tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67060389798146024472024-03-13T07:04:45.082-04:00Without a PeerWry observations about RPI hockey, the ECAC in general, and the college hockey world as a whole.Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.comBlogger1103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-74196775427599837062019-12-31T13:52:00.000-05:002019-12-31T13:52:26.036-05:00The Top 10 Greatest RPI Games of the 2010sTen years ago, during WaP's inaugural season, we demarcated <a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2010/01/top-10-greatest-rpi-games-of-2000s.html" target="_blank">the Top 10 RPI games of the 2000s decade</a>. At the end of a decade we largely covered as a fan blog, it seems appropriate to do the same, even though we're now more or less defunct. Please enjoy this as decade-ending gift from a fan's heart.<br />
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The 2010s are destined to go down as a lost decade for the RPI hockey program, comparable perhaps to the 1960s in the annals of Engineers history. In some ways it was worse - in the 1960s, the Engineers at least enjoyed seven seasons at .500 or better, and went to two Frozen Fours. The pits of the 1960s were in 1966 and 1967, the first time in the modern era that the program had gone back-to-back seasons without reaching 10 wins. That phenomenon happened again in 2017 and 2018.<br />
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The decade was defined more by what the team did not achieve than by what they accomplished. The team's March woes became far more defined. Still without any appearances in the ECAC semifinals since 2002, every other team in the conference made that weekend at least twice with the exception of Princeton, who was there (and won) in 2018. All 11 other programs in the conference have been to the ECAC semifinals since 2013 and all but RPI, St. Lawrence, and Dartmouth played in an ECAC Championship Game at least once in the 2010s.<br />
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Futility at home in the playoffs was a running problem, losing the first four home playoff series of the decade, including the one and only quarterfinal home series in the past 17 years before finally breaking through in 2016 - which was also the last home playoff appearance. All told, it's hard to find a single season in the 2010s that didn't leave a bitter taste, either because of the way the season unfolded or the way the season ended. There was always either a sense of "this could have been amazing, if <i>only</i>..." or "glad <i>that</i> season's finally over."<br />
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But there were obviously bright spots to be found throughout the morass. 27 games from the past 10 years were considered for this Top 10 list. Perhaps underscoring the difficulty of the decade, two of those games were not even games the Engineers ultimately won (both of which earned honorable mentions). Another was the very first game of the decade, a 4-1 win against Quinnipiac in Hamden... which was also the last time RPI won in Hamden.<br />
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The 27 games shared some commonality to any team's top games. They represented achievements both individual and team, upsets (fully half of the Top 10 are wins against the #1 or #2 team in the country, another was against #3), comebacks, special events, and memorable moments.<br />
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Without further ado, the top 10 RPI games of 2010-2019, starting with #10.<br />
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<b>#10 - January 13, 2017</b><br />
<b>RPI 4, Harvard 0</b><br />
<b>Houston Field House - Troy, NY</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mharren1.j13" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://rpiathletics.com/news/2017/1/13/mens-hockey-tops-no-2-harvard-4-0.aspx" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
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Sometimes, there just comes a result that comes out of nowhere that makes you scratch your head at the same time that you're absolutely beaming as you leave. There's no rationale that makes perfect sense. You can glorify your own team to the extent that they deserve the glory - and there were certainly some Engineers who were worthy of that praise in this game. But even when you execute well, there are just some things that are destined to go unexplained.<br />
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As will be the case on other entries on this list, RPI was just absolutely wretched coming into this game. From the beginning of the ECAC season in late October, the Engineers had a record of 2-16-0 and were 3-19-1 overall. They'd lost seven straight and had allowed four or more goals in each of those losses. The two wins were against lowly Brown and second-year Arizona State, whom they'd shut out in the desert a night after a 5-3 loss. That one victory over the Sun Devils came after another seven game losing streak. Losing 20 games before February is an embarrassment in and of itself, and with five games left to play in January, it looked like an embarrassment they would never be able to shake. (Spoiler alert: they didn't shake it.)<br />
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Meanwhile, Harvard had won six straight games (which included a 5-1 win at home against RPI). They'd scored at least five goals in each of their previous four outings and at 11-2-1 were deservedly ranked #2 in the country. Their power play was lights-out, their penalty kill practically incomparable. Both were tops in the nation. This was a team destined for April.<br />
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That's enough of a buildup to cut right to the blunt finality. RPI won this game 4-0. I will not pretend to know why this happened. No one who was in the building that night could quite explain it. Harvard wasn't missing any of their top players - every one of their 13 players who would end the season with 10 or more points was in the lineup. Merrick Madsen, who had been backstopping the Crimson all year long, was in net up until he was pulled following RPI's fourth goal. They even uncorked 41 shots, six more than their season average.<br />
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How did this happen? Why? Were Harvard looking ahead to Saturday night in Schenectady against first-place Union? It didn't feel like it looking at the stats. They played physical hockey. They shot the puck on the power play - 11 times. What else exactly were they supposed to do? Harvard coach Ted Donato blamed poor decisions, but that's an easy explanation for any failure to achieve in hockey.<br />
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To focus on Harvard is a bit of a copout, though. It's easy to take a look at an upset and ask what the favorite did wrong, but there's usually not as much soul searching on what the underdogs got right. In this case, RPI was getting right a lot of what they had been getting wrong for quite sometime.<br />
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Sophomore Chase Perry deserved a lot of the credit - a <i>whole</i> lot of credit. The Colorado College transfer stopped all 41 shots that he faced to earn his second win as an Engineer and his first (and ultimately, only) collegiate shutout. To the extent that Harvard was doing nothing wrong, what he was doing right blunted an awful lot of what had been providing the Crimson with goals and wins. Harvard brought the noise in the 2nd period, unleashing 17 shots despite having only one power play opportunity. Perry turned all of them away.<br />
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Sophomore forward Evan Tironese deserves a chunk of credit as well, setting up goals at the end of both the first and the second period, shorthanded to sophomore Brady Wiffen with one second left in the first and on the power play to junior Jared Wilson with two seconds left in the second. Both goals were the kind that make your eyes pop out in terms of beating the clock, and both were goals that certainly make the other team do an awful lot of thinking in the locker room during the intermission.<br />
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I will break my unbiased look to give my own reason: the November before this game, I became a father for the first time, and this was my infant daughter's very first RPI hockey experience. There were an awful lot of believers in Section 17 that this was the proximate cause.<br />
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Hey, it's as good of a reason as any. Ultimately, it's the best example of those games that RPI fans just had to savor amidst the long losing or winless streaks that dotted the decade, which were sadly more frequent than the long winning or unbeaten streaks. It happened. We enjoyed it. We didn't have to know why it happened, because we were just thankful for a little ray of sunshine in an otherwise dreary year - one in which the team ultimately set a new school record for losses in a season with 28 and saw the program's 12th head coach dismissed at the end of the year.<br />
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The Engineers lost to Dartmouth the next night, and then dropped the Mayor's Cup game and a game at St. Lawrence to make the Harvard win the outlier with 10 losses in 11 games. Harvard, meanwhile, continued on to an astounding three-game losing streak - fully half of their losses on the entire season when all was said and done. Those three games were played in a five-day stretch. The RPI loss was a headscratcher, but a 2-1 loss the next night in Schenectady wasn't as surprising. The 8-4 loss at Dartmouth the following Tuesday <i>was</i> a bit odd. It had taken Harvard four games to give up 8 goals ahead of their game in Troy.<br />
