Friday, January 30, 2015

Step to the Line

Every weekend is a big weekend when it comes to the ECAC. All of the points are crucial. The later in the season it gets, the more precious points become.

But sometimes, you reach a crossroads from which you know there's no going back if you fail, and the Engineers, men and women, face that kind of a crossroads this weekend, and especially tonight.

For the men, it's a one night stand in Hanover. One game, and the microscopes are out. Plenty of folks were declaring RPI "back" after sweeping Colgate and Cornell at home in impressive fashion. When you've got only one game in a weekend, things become more magnified, and the egg the Engineers laid against Union in the Mayor's Cup was disturbing enough to make us all wonder - who's the real RPI?

It's a one game microscope, and it's on the road tonight. To some extent, there's a slight added advantage for the Engineers in that they don't play Saturday - they can lay it all on the line tonight, Dartmouth has to still have gas in the tank for Union tomorrow. But the margin for error is slipping. No more non-conference games. No more mistakes you can brush off a little bit easier.

The women needed four points last weekend against Union. They got three. The difference between three and four is thin until you consider that they've only got seven for the season and are five points behind the Yale Bulldogs. That's what makes this afternoon's contest against Colgate crucial. The Raiders are one of only three teams behind RPI in the standings. If that gap is going to be closed, points against those teams are essential. That #8 seed seems pretty far away, but it's going to get a whole lot farther if victory isn't in store tonight. Cornell tomorrow represents bonus points if they can be had. Colgate today is do or die.

"The Line" is the story of Darius Washington, Jr., who as a freshman at Memphis in 2005 was given three foul shots with no time remaining on the clock in the conference championship game against Louisville with his team down by two - meaning that he could tie the game with two out of three, and win it by making all three. He made only the first one.

Been waiting for a good excuse to use this song for a pumpup, this seems to be the week for it. There are plenty of lines in sport from which one stands to await glory. The basketball player takes the foul line at a crucial moment. The football player approaches the line of scrimmage on 4th down. The jockey of a Triple Crown contender guides his mount into the starting gate at Belmont. A hockey team lines up on the blue line for the national anthems.

Both the men and the women step to the line tonight, a season hinging.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Men's Hockey - Mayor's Cup (24 Jan)

Last week we talked about how quickly a season can turn around, often in the span of a weekend's worth of games. This week, it was illustrated that a weekend itself can be an eternity - all it can take is one game, or in this case, just two periods. RPI looked very much the aggressor against Union in the first period of the annual Mayor's Cup game, in line with their upward trend and Union's general downward spiral. Then, as the second period started, it all seemed to vanish completely. Horrendous play by the Engineers coupled with some nice finishing by the Dutchmen conspired to result in an 8-3 defeat for an RPI team that actually had a lead after 40 minutes, a stunning turn of events that put the brakes on the optimistic outlook that the previous three games had produced.

Union
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte
Wood-Schroeder-Nanne
Melanson-Bourbonnais-Gillespie

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

With Mark Miller and Travis Fulton still out to injuries and the Engineers coming off a four-point weekend at home, it wasn't a shock to see RPI put the same lineup out against Union as was dressed for the Cornell game.

The Engineers struck first, scoring first for the fourth game in a row on Drew Melanson's fifth goal of the year just 2:07 into the game. That lead lasted for only 27 seconds, however, as Union went down right away off the ensuing faceoff to tie things up at one.

Late in the first, shortly after coming out of the penalty box, Jacob Laliberte entered the Union zone with plenty of ice in front of him on the right wing, but he pulled up instead, allowing a couple of Union defenders to get back, and waited instead for wingmate Matt Neal to get into position. With the Dutchmen defenders getting in place, Laliberte put the puck behind them, threading it to Neal who one-timed it to the back of the cage for his fourth goal of the season.

RPI took the 2-1 lead into the second period, where things started to come unraveled mighty quickly. The Engineers were lucky not to give up the lead early in the period, getting stuck in their own end and repeatedly being unable to change personnel due to the long change of the second period (with both benches on the same side of the ice). The Dutchmen dominated possession and shots, but Jason Kasdorf looked very solid in front of his cage.

Well against the flow of play, the Engineers picked up a 3-1 lead with a little under seven minutes left in the middle frame. Luke Curadi took a big slap shot from the blue line that missed the net to the left, but the rebound off the end boards caromed to Melanson to the right of the net, and he deposited in a gaping cage for his second goal of the night.

The goal did absolutely nothing to change the flow of the game, however, as Union continued to win faceoffs, pick up loose pucks, and dig pucks out of the corners. RPI's inability to stay out of the box finally started catching up as well. Union scored on the power play with just under three minutes left in the period to cut the RPI lead to one, and heading into the third period, it was clear the Engineers were going to need a serious energy jolt in order to maintain their edge.

It didn't take long to realize that the second period would not be the aberration in this contest. 17 seconds into the third, Union had tied it, and a power play goal three minutes later put Union in front for the first time. From there, the floodgates opened as lethargic defensive play by the Engineers was added to the same woes they had been fighting in the second period. Two more Union goals were reviewed over the next six minutes - one was put in with a stick that was just below being a high stick, the other was initially called a glove save by Jason Kasdorf but later proved to have crossed into the goal. 8:58 into a period RPI had led entering, they trailed by three.

Kasdorf would be pulled from the net following Union's fifth goal of the period at 10:43, but literally none of the goals given up by the Engineers could be classified as being his fault. Screens, power plays, extended possessions in the RPI zone, and odd-man rushes simply added up, and he came out of the game if for no other reason than to keep his psyche fresh.

Union completed the scoring against Scott Diebold, who allowed one goal on two shots.

In the game's final minute, after Luke Curadi had been slashed, Jake Wood took out his frustrations on Union captain Charlie Vasaturo, who was hit from behind into the Union net. Wood received a major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct, but the league would later assess him a 2 game suspension, meaning he'll miss road games at Dartmouth and St. Lawrence. The Engineers, defending Mayor's Cup champions who had led heading into the final 20 minutes, departed without even as much as a whimper.

Despite the rough game there were a few bright spots. Kenny Gillespie picked up his first two collegiate points with assists on both of Melanson's goals. The Neal goal, and the pass from Laliberte, was probably the prettiest of the night. Four of the defensemen managed to have a plus rating for the night (we won't get into who the other two are - you can see for yourself in the box score anyway).

But regardless, the game wasn't completely meaningless. The good news is that it doesn't count in the league standings, but games against Union are never just throwaway outings. The challenge now for RPI is to put this awful performance behind them and focus on the final nine games of the regular season, the most crucial part of the stretch run is ahead. Despite the struggles this year, the Engineers find themselves in a good place for home ice in the first round at least, and potentially within striking distance of a lower-end first round bye position if they can get back to the form they had against Colgate and Cornell. Whether the Mayor's Cup represents another turning point in a season that has been full of them will help determine their fate.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 20 points (10-2-0)
2. St. Lawrence - 18 points (9-4-0)
3. Harvard - 18 points (8-3-2)
4. Clarkson - 16 points (7-4-2)
5. Colgate - 14 points (6-4-2)
6. RPI - 14 points (7-6-0)
7. Yale - 13 points (6-5-1)
8. Cornell - 12 points (6-6-0)
9. Dartmouth - 10 points (4-6-2)
10. Union - 9 points (4-7-1)
11. Princeton - 2 points (1-11-0)
12. Brown - 2 points (1-11-0)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.833)
2. St. Lawrence (.692)
3. Harvard (.692)
4. Clarkson (.615)
5. Colgate (.583)
6. Yale (.542)
7. RPI (.538)
8. Cornell (.500)
9. Dartmouth (.417)
10. Union (.375)
11. Princeton (.083)
12. Brown (.083)

RPI vs. Union
Non-Conference Game - Times Union Center (Albany, NY)
1/27/15 - 7:30pm

RESULT: Union 8, RPI 3


RECORD: 9-17-1 (7-6-0, 14pts)

Upcoming games
30 Jan - at Dartmouth
06 Feb - at St. Lawrence
07 Feb - at Clarkson
13 Feb - Brown
14 Feb - #16 Yale (Big Red Freakout!)

Monday, January 26, 2015

Women's Hockey - Union Home & Home (23/24 Jan)

RPI and Union faced off in their annual home-and-home, and as has tended to happen in recent years, Union played their crosstown rivals tough. The Dutchwomen took a point in Schenectady on Friday as they tied the Engineers 2-2, but RPI picked things up at home on Saturday with a solid 4-2 victory.

Friday

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

Middlebrook/Schilter
Banks/Behounek
Kimmerle/Renn

O'Brien

RPI had to come from behind twice on Friday night, down 1-0 and 2-1, to force a 2-2 tie against Union in Schenectady.

