Friday, February 27, 2015

Season Reset Before The Final Game

Quinnipiac has clinched sole possession of the #1 seed and will be off next weekend.

St. Lawrence has clinched sole possession of the #2 seed and will be off next weekend.

Yale has clinched a first-round bye. The only way they aren't the #3 seed is if they lose to Cornell, Dartmouth beats Quinnipiac, and Colgate doesn't beat Brown.

Colgate is in 4th due to their tiebreaker win with Dartmouth, but cannot catch Yale for 3rd as they lose both the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Bulldogs and the three-way tiebreaker with Yale and Dartmouth. They can clinch a first-round bye with a win over Brown. Worst case scenario has the Raiders falling to 7th.

Dartmouth is in 5th but can finish as high as 3rd. They can finish no worse than 6th.

Harvard can still claim a first-round bye but can finish no higher than 4th. Their floor is 7th.

Cornell will be at home in the first round. They will finish between 5th and 7th.

Clarkson is at home in the first round. They will finish 8th and host either RPI or Union.

RPI will finish either 9th or 10th and will be on the road for the first round. If they beat or tie St. Lawrence they will be guaranteed 9th and will travel to Clarkson. If they lose to St. Lawrence and Union beats Clarkson, they finish 10th and travel to either Cornell, Harvard or Colgate.

Union will finish either 9th or 10th, same rules apply as above. They take 9th only with a win over Clarkson and an RPI loss.

Brown will finish 11th. They can tie Union for 10th but Union would win the tiebreaker. They will travel to one of Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard, or Cornell.

Princeton will finish in 12th. They will travel to one of Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard, or Cornell.

There's only one tie in the standings right now.

Tie for 4th: Colgate won the season series with Dartmouth, 3-1.

If the season ended today (and it does not), the playoff situation would be as follows.

First Round
#12 Princeton at #5 Dartmouth
#11 Brown at #6 Harvard
#10 Union at #7 Cornell
#9 RPI at #8 Clarkson

Quarterfinals
Clarkson/RPI/Union/Brown/Princeton at #1 Quinnipiac
Cornell/Clarkson/RPI/Union/Brown at #2 St. Lawrence
Harvard/Cornell/Clarkson/RPI/Union at #3 Yale
Dartmouth/Harvard/Cornell/Clarkson/RPI at #4 Colgate

Here are the remaining relevant tiebreaker situations, sorted by who wins each one. They are remarkably simple to figure out, not a single one goes into the third tiebreak.

Yale
Colgate - Won, 3-1.

Harvard
Colgate - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.

Colgate
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.

Dartmouth
Cornell - Won, 4-0.
Yale - Tied, 2-2. Would win on ECAC wins.

Cornell
Colgate, Harvard - Won, 3-1.

RPI
Union - Won, 4-0.

Union
Brown - Tied, 2-2. Would win on ECAC wins.

Brown
No tiebreakers won.


Multiple tiebreakers
COL-COR-DRT: Dartmouth, Cornell, Colgate

COL-COR-HRV: Cornell, Harvard, Colgate

COL-DRT-HRV: Harvard, Colgate, Dartmouth

COL-DRT-YAL: Yale, Colgate, Dartmouth

COR-DRT-HRV: Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard

COL-COR-DRT-HRV: Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Colgate

This Is It

Let's be perfectly honest. There's been a lot to be embarrassed about this year.

* RPI was 35 seconds away from being shutout in three consecutive games against Minnesota and Denver. (This seems a lot less embarrassing after Union came within about 17:30 of being shutout in four straight, but still.)

* The Engineers got swept at home by Bentley by a combined score of 9-2.

* Swept by Brown by a combined score of 10-5.

* Shut out six different times.

* Three separate losing streaks of five or more on the season.

* 12 straight games of scoring fewer than three goals.

* Two different winless streaks of eight or longer, including the current one.

* 0-23-0 in games giving up 3 or more goals.

* Losing by five in a rivalry game in which they led at the second intermission.

And even after all of this, there's still hope. There's still a chance. Home ice is a possibility.

But everything that's happened in the last month has to be wiped clean. This has to be the start of a new season right here and now.

Two wins this weekend and a little bit of luck, and everything you see above can start to be wiped away.

It's home ice advantage week. Take control of your own destiny, Red.



Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Right On Schedule

As the current season begins winding down, we're ready to start taking a look at next year's tentative schedule. Sometimes the official schedule is released by now, this year it has yet to be announced. However, we do know a few things about the 2015-16 season that we can share with you, including a skeleton schedule that covers 22 of the 34 regular-season games the Engineers will play next season, along with the dates for post-season play. Those are below, but first, what we know and what we've heard about the schedule in terms of opponents.

* First, exhibition(s). Usually, the Engineers kick the season off with an exhibition game against a Canadian college team from the Maritimes. If that's in the offing, the date for that would likely be October 3, 2015 based on previous experience.

Early in the year, we heard that the Let's Go Red! fund was seeking to fundraise for a trip to Europe for the men's hockey team. Technically speaking, any NCAA team is allowed to do a foreign tour once every four years, but few do. This has been done three times in the last two summers by ECAC teams: Quinnipiac and Dartmouth played games in Switzerland and Italy in 2013, Cornell did the same in 2014. Colgate has apparently also done this at some point in the last decade. We haven't heard peep on this since early in the season, but it could still be in the works.

One has to assume that RPI would put together some kind of travel package for alums and fans if this trip is going to happen - based on a cursory search Quinnipiac did this for their August 2013 trip and had information online for a fan package (priced at $2,350 before airfare) just before the 2012-13 season began. If this is still something that's in line to happen, it possibly won't be going down until the summer of 2016, but stay tuned nonetheless.

* Michigan will come to Troy for a single game this year (the Wolverines are in Schenectady for the other game). That was established in 2013 as being scheduled for October 24, 2015.

* Bank on RPI traveling to Ohio for a pair of games at Miami in return for the RedHawks' visit this season. That is practically certain.

* If the usual BU-RPI game is to take place, it's likely to be in Boston. Occasionally this game takes place twice in Boston before coming back to Troy, but pretty much never vice versa. This year's game was in Troy.

* Home-and-home matchups year-to-year with UNH are also pretty common, and this season was the first of a new cycle - expect a game against the Wildcats in Troy.

* RPI visited UConn this season in their first year in Hockey East, it wouldn't be a shock to see a return trip this coming year for the Huskies.

* 4th annual Mayor's Cup game, to be held in Albany. In line with previous editions and the existing ECAC schedule, this is almost certainly taking place on January 23, 2016.

* Arizona State is moving their club team to the varsity level next season, and Seth Appert has mentioned in multiple alumni meetings that the Sun Devils will be on the schedule. While Tempe in the winter is a dream road trip for pretty much anyone, expect to see them in Troy this season at least. Whether this is for one game (which would almost certainly be in conjunction with a game for ASU against Union) or two is unknown. A return trip to Tempe would then be in the offing in future seasons, so that's kind of exciting.

* At this point, it's possible that there will be no return trip to Troy for St. Cloud State to follow up from RPI's visit to Minnesota in 2012-13. If it doesn't happen this coming year, it's not happening at all, most likely. Since RPI's visit, St. Cloud has hosted Union for two (last year) and then came out to Schenectady for two (this year). So it may well just be off the table now.

* In a similar vein, we're probably pretty close to removing the rumored Western Michigan trip from the table as well, although now that Ben Barr is the associate head coach there, the coaching link that had the original series happening is now back in place.

* 22 ECAC games, as always. 20 of them are set by the ECAC (a schedule for which has already been released), with the Union games to be set by the Route 7 rivals. This has been a home-and-home weekend series for the past three seasons and 10 of the last 12 years, so expect something similar this time around. The likely dates for this would be either in the last weekend of October (creating Black Saturday on Halloween night for the second straight season) or during one of the open weekends in November (possible) or December (unlikely).

What's nice about next year's schedule is that, with the exception of the travel partner games, RPI goes through the entire league once, then goes back through it a second time. That used to be the norm, but the league got away from it in the last few seasons. This season, for instance, the Engineers completed their season series against Union, Harvard, Quinnipiac, and Princeton before facing Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Cornell, or Colgate for the first time (and you can add Dartmouth to the list before playing Clarkson/SLU).

* Adding up all of the potential games we've laid out comes out to 35 total games, which is one more than they're allowed and doesn't include the usual game(s) against an Atlantic Hockey team. So it's pretty unlikely that SCSU and WMU are going to be on the schedule, it's likely that neither will be. So stay tuned for more on next year's opponents.

In the meantime, here's the schedule as we more or less know it to be right now. It's subject to change.

