects or, more likely, move on to the USHL as Melanson did, sort of foregoing his senior year of high school (although that year is academically completed while in juniors). Manley, this season, got the opportunity to play four games with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL, the team that selected him in the third round of the 2012 USHL Futures Draft. Those are the numbers you see above, since Manley's numbers with the Selects are unavailable. At any rate, it could be an indication that he will move on to Waterloo next season.

Regardless, the optimism we had last year when we learned the Engineers had secured a commitment from a high school sophomore seems to have been well placed. While Manley may replace Bo Dolan on the roster, he may project to be more like Nick Bailen - small and offensively oriented, the kind of smaller defenseman who has speed and isn't afraid to play the body when he has to. At any rate, we'll almost certainly learn more about him next season.


Team: Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL)
Projected to Replace: Brock Higgs

Tironese is another guy who is projected to eventually be a blue-chip talent for the Engineers. Fourth on his team in scoring at the age of 16 (as the youngest player on his team), he's already worked his way up to almost a point per game at 17 and he's still got another year of seasoning to go in the BCHL before coming to Troy - expectations are high that he will be one of the BCHL's top scorers next season, if his general trajectory continues the way it has been. He's not scoring at rates similar to Jacob Laliberte was in juniors, but then again, Tironese isn't playing in Ontario, and Laliberte was older when he was putting together some of the eye popping numbers that caught the attention of RPI fans.

This season, Tironese appeared on the Canada West team at the World Junior A Challenge in Nova Scotia. On a team largely comprised of 93 and 94 birth years, he was the second-youngest player on the team, one of only four 95 birth years on the squad.

Before Alberni Valley - where assistant coach Nolan Graham was the head coach before returning to RPI - Tironese played with the prestigious Notre Dame Hounds in Saskatchewan, a program that has generated numerous NHL players over the years.

According to his scouting reports, he skates and passes very well, and he makes up for what he lacks in size by being able to get physical in the corners. At his size, pro scouts will possibly take a pass, which is good news for RPI as he'll likely be able to develop his game in college hockey. He's already shown a tremendous amount of growth between the Hounds and the Bulldogs, and that third year in the BCHL next year is going to ensure that Tironese arrives in Troy well seasoned and ready to contribute in 2014.

--

We finish with a quick look ahead to future seasons - a glimpse of what the team still needs in campaigns off in the distant future:

2014-15
Departing: 2 defensemen, 3 forwards
Currently incoming: 1 defenseman, 1 forward

2015-16
Departing: 2 defensemen, 5 forwards, 1 goaltender
Currently incoming: none

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Friday is Autism Awareness Night

If you saw the BU/RPI game a couple of weeks ago, you may have noticed a blue puzzle piece on the Terriers' jersey. It certainly looked a little out of place on BU's classing white and red uniforms, but it has a very special meaning - the Terriers are wearing the patch all year long in promotion of Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism advocacy organization.

This coming Friday, the men's team will take on Colgate in RPI's first Autism Awareness Game. The event is being put on not only to increase understanding of autism among the general public, but also to create an atmosphere more comfortable for children with autism to be able to enjoy the game.

* There will be no music played during the contest.
* The video board will not play any flashing displays
* The goal horn will not be used when the Engineers score
* The PA announcer will be more muted than usual

In honor of autism awareness, the spotlights for the pregame starting lineups will use blue bulbs, and fans are encouraged to wear blue in honor of autism awareness. Chuck-a-Puck proceeds will go to the Albany Autism Society, and there will be plenty of information about the disorder.

What do you know about autism? There's plenty that you should know.

* Autism is a 'spectrum' disorder, which means there's no perfect example of an autistic person
* Autism affects 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys
* Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the US
* Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average
* Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism
* There is no medical detection or cure for autism

Chances are pretty good that you or someone you know has regular interaction with an autistic person - my 11-year-old cousin has autism. So put away the red, break out the blue, and come support a worthy cause this coming Friday at the Field House.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Men's Hockey - at Quinnipiac/Princeton (11/12 Jan)

When it's the little things holding you back, the bigger picture sometimes becomes somewhat maddening. For the second weekend in a row, the Engineers were forced to settle for less than they'd arguably earned on the ice, picking up just one point in the return to ECAC play and remaining at the bottom of the league standings despite becoming the first team to keep Quinnipiac out of the win column with a 1-1 tie on Friday, a dominating performance against Princeton went for naught in a 4-1 loss that was far closer than the final score - indeed, the final score is very deceiving.