Alexa Gruschow scored 23 seconds into the second period to recover from the 1-0 deficit, and Laura Horwood picked up a power play tally at 10:14 of the third to even things at two.

Kelly O'Brien had 20 saves on the night. The Engineers only managed to outshoot Union 26-22, with most of that coming in the third period after the Dutchwomen outshot RPI 9-5 in the first and both teams managed six shots in the second.

Saturday


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

Banks/Behounek
Middlebrook/Schilter
Kimmerle/Renn

O'Brien

After squandering a point on Friday night, RPI took the opportunity to at least make it a 3-point weekend as they beat Union 4-2 in Troy, racking up 43 shots in the process.

Laura Horwood and Katie Rooney scored in the first to give RPI a 2-0 lead. Union cut the lead in half before the intermission but Lauren Wash got it back early in the third to make it 3-1.

Gruschow's goal in the third period put RPI up 4-1 and the score almost held up, but Union notched a second goal in the final minute for a 4-2 final.

With Yale only earning two points over Brown on the weekend, RPI made up one point in the race for 8th place. However RPI will be depending on Yale losses coupled with a little good luck to make up ground with just eight games left in the season.

-----

RPI at Union
ECAC Hockey Game - Messa Rink (Schenectady, NY)
1/23/15 - 7:00pm
RPI 2, Union 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenuni1.j23
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4447

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/23/WICE_0123153253.aspx
Union: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2015/1/23/WICE_0123152221.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzOeoXEGhPg

RECORD: 4-17-4 (2-10-1 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Union
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/24/15 - 4:00pm
RPI 4, Union 2

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenuni1.j24
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4448

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/24/WICE_0124153258.aspx
Union: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2015/1/24/wice.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uJm_ZSnuyE
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/894-womens-hockey-vs-union

RECORD: 5-17-5 (3-10-1 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 30 - at Colgate (3pm)
Jan. 31 - at Cornell (3pm)
Feb. 6 - Clarkson (7pm)
Feb. 7 - St. Lawrence (4pm)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 24 pts. (11-1-2) (.857)
2. Harvard - 23 pts. (11-2-1) (.821)
3. Clarkson - 20 pts. (9-2-2) (.769)
4t. Cornell - 18 pts. (8-3-2) (.692)
4t. St. Lawrence - 18 pts. (8-3-2) (.692)
6. Princeton - 16 pts. (8-6-0) (.571)
7. Dartmouth - 13 pts. (6-7-1) (.464)
8. Yale - 12 pts. (6-8-0) (.429)
9. RPI - 7 pts. (3-10-1) (.250)
10. Colgate - 6 pts. (3-10-0) (.231)
11. Brown - 4 pts (2-12-0) (.143)
12. Union - 2 pts. (1-12-1) (.107)

Friday, January 23, 2015

#HateUnionWeek

Yes, friends, it's that time of year again.

For the women, this week is going to tell us whether they've still got a ghost of a chance at extending their season by an extra week. The reality is that the Engineers are 6 points out of a playoff spot with 10 games left to play, and 9 points out of 7th. If they somehow manage to nab a playoff berth, they're probably not sticking around for long. That's just being realistic. But the goal right now still has to be that #8 spot, and if they can't collect 4 points against Union this weekend, the playoffs are going to be almost impossible to attain.

For the men, it's all about pride and bragging rights. Sure, we've got plenty already that come in a fashion that'll still be meaningful come March after having swept Union earlier in the year (boy that feels good to say). But remember how good winning the Mayor's Cup felt last season after being swept? Let's finish this, and complete the real sweep. They're saying the attendance could top 10,000 at the TU Center. They're not likely to see a repeat of the "FU at the TU" from last year, but they're likely to see yet another encounter between RPI and Union where the records don't matter.

Sure, the Mayor's Cup still looks like a glorified bowling trophy. But it's our glorified bowling trophy right now.

It's a battle for both teams for regional dominance. Let's lower the hammer.

(a few F-bombs are dropped in this song, in case you're at work)

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Pipeline 2015: For Brains and Intellectual Worth

Last year, RPI's recruiting picture was a bit jumbled and difficult to predict, especially as it pertained to defensemen. This year, things are an awful lot clearer, and as you're about to see, there are a few players coming in who could be fairly exciting to watch fairly quickly.

Welcome to Without a Peer's annual "pipeline" feature, which every year in mid-to-late January takes a close look at the future of RPI hockey by running down the details of players who have made their commitments to don the Cherry and White in the coming years.

The Engineers are currently expected to lose one goaltender (Scott Diebold), two defensemen (Curtis Leonard and Luke Curadi), and either three or four forwards (Matt Neal, Mark McGowan, and Jacob Laliberte), depending on if Zach Schroeder returns for his redshirt season. Additionally, there was no replacement for Mike Zalewski on the roster when he departed this past summer (Viktor Liljegren was functionally a replacement for Ryan Haggerty when he left), so it's likely that we'll see him replaced as well with a fourth (or fifth) forward.

The eleven players profiled below are all expected to be arriving in Troy at some point over the next three seasons, though the vast majority of them will be coming in time for next year. Consider this, as every season, a sneak preview of the upcoming freshman class with a couple of glances into the farther future.

Thanks once again to Reilly Hamilton, who has produced some awesome looking graphics for each incoming recruit. The recruit's current jersey number is followed by their position and their birth year. The "projection to replace," as in years past, is an attempt to visualize where they will fit onto the roster compared to contemporary recruits and graduating/departing players, and isn't necessarily a direct correlation of talent, play style, or output expectations.

Goaltenders

Team: Tri-City Storm (USHL)
Projected to replace: Scott Diebold

Expectations are high and continuing to rise for Alec Dillon. A season after establishing himself as one of the best players in the BCHL, he has moved up to the top junior league on the continent for college-bound players, and he has only continued to excel. After being selected by Tri-City in the 2nd round of the USHL draft last May, he beat out former US Under-18 goaltender Blake Weyrick for the starting job and has since become one of the top everyday netminders in the league.

The Los Angeles Kings called his name with the 150th pick in last year's NHL Entry Draft, the final selection of round five. That makes him the third straight top-end RPI netminder to arrive on campus as a draftee, following Allen York (Columbus) and Jason Kasdorf (Winnipeg).

All signs point to an August arrival for the behemoth netminder. Following the draft, he indicated that he'd be open to doing whatever it was that the Kings wanted from him in terms of his development, but it sounds like the Kings aren't pushing for Dillon to play for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL - if they were, he probably wouldn't have signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Engineers this past November (he was even wearing Scott Romfo's 2005 Black Friday jersey when he did it - Romfo is a fellow Tri-City alum), and more to the point, he'd probably already be in Edmonton.

Kasdorf will have two seasons of eligibility remaining when Dillon arrives, but it's tough to say that he will utilize both of them - Kasdorf is, again, an NHL draft pick himself, and one that his hometown Jets seem to covet. The most likely scenario probably has Dillon spending his freshman year as Kasdorf's understudy, learning the NCAA ropes without having to get tossed on the fire immediately, then graduating to the top job in 2016-17 after Kasdorf completes his undergraduate degree.

That seems to be the way Appert has preferred to bring his goaltenders in. York, you'll recall, spent most of his freshman year backing Mathias Lange, and the plan with Kasdorf was to have him back Bryce Merriam, although that went out the window when Kasdorf proved too valuable to leave on the bench as he led RPI to a 2nd place finish in the ECAC. So while we'll get to see Dillon in uniform next season, we'll probably only get to see him in "preview mode" until 2016, when he likely assumes the mantle as the starting goaltender. Kasdorf, of course, has been fairly injury prone (he's missed games to injury in each of the last three years), so having a netminder of Dillon's caliber waiting in the wings is a benefit to the team even if he doesn't see much ice.

Forwards

Team: Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL)
Projected to replace: Matt Neal

We had expected at this time last year to be seeing Tironese in an RPI uniform by now, but a tough season in Green Bay probably helped move that projection back by a season. At any rate, it's in keeping with the tradition of being semi-wrong about when some recruits are coming in - if we'd been right more frequently over the years, Drew Melanson would be a sophomore, Riley Bourbonnais would be a junior, and Jacob Laliberte would have graduated by now.

Tironese's move to the USHL last season was a bit surprising, since he was expected to be one of the top players in the BCHL, but he was quoted in a Green Bay newspaper saying that the RPI coaching staff preferred him in the USHL - and that's been a preference of the coaching staff for a while, it seems. His production suffered a bit in Wisconsin but wasn't horrendous - he finished with 10 goals and 28 assists, good for fourth on a middling Gamblers team.