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But from there, the Crimson were simply unbeatable. Harvard went unbeaten in 18 straight games (17-0-1) in a run reminiscent of 2014 Union, straight to the Frozen Four, picking up their first Beanpot in 24 years and the ECAC regular season and tournament titles on the way. They scored in bunches, notching 4 goals per game for 12 in a row during that stretch ending with the ECAC Championship Game. Even though Harvard fell to Minnesota-Duluth in the national semifinal in Chicago with a last-minute game winner, that ray of sunshine was still shining through for an RPI team that had been done for a month. We beat those guys.<br />
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<b>#9 - March 4, 2012</b><br />
<b>RPI 4, Clarkson 1</b><br />
<b>Cheel Arena - Potsdam, NY (Game 3 of the ECAC First Round)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/mclkren1.m04" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-prevails-will-face-Union-3381438.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
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Despite all of the history between the two engineering universities that have shared a rivalry since before the ECAC even existed, the Engineers had actually never been to Potsdam for an ECAC Tournament game, let alone series, before 2012. The only prior tournament meeting between the two programs outside of a neutral site was in Troy, where the Golden Knights ended the reigning national champions' season in 1986 in two games.<br />
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So despite the disappointment of a 10th place finish to the regular season, the playoffs actually provided something for RPI fans to look forward to in a first ever visit to Potsdam for the ECACs.<br />
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Game 1 featured an Engineer power play that broke the game open in the first period, scoring three in a row in response to an early 1-0 deficit to lead 4-1 by the end of the opening 20 minutes and eventually cruising to a 5-1 win.<br />
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Game 2 then had the promise of being able to bring the weekend to a quick end, getting home and getting prepared for a likely Route 7 showdown the following week. RPI snagged three different one-goal leads in the game, only to have Clarkson claw back to tie, reaching 3-3 with five minutes left in regulation. A major penalty called against the Golden Knights with 30 seconds left before overtime opened an outstanding opportunity to finish the series off, but Clarkson escaped early in the first extra frame unscathed. RPI outshot the Knights 25-19 across three overtime periods, but it was Clarkson who picked up the game winner for their first lead of the evening at 11:30pm, four and a half hours after the opening faceoff and after 113:48 of gameplay.<br />
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Tired, on the road, and frustrated after a difficult season and myriad missed opportunities to clinch the series in Game 2, it certainly felt like Game 3 would be a herculean task. Junior C.J. Lee getting slapped with a boarding penalty just 18 seconds into the game certainly made things look very quickly like this was not going to be the Engineers' night. But the RPI penalty kill got them through that initial gut check. The Engineers got a power play of their own in the first period, which was very even as both teams were looking for their second wind.<br />
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Things picked up in the second period - as time went by, the first goal would naturally become more and more important to picking a winner, and it was the home team that made the breakthrough on the power play eight minutes with a goal from freshman Sam Labrecque. The Engineers refused to fold, and five minutes later they got a tally from their own freshman, off the stick of forward Ryan Haggerty deflecting a one-timed blast by junior Nick Bailen.<br />
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The game's turning point surely came at the very end of the second period. Senior defenseman Mike Bergin, who near the end of Game 1 had picked up a game misconduct for a crushing hit on Will Frederick that left the Clarkson sophomore out of the remainder of the series, was himself the victim of a brutal hit at the hands of Clarkson's Allan McPherson. If McPherson's hit was intended as a bit of revenge against a guy who was certainly playing his last ever game against the Golden Knights, the timing could not have been worse. He was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct, depriving the home team of their third-best goal scorer and giving the visitors a five-minute power play on fresh ice.<br />
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For much of that power play, the Clarkson penalty kill looked more than up to the task, depriving the Engineers of decent opportunities, and it began to look as though the Golden Knights were on the brink of a momentum shift in their direction, the kind that can come with a big penalty kill at just the right moment. Instead it was Bergin, Potsdam's biggest villain, who stepped into the top of the slot and rifled home a pass from sophomore Brock Higgs to give RPI the first lead of the night and bring the Engineers 16 minutes away from victory with their fourth one-goal lead in the past two games.<br />
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The next goal was so obviously crucial - and unlike in Game 2, RPI was able to add the buffer they needed with the help of the momentum from the Bergin goal. A minute and a half after taking the lead, senior Joel Malchuk stepped up and delivered the much needed insurance tally.<br />
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The Engineers were almost there - and yet, their own lack of discipline had the potential to bring it crashing down. With nine minutes to play, Higgs was called for tripping, and just over a minute later, sophomore Guy Leboeuf went for cross-checking. RPI survived that two-man disadvantage, but would shortly be saddled with another one as Bergin took a tripping penalty just 42 seconds into a Johnny Rogic penalty. With 3:24 left and down by two, Clarkson had two-man advantage of over a minute to play with, which they bolstered by pulling netminder Paul Karpowich to create a 6-on-3.<br />
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That lopsided pressure for such a long stretch could have been devastating, but the Engineers were bailed out after 34 seconds with a slashing call against Game 2's hero, Clarkson sophomore Ben Sexton. Junior Marty O'Grady's empty-netter with about 90 seconds left sealed things up, technically at 4-on-4 even strength.<br />
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The man in the RPI net that night was junior Bryce Merriam. Two years an understudy to one of the league's best in Allen York, he stepped into the spotlight that season after York left with a year of eligibility remaining. His resume did not approach that of his predecessor, nor that of his successor, Jason Kasdorf, who would usurp Merriam as the starter early in the next season. And honestly, his numbers against Clarkson during this series were not staggering, thanks in large part to the paltry number of shots the Golden Knights attempted in their two losses (17 in Game 1, 24 in Game 3, including just five in the third period despite the deficit and the two-man advantages).<br />
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But there's one thing that he earned that night that cannot be taken away. Even though RPI would go to Potsdam for the playoffs again in 2015 (and again, prevailed) and 2017 (where they were swept), the Engineers went up to take on their ancient rival in their barn for the first time in 2012 and they emerged victorious. Seth Appert gave Merriam, a loyal and dedicated teammate willing to answer the call no matter his role across four seasons, a wonderful honor at the senior banquet in 2013, introducing him as "the first goaltender in RPI history to win a playoff series against Clarkson."<br />
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<b>#8 - October 31, 2014</b><br />
<b>RPI 6, Union 1</b><br />
<b>Houston Field House - Troy, NY (Black Friday)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/mrenuni1.o31" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-hockey-clobbers-Union-6-1-5862701.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
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This was a game that was supposed to be an utter embarrassment. A season after massive disappointment was tied off with watching the hated local rivals win the national championship was followed by two tough road weekends giving RPI a 1-3-0 record heading home for the first time, where waited perennial Atlantic Hockey also-rans Bentley for what surely would be a confidence builder heading into the crucial beginning of the ECAC season.<br />
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Instead, the Engineers had been absolutely humiliated against the Falcons not once, but twice, and in decisive fashion, losing 5-2 and 4-0 on home ice to a program that had notched just two seasons above .500 in 15 years of playing in Division I's weakest conference. That was the experience leading into the beginning of the ECAC season... where those hated local rivals awaited.<br />
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Union had lost the previous outing against the Engineers in memorable fashion (but more on that later), and had dropped the next game against St. Lawrence, but then rattled off 22 straight unbeaten between the seasons (21-0-1), which included the national championship. That streak had been ended the weekend before at home against St. Cloud State, but surely a team that had just been manhandled by Bentley wouldn't have a chance against the reigning national champions that were on such a tear, especially considering how much the #2 ranked Dutchmen were surely looking for a bit of revenge for the Mayor's Cup in the previous season.<br />