Quinnipiac
Lee-McGowan-Haggerty
Zalewski-Laliberte-Bubela
Neal-Higgs-Tinordi
Rogic-Miller-Burgdoerfer

Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Bokenfohr

Merriam

A big time shakeup in the lines preceded the return to ECAC play, with the successful "NHL" line of Matt Neal, Ryan Haggerty, and Jacob Laliberte officially divvied up, as well as Mark Miller being moved off the almost as successful "freshman" line with Mike Zalewski and Milos Bubela. Brock Higgs returned to the lineup, and Bo Dolan came out in favor of Craig Bokenfohr.

RPI went into Hamden seeking a bit of revenge for the game against Quinnipiac in Troy which featured a terrible third period in which the Engineers blew a decent shot at a win by giving up a 3-on-5 shorthanded goal, but to do so, they'd have to become the first team in the ECAC to take points from the Bobcats, as they entered with a perfect 10-0-0 record in league play.

Quinnipiac looked every inch the top team in the league during the first period, outshooting RPI 11-7 in the opening period, and although the Engineers didn't play their best hockey by any stretch, some excellent play by Bryce Merriam in net kept things scoreless through the first period.

RPI took a late penalty in the first period that gave Quinnipiac a power play for much of the beginning of the second, but the penalty kill successfully got through unblemished. A Bobcat penalty seconds after the RPI penalty expired gave the Engineers their second power play of the game, and it was captain C.J. Lee converting for his third goal of the season that gave RPI the early 1-0 lead.

While the Engineers played very well throughout the second period and into the third, they would lose the lead at almost exactly the midway point of the second on a goal by the Q's top scorer, returning the deadlock at 1-1.

If there was to be a winner, momentum would have pegged the Engineers as the favorite in the third period as they pelted Eric Hartzell with 10 shots and absorbed only five on the other end, but the ECAC's top goaltender thus far held his team in the game. Regulation gave way to an anemic overtime as neither team truly threatened in the extra five minutes, and the final tally gave RPI a point with a 1-1 tie, marking the first time on the season that the Bobcats had failed to pick up the victory in league play, but maintaining their nation-leading unbeaten streak.

For RPI, it was a little more proof that they had the chops to run with some of the better teams in the country.

Princeton

Lee-McGowan-Haggerty
Zalewski-Laliberte-Bubela
Neal-Higgs-Tinordi
Rogic-Miller-Burgdoerfer

Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan


Merriam

Only one change from Friday to Saturday as Bo Dolan returned to the regular starting lineup.

If there was one major thing RPI could be faulted for in its Saturday afternoon game against the Tigers, it's that they played a relatively flat first period and it wound up costing them in the end. They tallied the first two penalties of the game, the second of which, 14 minutes into the game, led to a Princeton power play goal that made the score 1-0. Just over two minutes later, the Tigers scored again to go up 2-0.

That's when RPI basically took over the entire game. How dominant were the Engineers in the final two periods? Let's put it this way - 19-2 was the shot total in the final 40 minutes, at least while Bryce Merriam was still residing in the RPI net. He didn't face a single shot on goal in the third period.

Meanwhile, the Engineers maintained almost total domination in the Princeton zone. Just 1:48 into the second period, Ryan Haggerty's team-leading eighth goal of the season came on the power play to halve the Princeton lead, but that was as close as the Engineers would get. That's not to say that they didn't have their opportunities, or that they had some just plain dumb luck, especially in the second period.

Brock Higgs, still goalless on the season, was robbed not once, but twice on the doorstep during the middle stanza. At another point late in the period, Haggerty appeared to have poked the puck home after a scrum in front, but referee Harry Dumas had already blown for a quick whistle. Then, at the dying moments of the second, a Nick Bailen shot evaded everyone and found the back of the net, but it was ruled that the period had expired prior to the puck crossing the line.

Princeton basically turtled in the third period, trying to salvage the victory, and they did a good job of giving up the body to stop the shots coming their way, as RPI was only able to unleash five shots on goal in the final period despite a total domination of possession. Errant shots and shots into pads certainly didn't help matters.