He told The Province in Vancouver that his experience in Green Bay was less than what he'd been looking for, and that he felt more comfortable in the BCHL. So he came back for his swansong third season in the league, one that was originally expected to take place last season. Once he returned to his old stomping grounds, the offensive prowess that he displayed in his first two BCHL seasons was back in spades.

Unfortunately, with Tironese, what you see is what you get as far as his season stats are concerned - he suffered a shoulder injury in November that has ended his year (at about the same time shoulder injuries were attacking the Engineers, no less). The next time he suits up for a game, he should be in the Cherry and White.

At the time he suffered the injury, he was the leading scorer in the entire BCHL, scoring at a clip of 1.7 points per game. As we've mentioned in the past, the USHL is probably the top college-prep league on the continent, but the BCHL certainly isn't that far off. Anyone who can lead that league in scoring, as he was certainly on pace to do, is likely to have a very solid career in college hockey. One of last year's leaders was Landon Smith, now of Quinnipiac, who had 19 points in his first 20 college games. It's a reason why, as long as Tironese's shoulder heals well, we're still as excited to see him play in Troy as we were when we first heard of his commitment in May of 2012.


Team: Topeka RoadRunners (NAHL)
Projected to replace: Mark McGowan

The end of Carlos Fornaris' season last year was troubling to say the least, but he does at least seem to be getting a new lease on his hockey career in the NAHL.

In February 2014, Fornaris was suspended by the USHL for checking from behind. In March, he was hit with a four-game ban for the same infraction. Then, when the playoffs rolled around, he was suspended for the playoffs for an unspecified violation of team rules, which forced Cedar Rapids to call up one of its affiliate players to fill in.

The final suspension especially was an indicator that Fornaris may have worn out his welcome in Cedar Rapids. He did return to join the RoughRiders for the preseason but was not retained on this year's roster. His final scoring line for last season was six goals and seven assists in 41 games - even when he was healthy and available, he was frequently in and out of the Cedar Rapids lineup.

Fornaris was not without a team for long, however, as he quickly caught on in the NAHL with the Topeka RoadRunners. He's gotten some regular ice time in Topeka, which is pretty vital in and of itself in order to prepare for life in the NCAA. On a team full of players that are a year older than him, Fornaris is certainly holding his own and making contributions offensively. He surpassed his output from all of last season in Cedar Rapids in just over half as many games in Topeka, so if he can keep the trend up for the remainder of the season, it's likely to represent a significant improvement despite now playing in a lower-level league.

As we mentioned in last year's pipeline, Fornaris has a reputation as a better than average stickhandler who relies on those skills to beat defenders and create offensive opportunities for himself. Given his smaller stature, that's probably a necessity, and we wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was a little speed that went with those stickhandling skills.

On a completely RPI level note, the RoadRunners had a Star Wars night a couple of weeks ago, wherein the team dressed as Jedi Knights in a game against the Wentachee Wild, dressed as storm troopers. Fornaris scored two goals in a 3-1 win for the "Jedi." So if nothing else, the Force is strong with this one.


Team: Sioux City Musketeers (USHL)
Projected to replace: Jacob Laliberte

OK, go ahead. Get it all out of your system. We'll be here when you're done.

Set to become the most popular athlete in New York State named Alex Rodriguez when he arrives in the fall, Rodriguez is a graduate of the esteemed Shattuck St. Mary's program in Minnesota. He has long been an acquaintance of fellow Miamian Carlos Fornaris - the two played on the same squirts team (not just in the same league - on the same team) in Miami when they were nine, and now they'll be coming to college together in Troy.

Rodriguez spent five years at Shattuck, where he was lauded for his work ethic and especially for his forechecking ability. In two seasons with the varsity squad, he posted 48 goals and 107 points in 105 games. He was rated as a "B" prospect by NHL Central Scouting in their preliminary rankings for the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, which indicated a possible mid-round selection, but he ultimately went undrafted last year, something that's at least partially attributable to his size, as the NHL tends to covet players bigger than Rodriguez.

Originally slated to be headed for the BCHL's Surrey Eagles, Rodriguez was instead taken in the 3rd round of the USHL Draft last May by Sioux City. There may have been some push from the RPI coaching staff on that move, considering that his commitment came in March of last year. That commitment came literally on the same day that Ryan Haggerty signed with the New York Rangers, so he may have been waiting in the wings to commit as soon as a scholarship was made available. After all, it was not surprising in the least that Haggerty, after the season he had last year, would make the jump to the pros. At the time of his commitment, Over The Boards (a college hockey recruiting website) had Rodriguez ranked 8th among uncommitted players, but he was also the oldest player in their ranking.

Rodriguez's numbers this season look a bit out of place for a guy who was one of the biggest point producers for one of the nation's top prep teams, but it's worth pointing out that the Sioux City team he's on is pretty much bursting at the seams with offensive capacity - the Musketeers have five players in the USHL's top 25 scorers, an impressive feat for a 17 team league. So it's likely Rodriguez just hasn't been playing on one of the top two scoring lines this year. We noted this same phenomenon with Haggerty before his arrival, as he'd been playing on the fourth line for the US Under-18 Team, which is always loaded with offense. They may simply be utilizing his forechecking skills more effectively on the third or fourth line.

Overall, we project Rodriguez as a player who should be able to contribute fairly quickly. He's likely to see a solid amount of ice time in his freshman season, potentially on special teams as well as playing a possible role on a second or third line.


Team: Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL)
Projected to replace: Mike Zalewski

We thought RPI's recruiting for 2015 was pretty much done by September of last year, so when Brady Wiffen's name came down the pike, it meant one (or both) of two things: either one of the forwards we had penciled in for 2015 was getting pushed back to 2016, or Zach Schroeder wasn't expecting to return for his redshirt season next year.

To be fair, it could also be a third option by itself - RPI simply needs more bodies up front, since the Engineers are presently at a paltry 14 designated forwards on the roster, which means the team can only afford a pair of injuries to centers and wings. Already, three different defenseman (Luke Curadi, Phil Hampton, and Craig Bokenfohr) have played forward this season. So we'll go ahead and put Wiffen down as Mike Zalewski's replacement.

But back to Wiffen - his numbers are rather gaudy, some might say they're downright Lalibertian in nature, given where he's coming from. That's probably enough to give some folks pause. After all, there was a great deal of hype for Laliberte for the numbers he produced in Ontario, but he hasn't scored in bunches during his time in Troy. That's the one real caveat. On the other hand, that's still a heck of a lot of points - and it's worth pointing out that while the OJHL isn't up where the USHL and the BCHL are, it's not a slouch of a league, and Laliberte came out of the lower-end CCHL in eastern Ontario.

We're going to be cautiously optimistic on Wiffen being a strong pickup for RPI. If he were doing what he's doing now in an upper-tier league, he'd be an instant head-turner. He may well be a strong contributor right off the bat, especially since he's going to be an older freshman.  He's already 20 - in fact, he'll be 21 when he dons an Engineers sweater next year - so count on seeing him in Troy next season.

A 2010 OHL Draft selection of the Kingston Frontenacs, Wiffen is a veteran of Ontario junior hockey. He's now playing in his fifth season there after two years in the Junior B GOJHL followed by three in the OJHL. This season, he competed in the Central Canada Cup for one of the OJHL's four all-star teams, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists in 3 games for OJHL Hawerchuk, making him one of the tournament's top scorers.

As of this writing, Wiffen is second in scoring in the OJHL, and the league's leading goal scorer. He is described thusly in his team bio: “Big, strong, heady, leader, playmaker, scorer, grinder, gritty, versatile, coachable and deceptively fast.” Sounds like just about everything you want in a scoring forward. He's shown steady improvement in each season at the higher level, he's got size, and he's got a scoring touch. Hopefully, he can help inject a little more life into the RPI offense next season, especially when being added alongside players like Tironese and Rodriguez.


Team: Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL)
Projected to replace: Mark Miller OR Zach Schroeder

The Engineers are plucking players from an increasingly diverse location set these days. There are the usual set of New Yorkers and Ontarians that have long been the backbone of RPI rosters since time immemorial, but now there's a growing group of players from locations that have rarely or never been represented on the Engineers. Two Europeans are featured on the current roster. Two South Floridians are coming next year. In all likelihood, a year later, they'll be joined by the first Arizonan to play at RPI.

Committing to the Engineers on the same exact day in April 2014 as his then-teammate Viktor Liljegren (and apparently completely coincidentally, too), Burgess is a product of the NHL's frequently maligned expansion into Phoenix. Born just a couple of months after it was announced that the Winnipeg Jets would move to Arizona, Burgess is part of the vanguard of young Arizonans who grew up with NHL hockey right on their doorstep. A product of the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, a youth hockey program that operates from the Arizona Coyotes' training facility in Scottsdale, Burgess led the Jr. Coyotes' minor midget team in scoring in 2013 as a 16 year old, but instead of moving up full time to the major midget squad for 2014, he instead got about as far as one could get from Phoenix to continue his career - Fairbanks, Alaska.