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There's only so much a rivalry can do to make what should be a lopsided result closer, right? Especially considering that this was a first opportunity for Union to rub their greatest success right in their rivals face in their own barn. But if RPI was supposed to show some kind of fealty to the newly-crowned kings of college hockey, they managed to come out and show as much disrespect as they could as the game opened.<br />
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The widely anticipated gap in offensive output was apparent in the game's first 20 minutes, but it was completely flipped from expectations. Against all odds, the Engineers managed an 11-2 whitewash in shots on goal during the first period, and RPI also managed the first goal of the game for the first time in seven tries on the season when sophomore Riley Bourbonnais simply powered the puck past Union's Colin Stevens on the short side for the 1-0 edge. After a trying freshman year that had seen paltry ice-time, it was his first collegiate goal.<br />
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Later in the period, it was time for the freshmen, getting their first taste of the Route 7 Rivalry, to wonder what all the fuss was about. Defenseman Jared Wilson scored his first collegiate goal in bizarre fashion off a feed from classmate Drew Melanson, popping the puck off Stevens' stick, then up and over his shoulder and into the back of the net - the kind of odd, "that's impossible, what a fluke" goal that RPI fans were used to seeing come from the other direction in this rivalry. Finally, one broke for the Engineers to produce a wholly unlikely 2-0 edge heading into the first intermission.<br />
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If junior Jason Kasdorf had been bored during the first period, he made up for it with a statement of a second period, with that statement being loud and clear for the rest of the ECAC: "I'm back." Struggling out of the gate after returning from a season-long injury that destroyed nearly all of his sophomore campaign (and RPI's title dreams with it), he responded Union's rejuvenated attack in the middle stanza, showing flashes of the Jason Kasdorf that haunted offenses around the league two years earlier with a steadfast denial of all 15 shots Union was able to manage in the middle 20 to make up for their bland first.<br />
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Meanwhile, the RPI offense continued to pull away. Bourbonnais may have taken over a year to finally pick up his first collegiate goal, but his second took him less than 20 minutes after his first. Given far too much space along the boards, he approached the net and used a screen by senior Matt Neal to beat Stevens a second time. 25 minutes in against the reigning national champs and despised arch-rivals, and RPI had bewildered and delighted the home fans with a 3-0 edge. Then, again, it was time for the freshmen to have their input. Shortly after the beginning of the Engineers' first power play of the game, Viktor Liljegren struck with a one-timer off a pass from classmate Lou Nanne, creating a 4-0 scoreline that again, many might have expected, only inverted.<br />
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Union broke up the shutout early in the third period with a power play goal from sophomore Mike Vecchione, one of the best returning players from the Dutchmen's national championship team. But the Engineers attacked immediately after the ensuing faceoff. Bourbonnais, as he had on goals, brought the puck up the boards and sent it to the slot. Misplayed by senior Union captain Charlie Vasaturo, it ended up evading his own goaltender (sophomore Alex Sakellaropoulos, on in relief), and just seven seconds after the Dutchmen had cut the lead to three, RPI had a 5-1 edge. Bourbonnais, as the last Engineer to touch the puck, had a hat trick in the same game in which he'd scored his first collegiate goal as a sophomore.<br />
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To complete the symmetry of Bourbonnais scoring RPI's first goal of each period, so too did the freshmen score the second. The newly created line of wingers Melanson and Nanne, centered by junior Mark Miller, had already been one of the more intriguing offensive options for the Engineers on the season, and they displayed their speed (which would later lead WaP to deem the line "Poetry in Motion") three minutes after the Bourbonnais hat trick to hammer the final nail into the coffin. Melanson sped past his defenders and whipped a cross-ice pass to Nanne, who one-timed it to the back of the cage for a beautiful capper on the evening's offense.<br />
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Both teams had power play opportunities late, but at that point the game had already been decided, and a jovial mood in the Field House crowd reigned through to the final whistle.<br />
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Humiliation had been the expectation for everyone but the Engineers themselves - and they wrote a satisfying second chapter the next night in Schenectady, completing an sweep that seemed improbable even after the Friday night drubbing with a 2-1 overtime victory on a goal by freshman Liljegren.<br />
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Kicking off the league season with four ECAC points and a first-place status that would persist well into November was perhaps just the icing on the cake. It wasn't a full on salve for the Engineers' problems, and injuries ravaged the team on an epidemic level, leading the five game losing streak they'd entered the Union weekend with to eventually become just the third-longest of the season once it was over.<br />
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The night was also a clear coming-out party for Bourbonnais, who some were beginning to suggest was a bust after a miserable freshman year and a lack of scoring in October as a sophomore. His struggles weren't quite over - he'd notch just two more goals as a sophomore - but he was growing into his expected role gradually, and as an upperclassman, he'd go on to lead the Engineers in scoring for his final two years, scoring 32 goals in his final two seasons - no RPI player since him has had that kind of two-year output.<br />
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Union were the reigning national champions and had just dropped a game to RPI for the first time in 11 outings ahead of that honor. The Engineers finished the weekend having won three straight games against the Dutchmen, propelled by an unthinkable throttling on home ice.<br />
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<b>#7 - February 3, 2018</b><br />
<b>RPI 2, Cornell 1</b><br />
<b>Lynah Rink - Ithaca, NY</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1718/boxes/mcorren1.f03" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://rpiathletics.com/news/2018/2/3/mens-hockey-tops-no-1-cornell-2-1.aspx" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
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There's a serious gap between RPI and Cornell when it comes to a vision of the last 20 years, especially during the 2000s. That's not to say that the Big Red haven't had their share of down times, but by comparison, even their rough patches are worth envy for a great many programs in the ECAC, not just the Engineers. The 2010s, especially the middle years, might qualify as a tough stretch for Cornell. They won just one league title during the decade (2010) and went an unusual four straight seasons without an NCAA appearance from 2013 to 2016. They even had a couple of losing seasons during that stretch. Your heart breaks for their troubles, of course.<br />
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This was a game that, on paper, was going to be won by the home team, lock, stock, and barrel. The Big Red entered on a six-game winning streak and an 11-game unbeaten streak, unbeaten in 13 of the last 14 games. They hadn't lost in over two months. They hadn't even trailed in a game in nearly a month. Cornell was #1 in the polls and #2 in the Pairwise. RPI had just four wins all season, had lost five in a row, and were winless in 12 of their last 13 games. They were ranked next-to-last in the Pairwise. You couldn't find two teams moving faster in opposite directions, and Cornell was at home to boot.<br />
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And yet, games are not played on paper. It takes games like this to remind yourself of that truth, on a weekend where Cornell played as the #1 team in the nation for just the second time since the institution of the USCHO.com poll in 1997.<br />
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First year coach Dave Smith hadn't yet produced anything that might be considered a signature win. RPI had beaten Quinnipiac for the first time since 2010 earlier in the season, but this was certainly not the same Bobcats that had been tearing up the league all decade. They'd trounced RIT early in the year, but it was a non-conference game between two schools that, while similar, play each other too infrequently to be a rivalry. Given the aforementioned losing streak, the Engineers seemed destined to sputter to an end that had the potential to be even worse than the previous year's record low that had cost Seth Appert his job.<br />
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Sophomore Jacob Hayhurst, who paced the Engineers in goals and points and was, as he had been as a freshman, a strong producer on a relatively weak team, provided an early wakeup call to suggest that things were not about to go exactly as the paper would have predicted. Taking an opportunistic shot after winning a race to a loose puck behind the Cornell net, his puck caromed off a defender's stick and past Cornell freshman Matthew Galajda to put the visitors up 1-0 just 20 seconds into the game.<br />