RPI appeared to be getting the golden opportunity they were waiting for when Princeton took a charging penalty with 1:35 left in regulation. Appert pulled Merriam from the net to create a 6-on-4. Unfortunately, the Engineers never got themselves set up on the two-man advantage, and Princeton took advantage of the lack of icing to fire it toward the open net. It didn't score at first, but the Tigers hustled down first and grabbed the puck, eventually getting it in anyway.

Merriam stayed out of the net for the ensuing faceoff, but in the waning seconds Princeton picked up a second empty netter to make the final score 4-1 despite being well outplayed for a good 40 minutes or so - certainly a final that looks far worse in the paper the next day than it did on the ice.

Other junk - Ranked teams in the ECAC this week are #4 Quinnipiac (tied RPI and beat Union, up one with two first place votes), #11 Dartmouth (beat Harvard, up one), #12 Yale (swept Clarkson/SLU, up two), #16 Cornell (idle, down one), #17 Union (beat Princeton and lost to Quinnipiac, down one), and #20 Colgate (idle, down one). Princeton (4) also received votes. Other teams on the RPI schedule ranked this week include #3 New Hampshire (up one with one first place vote), #9 Boston University (down one), #14 Minnesota State (down three), and #19 St. Cloud State (down one). Ferris State (12) also received votes.

The iron man club is down to only three players who have appeared in all 21 games this season - Guy Leboeuf, Mark Miller, and Milos Bubela.

Phil Hampton (three games played) and Andrew Commers (two) are the only skaters on the roster who have not picked up a point yet this season.

RPI is now nominally at home for the next five games in a row, and seven of the next nine. This is a crucial stretch that will determine the team's playoff fate. Right now, despite being in last place, the Engineers are just 3 points out of sixth - the middle of the table. That makes games at home against Colgate and Cornell important. If they can snap out of their mini-scoring slump from the past weekend, they can start to make their long awaited move.

ECAC Standings (by winning percentage in parentheses)
1 (1). Quinnipiac - 23 points (11-0-1)
2 (5). Princeton - 13 points (5-4-3)
3 (2). Dartmouth - 11 points (5-3-1, +7 GD)
4 (3). Yale - 11 points (5-3-1, +2 GD)
5 (4). Union - 11 points (4-3-3)
6 (6). Cornell - 8 points (3-3-2)
7 (7). Colgate - 7 points (3-4-1, -6 GD)
8 (8). Clarkson - 7 points (3-5-1, +3 GD)
9 (9). Harvard - 6 points (3-6-0)
10 (10). St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-5-2)
11 (11). Brown - 6 points (0-3-4)
12 (12). RPI - 5 points (1-6-3)


RPI at #5 Quinnipiac
ECAC Game - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
1/11/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 1, Quinnipiac 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Troy Record
Albany Times Union
New Haven Register

RECORD: 6-9-5 (1-5-3 ECAC, 5 points)


RPI at Princeton
ECAC Game - Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (Princeton, NJ)
1/12/13 - 4:00pm

RESULT: Princeton 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES
RECORD: 6-10-5 (1-6-3 ECAC, 5 points)

Upcoming games
18 Jan - #20 Colgate
19 Jan - #16 Cornell
26 Jan - vs. #17 Union (Albany, NY)
01 Feb - Harvard
02 Feb - #11 Dartmouth (Big Red Freakout!)

Women's Hockey - Providence (11/12 Jan)

Sometimes it's a fine line dividing a win from a loss, and RPI experienced that twice this weekend in a pair of one-goal losses to Providence at the Field House.

In a pair of closely-contested games, the Engineers were just a step behind a very quick Providence team and the Friars used that to their advantage en route to 2-1 and 3-2 victories.

Friday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Sanders/Wash/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Middlebrook/Missy Mankey

Daniels/Le Donne
Banks/Godin
Schilter/Marzario

Piper

Brianna Piper saw her first action since November 9, making 18 saves on 20 shots, but it wasn't quite enough as the Engineers only managed a single goal in a game which featured anemic offense from both teams early on and a faster pace the longer it went on.

The Friars didn't manage a shot on goal until 14:19 of the first period, but as luck would have it, the shot found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. It was one of just seven shots the two teams combined for in a first period where neither team could sustain any pressure.