The NAHL isn't a league that features an awful lot of 17-year-old players. Usually, at 17, you're either still playing in high school, in midgets, or you're good enough to be playing in a top level junior league. But Burgess made the jump to the league and had a fairly successful season despite being one of the youngest players on the ice, not just on his own team but in the entire league. He collected just five goals and 11 assists in 39 games, but that's pretty decent considering his age. After a slow start while adjusting to the higher level, he settled in nicely.

Burgess missed the first 12 games of this season to an injury, but has been a regular in the lineup ever since and, as you can see, is hovering near the very productive point-per-game mark - despite remaining one of the youngest players on the Ice Dogs.

Like most 18-year-olds he does have a bit of filling out to do, but he fits in nicely heightwise. The question is whether Burgess will come to Troy in time for next season, or whether he'll spend a third year in juniors. As things stand, if Zach Schroeder leaves and the Engineers seek to expand their complement of forwards, Burgess would almost certainly be coming next year. If Schroeder stays at RPI, Burgess would almost certainly spend that third year in juniors. Assuming Burgess is aimed to 2016, don't be surprised if the coaching staff seeks to move him to the USHL for next season.


Team: Toronto Patriots (OJHL)
Projected to replace: Milos Bubela

Playing in the same league as Brady Wiffen, he's put up a very solid number of points and he's doing it at the age of 17 (he turned 18 yesterday). He ranks 8th in the OJHL in scoring players under the age of 19, leading his team in scoring - and leading forwards on his team in scoring by a significant margin. To be managing more than a point per game at his age in this league is a solid accomplishment.

A teammate last year of Mike Prapavessis, Hayhurst is always closer to being the smallest guy on the ice than being the biggest, if not being the smallest guy outright. As you'd expect for a smaller player, Hayhurst is blessed with a serious amount of speed, and he uses that speed to burn past defenders wide in the neutral zone, which is a great skill for creating odd-man rushes. In fact, speed is a word that is used repeatedly any time anyone's talking about him. When the Kingston Frontenacs drafted him in the 10th round of the 2013 OHL Draft, their head scout was quoted saying, “when we looked at all the reports on him the same words kept popping up: speed, speed, and more speed.” He plays with a tremendous amount of energy and he's not afraid to take the punishment that any forward is going to pick up playing near the net.

Like Wiffen, Hayhurst participated in the Central Canada Cup in November, and perhaps fittingly, played on the OJHL Oates squad, named after a guy you've probably heard of who spent a few years in Troy. The Oates team won the tournament, with Hayhurst scoring a goal in the championship game. For his 18th birthday yesterday, Hayhurst was a participant in the CJHL Prospects Game, a collection of the top 20 eastern-based NHL draft eligible Junior A players in Canada against the top 20 western-based draft-eligible players. He scored a goal for Team East and just missed scoring a second one on a breakaway.

Hayhurst was drafted in the fifth round of last year's USHL draft by Cedar Rapids, a relatively high draft position for a guy who would fill an import slot and who was unlikely to leave Ontario for this season. Almost everything we've seen has Hayhurst staying in juniors next season pretty much no matter what, so the question is whether he stays with the Patriots, where he could really shine offensively next season, or whether he moves on to Cedar Rapids, where he probably won't produce quite as huge numbers but where, again, we know RPI prefers to have its crop ripen due to the competition level.

Our money is certainly on the USHL. Expect a move to the States next season, followed by an on-campus arrival in August of 2016 where he'd be one of the key additions to what looks to be shaping up as a team with a significant amount of speed and scoring touch.


Defensemen

Team: Estevan Bruins (SJHL)
Projected to replace: Curtis Leonard

The long hockey journey of Charles Manley continues in a fairly unlikely place this year: Saskatchewan.

To recap, Manley is a Western New York native who went to Connecticut for prep school and to play midget hockey with the Selects Hockey Academy. He got a taste of the USHL during winter break of his junior year of high school, playing a few games with Waterloo. Following that junior year, he appeared set to join Waterloo full time the following year, but didn't make their roster. Instead, he played for the Austin Bruins of the NAHL. His season there last year was tough to draw too many conclusions from, with some of our thoughts from last year's Pipeline being that his youth may have played a role in his odd numbers, considering that most of his teammates were two or three years older.

Since Waterloo retained his rights, we hoped we'd finally see Manley pull a full season in the USHL, but come the end of September, he was released from their camp once again, and he didn't catch on in the NAHL, either. For a few weeks in late September and early October, there was concern that he might not find a gig at all until he turned up in Estevan. The SJHL isn't a place where you find a high number of college committed players, but quality wise it isn't a lower tier league. It's probably about on par with the NAHL, where he played last year. Not the best, not the worst. The major difference is simply orientation - most SJHL players are likely to be either heading to the WHL, or are even former WHL players themselves. He's one of only three players in the league slated to join an NCAA Division I program next season, and four D-I commits overall.

Last season in Austin, Manley put up just a goal and five assists in 58 games played. It was the first real year that we got to see some really solid numbers on him, and a lack of scoring isn't necessarily an issue for a defenseman, of course. The word on Manley was that he was a puck mover, something that Seth Appert has certainly valued in a blueliner for the last several seasons, so much so that he brought in three freshmen this season that fit that mold. If that is the case, the distinct lack of assists is troublesome, but the real answer at this point is that it's tough to know exactly what to expect from Manley when he arrives in Troy.

He's not the first recruit we didn't know a great deal about by the time they arrived - Mark Miller was much the same way, and he's played a significant role since day one. Perhaps Manley will end up in a similar position once he arrives - from Western New York to Connecticut to Iowa to Minnesota to Saskatchewan... and finally back to New York this coming season.


Team: Victoria Grizzlies (BCHL)
Projected to replace: Luke Curadi

Moore's first year out of high school was a rough one. Saddled first with a team that didn't have interest in using him as a power play quarterback and offensive-minded defenseman, he was frequently not even dressed for Sioux City in the USHL. Put on waivers and dealt to Fargo, he got more ice time there, but was playing for the worst team in the league by far, which put a serious damper on his output.

Originally expected on campus in 2014 when he committed in May 2013, his tough season combined with the commitments of Jared Wilson and Bradley Bell probably added up to an extra season of junior development for Moore.  Sometimes, a player just ends up finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time in his career, and that more or less seems to apply to Moore last season.

Heading north of the border, Moore seems to have found his groove once again in terms of being able to move the puck and contribute offensively. It appears that he's getting plenty of opportunities to head up the Grizzlies' power play, and he's the team's top scoring defenseman. In fact, Moore ranks among the top scoring defensemen in the entire league, which is a lot closer to what we'd been hoping to see last year.

Last year, we compared Moore to Nick Bailen in terms of his capabilities. They are roughly the same size and project to fill similar roles on the power play, but RPI is certainly trending toward having more offensively capable defensemen - again, all three freshmen brought in this year on the blue line fit that mold - so Moore should fit in very well with this scheme. We also suggested that he might fit well on a pairing with a more traditional defenseman like Parker Reno, though he may also have some utility filling in up front when necessary as well as Luke Curadi currently does, and as Bryan Brutlag did before him. Like Mike Prapavessis now does with some frequency and Bailen did all the time as well, we won't be shocked to find Moore anywhere on the ice, even deep in the attacking zone.

All in all, we're still excited to see what Moore can bring to the program. He was outstanding for one of the best high school teams in Minnesota, Duluth East, especially in his last three years there. He has the pedigree - we mentioned last year that his father played on the Minnesota-Duluth team that RPI battled in the '85 Frozen Four - and he's got the bonafides. Adding him to a team that already looks ready to be full of guys who can work the puck along the blue line (and beyond) could be a real treat.


Team: St. Andrews College (CISAA)
Projected to replace: Chris Bradley

We saw Cho scoping out RPI at last year's Big Red Freakout!, although it wasn't until his commitment a little over two weeks later that we knew who he was. It didn't take long to get the feeling that he was a pretty solid pickup.

Cho was listed as a "C" prospect in the NHL Central Scouting preliminary rankings in September, and was ranked 125th among North American skaters in the midterm rankings (released just yesterday), suggesting that he has a chance of being a late round draft pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft this June. He was the only high school athlete in Ontario on either list - but of course, most draftworthy players throughout Canada are playing at least Junior A hockey, if not major junior hockey by the time their draft year comes up. St. Andrews College, however, boasts not only an excellent hockey program, but also an outstanding educational regimen (the combination of which should be solid preparation for being a student athlete at RPI).