Saturday, 24 October - MICHIGAN

Friday, 06 November - at St. Lawrence
Saturday, 07 November - at Clarkson
Friday, 13 November - YALE (potentially Black Friday)
Saturday, 14 November - BROWN

Friday, 04 December - DARTMOUTH
Saturday, 05 December - HARVARD

Friday, 08 January - at Princeton
Saturday, 09 January - at Quinnipiac
Friday, 15 January - CORNELL
Saturday, 16 January - COLGATE
Saturday, 23 January - vs. Union (Albany, NY)
Friday, 29 January - at Brown
Saturday, 30 January - at Yale

Friday, 05 February - ST. LAWRENCE
Saturday, 06 February - CLARKSON (possible Big Red Freakout!)
Friday, 12 February - at Harvard
Saturday, 13 February - at Dartmouth
Friday, 19 February - QUINNIPIAC
Saturday, 20 February - PRINCETON (possible Big Red Freakout!, definitely Senior Night)
Friday, 26 February - at Colgate
Saturday, 27 February - at Cornell

Fri-Sun, 4-6 March - ECAC First Round (at higher seeds)
Fri-Sun, 11-13 March - ECAC Quarterfinals (at higher seeds)
Friday, 18 March - ECAC Semifinals (Lake Placid, NY)
Saturday, 19 March - ECAC Championship (Lake Placid, NY)
Fri-Sun, 25-27 March - NCAA Regionals (Albany, NY; Worcester, MA; Cincinnati, OH; St. Paul, MN)

Thursday, 07 April - NCAA Frozen Four (Tampa, FL)
Saturday, 09 April - NCAA Championship (Tampa, FL)

It's worth noting that the Times Union Center is hosting the NCAA's East Regional for the first time since 2010. It used to be an every other year occasion that the tournament made a stop in Albany, but it's definitely been a while. One important thing has changed from RPI's perspective - whereas before RPI was always a host institution along with the ECAC for the East Regional when it was in Albany, in 2016 it will be hosted by the ECAC only. That's an key caveat, because it means that should RPI make it to the NCAA Tournament, they won't be guaranteed to be playing in Albany. The NCAA would likely move heaven and earth to make it happen (for the sake of ticket sales), but it wouldn't be a sure thing - like if putting the Engineers there would require them to play an ECAC team in the first round. If RPI were the host, it would be the other team forced to change sites. Not necessarily true now.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Men's Hockey - at Cornell & Colgate (20/21 Feb)

With an opportunity to make up points on teams ahead of them in the standings on both nights, the Engineers did manage to narrow the gap between 8th and 9th on their annual road trip to Central New York, but not by much. RPI struck twice in under a minute against Cornell to go up 2-0, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie after giving up an extra attacker goal just over 30 seconds away from their first season sweep of the Big Red since 1998. The next night, the Engineers fought back twice after Colgate took 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but couldn't come back a third time in a 4-2 loss.

Cornell
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito
Laliberte-McGowan-Gillespie

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Kasdorf

Kenny Gillespie returned to the lineup after a week's absence, replacing Matt Neal, who missed the weekend for reasons unknown. Bradley Bell also got back into the lineup in place of Craig Bokenfohr. Bell has been battling an injury for much of the last month.

The first period looked like a lot more of the same for the Engineers, who despite having the period's only power play opportunity, managed just four shots on goal. Fortunately, on the other end, Jason Kasdorf was getting himself back in the right state after a couple of shaky weekends in net for the Engineers. He kept all eight Cornell shots out of the net.

The 0-0 scoreline held until midway through the second period, when the Engineers pounced on a pair of spot mistakes by the home team. Lou Nanne scored his fifth goal of the season after Drew Melanson stripped a defender on the forecheck, then just 33 seconds later Viktor Liljegren scored his sixth of the year. Just like that, RPI had a 2-0 lead.

Cornell's offense has struggled mightily at times this season, but their power play has been decent. Zach Schroeder's holding penalty early in the third period allowed the Big Red back into the game as John McCarron scored 20 seconds into the man advantage to cut RPI's lead in half. The defense held strong for the rest of the period until Cornell pulled goaltender Mitch Gillam for the extra skater. They had done that down three goals in Troy and held the zone for nearly four full minutes without scoring. This time, the Big Red again held the zone for the entirety of the extra attacker period, but found paydirt after 51 seconds, with RPI just 33 seconds away from securing the win.

The two sides traded efforts in the overtime period, with RPI controlling the first half and Cornell the second, but neither could find the game winner. The Engineers could at least settle for the fact that their losing streak was halted at six in a row, and that their unbeaten streak against Cornell was extended to four in a row.

Colgate
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito
Laliberte-McGowan-Gillespie

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Kasdorf

No changes were made at all to RPI's lineup from Friday to Saturday as they moved to Hamilton to take on Colgate, shutout winners over Union the previous night.

Unlike the previous night, the scoring got underway pretty quickly at Starr Rink as Colgate's Spink twins, Tyson and Tylor, linked up just 60 seconds in to put the Raiders up 1-0. 

RPI took 10 minutes to answer, but they did get the next goal on a blast from the point by Chris Bradley in a four-on-four situation to tie the game up, with Drew Melanson providing the key feed.

The Spink twins responded on the power play in the second period. With Jake Wood off on an interference call, the twins reversed the script - Tylor had scored from Tyson on the first goal, this time Tyson scored on a pass from Tylor, putting Colgate up 2-1. This lead did not last long, however, as Mark McGowan grabbed his fifth goal of the year, again on a shot from the point, to tie the score.

That tie was quickly erased as the home team attacked immediately. 33 seconds later, after a sweet drop pass by Joe Wilson, Darcy Murphy had put the puck in the back of the net to make it 3-2 Colgate.

With the Raiders leading in the third period, their typical slow-down defense went into play, especially after Kyle Baun scored from BOTH Spink twins with just over five minutes left in the game for an insurance tally. RPI was unable to get any closer despite some good chances late, and they had to return to Troy with just one point on the weekend. Jason Kasdorf did look much improved in net over his previous two weekends, but it's tough to be able to pick up only one point in seven straight league games at the end of the season.

The Engineers are hoping to be behind the eight-ball by the end of next weekend, as 8th is the best they can now finish within the league, the final home-ice position. Clarkson was swept by Dartmouth and Harvard, leaving the Golden Knights three points ahead in 8th. Union was swept by Colgate and Cornell, dropping them two points behind in 10th.

With only four more games guaranteed this season, the Engineers' streak of giving up three goals remains firm. Allowing less than three goals, RPI is now 9-0-2. Allowing three or more, they're 0-23-0.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 33 points (15-2-3)
2. St. Lawrence - 29 points (14-5-1)
3. Yale - 25 points (11-6-3)
4. Harvard - 23 points (10-7-3)
5. Colgate - 23 points (10-7-3)
6. Dartmouth - 22 points (10-8-2)
7. Cornell - 21 points (9-8-3)
8. Clarkson - 18 points (8-10-2)
9. RPI - 15 points (7-12-1)
10. Union - 13 points (6-13-1)
11. Brown - 12 points (5-13-2)
12. Princeton - 6 points (2-16-2)

RPI at Cornell
ECAC Game - Lynah (Ithaca, NY)
2/20/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Cornell 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RECORD: 9-22-2 (7-11-1, 15pts)

RPI at Colgate
ECAC Game - Starr Rink (Hamilton, NY)
2/21/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Colgate 4, RPI 2


RECORD: 9-23-2 (7-12-1, 15pts)

Upcoming games
27 Feb - Clarkson
28 Feb - #19 St. Lawrence (Senior Night)
06 Mar - ECAC First Round (Site TBA)
07 Mar - ECAC First Round (Site TBA)
08 Mar - ECAC First Round (Site TBA, if necessary)

Monday, February 23, 2015

Updated Season Resets

Women
The regular season is over, the ECAC quarterfinals are set.

Tiebreakers put into effect:
* Tie for 1st: Clarkson won the season series with Harvard 3-1.
* Tie for 4th: Cornell won the season series with St. Lawrence 3-1.

#8 Dartmouth at #1 Clarkson
#7 Yale at #2 Harvard
#6 Princeton at #3 Quinnipiac
#5 St. Lawrence at #4 Cornell

RPI finishes 9th, Colgate 10th, Union 11th, Brown 12th.


Men
Quinnipiac has clinched the #1 seed. They are four points ahead of St. Lawrence, which means the Saints can still tie them for first, but Quinnipiac wins the tiebreaker.

St. Lawrence has clinched the #2 seed. They are four points ahead of Yale, which means the Bulldogs can still tie them for second, but SLU wins the tiebreaker.

Yale can clinch a first-round bye on Friday with a win, or a tie and a Dartmouth tie/loss.

Yale, Colgate, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Cornell are all still alive for the last two first-round byes. All have clinched at least a home ice playoff series.

Clarkson can clinch home ice with a win or a tie against RPI on Friday.

RPI can still finish as high as 8th, but they must defeat Clarkson on Friday, get at least a result against St. Lawrence and get help from Union on Saturday in order to surpass the Golden Knights for the final home ice spot. They can fall as low as 11th.

-- RPI analysis below --

An RPI sweep and Union picking up points against Clarkson would guarantee 8th (RPI would win the tiebreaker with Clarkson on ECAC wins if Union and Clarkson tie).

An RPI win over Clarkson followed by a draw with SLU and a Union win over Clarkson would send things to at least the 3rd tiebreaker. Clarkson would almost certainly win this, but it's not guaranteed.

Points against potential Top 4 teams (bold teams guaranteed)
Quinnipiac: Clarkson 2, RPI 0
St. Lawrence: Clarkson 2, RPI 1*
Yale: Clarkson 3, RPI 0
Harvard: Clarkson 0, RPI 0
Colgate: RPI 2, Clarkson 1
Dartmouth, Clarkson 2, RPI 2
Cornell: RPI 3, Clarkson 0
* - scenario assumes an RPI draw with St. Lawrence

RPI would have to make up 3 points with the #3 and #4 teams. They can only do this with Cornell, but they also need Yale outside of the Top 4. If Yale is in the Top 4, Clarkson wins the tiebreaker handily no matter what. Cornell in the Top 4 and Yale out is possible only if Cornell and Colgate sweep at Yale. If Cornell and Colgate are #3 and #4 in some order, RPI wins the comparison (possible as long as Dartmouth does no better than a weekend split and Harvard gets no more than one point). If Cornell and either Harvard or Dartmouth are #3 and #4 in some order, this goes to record against Top 8, really Top 7 since it would be a tie for 8th. Add up all the above points and you get Clarkson 10, RPI 8.