The pace picked up in the second period but neither team mustered another goal. Both teams had some good opportunities, including a chance for a tip-in goal which Jordan Smelker just missed, and a breakaway for Alexa Gruschow which she lost control of without getting a clean shot off.

Corinne Buie made it 2-0 for the Friars at 9:08 of the third period, burying a perfect shot off a faceoff in the RPI zone. With the Engineers' offensive woes in the game, that looked to be a pretty steep hill to climb but Katie Daniels gave RPI some hope when she scored a power play goal out of a scrum in front of the Providence net, making it 2-1.

RPI pushed hard for the equalizer in the final minutes, including a power play opportunity with 2:07 left, but didn't manage to get a second puck past the Friars' Nina Riley, who earned her third win of the season while making 22 saves on 23 shots.

Saturday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Sanders/Wash/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Middlebrook/Missy Mankey

Marzario/Godin
Le Donne/Daniels
Schilter/Banks

For as slowly as Friday night's game started, Saturday saw an increased pace in the early going, culminating in a quick pair of goals before the game was three minutes old.

Providence's Haley Frade scored 1:35 in with a goal that was remarkably similar to the faceoff play on which Buie scored the night before. Quickly firing a no-look shot through traffic, it was in the back of the net before Kelly O'Brien could get her glove up to make a save.

Taylor Horton evened things up just under a minute and a half later, potting her eighth goal of the season out of another goal mouth scrum.

The tie wouldn't last until the midway point of the period, as Courtney Kukowski was sprung on a breakaway by Frade and beat O'Brien glove side to give the visitors a 2-1 lead at 9:57.

Jordan Smelker tied things up for the second time in the game early in the third period, taking a pass from Gruschow behind the net and beating goalie Sarah Bryant for a 5-on-3 goal and a 2-2 score.

Jessica Vella regained the lead for the Friars with 3:06 left in the middle frame, one-timing a perfect pass through traffic past O'Brien to make it 3-2.

Again the Engineers found themselves trailing late and again they stepped up the pressure, but as was the case on Friday night they weren't able to get things tied up and suffered their third one-goal loss in a row.

It's back to the ECAC grind now and it may be hard to believe but there are only six weeks left in the regular season. First up is a road rematch against Harvard and Dartmouth that promises to be a challenge for an RPI squad struggling to score.

Harvard remains undefeated in league play (11-0) and Dartmouth rolled over Princeton and Quinnipiac for an eight point weekend by the travel partners heading into next week's matchup.

After that series comes the home-and-home against Union followed by Colgate, a set of three important games for the Engineers in order to keep the playoffs in their sights.

RPI currently holds 7th place with the 8th and last playoff spot being held by Princeton, two points back but having played four more games than the Engineers. However - Brown and Colgate are just four points back from RPI, with Union and Yale one more point behind, and with well upwards of a dozen games left between the teams fighting for the final playoff spots, those spots are certainly still up for grabs for any team that can string together a couple wins in the home stretch.

-----

RPI vs. Providence
Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/11/13 - 7pm
Providence 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/11/providence-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wprvren1.j11

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/11/WICE_0111133635.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/011113aaa.html
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPgSMXNcD8

RECORD: 6-13-2 (4-6-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Providence
Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/12/13 - 4pm
Providence 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/12/providence-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wprvren1.j12

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/12/WICE_0112134643.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/011213aaa.html
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Onq9TF6Nqc

RECORD: 6-14-2 (4-6-0 ECAC)

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ECAC Standings

1. Harvard - 22 points (11-0-0)
2. Clarkson - 18 points (9-1-0)
3. Quinnipiac - 17 points (8-5-1)
4t. Cornell - 16 points (8-2-0)
4t. St. Lawrence - 16 points (8-2-0)
6. Dartmouth - 13 points (6-4-1)
7. RPI - 8 points (4-6-0)
8. Princeton - 6 points (2-10-2)
9t. Brown - 4 points (2-8-0)
9t. Colgate - 4 points (1-7-2)
11t. Yale - 3 points (1-8-1)
11t. Union - 3 points (0-7-3)

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Upcoming Games

Jan. 18 - at Harvard (7pm)
Jan. 19 - at Dartmouth (4pm)
Jan. 25 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 26 - Union (4pm)