OHL scout Sean LaFortune says Cho is "a good skater, smooth on his edges," who "plays a safe and controlled game." A November 2013 critique of Cho by the US Hockey Report following SAC's participation in a tournament in Vermont suggested that he probably didn't have the skill to be an offensive or a stay-at-home defenseman in Division I, but that he had time to develop as a hybrid, which has been precisely what we've just been repeatedly talking about when it comes to RPI blueliners. Given his size, which is closer to the standard for defensemen than any of the other currently recruited blue liners, he may have to focus more on the defensive end at the Institute - while still having an offensive capacity. That'll likely make him very similar to the man he's probably going to replace on the roster.

Drafted in the sixth round of the USHL draft by Lincoln in May 2014, Cho's rights were dealt to Cedar Rapids for "future considerations," which could mean that Lincoln doesn't think Cho is ever coming to the league - frequently, that trade is only completed if the player in question eventually comes to play for his new team. However, Cho is almost a mortal lock to be playing in the USHL next season, assuming Cedar Rapids is willing to use one of four import slots for him (and they likely would be). Given that Manley and Moore were originally expected on campus for this season, that RPI graduates only two defensemen this year, and that there's a pretty good glut of defensemen on the current roster, there's no real chance that Cho will be in an Engineers' uniform in 2015, but mark him down for a 2016 arrival as long as he doesn't have any major hangups in Iowa.

It's hard to get a strong idea of what to expect from Cho in part because he's not playing against an overly talented opposition in high school. There's at least some expectation that he'll be a decent player at the highest amateur levels, given the attention that he's earned from NHL scouts, his late-round selection in the 2013 OHL Draft (12th round by Sault Ste. Marie), and his relatively high USHL draft selection. Cho's former teammate at St. Andrews College, UNH freshman Warren Foegele, was taken in the 3rd round of last year's NHL Draft based solely on his accomplishments with the Saints, lending just a bit more credibility that the numbers are legitimate.

Nonetheless, next year is certainly going to be one to watch with Cho. In Cedar Rapids, he'll likely be playing with future Engineer Jacob Hayhurst, so expect plenty of reasons to be checking in on the RoughRiders' progress in the coming season.


Team: CAC Gregg Distributors (Edmonton) Canadians (Alberta Midget AAA)
Projected to replace: Parker Reno

RPI's most recent commitment came in early November of 2014. There's still a lot that we don't know about Cory Babichuk - first and foremost, his size. His Elite Prospects page lists him at a lilliputian 5'4". A post on the Hockey's Future forum from April 2013 (when he was 14 and still playing bantam) also lists this as his height, calling into question 5'4" as a current height since most young men aren't fully grown at 14. A report by Gazette writer Ken Schott the day Babichuk committed had his height at 5'5", which is what recruiting guru Chris Heisenberg lists him at as well. College Hockey Inc. now keeps a list of college commitments, and lists Babichuk at 5'10". We're going to be optimistic and say he's grown quite a bit.

For comparison, the median height on the RPI women's team right now is 5'6" - so unless College Hockey Inc. is right and Babichuk gained six inches in the last two years (not outside the realm of possibility), we're talking about an unusually short-of-stature player. That doesn't mean he's going to struggle. After all, Theoren Fleury had a noteworthy 16-year NHL career at just 5'6". You just don't see it very often.

That Hockey's Future post also comprises most of the scouting report we've seen on Babichuk (as you can see, we don't even have a known picture of him to use). According to the observer, he possesses "puck management skills and his containment game is of a player much bigger and older." The post largely talks about how he would be overlooked in the WHL draft because of his size, but that his pedigree would make him a top major junior talent if he had the size to go with it (he was, in fact, not drafted).

In his final year of bantam in Edmonton, Babichuk was third on his team in scoring - as a defenseman - with 23 points in 33 games. In minor midget last season, he was fourth on his team in scoring with 29 points in 35 games. As you can see by his numbers for this season, he's basically still maintaining that general pace in major midget. They're excellent indications of - stop us if you've heard this already - another puck moving, offensive minded defenseman. Even if the most optimistic estimate of his height is true, that's probably got to be a given if he's going to survive even in Junior A, let alone in college.

At any rate, we know for sure that Babichuk won't be here next season, because he's only 16 and doesn't turn 17 until September. He has to graduate high school before coming to college, naturally. His arrival is expected for 2017, which makes him the likely first confirmed recruit for the RPI Class of 2021.

The Sherwood Park Crusaders of the AJHL currently have his junior rights, we'll have to see if the RPI coaching staff tries to swing him toward the BCHL instead, either next year or the year after. We should have another two years to watch him develop in juniors, which will give us plenty of time to hammer down exactly how tall he is and to get a better feel for what his full skill set is.

--

Finally, as always, we leave you with a cursory glance at how recruiting is shaping up for the somewhat more distant future, that is, beyond next season. More and more frequently, we're seeing teams round out recruiting about a year out from the start of the season, and some teams are loading up for the more distant future. Maine last year took a commitment from a 13-year-old with an anticipated arrival for the 2019-20 season - which is essentially a 10-year commitment (assuming he doesn't leave school early) to a player who has barely even been alive that long. That's the first of six players born in the year 2000 that have made college commitments, even though they're just now starting to turn 15.

RPI's not quite on that level (and probably won't be due to the academic rigors required). But we still have a few years down the road that we can examine.

2016-17
Leaving: 1-2 goaltenders, 3 defensemen, 3-4 forwards
Currently incoming: 1 defenseman, 1-2 forwards

All things being equal, RPI is moving along nicely timewise in assembling the Class of 2020. Expect in the next 7-8 months to see at least one more defenseman, probably two more forwards, and a goaltender who would likely be backing Dillon as a freshman make commitments, with the rest of the class being filled out quickly thereafter. The uncertainty on goaltenders and forwards revolves entirely around whether Kasdorf and Schroeder use their redshirt seasons. With Kasdorf, however, it's fairly inconsequential to the recruiting process, as Sam Goodman's graduation would require a third goaltender regardless. So we'll probably see a goaltender who could play regularly if he had to added to the team here - Scott Diebold's functional replacement.

2017-18
Leaving: 0-1 goaltenders, 1 defenseman, 3 forwards
Committed: 1 defenseman

Babichuk is the start of a smaller than normal class for 2021, barring any early departures. We may learn one or two new names for this class before the beginning of next season, but we don't usually find more than that, especially with a class this small. The goaltender for this season would surely be a practice netminder (if there even is one to bring in), so the focus now is definitely on forwards.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Men's Hockey - Colgate & Cornell (16/17 Jan)

It's pretty impressive how much perceptions can change in college hockey in a very short period of time. Some of it can be described as overreaction swinging from one direction to the other, but make no mistake - one good weekend can certainly make a season's outlook an awful lot brighter. Two weeks ago, RPI was mired in a long losing streak and being roundly written off. This past weekend, the Engineers are suddenly being toasted again after a dominating pair of games at home, upsetting nationally-ranked Colgate 4-1 on Friday night and then shutting out Cornell 3-0 on Saturday. There's still a long way to go, but suddenly a long season looks considerably more interesting.

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

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

Returning home for the first league games in Troy since mid-November, the Engineers were just about back to full strength. Still missing from the previous outing due to injury were Travis Fulton and Mark Miller, it's still unknown when either will be back in the lineup.

The Engineers jumped on Colgate early on Friday night, picking up a goal by Mark McGowan on a redirect of a shot by Luke Curadi to take a 1-0 lead just 2:08 into the contest. It was the senior's 3rd goal of the season. Colgate would get it back late in the first on a one-timed shot by Kevin Lough after a faceoff in the Engineers' zone to tie things back up heading into the first intermission.

The first two periods were practically devoid of offensive chances for either team. Colgate held a 12-8 edge in shots 40 minutes into the game, meaning that the teams were averaging only a single shot every 2 minutes.

RPI busted things open in the third period, with the senior forwards leading the way. Matt Neal's second goal of the season - and second in as many games - came 56 seconds into the third to put the Engineers back in front and a tally by Jacob Laliberte about two and a half minutes later made it 3-1 in favor of the home team.

That was all the Engineers would need to pick up their second consecutive ECAC win. RPI dominated the third period, keeping the puck down in the Colgate end for most of the final 20 minutes and outshooting the Raiders 15-6. Neal would pick up a second goal on an empty netter with 29 seconds remaining to clinch the victory. Jason Kasdorf stopped 17 of 18 shots to pick up the victory in net.

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

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

No changes were made to the lineup heading into the Cornell game with the exception of a switch between the third and fourth lines, as Jake Wood was moved up to play on the third line as the left wing with Drew Melanson moving to the fourth line.