In this scenario the Engineers only win the tiebreaker if Cornell and Colgate are #3 and #4. It's a real narrow hole to fit into. Therefore, there's no real strong path to a home-ice series for RPI without sweeping the weekend.

Even if RPI does sweep the weekend, they're still on the road if Clarkson beats Union. If RPI does not beat Clarkson on Friday, they cannot reach 8th.

Bottom line for RPI: Rooting for Cornell and Colgate (both playing Yale, plus they need points), and for Quinnipiac and Princeton (both playing Dartmouth and Harvard) all weekend long, rooting for Union on Saturday (against Clarkson) if RPI wins on Friday. None of these teams can hurt RPI's positioning with wins in these situations, but they can definitely help it.

If the Engineers can reach 8th, they will host Clarkson. That is the only team they can host in two weeks, because even if Union sweeps Clarkson and SLU, they would only have 17 points, Clarkson is already sitting on 18.

If they stay in 9th, they're almost certainly traveling to Clarkson, with a slight chance of traveling to Cornell and a very remote chance of traveling to Dartmouth.

Should they fall into 10th or 11th, they could potentially travel to pretty much any team currently ahead of them in the standings except for Quinnipiac or St. Lawrence.

-- RPI analysis above --

Union, Brown, and Princeton will all be on the road in the first round of the playoffs.

Union and Brown can still finish as high as 9th and as low as 11th.

Princeton will finish in 12th.

There's only one tie in the standings right now.

Tie for 4th: Harvard swept the season series with Colgate, 4-0.

If the season ended today (and it does not), the playoff situation would be as follows.

First Round
#12 Princeton at #5 Colgate
#11 Brown at #6 Dartmouth
#10 Union at #7 Cornell
#9 RPI at #8 Clarkson

Quarterfinals
Clarkson/RPI/Union/Brown/Princeton at #1 Quinnipiac
Cornell/Clarkson/RPI/Union/Brown at #2 St. Lawrence
Dartmouth/Cornell/Clarkson/RPI/Union at #3 Yale
Colgate/Dartmouth/Cornell/Clarkson/RPI at #4 Harvard

Here are the remaining relevant tiebreaker situations, sorted by who wins each one.

Quinnipiac
SLU - Won, 4-0.

St. Lawrence
Yale - Won, 4-0.

Yale
Harvard - Won, 4-0.
Colgate - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Harvard
Colgate - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.

Colgate
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.

Dartmouth
Cornell - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson - Tied, 2-2. This would go to the third tiebreaker at least.
Yale - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Cornell
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Harvard - Won, 3-1.
Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

Clarkson
RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2. This would go to the third tiebreaker at least.

RPI
Union - Won, 4-0.

Union
Brown - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Brown
RPI - Won, 4-0.
Union - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Princeton
Cannot tie anyone.

Multiple tiebreakers
(These are colored by the fact that Yale still has games against Colgate and Cornell, but Cornell can only tie Yale with a weekend sweep AND Yale being swept. That means we can extrapolate most of the tiebreaks already should they remain relevant in the end.)

COL-COR-DRT: Dartmouth, Colgate, Cornell

COL-COR-HRV: Cornell, Harvard, Colgate

COL-COR-YAL: Cornell, Colgate, Yale

COL-DRT-HRV: Harvard, Colgate, Dartmouth

COL-DRT-YAL: Colgate/Yale, Dartmouth (Colgate wins if they beat Yale, Yale wins otherwise)

COL-HRV-YAL: Yale, Harvard, Colgate

COR-DRT-HRV: Dartmouth, Harvard, Cornell

COR-DRT-YAL: Dartmouth, Cornell, Yale

COR-HRV-YAL: Cornell, Yale, Harvard

DRT-HRV-YAL: Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth

COL-COR-DRT-HRV: Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Colgate

COL-COR-DRT-YAL: Dartmouth, Cornell, Colgate, Yale

COL-COR-HRV-YAL: Cornell, Yale, Harvard, Colgate

COL-DRT-HRV-YAL: Yale, Harvard, Colgate/Dartmouth (Colgate last if they lose to Yale, third otherwise)

COR-DRT-HRV-YAL: Dartmouth, Cornell, Yale, Harvard

COL-COR-DRT-HRV-YAL: Dartmouth, Cornell, Yale, Harvard, Colgate

CKN-COR-DRT: Dartmouth, Cornell, Clarkson

BRN-RPI-UC: Brown, RPI, Union

Women's Hockey - Cornell & Colgate (20/21 Feb)

RPI's season ended this weekend, as we've known it would for a few weeks now, but the Engineers had a little something to celebrate as they defeated Colgate 5-3 on Senior Night after falling to Cornell 4-1 the night before.

Cornell

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Mahoney/Svoboda/Walsh
Rooney/Mankey/Raspa
Horwood/Hylwa

Renn/Banks
Middlebrook/Kimmerle
Schilter/Behounek

Piper

Alexa Gruschow scored a power play goal late in the first period to give RPI a 1-0 lead, but Cornell took control of the game from there en route to a 4-1 victory on Friday.

Jillian Saulnier led the Big Red with two goals and an assist on the night, while linemate Brianne Jenner matched her three points with a goal and a pair of helpers.

Cornell knotted the score at one just 3:28 into the second period, when a shot by Emily Fulton deflected off Saulnier and past Brianna Piper, who was playing in her final weekend after not seeing the ice in several weeks.

The Big Red took the lead five minutes later, with Jenner picking up a long rebound and driving to the net for the tally. They also held RPI to just three shots in the middle frame.

The visitors put the game out of reach with two power play goals in the third, first from Kaitlin Doering on a rebound off a wraparound, then a few minutes later from Saulnier on a feed from Jenner.

The win put the Big Red in control of their own destiny for home ice in the quarterfinals, which they secured on Saturday by defeating Union.

Colgate

Mahoney/Svoboda/Walsh
Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mankey/Raspa
Horwood/Hylwa

Schilter/Middlebrook
Behounek/Kimmerle
Renn/Banks

O'Brien

Coming into the final game of the season for both teams, RPI and Colgate were playing for ninth place in the standings, and the Engineers came out on top with a 5-3 decision on Senior Night. Of the eight goals scored in the game, all but one were on the power play.

The lone tally not on the power play was also the game's first, with Hannah Behounek taking a feed from Ali Svoboda and putting it past Brittney Brooks for the early lead at 2:53.

Shayna Tomlinson doubled that lead at 12:18 on the Engineers' first man advantage of the game, and the Engineers went on a tear to start the second period, scoring two more quick power play goals on successive chances. Taylor Mahoney and Ali Svoboda picked up the goals early in the second at 5:00 and 7:26 respectively.

Shortly after Svoboda's goal, Gruschow was given a 5-minute major for cross-checking, and Colgate set to work getting themselves right back into the game. The Raiders would score three goals on the opportunity, with Miriam Drubel getting Colgate on the board before Melissa Kueber tacked on two more to cut RPI's lead to one.

RPI was forced to kill more penalty time early in the third, including over a minute of 5-on-3, but the held strong and eventually went on a 5-on-3 of their own when two Colgate players were whistled on the same play. Gruschow put RPI up 5-3 on the advantage and the score held up.

The season ended for RPI and Colgate on Saturday, as well as Union and Brown, while the other eight teams head into the playoffs.

#8 seed Dartmouth, who was at one point within close reach of the Engineers for eighth but finished nine points up on RPI, heads west to face #1 Clarkson.

#7 Yale will take on #2 Harvard, who finished with an identical record to the top-seeded Golden Knights but fell to #2 on tiebreakers.

#6 Princeton and travel partner #3 Quinnipiac in Hamden, while another tiebreaker has #5 SLU visiting #4 Cornell.

-----

RPI vs. Cornell
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/20/15 - 7pm
Cornell 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4455
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wcorren1.f20

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/2/20/WICE_0220152135.aspx
Cornell: http://www.cornellbigred.com/news/2015/2/20/WICE_0220155140.aspx

RECORD: 6-23-4 (4-16-1 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Colgate
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/21/15 - 4pm
RPI 5, Colgate 3

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4456
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wclgren1.f21

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/2/21/WICE_0221151603.aspx
Colgate: http://www.gocolgateraiders.com/news/2015/2/21/WHOCKEY_0221155246.aspx

RECORD: 7-23-4 (5-16-1 ECAC)

-----

Final ECAC Standings

1t. Clarkson - 34 pts (22-16-4) (Clarkson wins tiebreaker)
1t. Harvard - 34 pts (22-16-4)
3. Quinnipiac - 32 pts (15-5-2)
4t. Cornell - 30 pts (14-6-2) (Cornell wins tiebreaker)
4t. St. Lawrence - 30 pts (13-5-4)
6. Princeton - 27 pts (13-8-1)
7. Yale - 24 pts (12-10-0)
8. Dartmouth - 20 pts (9-11-2)
9. RPI - 11 pts (5-16-1)
10. Colgate - 10 pts (4-16-2)
11. Union - 7 pts (1-16-5)
12. Brown - 5 pts (2-19-1)

-----

ECAC Playoff Quarterfinal Matchups

#8 Dartmouth at #1 Clarkson
#7 Yale at #2 Harvard
#6 Princeton at #3 Quinnipiac
#5 St. Lawrence at #4 Cornell

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Mid-Weekend Season Resets

Women
Harvard will finish in first or second. They face the only team that can catch them, Clarkson, on Saturday. Harvard finishes first with a win or a tie. Clarkson finishes first with a win.

Clarkson finishes in second if they draw with Harvard. A loss and a Quinnipiac win at Brown would drop the Golden Knights to third by virtue of Quinnipiac's tiebreaker win.