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It was the kind of goal that was fast enough and odd enough to not get good teams stuck - after all, the #1 team in the country had 59:40 left to get things square again. The feeling certainly was that it was going to happen sooner or later, so even though the Engineers were able to escape the first period with the 1-0 lead thanks to 11 saves from freshman goalie Linden Marshall, the Lynah Faithful were surely not terribly concerned.<br />
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Cornell picked up their first power play opportunity five and a half minutes into the second period, and that seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Big Red to reassert their control, but lax play in their own end resulted in an even bigger deficit for the home team, as junior Evan Tironese, the lone forechecker, got his stick on a cross-ice pass. He maneuvered it over to classmate Brady Wiffen, who beat Galajda on the stick side for a short-handed goal and a 2-0 RPI lead.<br />
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Looking for more, the Engineers managed an impressive 15 shots in the second period, and Marshall went into the final frame with 18 saves on as many shots to keep the upset dream alive. It hadn't been a whitewash of any kind, but it did feel like Cornell would only need one opportunity to jumpstart themselves into eventually skating off with the win.<br />
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That chance seemed to arrive 95 seconds after the opening faceoff of the third, as senior forward Jared Fiegl stole the puck in the RPI end and worked it behind Marshall's net, eventually wrapping it around and putting it in off a stick for the first Big Red goal of the game. With 18:25 left in regulation, the Engineers seemed like they were going to have a very tall task indeed to salvage the game. Surely, as good as Cornell was, and as rough as RPI was, this was the beginning of the comeback.<br />
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The sleeping giant had indeed arisen from its nap, and Cornell went to work just about immediately looking to tie the game. Throughout the final period, it seemed like that second goal would come sooner or later as the Big Red actively dominated affairs and probed constantly for another breakthrough. It was methodical, but Linden Marshall had other plans for the evening. He maintained his front as both teams failed to score on their only power play opportunities of the period. His 11 saves in the final period gave him 29 on 30 shots as the freshman picked up the biggest win of his young collegiate career, and giving Dave Smith his first signature win as RPI head coach, eventually biggest of the first two and a half years of his tenure.<br />
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The feeling of the tying goal coming at some point never truly diminished until perhaps the final minute of the game, but even then it felt like it would surely come. When the final horn sounded, credit was due to Marshall and his defense for playing their game without panicking, and simply doing what they could to limit an attack that could have overwhelmed them at any time if they'd lacked discipline.<br />
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The victory was in some ways emblematic of the unusually good decade that the Engineers had against Cornell. Even in many of the seasons where the Big Red were not struggling, RPI was able to pick up a few unexpected points and, in fact, they won the decade-long series 7-6-6 - meaning they took points from Cornell on 13 out of 19 opportunities in total.<br />
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The game changed very little in the grand scheme of things, just like the Harvard win the previous year. Cornell still won the ECAC regular season and made their way to the NCAAs for a second straight season. If there's any doubt that the Big Red's mid-2010s "trouble" is behind them, they seem a lock even this early to advance to their fourth NCAA tournament in a row for the first time since Ned Harkness was behind the bench. RPI, meanwhile, completed their regular season with five more losses and won only six games all year, failing to reach 10 wins for the second straight campaign.<br />
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But on that one night, the minnow was stronger than the whale.<br />
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<b>#6 - March 5, 2016</b><br />
<b>RPI 4, Brown 3</b><br />
<b>Houston Field House - Troy, NY (Game 2 of the ECAC First Round)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/mbrnren1.m05" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.troyrecord.com/sports/men-s-ice-hockey-rpi-ends--year-home-ice/article_91f9e860-f50f-5ac1-a143-c12646a434b1.html" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
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12 years is a long time to wait for something as simple as watching your team win a playoff series on its home ice. Since their last home triumph in 2004 against Princeton, the record had been of repeated failure - on the infrequent occasions that the Engineers had finished in the Top 8 and earned a home series at all.<br />
<ul>
<li>2006: swept by Quinnipiac in Dan Fridgen's last games behind the bench. </li>
<li>2010: fell to Brown in 3 games. </li>
<li>2011: beaten in double overtime in Game 3 by last-place Colgate. </li>
<li>2013: fell again to Brown in 3 games, this time in the quarterfinals.</li>
<li>2014: lost Game 3 to Dartmouth after taking a two-goal lead into the third period. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Especially considering the four-consecutive three-game series losses, it was starting to become flinch-worthy for RPI fans whenever something turned sour in a home series. And of course, it had to be Brown. Again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Game 1 had been straightforward. It hadn't been a runaway, not by a long shot as Brown largely carried play for two of the three periods, but the Engineers also never trailed throughout and ultimately secured a 3-2 victory to go up 1-0 in the series. They needed just one more win to advance... which was just where they had been the last two times against the Bears. Winning one game in a home series under Seth Appert had not been the problem in the home opportunities in four of the past six campaigns. It was that second one.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So when Brown pounced on RPI for three goals in the first period of Game 2, the groans in the gallery were audible and the collective psyche was dire: <i>Here we go again</i>. But this time was different. This time, two seniors - who had been through this twice before and had seen Brown snuff out the first-round bye advantage - put a fragile program and its suffering supporters on their backs and forged a way forward: goaltender Jason Kasdorf and center Milos Bubela.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The first period had been uncharacteristic in a lot of ways. Not only was it odd in Kasdorf giving up three in a single period - something he had not done since the unfortunate Freakout! collapse against Clarkson in the third period a month earlier - the Engineers had arguably been the better of the two teams everywhere but on the scoreboard. That fact that could have simply heightened the demoralization, especially with the lateness of the third Brown goal, which came on the power play with 30 seconds left in the period, just at the right time to let the home side stew about it in the locker room during the first intermission. Had the Bears been able to keep pouring it on, they could have mentally won this series by the second intermission.<br />
<br />
But it was Bubela who refused to let the 2016 script play out as in years past. After an early save by Kasdorf, the Slovakian senior brought the puck out of the RPI end, worked it through the neutral zone, and made his way into the attacking zone one-on-one. He picked his spot, and sniped a shot past Brown's Tim Ernst to get RPI on the board, and Bubela implored his team and its supporters to get up and start making some noise. (Kasdorf's save, incidentally, went down as the secondary assist, giving him his only collegiate point and the first point by an RPI goaltender since 2008.)<br />
<br />
Bubela continued powering the comeback seven and a half minutes later in much the same fashion, powering the puck through the neutral zone and entering the zone along the boards. This time, he cut to the net and beat Ernst with a wrister to cut the Brown lead to just one.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Brown got more than just a few licks off of their own in the second period as they looked to blunt the comeback, re-establish dominance, and force Game 3. Kasdorf needed to be the Kasdorf that was RPI's rock throughout his collegiate career, an impenetrable fortress when you needed him the most. And he came through with flying colors, denying 17 shorts from the Bears to keep them off the board in the second period.<br />
<br />
But when the horn sounded to begin the second intermission, Brown still held a 3-2 lead, and visions of 2013 started to return. In Game 3 that year, the Bears had also jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and RPI had taken two back by the end of the second period. In the ensuing third period, there had been dominance from the Engineers and a feeling that the tying goal was coming. It would come eventually. Of course it was going to come. It had to come. And when the clock read 0:00, there was just an empty feeling. Why hadn't it come? For those who remembered, the doubt was ready to trickle back in. There was always Game 3 as a fallback, but Game 3 at home had meant only one thing of late.<br />
<br />