The first period on Saturday was similar to the first period on Friday, just without the goals. Not a lot of offensive chances for either team as RPI took a 8-7 edge in shots. The Engineers tended to dominate play at even strength, but were hampered by three penalties taken during the opening frame that gave the Big Red plenty of opportunity to open the scoring, but the penalty kill did its job early on. Ultimately, these would be the only three penalties of the game for RPI.

Jake Wood broke the scoreless deadlock 7:45 into the second period with a shot that looped up and over Cornell goaltender Mitch Gillam's shoulder and into the net to give the Engineers their third straight 1-0 lead (after having only accomplished that edge three times prior to last weekend). Wood was being hooked at the time of his shot, which gave RPI their only power play of the game immediately following the goal, but it was a poor effort on the man advantage.

The score remained 1-0 heading into the final period of play, but RPI came out quickly for the final period once again to take a more commanding lead. Jacob Laliberte's second goal of the weekend and fourth of the season was generated by Matt Neal, who kept a clearance attempt banked off the glass from leaving the zone, then quickly zipped it up to his classmate, who beat Gillam five-hole for the 2-0 lead.

Two and a half minutes later, the Engineers scored on a 2-on-1 break as Mark McGowan dished to Jared Wilson across the crease, and the freshman put it past a badly positioned Gillam to make the score 3-0. Gillam, who had the nation's best goals against average and save percentage coming into the game, was pulled in favor of Hayden Stewart following the goal by Wilson, his third of the year.

RPI continued to pour it on through the remainder of the third period, forcing the new Cornell goaltender to make nine saves, but it wasn't until an icing call against RPI with 3:44 remaining in the game that momentum shifted distinctly in Cornell's favor. Pulling the netminder for the extra attacker, they kept the Engineers pinned in their own zone for the remainder of the game, winning faceoffs, maintaining puck control, and peppering the RPI net with shots. Fortunately for the home team, Jason Kasdorf was right on top of his game. When all was said and done, the junior had made 14 saves in the final period as part of a 26 save night overall in picking up his first shutout of the season.

The schedule is somewhat unkind to the Engineers over the next two weeks, as they won't immediately get a chance to build on their three-game winning streak in league. This coming weekend, they fight for pride and local glory in defending the Mayor's Cup against Union in Albany - essentially, the only piece of hardware denied the Dutchmen last season. After that, they get just one game the following week at Dartmouth, as the corresponding game at Harvard was played at the end of December. Nevertheless, some folks are starting to compare this team with the 2012-13 team, which had a rough season until January and then went on a serious run to finish 2nd in the ECAC. That might be tough to duplicate and it's probably too early to say that the Engineers are that dangerous a team, but things certainly look a lot brighter than they did after losing to Quinnipiac to make it nine losses in a row. There's still so much to play for.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 20 points (10-2-0)
2. Harvard - 16 points (7-2-2)
3. St. Lawrence - 14 points (7-4-0)
4. RPI - 14 points (7-6-0)
5. Yale - 13 points (6-3-1)
6. Colgate - 13 points (6-3-1)
7. Clarkson - 12 points (5-4-2)
8. Cornell - 10 points (5-5-0)
9. Union - 9 points (4-7-1)
10. Dartmouth - 7 points (3-6-1)
11. Brown - 2 points (1-9-0)
12. Princeton - 2 points (1-11-0)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.833)
2. Harvard (.727)
3. Yale (.650)
4. Colgate (.650)
5. St. Lawrence (.636)
6. Clarkson (.545)
7. RPI (.538)
8. Cornell (.500)
9. Union (.375)
10. Dartmouth (.350)
11. Brown (.100)
12. Princeton (.083)

#15 Colgate at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/16/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, Colgate 1


RECORD: 8-16-1 (6-6-0, 12pts)

Cornell at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/17/15 - 7:07pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Cornell 0


RECORD: 9-16-1 (7-6-0, 14pts)

Upcoming games
24 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)
30 Jan - at Dartmouth
06 Feb - at St. Lawrence
07 Feb - at Clarkson
13 Feb - Brown

Monday, January 19, 2015

Women's Hockey - at St. Lawrence & Clarkson (16/17 Jan)

RPI headed north for a weekend pair at St. Lawrence and Clarkson, both of which sit solidly in the top half of the league standings. The hosts played like the standings would imply, as the Saints defeated RPI by a 3-1 margin before the Golden Knights skated to a 4-2 victory the following night.

St. Lawrence

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

RPI was outshot 40-16, yet Kelly O'Brien kept the game close as it took a late empty net goal to help St. Lawrence secure a 3-1 victory over the Engineers Friday night in Canton.

The Saints got on the board early as Kennedy Marchment put home a rebound for her tenth goal of the season at 3:17 of the first period.

Hannah Behounek tied it up at 9:44, putting a wrist shot top shelf on the power play to get RPI on the board.

The tie didn't survive the period, as the Engineers got into penalty trouble after Behounek's goal. After successfully killing a minute of 5-on-3 shortly after the goal, they found themselves down 5-on-3 again late in the period with two concurrent penalties called. This time SLU capitalized, as Megan Armstrong scored at 18:46 to make it a 2-1 game.

Half of RPI's 16 shots came in the second period, but none found their way past Brooke Wolejko. The Engineer power play came up short on one more try in the third, and instead it was Kayla Raniwsky scoring into the empty net at 19:05 of the final frame to put the game away.

Clarkson


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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

It was a penalty-filled affair on Saturday afternoon as RPI and Clarkson combined for 28 minutes in the sin bin, yet oddly enough neither team scored on the power play or shorthanded (although one goal was scored 4-on-4). The goals that did come tilted the game in favor of the Golden Knights who came away with a 4-2 win over the Engineers.

Once again RPI gave up an early goal, this time to Amanda Titus at 2:48 of the first. Titus tipped a shot from Savannah Harmon past O'Brien for the quick lead.

The Engineers erased that deficit at 13:09 of the opening frame, when Ali Svoboda found a loose puck at the top of the crease and fired it past Shea Tiley.

Clarkson jumped ahead to a 3-1 lead over the course of three minutes spanning the midpoint of the second period. Olivia Howe regained the lead by firing the puck into the crease where it bounced off Behounek and past O'Brien. Harmon made it a two-goal lead by putting a rebound just under the crossbar at 12:48.

Things looked to be out of hand for RPI when Cayley Mercer scored at 14:56 of the third to put the Engineers in a three-goal hole. Jenn Godin scored in the game's final minute to cut it to 4-2 but it was too little, too late and RPI was swept on the weekend.

Next weekend will be the home-and-home with Union, two games that are absolutely critical for the Engineers to win in order to maintain any hope of making the playoffs. RPI will head to Schenectady for a 7pm game Friday, then return to the Field House for a 4pm matinee on Saturday.

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RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
1/16/15 - 7:00pm
SLU 3, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenstl1.j16
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4445

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/16/WICE_0116151313.aspx
SLU: http://www.saintsathletics.com/news/2015/1/16/WHOCKEY_0116150028.aspx

RECORD: 4-16-3 (2-9-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game - Cheel Arena (Potsdam, NY)
1/17/15 - 4:00pm
Clarkson 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wclkren1.j17
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4446

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/17/WICE_0117150642.aspx
Clarkson: http://www.clarksonathletics.com/news/2015/1/17/WHOCK_0117152434.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNy_LavwWlI

RECORD: 4-17-3 (2-10-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 23 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 24 - Union (4pm)
Jan. 30 - at Colgate (3pm)
Jan. 31 - at Cornell (3pm)

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ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 24 pts. (11-1-2) (.857)
2. Clarkson - 20 pts. (9-2-2) (.769)
3. Harvard - 19 pts. (9-2-1) (.792)
4. St. Lawrence - 18 pts. (8-3-2) (.692)
5t. Cornell - 16 pts. (7-2-2) (.727)
5t. Princeton - 16 pts. (8-6-0) (.571)
7. Dartmouth - 13 pts. (6-5-1) (.542)
8. Yale - 10 pts. (5-7-0) (.417)
9t. Colgate - 4 pts. (2-9-0) (.182)
9t. RPI - 4 pts. (2-10-0) (.167)
11t. Brown - 2 pts (1-11-0) (.083)
11t. Union - 2 pts. (1-11-0) (.083)

Friday, January 16, 2015

I Don't Want A Large Farva

So, does anyone remember Super Troopers? Ahh, of course you do. They're making a sequel.

Yes, one of the best cult classics out there from the last decade is getting a second chapter - and here's something you probably didn't know about Super Troopers that makes it semi-relevant to this weekend's games: Broken Lizard, the comedy troupe that wrote and starred in the film, formed at Colgate in 1990. The five members of the group are all Colgate alums from the same fraternity.