Quinnipiac has not yet clinched home ice. They would fall to fifth with a loss AND wins by Cornell and St. Lawrence. They can clinch third with at least a draw, and can claim second in the scenario listed above.

St. Lawrence can finish third with a win AND a Quinnipiac loss AND a Cornell tie/loss.

Cornell can finish third with a win AND a Quinnipiac loss AND a St. Lawrence win.

Princeton can finish fourth with a win AND ties or losses by St. Lawrence and Cornell.

Yale will be 7th and Dartmouth 8th. The Big Green can tie the Bulldogs with a win over St. Lawrence and a Yale loss, but Yale wins the tiebreaker.

Colgate and RPI will finish and 9th and 10th in some order, they conclude the season against each other. Colgate is 9th with a win or a tie on Saturday, RPI is 9th with a win.

Union will finish 11th. They can tie RPI with a win over Cornell and an RPI loss, but RPI wins the tiebreaker.

Brown will finish 12th. They can tie Union for 11th with a win over Quinnipiac and a Union loss, but Union wins the tiebreaker.

Tie for 4th: Cornell won the season series with St. Lawrence, 3-1.

Tiebreakers

Harvard
No tiebreakers won.

Clarkson
Harvard - Tied, 1-1. Would win 3-1 if this tiebreaker goes into effect.

Quinnipiac
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Cornell - Tied, 2-2. Goes to the third tiebreaker, wins by virtue of a 4-3 points edge against Top 4 teams (Harvard and Clarkson, since this can only be a tiebreak for 3rd).

Cornell
SLU - Won, 3-1.

St. Lawrence
Quinnipiac - Won, 3-1.

Princeton
Cornell - Won, 4-0.
SLU - Tied, 2-2. Would win on ECAC wins.

Yale
Dartmouth - Won, 4-0.

Dartmouth
No tiebreakers won.

Colgate
Cannot tie with anyone (playing RPI separated by one point).

RPI
Union - Won, 3-1.

Union
Brown - Won, 3-1.

Brown
No tiebreakers won.

Multiple tiebreakers
COR-PRN-SLU: Princeton, Cornell, SLU
COR-QU-SLU: Cornell, SLU, Quinnipiac


Men
Quinnipiac has clinched a first-round bye and will be either the 1st or 2nd seed. They can clinch the #1 seed on Saturday with a win/tie against Brown OR a SLU tie/loss.

St. Lawrence has clinched a first-round bye. They can clinch no worse than the #2 seed with a win over Dartmouth.

Yale, Dartmouth and Harvard have clinched a home ice playoff series, neither can finish lower than 8th.

Colgate can clinch a home ice playoff series with a win or a draw on Saturday against RPI.

Cornell can clinch a home ice playoff series with a win and an RPI loss/tie on Saturday, or a tie and an RPI loss.

Clarkson can clinch a home ice playoff series with a win and an RPI loss on Saturday.

RPI, Union, Brown, and Princeton are all locked into playing in a first-round series.

RPI can finish no higher than 6th. They can tie for 5th, but only by winning out and with Colgate and Harvard losing out, producing at least a three-way tie with those teams that would see Harvard claiming 5th (swept both Colgate and RPI). Adding Clarkson and/or Cornell to the tie doesn't seem to help RPI get higher than 6th.

Union can finish no higher than 7th. A loss on Saturday would guarantee a road series in the first round.

Brown can finish no higher than 9th and will be on the road for the first round.

Princeton will be on the road for the first round and will finish either 11th or 12th.

There's only one tie in the standings right now.

Tie for 5th: Harvard swept the season series with Colgate, 4-0.

Here are the remaining relevant tiebreaker situations, sorted by who wins each one.

Quinnipiac
SLU - Won, 4-0.

St. Lawrence
Harvard, Yale - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Ahead, 2-0.

Yale
Harvard - Won, 4-0.
Colgate - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Dartmouth
Cornell - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson, Yale - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Harvard
Colgate, RPI - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.
Clarkson - Ahead, 2-0.

Colgate
SLU - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson, Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.

Cornell
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Harvard - Won, 3-1.
Union, Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

Clarkson
Yale - Won, 3-1.
RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

RPI
Union - Won, 4-0.
Cornell - Won, 3-1.
Colgate - Ahead, 2-0.

Union
Clarkson - Ahead, 2-0.
Brown - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Brown
RPI - Won, 4-0.
Princeton - Won, 3-1.
Union - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Princeton
No tiebreakers won.


Irrelevant
Quinnipiac
All but St. Lawrence

St. Lawrence
Cornell, Clarkson, RPI, Union, Brown, Princeton

Yale/Dartmouth
RPI, Union, Brown, Princeton

Colgate/Harvard
Union, Brown, Princeton

Cornell/Clarkson
Brown, Princeton

RPI/Union
Princeton


Tiebreaker solutions for this weekend
Saturday's games:
* The following teams can clinch tiebreakers with a win or a draw: Harvard over Clarkson; RPI over Colgate.

* A SLU win/tie against Dartmouth makes that tiebreaker irrelevant.

* A Harvard win against Clarkson makes that tiebreaker irrelevant.

* A Colgate win/tie against RPI makes that tiebreaker irrelevant.

* A Cornell win/tie against Union makes that tiebreaker irrelevant.

Friday, February 20, 2015

From the Ashes

This is usually the part where we try and tell you that it's a big weekend and everything's going to be alright.

We can't make that promise. We offer just one word: hope.

We're talking about the ECAC here. Anything can and will happen. RPI was supposed to finish in first place last year, look how that turned out. Colgate was supposed to finish in first place this year, look how that turned out. The sooner you realize that no one knows anything or can predict anything, the quicker you're going to be at peace with whatever happens.

On what planet was RPI, losers of nine straight and just coming off a win against the league punching bag, going to sweep Colgate and Cornell, even at home? Well, they did. That happened.

They may no longer have the benefit of home ice advantage, and things may look dark now. But it's possible. Anything is possible. They did it once, they can find a way to do it again. For a team that's struggling to keep the puck out of the net, what more could you ask for than the weakest scoring travel partner duo in the league?

For the women, it's a bittersweet farewell this weekend. We've known for a few weeks that it would be wrapping up tomorrow afternoon at the Field House. No wild scenarios where they could pull into 8th. No drama. Two games, and the end of a difficult season are at the doorstep. But it's a weekend where the Engineers can at least seek the solace of a strong finish to their season. They beat Brown last Saturday. Last year against Cornell in Troy, they came tantalizingly close to pulling out some points. They're tied in the standings with Colgate.

No promises, but a strong weekend could see the Engineers finish off a tough year with three wins, a light at the end of the tunnel finish that would be a great platform to build off for next season. It would also at least guarantee a 9th place finish, the highest final spot the Engineers could hope for.

Things look bad, there's no question. But you're an RPI fan. Whether you're an alum, a student, a townie or otherwise, you're cut from rougher stuff. Know that. Strap in, strap on, and hold tight. This isn't over until we decide it is.


Thursday, February 19, 2015

Men's Season Reset (Two Weeks Out)

Things are starting to come together on the men's side as well.

Quinnipiac has clinched a first-round bye and will be either the 1st or 2nd seed. They can clinch the 1st seed on Friday with a win OR a tie and a St. Lawrence loss/tie.

St. Lawrence has clinched a home ice playoff series, and can clinch a first round bye on Friday with a win OR a tie and a Dartmouth loss.

Yale has clinched a home ice playoff series.

RPI can finish no higher than 4th, which would only be possible if Harvard lost out and RPI won out, among other unlikely things.

Union and Brown are guaranteed to be playing in a first-round series.

Princeton will be on the road for the first round and will finish between 10th and 12th.

That's about it. There's only one tie in the standings right now.

Tie for 7th: Cornell wins the tiebreaker with Clarkson thanks to a season sweep.

If the season ended today (and don't forget, it doesn't), here's what the playoff situation would look like.

First Round:
#12 Princeton at #5 Dartmouth
#11 Brown at #6 Colgate
#10 Union at #7 Cornell
#9 RPI at #8 Clarkson

Quarterfinals
Clarkson/RPI/Union/Brown/Princeton at #1 Quinnipiac
Cornell/Clarkson/RPI/Union/Brown at #2 St. Lawrence
Colgate/Cornell/Clarkson/RPI/Union at #3 Yale
Dartmouth/Colgate/Cornell/Clarkson/RPI at #4 Harvard

Here are the remaining relevant tiebreaker situations, sorted by who wins each one.

Quinnipiac
SLU - Won, 4-0.

St. Lawrence
Cornell, Yale - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth, Harvard - Ahead, 2-0.
Clarkson - Tied, 2-2, would likely lead on ECAC wins.

Yale
Harvard, RPI - Won, 4-0.
Colgate- Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Harvard
Colgate, RPI - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.
Clarkson - Ahead, 2-0.

Dartmouth
Cornell, Union - Won, 4-0.
Yale - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Colgate
SLU - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson, Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Union - Ahead, 2-0.

Cornell
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Harvard - Won, 3-1.
Union, Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

Clarkson
Yale - Won, 3-1.
Dartmouth, RPI - Ahead, 2-0.

RPI
Princeton, Union - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Cornell - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2, would likely lead on ECAC wins.

Union
Princeton, Won, 4-0.
Harvard - Won, 3-1.
Clarkson - Ahead, 2-0.
Brown - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Brown
RPI - Won, 4-0.
Union - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins difference.
Princeton - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Princeton
Brown - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.