So as time ticked by in the third period, that doubt began to fill back into the psyche. A power play opportunity five minutes in went by the wayside, and it began to get stronger. Another one came with 11 minutes to play and the feeling was that yes, the Engineers absolutely had to score on this one.<br />
<br />
Enter junior Riley Bourbonnais. His breakout season had propelled RPI to having this opportunity to end the struggles at home and had nearly helped bring about a first-round bye. He delivered early on the power play chance, shoveling home a rebound from a shot by Bubela to tie the score.<br />
<br />
Even this was not enough to end the doubt - not with what tied games late had meant in the playoffs recently: St. Lawrence scoring the year prior in the final minute to break a 0-0 deadlock in Game 1. Dartmouth winning Game 3 in 2014 with just over two minutes left. Brown in Game 1 in 2013 breaking a 1-1 tie with under two minutes to play. Clarkson's triple-overtime win in Potsdam in 2012's Game 2. Colgate's double-overtime win in Game 3 the year before that. When it came to tied playoff games late, there had only been an awful lot of heartache in recent memory. Five straight seasons losing a tied playoff game in the last three minutes or in overtime. And there was going to be a fourth goal from someone, at some point.<br />
<br />
And of course, as time went by, it was increasingly unlikely that the next goal would be anything other than the game winner. It had to be the Engineers. It just had to. The only alternative was more doubt, more despair.<br />
<br />
The clock moved under two minutes, and the dread mixed with hope in the Field House stands - and with 1:42 left in regulation, the net was dented... and it was a laser of a shot that had come from the stick of sophomore defenseman Jared Wilson, the same man who had netter what turned out to be the game winner the previous night.<br />
<br />
It was not over, of course. Their season on the line, Brown threw everything they had at the Engineers to get the score level once again, but Kasdorf remained strong, finishing the third period with 10 saves, and the drought was over. The despair had ended. A home playoff series win. It was as if the home fans breathed a collective sigh of relief, especially after the drama of the final minute and the barrage RPI faced with an empty Brown cage.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Interestingly enough, it was not the first time on the season that the Engineers had come from a 3-0 deficit to win in regulation. They'd also done it a little over a month prior, in Providence, against the very same Brown Bears.<br />
<br />
The dream continued. Could they shake that other March bugaboo, and return to the promised land in Lake Placid? A harsh reality awaited them in Boston, as the high-powered Harvard offense snuffed out the Engineers' season with 13 goals in two games. A tough end for what turned out to be Kasdorf's final two games in an RPI sweater.<br />
<br />
This was the kind of game that should not have been in a Top 10 list. Taking out the next-to-last place team on your home ice is something that's supposed to happen naturally. That it was a series sweep would normally make it all the less interesting. But without the history, without the heartache, Game 2 could have never been quite the roller-coaster ride it was, nor the glorious ending it became.</div>
<br />
<br />
<b>#5 - November 13, 2010</b><br />
<b>RPI 4, Union 3 (OT)</b><br />
<b>Houston Field House - Troy, NY (Black Saturday)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/mrenuni1.n13" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-rallies-for-wild-victory-812202.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
<br />
The comeback win always provides fond memories sometimes even beyond that of the big upset. That's probably due in large part to the fun house of expectations that a fan experiences during the contest in the lead-up to the game's conclusion. Last decade's #1 game was a perfect example of this - the Freakout! win over Clarkson in 2002 would not have been nearly as memorable if not for a number of things coming together all at once, not the least of which was a 3-0 hole that the Engineers had to claw back from.<br />
<br />
Twice in 2019 the Engineers snatched victory from defeat at the very end of regulation and then won in overtime - in January against Army (Senior Brady Wiffen with 21 seconds left, then junior Jake Marrello 1:16 into OT) and in the decade's penultimate game in December against Brown (Senior Mike Gornall with two seconds left, then freshman Tristan Ashbrook 36 seconds into OT - interestingly, Gornall set up both game winners). But neither of those really can hold a candle to what the Engineers accomplished nine years prior, at the beginning of the decade, in scope, in magnitude, and in bleeding-edge timing.<br />
<br />
A rival, two nationally ranked teams, a controversial ending the previous night, a packed house, a special night, two separate late comebacks, and a wild ending made all the difference.<br />
<br />
The Union home-and-home weekend is one that both teams have been circling during the preseason on a year-in, year-out basis, and especially given that the two league contests were played on different weekends a year prior, the anticipation was heightened for the 2010-11 weekend, the first to be played in the first half of the season since 2004-05. A 3-3 non-conference draw in Lake Placid two weeks prior, in which Union freshman Mat Bodie notched the game tying goal with 30 seconds left truly set the tone for what would turn out to be one of the most controversial RPI-Union weekends in the history of the rivalry. Both teams entered the weekend nationally ranked (#12 Union, #18 RPI) as they had in Lake Placid (#16 Union, #20 RPI).<br />
<br />
Friday night in Schenectady, the Dutchmen had broken a 1-1 deadlock with a power play goal by sophomore Jeremy Welsh with a little over 12 minutes to play. RPI had gone all out to stay in the game, with senior captain John Kennedy sustaining a hand injury that would keep him out for a month while blocking a pair of shots during a 4-on-3 penalty kill. With 7.6 seconds left and junior Allen York pulled for the extra attacker, junior Mike Bergin appeared to tie the game by redirecting a Nick Bailen shot past Union's Keith Kinkaid. The goal was waved off by referee Bryan Hicks, who had declared that sophomore C.J. Lee's screen on Kinkaid had, in fact, been interference.<br />
<br />
The teams had more or less come to blows on the ensuing faceoff, and an angry Seth Appert interrupted a post-game press-conference by Bailen and Kennedy to show a replay of the disallowed goal on his laptop. He said nothing and let the video speak for itself - there hadn't been interference on the goal at all (and Hicks hadn't had the option of replay).<br />
<br />
It made for a testy end to a fevered rivalry game that left both teams ready to rumble the next night in Troy. With Kennedy standing on the bench with the coaches, the Engineers went back to war at home looking for immediate payback. They came out loaded for bear, dominating the opening period by outshooting Union 14-3, but the hostility to the officials that RPI fans entered the evening with following the Friday night farce ratcheted up to new heights when an apparent first goal during the first period by Engineer senior Scott Halpern was disallowed for having been kicked in off a skate. RPI insisted - and replays later showed - that the goal had actually gone in off a Union skate.<br />
<br />
The frustration continued to mount as a productive early second period power play resulted in plenty of opportunities but no goals, and was shortly followed by Union, not RPI making the first breakthrough. Late in the second period, a goal by Union freshman Matt Hatch made it 2-0 Dutchmen, and the mood in the Field House began to practically grow violent through a combination of an RPI power play that just could not score (0-for-10 through the first five periods of the weekend) and the two waved off goals.<br />
<br />
The Engineers finally got on the board thanks to a tripping call against Union freshman Daniel Carr late in the second period. With the man advantage on fresh ice to start the third, junior Patrick Cullen scored to cut the Union lead in half, and with Bergin serving a penalty midway through the period, a short-handed goal by senior Joel Malchuk tied the game with just under 10 minutes to play. The mood had turned decidedly more electric.<br />
<br />
The ultimate villain could have been the man RPI fans wanted least to be the one - Union freshman Josh Jooris, who scored a power play goal four minutes later for what could have been the game winner in his first game in the building where his father had become an RPI legend. At that point, the mood soured significantly, and Union went into lockdown mode, largely successfully for most of the remainder of the period.<br />
<br />
With just under two minutes to play, the Engineers were granted a golden opportunity when Union freshman Mike Ingoldsby slammed C.J. Lee into the boards near the penalty boxes and was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind. Allen York was removed from his crease, and so began a wild 6-on-4 chance for the Engineers to grab the tying goal. With no icing in effect, the Dutchmen were able to take potshots at the open cage, doing so three times during the kill without hitting the clincher. That gave the Engineers the life they needed to strike.<br />
<br />
Kinkaid stood on his head to keep RPI out of the net, but with time about to expire, a rebound from a shot by Chase Polacek bounced to sophomore Marty O'Grady, who buried the puck just before the horn sounded, sending the Field House into an all-out frenzy. The referees met to determine if the puck had been in before the buzzer, again without the benefit of replay. Had the goal been disallowed, surely there would have been an absolute meltdown. The video later showed that the referees did ultimately get the call right: O'Grady had put the puck in the net with 0.2 seconds left, tying the game.<br />