Now, here's where your mind gets blown (or probably not, but stick with it). Remember the fast-food scene from Super Troopers? The one where Farva antagonizes the "burger punk" behind the counter and gets a lapful of soda for his trouble? (NSFW, salty language) The actor who plays the "burger punk" in the pink shirt is a guy named Charlie Finn.

And who's Colgate's starting goaltender? A sophomore named Charlie Finn. No, it's not the same guy, Super Troopers came out when this Charlie Finn was about eight. C'mon man.

So what if it's just an excuse to be weird during this weekend's pumpup meow?

RPI is probably going to need to whip out some of their best shenanigans if they're going to come out on top tonight against the Raiders. They've been a streaky team this year, and like the Engineers, they've been through a serious injury bug, but they're mostly recovered from the issues they've had. Sharp defense is going to be a must at the Field House tonight, because a team struggling to score like RPI is going to have a hard time getting one past the burger punk - he's only allowed three goals in the last four games, none of which were in Hamilton.

Both teams might need a ramrod to score on Saturday as two of the worst offenses in the nation link up when Cornell comes to town. The Big Red combine that, however, with the nation's top defense, so goals will be at a premium both nights, in all likelihood. If the Engineers play to their strengths now that they can field an optimum lineup, they could potentially go punch for punch, though. Stay tuned.

The women last weekend missed a chance to enhance their playoff chances by going 0-for-5 on the power play and getting shutout by a Dartmouth team that was right in front of them in the standings. Still sitting in 9th place and out of the playoffs, the Engineers are four whole points behind Yale for 8th. Next weekend's games against Union are critical, but anything they can muster for what's likely to be a very difficult weekend in the North Country would be huge as well.

I know what you're thinking. Did I miss the song? No, you didn't. Since both teams are going to need to play like well oiled machines to come away with badly needed points this weekend, here's a song about a machine that has pump-worthy qualities.

No, no more Super Troopers references in the song. I just lost a buck. To myself!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Men's Hockey - at Quinnipiac & Princeton (9/10 Jan)

In desperate need to find some way to turn the season around with the ECAC schedule now back in full swing, RPI made at least some process in throwing the brakes on a very rough set of play. Their myriad dismal streaks continued on Friday night against the ECAC team they've now gone the longest without beating, falling 4-2 against Quinnipiac, but the streaks came to a screeching halt the next night as the Engineers took care of business against the worst team in the league by blitzing Princeton, 5-2.

Quinnipiac
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Laliberte-Bubela-Fulton
Wood-Neal-Bourbonnais

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

A major shot in the arm for the Engineers came from the return of Lou Nanne to the lineup from injury - he'd been more or less since the last time RPI played the Bobcats in Troy back in November, save the first period of the BU game. The other big return came in the four senior captains who'd been kept out against Miami, allowing the Engineers to return to a more or less optimal lineup (though they still await the return of Mark Miller from an ankle injury).

At even strength on Friday night in Hamden, the Engineers did a fairly decent job of hanging in there with one of the best teams in the league, but they certainly got themselves into trouble on the penalty kill enough times to get burned. Quinnpiac got themselves on the board first not with a power play goal, but with a terrific individual effort by Matthew Peca just 1:10 into the second period. The coast to coast score by the QU senior broke a scoreless tie that had persisted through the game's first 20 minutes after some sloppy early play from both teams.

The remainder of the Bobcats' goals would be generated more or less by their power play. Devon Toews made it 2-0 twelve minutes later while Curtis Leonard was serving a high-sticking penalty. That goal was mitigated almost immediately by the Engineers, who got a team-leading 5th goal of the year from Milos Bubela just 27 seconds later to make the score 2-1.

A pair of penalties to Zach Schroeder in the third period, however, would make the hole too deep to climb back from. A boarding call 48 seconds into the third culminated in a Travis St. Denis goal, then a tripping call at 8:08 produced a power play that RPI killed off, but led to a goal by Tim Clifton just seven seconds after the game had returned to full strength, effectively a power play goal if not officially one.

Mark McGowan would net his second of the year on a fluky play on the power play in the game's final minute, but it was little more than a consolation effort. The loss was RPI's ninth in a row, and the 12th straight game in which they'd failed to produce at least three goals, tying a 99-year school record.

Princeton
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte
Curadi-Bourbonnais-Wood

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Reno
Wilson-Bokenfohr

Kasdorf

A road game against the bottom of the barrel was what ultimately brought those regrettable streaks to an end. In addition to being the first non-nationally ranked opponent in over a month, it came with an almost back to full-strength Engineers team. One injury from Friday was to Travis Fulton, but it was easy enough for Seth Appert to slot Luke Curadi, whose play up front had steadily improved, onto the fourth line, and add a much improved Parker Reno back to the lineup on the blue line.

RPI emphatically ended their 3 goal game streak by scoring three goals in the game's first 13:30. Curtis Leonard ended another streak - 11 straight games of RPI not scoring the game's first goal - by collecting his second goal of the season at 5:36 to give the Engineers only their 4th 1-0 lead of the entire season. Freshman Drew Melanson followed up six and a half minutes later with his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-0, and Chris Bradley followed on two and a half minutes after that with his third of the year to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead. Oddly enough, despite RPI's struggles to score the first goal, it was the Engineers' third 3-0 lead of the campaign.

Matt Neal made it 4-0 on the power play midway through the second period with his long awaited first goal of the season. From there, the final result was never truly in doubt, but Princeton did make it interesting. Defenseman Tom Kroshus scored a fluke goal in the last minute of the second period, the puck bouncing off the end wall, hitting Jason Kasdorf in the leg and trickling just over the line to make it 4-1. Kroshus scored again seven minutes into the third to make it 4-2, but RPI's hold on the game was rarely tenuous.

Viktor Liljegren collected an empty netter for his fourth goal of the year in the final minute of play to ice the game. Kasdorf, looking to return to his usual form, made 35 saves on 37 shots for the victory, a big step forward for the junior goaltender.

Jacob Laliberte had a very fruitful weekend, collecting 4 assists in the two games, giving him a team leading 9 and tying Melanson for the team's scoring lead at 11.

The ECAC schedule continues this weekend as the Field House plays host to league contests for the first time in two months. Streaky Colgate, winners of four straight, come to Troy on Friday, followed by a Cornell team that's had an even harder time scoring than RPI of late with 4 goals in their last 5 games.

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

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.833)
2. Harvard (.778)
3. Colgate (.688)
4. Yale (.562)
5. St. Lawrence (.556)
6. Clarkson (.556)
7. Cornell (.500)
8. RPI (.455)
9. Union (.450)
10. Dartmouth (.438)
11. Brown (.125)
12. Princeton (.083)


RPI at #15 Quinnipiac
ECAC Game - High Point Solutions Arena (Hamden, CT)
1/9/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Quinnipiac 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RECORD: 6-16-1 (4-6-0, 8pts)

RPI at Princeton
ECAC Game - Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (Princeton, NJ)
1/10/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 5, Princeton 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RECORD: 7-16-1 (5-6-0, 10pts)

Upcoming games
16 Jan - #15 Colgate
17 Jan - Cornell
24 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)
30 Jan - at Dartmouth
06 Feb - at St. Lawrence

Monday, January 12, 2015

Women's Hockey - Dartmouth & Harvard (9/10 Jan)

With non-conference matchups out of the way, RPI returned to league play but their ECAC foes were not kind to them. Dartmouth and Harvard defeated the Engineers by 3-0 and 4-1 margins respectively at Houston Field House, bringing RPI's record to a dismal 4-15-3, and 2-8-0 in ECAC play.

Dartmouth

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Special teams cost the Engineers dearly as they went 0-for-4 on the power play but surrendered two goals to Dartmouth on the penalty kill en route to a 3-0 shutout loss Friday night.

Kelly O'Brien made 15 saves on 18 shots, but the Engineers' offense failed to threaten even with four consecutive power plays in the late second and early third periods. Kennedy Ottenbreit picked up a hat trick, scoring all three goals for the Big Green.

Dartmouth made the most of their chances, scoring early in each of two chances on the man advantage. The first came 20 seconds into their first power play and 17 seconds before the end of the first, when Kennedy Ottenbreit got the Big Green on the board with a 1-0 lead.

After killing two penalties in the middle of the second, RPI failed to convert on their four chances, and when Dartmouth was finally given another power play in the third, they converted it just 17 seconds in - with Ottenbreit again picking it up.

Ottenbreit completed the hat trick at 17:39 of the third with the RPI net empty in favor of an extra attacker. Despite pulling O'Brien again for some more 6-on-5 time, the Engineers couldn't score and were shut out for the fifth time this season and second time in three games - including back-to-back ECAC matchups.

Harvard

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

If a win over Dartmouth wasn't in the cards for the Engineers, one against Harvard was that much less likely, and RPI rather unsurprisingly fell 4-1 to the #6-ranked Crimson on Saturday afternoon.