Irrelevant
Quinnipiac
All but St. Lawrence

St. Lawrence
RPI, Union, Brown, Princeton

Yale
Union, Brown, Princeton

Harvard/Dartmouth/Colgate/Cornell/Clarkson
Brown, Princeton


Tiebreaker solutions for this weekend
Friday's games:
* The following teams can clinch tiebreakers with a win or a draw: St. Lawrence over Harvard; Clarkson over Dartmouth; RPI over Cornell; Colgate over Union.
* The winner of the Brown/Princeton game wins the tiebreaker, a draw would guarantee tiebreaker goes to at least the second criteria.

Saturday's games:
* The following teams can clinch tiebreakers with a win or a draw: St. Lawrence over Dartmouth (irrelevant with SLU win/Dartmouth loss on Friday); Harvard over Clarkson; RPI over Colgate (irrelevant with Colgate win/RPI loss on Friday); Cornell over Union (irrelevant with Cornell win/Union loss on Friday).

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Women's Season Reset (One Week Out)

Things get a lot less complicated when the number of games dwindles.

Harvard has clinched home ice and will finish in the top three.

Clarkson and Quinnipiac can clinch home ice with at least a draw on Friday. They will be in the top five.

St. Lawrence can clinch home ice on Friday with a win and a Cornell loss. They will finish between 2nd and 6th.

Cornell cannot clinch home ice on Friday. They will finish between 3rd and 6th.

Princeton can finish no lower than their current position, 6th. They can finish as high as 4th.

Dartmouth and Yale will be 7th and 8th in some order. Whichever team finishes with more points on the coming weekend will be 7th, if they finish with the same number, Yale is 7th.

Colgate and RPI will finish between 9th and 11th.

Union can finish anywhere from 9th through 12th.

Brown will be either 11th or 12th.

Tie for 2nd: Quinnipiac is 2nd over Clarkson thanks to a season sweep.
Tie for 7th: Yale is 7th over Dartmouth thanks to a season sweep.
Tie for 9th: Colgate leads RPI 2-0 in the season series.

Tiebreakers

Harvard
Quinnipiac - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Quinnipiac
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Cornell - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Clarkson
SLU - Won, 4-0.
Harvard - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

St. Lawrence
Quinnipiac - Won, 3-1.

Cornell
Clarkson, SLU - Won, 3-1.
Quinnipiac - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Princeton
Cornell - Won, 4-0.
SLU - Tied, 2-2. Likely winner on ECAC wins.

Yale
Dartmouth - Won, 4-0.

Dartmouth
No tiebreakers won.

Colgate
Brown - Won, 4-0.
RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Union - Tied, 1-1. Would win on ECAC wins.

RPI
Brown - Won, 4-0.
Union - Won, 3-1.

Union
Brown - Won, 3-1.

Brown
No tiebreakers won.

Multiple tiebreakers

CKN-HRV-QU: Harvard, Quinnipiac, Clarkson
CKN-QU-SLU: Quinnipiac, Clarkson, SLU
CKN-COR-QU: Quinnipiac, Cornell, Clarkson
COR-PRN-SLU: Princeton, Cornell, SLU

CKN-COR-QU-SLU: Cornell, Quinnipiac, Clarkson, SLU

COL-RPI-UC: Requires 4 points for Union, Cornell defeating RPI, and RPI-Colgate tie. Would go to third tiebreaker.

* Record against Top 4. RPI has a win over Princeton. Union has a tie with St. Lawrence and would have a win over Cornell. Those are the only points any of the three teams have against possible Top 4 teams. So the tiebreaker is as follows.
         * SLU and/or Cornell: Union, Colgate, RPI
         * Princeton: RPI, Union, Colgate

BRN-COL-UC: Union, Colgate, Brown
BRN-RPI-UC: RPI, Union, Brown

Brown cannot tie both RPI and Colgate because the Engineers and Raiders play each other.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Men's Hockey - Brown & Yale (13/14 Feb)

Facing a key home weekend with the potential to jump-start their sputtering season, the Engineers continued to free-fall, enduring an embarrassing 6-3 loss at the hands of Brown on Friday and then falling 4-1 to Yale in the 38th annual Big Red Freakout! Being swept at home is never good, and it's worse when you're falling farther and farther from being able to nab a home ice position for the playoffs. Despite the setbacks, the Engineers did not lose position in the league standings, but they made it measurably more difficult to gain it in the final two weeks.

Brown
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Curadi-Leonard
Prapavessis-Bradley
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

Lou Nanne returned from his injury suffered a week prior at St. Lawrence, his return to practice the previous Tuesday marking the first time since October that RPI has had a complete practice with every player on the roster. He returned to the lineup as part of a reunited Melanson-Miller-Nanne line, a combination which had provided a significant amount of excitement early in the season prior to the injury and illness woes of all three components. Jake Wood also returned to the lineup for the first time since the Mayor's Cup, a game in which he was suspended for two contests.

For the second straight game, Jacob Laliberte got the Engineers on the board first with a goal, and it didn't take long. On the senior's very first shift at 1:19, he scored his sixth goal of the season with assists to Mark McGowan and Jared Wilson to make it 1-0.

Spot mistakes cost the Engineers in the first period, however. A turnover in the defensive zone created a breakaway opportunity that the Bears capitalized on at 9:08 to tie the score, then an error by Jason Kasdorf three minutes later helped put Brown ahead 2-1 as a shot bounced off his leg pads and directly into the net.

Another soft Brown goal early in the second period ended Kasdorf's night prematurely, the struggling junior managed just 10 saves on 13 shots before his night ended after 24:33 between the pipes. Senior Scott Diebold took over for the remainder of the game, keeping Brown off the board for the remainder of the second period.

Milos Bubela's 6th goal of the season cut the Brown lead in half despite some dreadful play from the home side during the second period, and the 3-2 scoreline carried over into the third period, keeping the Engineers in the game despite an overall poor showing.

Brown regained their two-goal edge with a score just 51 seconds into the third, and once more against the flow of play, the Engineers managed to climb back to within one nine minutes later on a goal by Mark Miller, his fourth of the campaign. But just four minutes later, Brown scored a goal in transition on the power play when RPI penalty killers got stuck in the Brown end after a clearance, ending any real chance of the Engineers coming back even for the tie. A (literally) last-second empty netter produced a 6-3 score line for the final.

Yale
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Prapavessis-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

The only real change heading into Freakout! night was the insertion of Craig Bokenfohr into the lineup in place of Parker Reno, and a slight reshuffling of the defensive pairings. The Melanson-Miller-Nanne line was put out for the first shift, their first start of the season.

Yale's power play operated with ruthless efficiency all night long, especially on their first two opportunities in the first and second periods, and those tallies were key to victory for the Bulldogs. Their first power play goal came just 3:13 into the game, when they scored after an efficient sequence following a faceoff win in the RPI zone to go up 1-0. A little over two minutes later, the score was 2-0 after Yale's John Baiocco got himself free, got around Bokenfohr, and fired a precision shot that managed to get past Jason Kasdorf and into the net with only the slightest of angles available.

Late in the first period, RPI appeared ready to shift momentum in their direction with a power play goal by Viktor Liljegren. The freshman potted his fifth goal of the year on a rebound from a shot by Drew Melanson to make it 2-1 heading into the second.

For the second straight night, however, the opposition scored early in the period to squelch any momentum the Engineers could carry over while down just one. 91 seconds in, Yale had their third goal of the night to regain a two-goal edge, and then the Bulldogs executed once more on the power play to go up 4-1 just under five minutes later.

That would be all the scoring for the contest. RPI did start to look a little bit better late in the second period and into the third period, but they rarely looked ready to get a second goal. Yale let off the gas slightly after going up by three and were content to play lock-down hockey in the third period in order to skate off with the victory. Jason Kasdorf did start to look a little more like his usual self, especially late in the third as RPI had a pair of penalties to kill off, and he was called on to make some solid saves in order to preserve the scoreline.

Assisted slightly by Union also getting swept on the weekend (failing to score any goals in two consecutive games after going 98 in a row without being shut out), RPI remains in 9th place heading into the penultimate weekend of the regular season. The Engineers are on a very thin line when it comes to potentially playing at home. As of now, they need to pick up victories over Cornell and Clarkson for sure to even have a prayer, but they are going to need some help almost certainly from Union against those same teams if they're going to be playing in Troy when March arrives.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 31 points (15-2-1)
2. St. Lawrence - 25 points (12-5-1)
3. Yale - 22 points (10-6-2)
4. Harvard - 21 points (9-6-3)
5. Dartmouth - 20 points (9-7-2)
6. Colgate - 19 points (8-7-3)
7. Cornell - 18 points (8-8-2)
8. Clarkson - 18 points (8-8-2)
9. RPI - 14 points (7-11-0)
10. Union - 13 points (6-11-1)
11. Brown - 9 points (4-13-1)
12. Princeton - 6 points (2-14-2)

Brown at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/13/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Brown 6, RPI 3


RECORD: 9-21-1 (7-10-0, 14pts)

#15 Yale at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/14/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Yale 4, RPI 1


RECORD: 9-22-1 (7-11-0, 14pts)

Upcoming games
20 Feb - at Cornell
21 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - Clarkson
28 Feb - #20 St. Lawrence (Senior Night)
06 Mar - ECAC First Round (Site TBA)

Friday, February 13, 2015

Statistic of the Year

Here's your statistic of the year for the RPI men.

When allowing two or fewer goals, the Engineers are 9-0-1.
When allowing three or more goals, the Engineers are 0-20-0.

It's that amazingly stark. You'd think that, even with the Engineers' well documented goal struggles, they'd have found a way to at least pick up a tie in one of those games where they've allowed three. You'd perhaps especially think that maybe they'd have dropped one or two even when they didn't.