<br />
With the major penalty still on the board for just over three minutes of overtime, RPI was set up perfectly to swipe a victory that would taste oh-so-sweet away from what could have been a crushing defeat that would have been blamed for a second night on a terrible call. That opportunity became even juicier following a dangerous cross-check in the corner by Union junior Nolan Julseth-White that was enough to warrant the rare penalty called in overtime. Coming with well over a minute remaining on the major, that provided the Engineers with the ultra-rare overtime five-on-three, and time ticked down on the major, a blasted shot by sophomore Nick Bailen was the one that evaded Kinkaid and gave the Engineers a 4-3 victory, producing elation among the Houston Field House faithful that likely had not been seen since the aforementioned 2002 Freakout! victory. (Early in WaP's existence, we hosted a weekly podcast that included Kurt Stutt's jubilant call of Bailen's goal in the intro.)<br />
<br />
Lost in all of the craziness was the win pushing RPI's all-time record on Black Friday (Saturday for the first time), the smaller, fall semester version of the Big Red Freakout! promoted alongside the first home ECAC contest of the season since 2003, to 7-0-1 all-time (the unbeaten record would fall the next season to Yale). Meanwhile, the ECAC ended up suspending Appert for RPI's next game for the mortal sin of showing video evidence that its officials had gotten a call wrong on Friday. He hadn't said a word despite his angry demeanor - he'd simply showed the video.<br />
<br />
This is a sequence that almost certainly would not have happened today. The clear evidence on both of RPI's overturned goals on the weekend likely would have driven both games to different endings had they been checked and overturned on replay. But as things were, it was a result that gave both teams reason to be continually upset with each other, and ratcheted up an already simmering rivalry to the point that would lead to a total boiling over in a few years' time.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>#4 - October 11, 2015</b><br />
<b>RPI 2, Boston College 1</b><br />
<b>Houston Field House - Troy, NY</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/mbc_ren1.o11" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Upset-gets-RPI-untracked-6565508.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
<br />
If there's a team that would best reflect Cornell's relative dominance of the ECAC over the last 20 years on the national level, it's probably Boston College. Their four national championships since the turn of the millennium (all won between 2001 and 2012) tops Denver and Minnesota-Duluth, who have collected three each. And while they've been on a relative title drought since then (by their standards), they managed to win one or both Hockey East titles and/or an NCAA appearance in every season this decade with the exception of 2019, which was their first losing season since 1997.<br />
<br />
Unlike the Big Red, the Eagles are ranked #1 in the country somewhat frequently. Only North Dakota and Minnesota have been ranked #1 in the USCHO.com poll than BC since that poll's inception. If BC fans are thinking about RPI at any given time, there's a pretty decent chance they're considering the element of the Pairwise instead of the school or its hockey program. Since the Hockey East split, the teams have played each other sparingly.<br />
<br />
BC was indeed ranked #1 when the Eagles made their first visit to Troy in 20 years early in the 2015-16 season, and while it was a function of being on top of a preseason poll (in which no fewer than 10 different teams earned first-place votes), it certainly wasn't out of sorts for Boston College to come into a season with expectations of playing for a national championship - especially in a season where the Frozen Four would be right in Boston.<br />
<br />
Playing on a Sunday afternoon at home after having been in eastern Massachusetts the previous Friday for an uninspired 3-0 season-opening loss to UMass-Lowell, the Engineers welcomed a BC team that had easily dispatched Army 5-1 down at West Point that same Friday night. While senior Jason Kasdorf had well established himself as one of the nation's most capable netminders over the course of his RPI career, so too had BC sophomore Thatcher Demko established himself among the most elite goalies in the country. BC's edge was in their equally elite attack.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, the first period was a back-and-forth affair that tested both goaltenders equally, and they were both up to the task, neither allowing a goal despite facing 13 shots apiece. It was the second period that the ice seemed to tilt down to the RPI end, exactly as one would expect given the disparities between the two sides. The Eagles were aided midway through the period by penalties taken by senior Milos Bubela and freshman Evan Tironese (who was making his long awaited collegiate debut), but Kasdorf continued to stay strong despite the heavy BC presence in his end. Late in the period, the visitors absolutely peppered the home side with shots doing everything but scoring as the RPI netminder picked up big blocks from his blueliners, especially sophomore Mike Prapavessis and senior Chris Bradley to keep the Eagles off the scoresheet.<br />
<br />
Against the flow of play, in the final minute of the second period, it was junior Riley Bourbonnais who made the breakthrough, beating Demko through a screen at the top of the faceoff circle to put the Engineers ahead 1-0 heading into the second intermission. Then, on the power play early in the third period, Bourbonnais struck again to give the Engineers some much needed cushion against the high-flying Eagles, scoring on a give-and-go with Tironese to make it a 2-0 game.<br />
<br />
But BC had plenty of time to pull themselves back into things, and the 2-0 lead never felt strong. Five an a half minutes later, on the power play, the Eagles finally cracked Kasdorf with a goal by sophomore Zach Sanford, a goal that had the feeling of the giant finally waking up and ready to step on the overachieving ants. And that is certainly how the rest of the game did seem to play out. But as he had done time and time again in his career, Jason Kasdorf made another lead hold up.<br />
<br />
Picking up where they'd left off late in the second period, BC worked the puck in the attacking zone and unleashed shot after shot, while Kasdorf and his defensemen did everything they could to get in front of shots - and they did. With Demko out of the net for an extra attacker in the final 1:20, the Eagles practically held the zone throughout the ensuing 6-on-5. Gassed RPI defenders were suddenly sprung back to life as the final horn sounded. They'd produced a national shocker in just their second game of the season.<br />
<br />
RPI picked up their first win against the Eagles since their previous visit to Troy in 1995 - BC's last win at Houston Field House was in an ECAC regular season game in 1981 (0-4 since).<br />
<br />
If one could pick out a single season in the 2010s and deem it relatively disappointment free, the 2015-16 campaign might be the best example. Picked to underperform once again, RPI did drop their next three in a row (two in Alaska and at home against another national power in Michigan) to make the BC victory look like a fluke at 1-4-0. But once the league games began, the Engineers went on a tear, going unbeaten in nine straight and starting off the ECAC season with a 4-1-3 record by New Year's that became 6-1-6 by late January. A rough February left RPI slightly adrift and out of the running for the first-round bye they'd been a strong contender for, but the aforementioned home playoff series win over Brown was the silver lining to that rough patch. The win over BC had even made the Engineers somewhat of a bubble team for the NCAA, though never in serious contention as they had in years prior.<br />
<br />
This was a game that set an early pace for an RPI team that largely defied expectations and which seemed to make steps in the right direction, and additionally made the nation stand up and have a second look at a team they were prepared to already write off in October. Those gains proved to be short-lived, especially after the departure of Kasdorf at the end of the year (the academic senior had a redshirt season remaining if he'd chosen to use it), but beating the #1 team in the country when no one expects you to have a prayer, even at home, is always a big deal, and in this case it set the table for an unexpectedly strong year.<br />
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<br />
<b>#3 - December 7, 2012</b><br />
<b>RPI 6, Yale 1</b><br />
<b>Ingalls Rink - New Haven, CT</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/mrenyal1.d07" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-gets-first-win-in-ECAC-4101116.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
<br />
Some games are impressive from the final whistle. Others gain appreciation after the passage of time. Others manage both, and that's what happened with RPI's first league win of the 2012-13 season. It was impressive because of the scale of the win on the road. The appreciation comes from the launchpad it became for the rest of the season, and the retrospective the end of the season brought.<br />
<br />
The Engineers were in transition. Allen York's departure after his junior year in 2011 seemed to blunt the progress that was being made despite the shock twin departures of freshman superstars Jerry D'Amigo and Brandon Pirri in 2010. Knowing that all three could have been playing in 2012 if the stars had aligned made that difficult season even harder. The 2012-13 year had started off with a record of 0-5-1 in the ECAC, and the first four losses had not been particularly close.<br />
<br />