Taylor Mahoney scored with the net empty and 38 seconds on the clock to avoid the shutout, but the Engineers couldn't muster any other goals against a Crimson defense that has been stingy of late. RPI pushed harder as the game wore on, which wasn't hard after being outshot 16-1 and outscored 3-0 in the first period.

Lexie Laing was responsible for the first two of those goals, coming exactly 10 minutes apart at 5:37 and 15:37 of the first period. The tallies were even nearly identical in execution, with Laing drifting in close to the net unmarked by the RPI defense for an easy tap-in off a feed from Mary Parker both times.

Sarah Edney made it a 3-0 lead in the final seconds of the first, taking advantage of a disorganized frenzy in front of Kelly O'Brien to fire a shot from the point through traffic and into the back of the net.

The 3-0 lead held up through the second period, in which the Engineers were outshot 12-5, and most of the third, where RPI finally started to mount a little pressure. However with the net empty in favor of the extra attacker, Parker fired the puck from outside the RPI zone into the open net.

Burke pulled O'Brien again leading to Mahoney's extra attacker goal, but at the end of the afternoon the Engineers were swept on the weekend. The only saving grace came from the fact that Yale (4 points ahead of the Engineers) and Colgate/Union/Brown (2 points behind the Engineers) were also swept, keeping the bottom 5 spots unchanged from last week and leaving RPI a glimmer of hope in their fight to make the playoffs.

RPI hits the road next weekend and things won't be any easier for them as they hit the North Country for league matchups against St. Lawrence (7pm Friday) and Clarkson (4pm Saturday).

-----

RPI vs. Dartmouth
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/9/15 - 7:00pm
Dartmouth 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wdarren1.j09
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4443

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/9/WICE_0109154846.aspx
Dartmouth: http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209842991
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SmWLfKDdvY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/889-womens-hockey-vs-dartmouth

RECORD: 4-14-3 (2-7-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Harvard
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/10/15 - 4:00pm
Harvard 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wharren1.j10
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4444

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/10/WICE_0110155922.aspx
Harvard: http://gocrimson.com/sports/wice/2014-15/releases/20150110311vzs
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGzsNphc2YY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/890-womens-hockey-vs-harvard

RECORD: 4-15-3 (2-8-0 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 16 - at St. Lawrence (7pm)
Jan. 17 - at Clarkson (4pm)
Jan. 23 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 24 - Union (4pm)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 24 pts. (11-1-2) (.857)
2. Harvard - 19 pts. (9-1-1) (.864)
3t. Clarkson - 16 pts. (7-2-2) (.727)
3t. Princeton - 16 pts. (8-6-0) (.571)
5. St. Lawrence - 14 pts. (6-3-2) (.636)
6. Cornell - 12 pts. (5-2-2) (.667)
7. Dartmouth - 11 pts. (5-5-1) (.500)
8. Yale - 8 pts. (4-6-0) (.400)
9. RPI - 4 pts. (2-8-0) (.200)
10t. Colgate - 2 pts. (1-8-0) (.111)
10t. Brown - 2 pts (1-9-0) (.100)
10t. Union - 2 pts. (1-9-0) (.100)

Friday, January 9, 2015

Firewall

It's go time.

Both the men and the women faced their final non-conference opponents in the past week (the men do still have the Mayor's Cup game against Union, but... come on), so now it's time to get down to the meat and potatoes of the schedule - the final two months of the season where destinies are truly determined.

The women are at home this weekend, taking on #6 Harvard tonight and Dartmouth tomorrow. Harvard may be a bit of a tough haul, but Dartmouth is sitting there just ahead of RPI in that final playoff position (although they could pass Yale after playing Union tonight). If the Engineers are going to overcome their rough start to the season and make the playoffs, points at home against teams like Dartmouth are a must.

The men seem to be in a tailspin, but there are two key elements to that tailspin that seem to be winding up - the injuries and suspensions that have ravaged the roster appear to be concluding, as the suspensions to the captains are done and a report this morning suggests that Lou Nanne and Mark Miller, the only Engineers yet to return from their injuries, could come back this weekend. The other is that RPI's remarkably tough recent schedule - the last four games coming against teams presently in the top five nationally.

RPI has another tough one tonight at Quinnipiac, but the last time out against the Bobcats, the game was fairly even. Tomorrow afternoon's game against Princeton, however, has to be considered a must-win considering the Tigers' record. Princeton gives up a ton of shots, which is just what a team struggling to score goals needs, but their defense has been improved in the last month or so.

It's time for the full race to the finish in the ECAC.


Thursday, January 8, 2015

Can't Stand Losing

It's far easier to write game recaps and write about the team when they're being successful, or at least having some ups and down. It's not as easy when the losses begin to mount. But there's a very different reason why, for the last couple of weeks, I've had a hard time sitting down and adding content here at WaP.

Saturday, after the Engineers fell for the 8th time in a row, I politely listened as a gentleman I don't know but who apparently knew who I was talked my ear off for a good 10 minutes about how much the Institute needed to can Seth Appert. I listened and nodded to be polite but it really was just putting me in a worse and worse place the longer I listened to it.

It was then that I came to the full realization that the only thing worse than having to watch our team lose game after game is to hear people whining and complaining about the team losing game after game - and that this was really the exclusive reason why all of this has been a lot less fun lately.

For years now, both in cyberspace and in the arenas of the ECAC, especially Houston Field House, it's hard to get away from the constant moaning by armchair athletic directors who have the perfect solutions for all of the team's ills. They know exactly why the team struggles and they know how to fix it. They've got rationales for every minor event that happens.

(Oddly, they were seldom heard from in 2010 and 2011, and again were rather silent during the 2012-13 season, up until the end.)

It came to a serious head over the weekend, when conspiracy theories and wild speculation ran rampant over the suspension of the team's four captains for the Miami series.

Once more, there were people who seemed to know exactly what was going on and what it meant for the team. Clearly, one tweeter told WaP, there was some kind of player revolt against the coaching staff and the captains were being punished for it. The gentleman I met at the game on Saturday insisted that the suspensions were proof that Appert had lost control of the team.

On top of this, WaP had a Union fan hurling tweets our way accusing us of some kind of double standard, since we'd dared to mention that something smelled funny at Union when they hit some of their upperclassmen with suspensions. Of course, there's a big difference between being asked if there was a legal matter involved and saying "no comment" like Rick Bennett, or being able to flatly deny it like Seth Appert did this past weekend.

Since we don't know exactly why the suspensions happened, accusations like these are basically just ways for people who already hate the coaches to fuel their own agenda. The suspensions are over, and no one left the team over the incident, but that's not going to diminish the shouting at all.

I've long been hesitant to level criticism against the coaching staff in part because the hysterical, foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Appert crowd has for so long been so over the top that any rational, even-handed criticism will ultimately come off looking either weak or pseudo-sycophantic.

That's because it hasn't just been directed at one person. I've seen people try to blame the athletic trainers for the team's rash of injuries. I've seen gripes leveled at the assistant coaches, whose precise areas of expertise aren't well known outside of what has been passively mentioned in interviews, whose sole fault it is that certain parts of the Engineers' game aren't perfect. I've even seen those who for some odd reason save a special level of vitriol for the athletic director (who's apparently so awful and bad at his job that he's leaving to take a job offered to him at a Division I school).

Long ago, before I was even a student at RPI, I followed the RPISPORT-L discussion listserv, but I abandoned that not too long into my tenure at the Institute because it eventually degraded into a complete cesspool of people lashing out at Dan Fridgen, his staff, and worst of all, student-athletes themselves. I tried joining up again a few years back to see if anything had changed - it hadn't. RPI threads on the USCHO Fan Forum seem to have devolved into a similar mess in recent years.

I can deal with losing streaks. I can even find ways to endure them with at least a fake smile on my face. If you're following WaP on Twitter (and if you're not... why not?), you've seen that our band of loyal twits have even been willing to poke fun at the team's struggles from time to time. It doesn't mean we want the team to fail, it means we're trying to continue deriving enjoyment from something we all love. But now, we're starting to see some folks practically rooting for failure, just to buttress their own positions on things that need to change.

Watching and covering this team on the radio is something that I enjoy - so much so that I have been blogging without pay for six seasons now. But the end of the day, it's still just a game. We all have far more important things to be worked up about in our lives. If I allowed myself, as a fan, to get so consumed by it that I had nothing but bile for the people who run the team, I'd be losing a big part of why I watch the team play in the first place.

And worst of all, I'd be ruining the experience for others.

Everyone's got an opinion. I've got my own, incidentally. There's a serious number of people out there who need to realize that not everyone wants to hear it, especially in detail.