Nope. It's been a hard and fast rule through 30 games. Give up three, lose. Don't give up three, don't lose.

Now, most teams are going to have a strong record in games where they allow two or fewer, and a weaker one when they give up three or more. It's just a fact of life. But this is pretty telling about what matters for this team.

The three-goal mark is always bandied about in college hockey as the goal for any team to score in any game. "First to three" is a pretty common remark, especially out west.

Interestingly enough, RPI has managed 3 goals themselves in six of nine wins - the difference being three 2-1 victories over Union, Dartmouth, and New Hampshire. They've scored three in a loss only once - in the Mayor's Cup game, a game they lead 3-2 heading into the 3rd period.

What's going on here? Wasn't the defense supposed to be a point of strength?

Freakout! weekend is here, and it's none too soon. The Engineers have slid into 9th, a road playoff spot, just as we feared would happen after the game at Dartmouth. They're back home for the first time in a month, and they've done some awesome things at home in league play this season. With four of the last six games being played in the friendly confines of Houston Field House and the Tute still just four points out of 3rd place, it's another key weekend. Friday's game against Brown is a required two points - almost nobody is giving up points to the Bears this season, and RPI's already dropped two of them. Yale presents a bigger challenge on Saturday, but perhaps Freakout! could be the great equalizer. The last time Yale came to the Freakout! they were the #1 team in the nation. They weren't anymore afterwards.

Meantime, the women get set to wrap up their season next weekend at home, but first they go through their final road trip of the year to Yale and Brown. The Bulldogs are almost certainly off to the playoffs, but they at least represent some lower hanging fruit that the Engineers should hope to grab points from. Brown is a team RPI needs to beat, the first of two straight Saturday games in which the Engineers can pick up points to conclude their season on an upbeat note.

We've had a pretty good year here at WaP, and we're hoping it continues for at least another month. We've been accused at times by different people of going far too easy on the teams for their struggles or being far too hard on them. Sounds like we're getting it right.

But for those who think we're too hard... this pumpup is for you.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Men's Tiebreakers (Three Weeks Out)

It's hardly a shocker to look at the ECAC standings with six games left and see a glut of teams with the same number of points right in the middle. Fully half of the league is sitting on either 18 or 17 points.

There's a bit of separation at the top - Quinnipiac and SLU are looking good - and at the bottom - Brown and Princeton have been dreadful. The middle, that's pretty mixed up. 3rd place Yale is closer to 10th place Union (5 points) than they are to 2nd place St. Lawrence (6 points).

Here's basically what we know right now.

Quinnipiac has clinched a home ice playoff series, which is likely to be during the quarterfinals.

RPI and Union cannot finish in first, but can finish as high as second.

Brown is all but guaranteed to be on the road in the first round - they would have to win out to even have a shot at home ice in the first round, and even that would be highly unlikely as they would have to come out on top in a four-way tie with RPI, Union, and either Colgate or Cornell.

Princeton is guaranteed to be on the road in the first round - ninth is as high as they can finish.

That's about it. The rest is completely up in the air.

Let's look at the current standings and break ties.

Tie for 3rd: Yale has the advantage of having played all of its games against the three teams they're tied for in this position, with 7 points they have more in total head-to-head play against Clarkson, Harvard, and Dartmouth. Clarkson and Harvard have 5 each and Dartmouth has 3. That places Yale in 3rd and Dartmouth 6th.

Tie for 4th: Harvard is ahead 2-0 in its tiebreaker with Clarkson.

Tie for 7th: Cornell wins the tiebreaker with Colgate, 3-1.

Here's where we stand with head-to-head tiebreakers at the moment. We won't start getting into multi-way tiebreaks until the last week of the regular season.

Quinnipiac
Colgate, Cornell - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth, SLU - Ahead 2-0.
Yale - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

St. Lawrence
Cornell, Yale - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth, Harvard, RPI, Union - Ahead, 2-0.
Clarkson - Tied, 2-2, would likely lead on ECAC wins.

Yale
Harvard - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2. Unknown tiebreaker.
Quinnipiac - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Harvard
RPI - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.
Clarkson, Colgate, Quinnipiac - Ahead, 2-0.

Clarkson
Yale - Won, 3-1.
Dartmouth, Quinnipiac, RPI - Ahead, 2-0.

Dartmouth
Union - Won, 4-0.
Cornell - Ahead, 2-0.
Yale - Tied, 2-2. Unknown tiebreaker.
Colgate - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Cornell
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Colgate - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Harvard, Union, Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

Colgate
SLU - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Union - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

RPI
Princeton, Union - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Cornell - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2, would likely lead on ECAC wins.

Union
Princeton, Won, 4-0.
Harvard - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Clarkson, Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

Brown
RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Princeton - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Princeton
Brown - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.


Irrelevant
Quinnipiac
RPI, Union, Brown, Princeton

St. Lawrence/Clarkson/Dartmouth/Harvard/Yale
Brown, Princeton

Colgate/Cornell
Princeton

Tiebreaker solutions for this weekend
Friday's games:
* These teams can win the tiebreakers with their opponents with a win or a tie: Dartmouth over Cornell; Harvard over Colgate; Quinnipiac over St. Lawrence; Brown over RPI; Union over Yale.
* An RPI win over Brown makes that tiebreak irrelevant.

Saturday's games:
* These teams can win the tiebreakers with their opponents with a win or tie: Cornell over Harvard; Clarkson over Quinnipiac; Yale over RPI; Union over Brown.
* The winner of the Colgate/Dartmouth game wins that tiebreaker, a tie guarantees the tiebreaker goes to at least the second break.

Women's Tiebreakers (Two Weeks Out)

The situation in the ECAC is starting to become pretty clear.

Six of the eight playoff teams have been determined - Harvard, Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Cornell, St. Lawrence, and Princeton will advance to the ECAC Quarterfinals. Expect a serious amount of jockeying for position between these teams in the next two weekends, however. None have secured home ice.

The final two playoff teams will come from a field of three - Dartmouth, Yale, and Colgate, with Dartmouth and Yale as the very heavy favorites to emerge from that group. In fact, Dartmouth can eliminate Colgate (and thereby secure a playoff spot for Yale no matter what the Bulldogs do against RPI) with a win or a tie over the Raiders on Friday.

RPI, Union, and Brown have already been eliminated from playoff contention with four games remaining. However, each have the potential to finish as high as 9th.

Harvard, Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Cornell, and St. Lawrence have all clinched a top 6 position

Princeton can do the same on Friday with a win over Clarkson OR a tie and an RPI win/tie at Yale.

Dartmouth and Yale can only finish as high as sixth, although they're likely to be seventh and eighth in some fashion.

Here are the current tiebreaker situations.

Current ties
Tie for 2nd: Quinnipiac is ahead of Clarkson 2-0 in the season series.
Tie for 7th: Yale wins the season series over Dartmouth, 4-0.

Harvard
Quinnipiac - Won, 4-0.
Cornell - Ahead, 2-0.
Princeton - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins result.
Clarkson - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Quinnipiac
Princeton - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson - Ahead, 2-0.
Cornell - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins result.
SLU - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Clarkson
SLU - Won, 4-0.
Princeton - Ahead, 2-0.
Harvard - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Cornell
Clarkson, SLU - Won, 3-1.
Quinnipiac - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins result.

St. Lawrence
Harvard, Princeton - Ahead, 2-0.
Quinnipiac - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Princeton
Cornell - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.
Yale - Ahead, 2-0.
Harvard - Tied, 2-2. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Yale
Dartmouth, Colgate - Won, 4-0.

Dartmouth
No tiebreakers won.

Colgate
Brown - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth, RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Union - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

RPI
Union - Won, 3-1.
Brown - Ahead, 2-0.

Union
Brown - Ahead, 2-0.
Colgate - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins result.

Brown
No tiebreakers won.

Irrelevant
Quinnipiac/Harvard/Clarkson/Cornell/St. Lawrence
Dartmouth, Yale, Colgate, RPI, Brown, Union

Princeton
Colgate, RPI, Brown, Union

Dartmouth/Yale
RPI, Brown, Union

Tiebreaker solutions for this weekend
Friday's games:
* These teams can win the tiebreakers with their opponents with a win or a tie: Union over Brown; Clarkson over Princeton; Colgate over Dartmouth; Harvard over Cornell.
* The winner of the Quinnipiac/SLU game wins that tiebreaker, a tie guarantees the tiebreaker goes to at least the second break.
* A Dartmouth win or tie against Colgate makes that tiebreak irrelevant.

Saturday's games:
*These teams can win the tiebreakers with their opponents with a win or a tie: St. Lawrence over Princeton; RPI over Brown; Quinnipiac over Clarkson.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Men's Hockey - at St. Lawrence & Clarkson (6/7 Feb)

The struggle continues for the Engineers, as a poor showing in the North Country produced the team's third losing streak of four games or more on the season. The Friday game at St. Lawrence seems to have been the better of the two outings, as a strong second period positioned RPI with a striking-distance shot at one of the best teams in the league, but spot mistakes killed in a 3-1 loss. The next night, the Engineers struck first but coughed up the lead after just nine seconds on the way to a 5-2 loss at Clarkson.

St. Lawrence
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Neal-Miller-Laliberte
Nanne-Bubela-Schroeder
Melanson-Bourbonnais-Gillespie

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Bradley
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

With Jake Wood still out on suspension, the Engineers got some good news in the return of Mark Miller for the first time in over a month. Despite having the strong-early trio of Miller, Lou Nanne, and Drew Melanson all in the same lineup for the first time in nearly three months, they were featured on three separate lines.