Touted as the goaltender of the future upon his arrival on campus, freshman Jason Kasdorf largely watched as senior Bryce Merriam, the incumbent starter, and sophomore Scott Diebold struggled to establish themselves early in the season. Kasdorf's call finally came in mid-November, and while his introduction seemed to stabilize the defense somewhat, the offense still largely struggled heading into the month of December.<br />
<br />
That changed in a big way when the Engineers visited Yale to open the third month of the season. The Bulldogs hadn't been lighting the world on fire since their dominating ECAC championship run in 2011, but they had a strong enough team that had been producing some decent early returns at 6-2-1 overall coming into the weekend. At home against an RPI team dead last in the conference with just one point in six games, this was two points Yale needed to keep building momentum.<br />
<br />
Although both teams got more or less three distinct, full power plays to work with in the first period (with a small amount of overlap), the only goal in the opening 20 came at even strength, on a turnover in the RPI zone as sophomore Luke Curadi's clearance attempt was intercepted at the point by Tommy Fallen, who unleashed a perfect shot to beat Kasdorf and put the Bulldogs up 1-0.<br />
<br />
That was the only goal Yale would muster all night, as Kasdorf introduced himself to the ECAC with a command performance in just his fourth collegiate start. He made 36 saves on 37 shots, including saves on all 16 shots he faced in the second period, a middle frame in which the Engineers firmly took charge of the game.<br />
<br />
A tic-tac-toe in transition between freshmen Mike Zalewski and Milos Bubela tied things up eight minutes in with Zalewski firing the shot, and Bubela put RPI ahead just over a minute later on the power play. Sophomore Jacob Laliberté made it 3-1 later in the period, and the Engineers continued to pour it on in the third, chasing Yale netminder Jeff Malcolm from the net after two goals in 41 seconds from freshman Mark Miller and junior Johnny Rogic, the latter of which Rogic managed to score from his back. Sophomore Ryan Haggerty added a sixth from six different players with about 13 minutes left to put things well out of reach.<br />
<br />
Even then, Kasdorf was not done showing off his talent. Two successive penalties to Curadi and junior Bo Dolan gave Yale a late five-on-three to finish the game, and Kasdorf continued to keep the hosts out of the cage until the final whistle. RPI finally had a league win, and while it came on a night when Yale wasn't looking their best on either side of the puck, it was a crucial breakthrough for a team that was in need of some good news.<br />
<br />
It was Kasdorf's introduction and the strong victory that seemed to be a catalyst for the Engineers. Despite the putrid 0-5-1 start in the league, they would go on to finish the league schedule on a 12-2-2 run which included victories in 11 straight league games to end the year. That impressive run saw RPI rise from dead last all the way to second place, their highest finish in league play in 20 years. Along the way, they tied Quinnipiac to end the perfect start to their league season (10-0-0) that the Engineers would later eclipse with their stretch run, but the Bobcats were too far ahead to be caught, winning the regular season by 10 points.<br />
<br />
The big win at Yale turned a season from disappointment to wonder, but disappointment returned in yet another home playoff series loss. The team that hadn't lost a league game in 11 straight managed to drop two of three on the cusp of the ECAC semis. Still on the bubble for the NCAA tournament despite the abrupt end, that bubble rapidly burst with a number of league tournament upsets the following week.<br />
<br />
Yale, meanwhile, was able to overcome the harrowing loss - their worst of the regular season - to finish third in the ECAC. They were pounded on successive nights by Union (5-0) and Quinnipiac (3-0, their third loss of the season to the Bobcats) in Atlantic City, but they still managed to creep into the NCAAs with the final at-large bid in much the same fashion RPI had done two years prior. The Bulldogs, however, flipped the script. Never dominant until the final game, Yale personified "survive and advance" in squeaking by college hockey royalty in Minnesota (OT) and North Dakota (trailed into the 3rd) to reach the Frozen Four, and beat UMass-Lowell in overtime to reach the national championship game where they faced... Quinnipiac. 23 years after the league had its last national championship appearance (Colgate in 1990), both competitors were from the ECAC, and it was a rematch of the ECAC Consolation Game to boot. On their fourth try, Yale won the game Quinnipiac would have given up the other three wins to have won.<br />
<br />
In the end, it gave RPI an even bigger reason to look back on that night in December in Connecticut that they took the eventual national champions behind the woodshed to kick start an amazing run that was ended too soon. And by the time Yale was hoisting the national championship trophy in Pittsburgh the following April... the Engineers boasted a three-game winning streak against them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>#2 - January 25, 2014</b><br />
<b>RPI 2, Union 1</b><br />
<b>Times Union Center - Albany, NY (Mayor's Cup)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1314/boxes/mrenuni1.j25" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Brawl-eclipses-RPI-s-win-5175997.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
<br />
One of the building frustrations for RPI fans over the last 20 years has not only been the struggles they've watched their team tumble through - it has been having to endure those struggles while having to watch their cross-town rivals enjoy a period of sustained success in the process. In 2013-14, the knife twisted even more cruelly: chosen in preseason polls to top the ECAC, an early season-ending injury to sophomore goaltender Jason Kasdorf devastated the team, which instead limped to just under .500 by mid-January in a season where Union's recent success was reaching even higher levels.<br />
<br />
The Engineers had been losing to Union. A lot. The advent of the Mayor's Cup game in 2013 had continued an existing trend of the teams playing a third non-conference game, which of late had just been giving RPI another opportunity to lose to the Dutchmen. Coming into the 2014 Mayor's Cup, they'd lost 10 straight to Union, held a 3-20-4 record against them during the Seth Appert era, and with the Dutch riding high on a 10-2 league record and 16-4-3 overall (and ranked #3 in the country), there wasn't much expectation that the losing streak would be coming to an end that night.<br />
<br />
In the first period, that did seem to be playing out to script. Wunderkind junior defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored a wraparound goal on the penalty kill to put Union up 1-0, a deflating result for an RPI team that had been looking ready to pounce on the power play before a total defensive breakdown after a turnover. That the Engineers had been playing well and still ended up going down seemed another common story when Union was the opponent, so one could certainly be forgiven for seeing that as another bad omen.<br />
<br />
But RPI junior goaltender Scott Diebold played an exceptional game. That was the only goal that he'd give up all night long and it was hardly his fault (except, perhaps, for his unwillingness to come out and play the puck, but he'd been let down by his defense first). Finishing the game with 28 saves on 29 shots, he was certainly one of the heroes of the evening for the Engineers. Equally heroic was sophomore Milos Bubela, whose early second-period goal tied things up after Union came out flat following the first intermission.<br />
<br />
The Engineers survived successive penalty kills in the second period, including a tense 39-second two-man advantage for the Dutchmen. RPI didn't even register a single shot in the second half of the period. Once the third period began, the casual observer probably would have seen a second goal for Union as more likely than a second one for RPI. The Dutchmen outshot the Engineers 11-4 in the final frame.<br />
<br />
With 3:38 left in regulation and against the flow of play, sophomore Mike Zalewski buried his own rebound past a sprawling Colin Stevens to edge RPI in front for the first time all night and only the fourth time during the long losing streak against Union. A minute later, the Union net was empty and Diebold had one last onslaught to defend with the extra attacker on. He held up just enough to get the Engineers over the line and finally take down the hated arch-nemeses for the first time in what seemed like forever.<br />
<br />
And if that was all that happened, it still would have been a banner night, a signature win, one to remember. But it was what happened next, and over the next two-plus months, that entered this one firmly into the land of lore.<br />
<br />
Immediately as the final horn sounded, Union's Mat Bodie cross-checked RPI senior Brock Higgs in the neck, and all hell broke loose as both benches cleared and an all-out fracas began on the ice which included several individual brawls, some bodyslams, and plenty of gear thrown everywhere. That would have been noteworthy by itself, in all likelihood, but the national gaze came upon the game once Union coach Rick Bennett, redfaced and out of control, jumped off the bench and tried to get at RPI coach Seth Appert. Both coaches ended up shouting at each other as referees and players tried their best to keep them apart. <a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2014/01/a-breakdown-of-discipline.html" target="_blank">We even did an entire breakdown of the action.</a> The "FU at the TU," as we called it, went viral. Deadspin did a story, as did USA Today and even the Huffington Post. To the extent that college hockey fans around the nation were unaware of just how heated the RPI-Union rivalry was, they were disabused of any semblance of it being a minor local affair.<br />