The home team struck twice in the first period to get the edge they would need to pick up the victory, although the Engineers would do their part later to make things close. Goals by Alexander Dahl and Christian Horn at 5:54 and 11:17 of the first gave SLU a 2-0 lead, with the second goal being a direct result of a turnover in the RPI end.

Matt Neal scored his 5th goal of the season early in the second to make it 2-1 and add some intrigue to a game that up to that point had been dominated by the Saints. The Engineers turned the game around in that second period and had arguably their best 20 minutes of hockey since the Mayor's Cup, but they were unable to get any closer during the period despite a 13-5 shot edge as SLU's Kyle Hayton preserved the lead well.

The RPI penalty kill managed to go 5-for-5 on the evening, but St. Lawrence's power play looked very strong all night. On at least four of the five power play opportunities, the Saints were fairly unlucky not to score, missing open nets and hitting iron instead of finding the cage.

A goal by Mike Marnell at 10:47 of the third period basically ended any real hopes that the Engineers had of catching up to St. Lawrence, although the tide of the game had started turning well before that one returned SLU's lead to two. RPI played most of the last two minutes of the game with the extra attacker, but could not improve on Neal's tally, falling for the second consecutive league game and firmly dropping the Engineers into 9th place in the league standings.

Clarkson
Liljegren-Schroeder-McGowan
Melanson-Bourbonnais-Miller
Fulton-DeVito-Gillespie
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Bradley
Wilson-Bokenfohr

Kasdorf

Despite his eligibility to return to the lineup, Jake Wood sat out a third-consecutive game, almost certainly because he wasn't on the trip to begin with given RPI's injury status with both Mark Miller and Travis Fulton questionable for the weekend's games. However, Fulton returned to the lineup on Saturday night as part of a line jumble that saw Lou Nanne removed from the lineup completely for reasons unknown.

Quick goals for Clarkson were the theme of the evening, with the timing on each of the Golden Knights' first four goals producing a serious blow for the visitors' morale.

The Engineers did manage to strike first against Clarkson, going ahead 1-0 on a goal by Jacob Laliberte at 8:21 of the first period, but it didn't take long for things to deteriorate. Four seconds later, Matt Neal was called for hooking on the ensuing center-ice faceoff. Then, on the next faceoff in the RPI end, Clarkson won the draw and converted for a tying goal only nine seconds after the Engineers had taken the lead.

Another quick goal early in the second period basically took the wind completely out of RPI's sails, as the Golden Knights went ahead 2-1 just 25 seconds into the middle frame. Five minutes later, a Jimmy DeVito penalty ended after only five seconds - exactly the way the Neal penalty ended, on a power play goal off a faceoff win for Clarkson in the RPI end, making it 3-1 Clarkson.

Mark McGowan got one back for his fourth goal of the season with 4:30 remaining in the second period to give RPI some hope, but just over two minutes later Clarkson got another one to regain their two goal lead, then picked up a fifth goal - and fourth of the second period - just under two minutes after that. McGowan then whipped the puck out of the net and up out of the rink, earning himself a misconduct penalty at the same time Jason Kasdorf was finishing his night up early.

There was no scoring in the third period, but the game was certainly a fait accompli by that time.

RPI has in the past used Freakout! weekend to turn around difficult seasons. If they can't do that this year, it's all over. The last time the Engineers were at home, they played well enough to run with any team in the league. They start off with one of the teams they should still be able to beat - except that they didn't last time out.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 27 points (13-2-1)
2. St. Lawrence - 24 points (12-4-0)
3. Yale - 18 points (8-6-2)
4. Harvard - 18 points (8-6-2)
5. Clarkson - 18 points (8-6-2)
6. Dartmouth - 18 points (8-6-2)
7. Cornell - 17 points (8-7-1)
8. Colgate - 17 points (7-6-3)
9. RPI - 14 points (7-9-0)
10. Union - 13 points (6-9-1)
11. Brown - 5 points (2-13-1)
12. Princeton - 3 points (1-14-1)

RPI at St. Lawrence
ECAC Game - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
2/6/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: St. Lawrence 3, RPI 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RECORD: 9-19-1 (7-8-0, 14pts)

RPI at Clarkson
ECAC Game - Cheel Arena (Potsdam, NY)
2/7/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Clarkson 5, RPI 2


RECORD: 9-20-1 (7-9-0, 14pts)

Upcoming games
13 Feb - Brown
14 Feb - #15 Yale (Big Red Freakout!)
20 Feb - at Cornell
21 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - Clarkson

Monday, February 9, 2015

Women's Hockey - Clarkson & St. Lawrence (6/7 Feb)

RPI may have played two of their best games of the season against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, but it wasn't enough in either game as they dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions at the Field House.

With the two losses, coupled with a Yale win over Dartmouth, RPI falls nine points shy of 8th place with just eight points up for grabs. They will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row and third time in four seasons.

Clarkson

Wash/Mankey/Raspa
Horwood/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mahoney/Svoboda
Renn/Hylwa/Walsh

Kimmerle/Godin
Schilter/Banks
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Despite Alexa Gruschow scoring a shorthanded goal early in a 5-minute major penalty, the penalty ended up costing the Engineers as Clarkson's power play goal gave them a 2-1 win over RPI on Friday night.

The goals came late in the second and early in the third, after Taylor Mahoney was sent off with a major and game misconduct for contact to the head. Only about 20 seconds into the Clarkson power play, Gruschow poked a puck free on the Clarkson blue line to spring herself on a breakaway which she put past Shea Tiley.

That goal tied the game 1-1, as earier in the period Cayley Mercer had capitalized on a failed clearing attempt by the Engineers to get her own mini breakaway on O'Brien which gave the Golden Knights an early lead.

With Mahoney's penalty still being served early in the third period, Clarkson picked up the go-ahead goal with a shot through traffic from the slot that O'Brien didn't appear to get a good look at.

RPI put up 28 shots, including 10 in the third period where they had a 5-on-3 power play opportunity, but couldn't solve Tiley again after Gruschow's tally.

St. Lawrence


Wash/Mankey/Raspa
Horwood/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mahoney/Svoboda
Renn/Hylwa/Walsh

Kimmerle/Godin
Schilter/Banks
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Another fairly good performance from RPI, another 2-1 loss to show for it as the Engineers were defeated by St. Lawrence on Saturday afternoon, ending the Engineers' slim hopes of a playoff bid.

Again it was a power play tally that stood up as the game winner, as Kayla Raniwsky's goal early in the third put the Saints up 2-0.

Taylor Mahoney cut that lead in half at 10:52 of the third, taking a nice feed from Marisa Raspa in the corner and rifling a shot into the top corner to beat Carmen MacDonald for the only time on the afternoon.

SLU opened the scoring at 10:18 of the first with a weak wrister by Brooke Webster that trickled through O'Brien and into the net.

RPI finished with 25 shots, and O'Brien with 33 saves (56 on the weekend) in a strong performance.

While there are 4 games left on the schedule, the Engineers are officially eliminated from playoff contention and will just be playing for position in the bottom four over the final two weekends of the season.

-----

RPI vs. Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/6/15 - 7:00pm
Clarkson 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wclkren1.f06
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4451

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/2/6/WICE_0206151834.aspx
Clarkson: http://www.clarksonathletics.com/news/2015/2/6/WHOCK_0206152221.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9-qC6l8CiA
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/897-womens-hockey-vs-clarkson-

RECORD: 5-29-4 (3-13-1 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/7/15 - 3:00pm
St. Lawrence 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenstl1.f07
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4452

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/2/7/WICE_0207153710.aspx
St. Lawrence: http://www.saintsathletics.com/news/2015/2/7/WHOCKEY_0207155904.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w43SJVEm04U
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/898-womens-hockey-vs-st-lawrence-

RECORD: 5-21-4 (3-14-1 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Feb. 13 - at Yale (7pm)
Feb. 14 - at Brown (4pm)
Feb. 20 - Cornell (7pm)
Feb. 21 - Colgate

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Harvard - 29 pts. (14-3-1) (.806)
2t. Quinnipiac - 28 pts. (13-3-2) (.778)
2t. Clarkson - 28 pts. (13-3-2) (.778)
4. Cornell - 26 pts. (12-4-2) (.722)
5. St. Lawrence - 25 pts. (11-4-3) (.694)
6. Princeton - 23 pts. (11-6-1) (.639)
7t. Dartmouth - 16 pts. (7-9-2) (.444)
7t. Yale - 16 pts. (8-10-0) (.444)
9. Colgate - 9 pts. (4-13-1) (.250)
10. RPI - 7 pts. (3-14-1) (.194)
11. Union - 5 pts (1-14-3) (.139)
12. Brown - 4 pts. (2-16-0) (.111)

Friday, February 6, 2015

And Down the Stretch They Come

We've alluded to it for some time. The final third of the season is the most feverish - and it takes place in the final month.

Four at home, four on the road. The first two on the road come this weekend in the North Country, which, by current points, is the most difficult road trip of the year, like it always used to be. Tonight the Engineers face off with what may be the most underrated team in the entire country in St. Lawrence. They've finally got what they've been lacking for at least the last five years - a solid goaltender and a balanced attack. That makes them dangerous on a night in, night out basis. What RPI was in 2013 and what Colgate was in 2014, St. Lawrence is this year.

Following up is a visit to a Clarkson team that isn't lighting the world on fire but they're more or less getting the job done. They're in fourth place, which means they're doing something right, but they're also only two points ahead of the Engineers coming into the weekend (as opposed to six points for SLU). Given the closeness of the teams, if we had to pick one game to take points in this weekend, this is the one.

With four weeks left in the season, the Engineers are a point behind our preferred pace of "two points on the road, three at home." This might be a difficult weekend to pick that point back up (requiring three or more points), but a split is a necessity if they're going to keep a top 4 spot as a legitimate goal.

For the women, with six games left in the regular season, a playoff spot seems practically out of reach. Now seven points out with only 12 points available, it'll take a miracle - in fact, it may be semi miraculous if they don't get mathematically eliminated this coming weekend at home against the North Country teams. That leaves pride left to play for. Catch Colgate, finish in 9th at least. The Engineers managed to not get totally embarrassed a couple of weeks ago in the North Country, perhaps a small upset over the reigning national champions is in order? Who knows.

Time to awaken that fighting spirit that has seemed missing for a couple of weeks.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Men's ECAC Tiebreakers (4 Weeks Out)

We've reached the point of the season where we don't have to stand on our heads to figure out where teams "really" are in the standings. What you see is what you get. 14 games played each, 8 games left each. RPI is in a tie for 8th in the standings, that's where they are.

So we're starting to get deep enough into the season when the oh-so-important tiebreakers begin to play a factor.

Here are the seven ways the ECAC uses to break ties, in order.
  1. Comparison of game results between tied teams (head to head). There are four points up for grabs in any given season between two teams, it's essentially the first to three.
  2. ECAC league wins. Another way to put this is "the team with fewer ties," since a team with the same number of points as another but more wins also has fewer ties (math tells us that both teams would have either an odd or even number of ties). This makes it easier to compare two teams that aren't currently tied in the standings. Generally, we expect that a team that has 2+ ties more than the team they're being compared to are likely to lose on this criteria if they're tied head-to-head.
  3. Comparison of results of games against the top four teams. This can get fluid depending on which team is currently occupying the top four spots and is difficult to hammer down until very late in the season.
  4. Comparison of results of games against the top eight teams. Ironically, the winner of this criteria necessarily has a worse record against the league's worst teams than the loser.
  5. Goal differential in head-to-head competition. Seems like this should be a higher-level tiebreak, but here we are.
  6. Goal differential in games against the top four teams.
  7. Goal differential in games against the top eight teams.
It's not listed on the website, but presumably the final tiebreaker if teams are hopelessly deadlocked would be the drawing of lots - basically a coin flip if it's just two teams.

If there are more than two teams tied for one spot, the tiebreakers are applied until a team is separated from the others, either up or down, and then the remaining teams then start again from the top. Let's say Clarkson, Cornell, and Yale are tied for 4th. Each has 4 points in games against each other, but Cornell has one more win than either Clarkson or Yale. Cornell is then 4th, then Clarkson and Yale are compared head to head in a tie for 5th. Conversely, if Cornell had one less win than the others, they would be 6th, and Clarkson and Yale are then compared head to head in a tie for 4th.

Current ties in the standings are broken as follows:
4th: Clarkson wins the first tiebreaker over Yale (3-1).
6th: Cornell wins the first tiebreaker over Colgate (3-1).
8th: RPI wins the second tiebreaker over Dartmouth (7-6).
11th: Princeton wins the sixth tiebreaker over Brown (-11 to -19).

We're too early in the process to really get into multiple-way tiebreakers, but we'll touch on those as potential 3-way, 4-way, and more-way ties become a possibility late in the season.

Below are the current states of the first tiebreaker. Teams are listed above tiebreakers that they have either won, are winning (with a game remaining to be played) or are tied.

The RPI-Union and Clarkson-SLU travel pairings have yet to face each other for the first time (which happens this coming weekend), so there's nothing listed for those tiebreakers yet. Irrelevant tiebreakers - those between teams that cannot tie in the standings - are listed at the bottom.

Quinnipiac
RPI, Union - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, SLU - Ahead 2-0.
Yale - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

St. Lawrence
Cornell, Yale - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth, Harvard - Ahead, 2-0.
Clarkson - Tied, 2-2, would likely lead on ECAC wins.

Harvard
RPI - Won, 4-0.
Dartmouth - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Clarkson, Colgate, Princeton, Quinnipiac - Ahead, 2-0.

Clarkson
Brown - Won, 4-0.
Yale - Won, 3-1.
Dartmouth, Princeton, Quinnipiac - Ahead, 2-0.

Yale
Brown - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, RPI - Ahead, 2-0.
Quinnipiac - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Colgate
SLU - Won, 4-0.
Clarkson - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Princeton, Union - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Cornell
Clarkson - Won, 4-0.
Colgate - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Harvard, Union, Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

RPI
Princeton, Union - Won, 4-0.
Colgate, Cornell - Ahead, 2-0.
Dartmouth - Tied, 2-2, would likely lead on ECAC wins.

Dartmouth
Union - Won, 4-0.
Brown, Cornell, Princeton - Ahead, 2-0.
Colgate - Tied, 1-1. Unknown ECAC wins difference.

Union
Princeton, Won, 4-0.
Harvard - Won, 3-1.
Brown, Yale - Ahead, 2-0.

Princeton
Cornell - Ahead, 2-0.
Brown - Tied, 1-1. Ahead on goal differential against Top 4.

Brown
RPI - Ahead, 2-0.

Irrelevant
Quinnipiac-Brown
Quinnipiac-Princeton
St. Lawrence-Brown
St. Lawrence-Princeton

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Men's Hockey - at Dartmouth (30 Jan)

The Engineers are certainly at a tipping point of the season - the point where every team reaches the same number of games and then it's a rush to the finish. That point is now, with every team sitting on 14 games played with 8 to go over the next four weeks. That tipping point intersected with a terrible outing in the Mayor's Cup against Union, and with one game on the weekend, they needed to make a statement against Dartmouth. That statement was not a strong one, as RPI fell 3-1 on the road against the Big Green.

Dartmouth
Neal-Schroeder-Laliberte
Nanne-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Bourbonnais-Gillespie
Liljegren, Bokenfohr

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Bradley
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

Milos Bubela was out of the lineup for what was deemed a "coach's decision," there remains no timetable on the returns of Travis Fulton and Mark Miller, and Jake Wood served the first of his two game suspension on Friday, leaving the Engineers with just 10 forwards available for service. All played, and Craig Bokenfohr was moved up to play forward as well. Parker Reno took his place on the blue line, and oddly we didn't see Bradley Bell or Phil Hampton come in to fill the one remaining empty bench spot.

The Engineers came out with a good burst of energy, but were unable to score early in the game and their jump fizzled eventually, especially after giving up the first goal of the game for the first time in five outings. With Bokenfohr off on a tripping call, Dartmouth scored the game's first goal on the power play after Curtis Leonard accidentally kicked the puck into his own net after a shot by Eric Neiley rang off the post.

Just about a minute and a half later, the Big Green struck again, this time at even strength on a redirection of a shot from the point through a screen. Just like that, RPI was down 2-0 and the fight looked pretty grim. Dartmouth controlled the remaining six minutes of the period.

For the second straight game, the Melanson-Bourbonnais-Gillespie line was one of the few offensive bright spots for the Engineers, and they came through in the second period to make a game of things. Riley Bourbonnais poked home a shot by Jared Wilson during a scrum in front of the net to half the Dartmouth lead 11:32 in to the second.

The Engineers only got two power plays in the game, but neither were particularly spectacular. The first came at the very end of the second period, giving RPI a lengthy minor power play with fresh ice to start the third, but it went absolutely nowhere - in fact, it was counter-productive, as Dartmouth scored a shorthanded goal to go up 3-1. On the second power play opportunity just a few minutes after the first had expired, Dartmouth got a shorthanded breakaway, stopped only when Zach Schroeder hauled down Jack Barre. That resulted in a penalty shot that Barre put wide.

Further attempts to come back by the Engineers were stymied by late penalties to Neal and Laliberte. RPI managed to keep the Big Green from scoring on the empty net they had for most of the last three minutes of the game, but they didn't come close to scoring themselves with the extra attacker. The loss dropped the Engineers to .500 on the ECAC season and into a position that threatened to have them down in the bottom four of the league. After Saturday's games concluded, they sat in a tie for 8th with Dartmouth, a tie they currently win on league wins (7 to 6).

The good news is that RPI is only 2 points out of 4th, since they're existing in the always muddled middle of the league. They control their own destiny up to 5th. The difference between finishing 6th and 7th is lining up to be pretty wide, since the 9th and 10th ranked teams are likely to be ones with some degree of punch to them.

The stretch run commences on Friday, and it starts with the annual trip to the North Country with yet another snowstorm potentially bearing down on the region, which is always fun. The North Country teams comprise exactly half of the Engineers' remaining games, and Clarkson/St. Lawrence are certainly doing pretty well right now. Back in a funk after winning three in a row and looking like they could take on the world, RPI is in strong need of another turnaround weekend.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 23 points (11-2-1)
2. St. Lawrence - 20 points (10-4-0)
3. Harvard - 18 points (8-4-2)
4. Clarkson - 16 points (7-5-2)
5. Yale - 16 points (7-5-2)
6. Cornell - 15 points (7-6-1)
7. Colgate - 15 points (6-5-3)
8. RPI - 14 points (7-7-0)
9. Dartmouth - 14 points (6-6-2)
10. Union - 11 points (5-8-1)
11. Princeton - 3 points (1-12-1)
12. Brown - 3 points (1-12-1)

RPI at Dartmouth
ECAC Game - Thompson Arena (Hanover, NH)
1/30/15 - 7:05pm

RESULT: Dartmouth 3, RPI 1


RECORD: 9-18-1 (7-7-0, 14pts)

Upcoming games
06 Feb - at St. Lawrence
07 Feb - at Clarkson
13 Feb - Brown
14 Feb - #15 Yale (Big Red Freakout!)
20 Feb - at Cornell