<br />
Several players from both teams were suspended, as was Appert. Interestingly, it fell to Union to suspend Bennett, which they did for the following two games, a light suspension considering many calls that he should have been banned for the remainder of the season for his actions.<br />
<br />
As with most of these stories, the high came with an unsatisfying epilogue. A highly undermanned Union team did lose their next outing at St. Lawrence, but that would be their final loss of the season. The Dutchmen went on to go unbeaten in 17 straight games (16-0-1) to win the ECAC regular season (by eight points) and tournament (outscoring opponents 17-6 in four games), followed by their first national championship (scoring seven goals in the final game, still the most since LSSU's nine in 1994). One would be hard pressed to say that the circumstance of their Mayor's Cup loss wasn't a propelling element.<br />
<br />
RPI continued to play .500 hockey for the rest of the season, earning yet another home playoff series that they were unable to win, falling to Dartmouth in three games after heading into the final period of Game 3 with a 4-2 lead. But even without the brawl that came to define the night, the game itself was a huge result for an RPI team that was in desperate need of a big win over Union. Doing that in front of 7,100 people was an important step, and it largely ended the lopsided results in the rivalry. And for the second year in a row, the Engineers could boast that the last time they'd met them, they'd beaten the team that went on to win it all.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>#1 - January 29, 2011</b><br />
<b>RPI 5, Yale 2</b><br />
<b>Houston Field House - Troy, NY (Big Red Freakout!)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/mrenyal1.j29" target="_blank">Box</a> - <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-finishes-sweep-of-Yale-985803.php" target="_blank">Recap</a><br />
<br />
This game not only served as a high water mark of sorts for RPI Hockey in the 2010s, it also illustrated some of the program's wider trends of the decade.<br />
<br />
Freakout! during the 1990s and 2000s was frequently a win for the Engineers and never a loss. From 1991 to 2007, RPI went 12-0-5 in the winter showcase game. But coming into the 2011 edition, the Class of 2011 was staring at the possibility of becoming the first class to ever go 0-4 at Freakout! after having witnessed the end of the unbeaten streak during their freshman year and having been outscored 15-1 in their three Freakout! opportunities, including a 7-0 implosion at the hands of Princeton the previous year that doubled as the world's worst Senior Night experience after the entire crowd had departed prior to senior honors after the game.<br />
<br />
But this year had an immediately different feel about it from the get-go. Not only were the Engineers the #10 team in the country, they were taking on the #1 team in the nation in the Yale Bulldogs. And they were a team on a terrific roll. Following a 4-2 defeat in New Haven on December 3, the Engineers had whipped off a record of 9-2-0 and were riding a four-game winning streak. Yale had entered the weekend with only one loss on the season (a head-scratcher against a weak Brown team) and was coming into the game coming off their second, a one-goal loss to Union. They didn't feel like the kind of team that was going to lose twice in one weekend.<br />
<br />
Many things combined to make this game the most unique of the decade. The Engineers were not an overpowering offensive force, but they made their opportunities count. They managed five goals on only 18 shots. Yale was exactly the kind of offensive power that one would expect from the country's #1 team, but RPI junior Allen York was an absolute beast in net, stopping 38 of 40 shots the Bulldogs uncorked, including every single shot he faced at even-strength as both of Yale's goals came on the power play.<br />
<br />
In big games, the big names step up, and the Engineers got that from both York and their reigning ECAC Player of the Year Chase Polacek, who paced RPI with three points. Polacek's dagger of a power-play goal in the third period, just 39 seconds removed from a goal by freshman Brock Higgs (who'd returned a week earlier from a horrifying neck injury that could have cost him his life) was his 150th point as an Engineer and chased Yale goaltender Ryan Rondeau from the net with a devastating .667 save percentage for the evening.<br />
<br />
This wasn't a huge upset, as wins over the #1 team in the nation can be, certainly not nearly as big of an upset as the other two times in the 2010s that the Engineers pulled off the feat. This was, instead, a sort of Roman triumph, an affirmation that RPI was deserving of being called one of the best. There's no doubt at all, even almost nine years later, that this was absolutely the case at that moment in time.<br />
<br />
The atmosphere in the Field House was electric following the game. The Freakout! magic was back. The sky was the limit. They'd just won a fifth straight league game for the first time since 2002. A second straight season with a home playoff series for the first time since 1999 and 2000 was a lock. Sitting in fourth, a first ever first-round bye looked very real. A first visit to the ECAC semifinals since 2002 seemed beyond possible, perhaps even likely. Sitting 6th in the Pairwise Rankings heading into February, a first NCAA appearance since 1995 seemed like more than just a dream. And those "Ho-bey Ba-ker!" chants that filled the Field House for Polacek after his goal weren't just flights of fancy.<br />
<br />
The Engineers, a week later, picked up three points at Quinnipiac and Princeton, including a big win over the Tigers, a serious challenger for the top four, moving them up to 3rd in the ECAC and rising to #8 in the nation in the polls. Unbeaten in seven straight and 15 of 18 in a row, the dreams looked closer. But a home weekend featuring back-to-back overtime losses to bottom-feeders Colgate and contenders Cornell with York sidelined with an injury picked up against the Bobcats was devastating. York would return, but never seemed to regain his previous form. A 1-4-1 finish to the regular season was enough for a 3-way tie for 4th, but not for the bye. A second overtime Game 3 loss to last-place Colgate at home snuffed out the semifinal dream.<br />
<br />
After a two-week wait, RPI did back into the NCAAs as the last at-large team selected, an honor they owed to their Freakout! success as much as anything. (Technically, thanks to the complexity of the PWR at the time, their sweep at Alabama-Huntsville made the ultimate difference on the margins, but common sense says beating the #1 team in the country was a better resume builder.) But that regrettable 6-0 drubbing to North Dakota - now their only NCAA appearance in 25 years - now looks much sadder in retrospect.<br />
<br />
And as for that Freakout! magic, the Class of 2014 had their first Freakout! experience that night, and went on to win two more. The Engineers haven't won a Freakout! without the Class of 2014 taking part since 2006.<br />
<br />
Again, the sad epilogue was a running theme in the 2010s. But for one night, the struggles of the past were over, the present was fun again, and a glorious future seemed to be painted in front. The Engineers had beaten the best in the biggest home game of the year before a sold-out crowd, and that magic feeling when Polacek chased Rondeau from the cage was a moment RPI fans could only wish would have lasted much longer.<br />
<br />
<i>Honorable mentions:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Nov. 27, 2010: RPI 3, Bowling Green 2 (OT) - Houston Field House, Troy, NY (Rensselaer Holiday Tournament Championship)</b><br />
- Bowling Green's extra-attacker goal with 10 seconds left forced overtime, but senior Bryan Brutlag potted the game-winner just 20 seconds in to give RPI the title in the 60th and final RPI Holiday Tournament<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Jan. 15, 2011: RPI 2, Colgate 1 (OT) - Starr Rink, Hamilton, NY</b><br />
- Sophomore C.J. Lee was called for a major penalty in OT, but after senior Chase Polacek was hauled down on a shorthanded breakaway, he scored on a penalty shot to win it<br />
<br />
<b>Oct. 10, 2014: RPI 3, Notre Dame 2 - Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, IN (IceBreaker Invitational)</b><br />
- The Engineers shocked the Fighting Irish on national television to start the season as junior Mark Miller notched the game winner<br />
<br />
<b>Mar. 13, 2015: St. Lawrence 1, RPI 0 - Appleton Arena, Canton, NY (Game 1 of the ECAC Quarterfinals)</b><br />
- An epic playoff goaltender's duel between RPI junior Jason Kasdorf (33 saves) and SLU freshman Kyle Hayton (27 saves) ended with a SLU goal in the final minute of regulation in knife-edge game that started to feel like the the "deciding" game that would propel the winner to a series victory as it went along (and it did as SLU finished the sweep the next night fairly easily)<br />
<br />
<b>Dec. 5, 2015: RPI 0, Harvard 0 (OT) - Houston Field House, Troy, NY</b><br />
- 43 saves for senior Kasdorf, 32 shots for RPI in tense, back-and-forth scoreless draw that set a strong benchmark for the ability of scoreless draws to be exciting and interesting and left the fans wanting moreTom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-3343445437004301522018-06-22T12:55:00.002-04:002018-06-22T14:06:58.777-04:00Pushed Too FarLet's not bury the lead: I will not be offering my services to men's hockey as a radio commentator in the coming school year. I will not participate in the annual golf outing. I will not be renewing my season tickets.<br />
<br />
This has relatively little to do with the team itself (although not zero), and almost everything to do with the school. With apologies to Howard Beale, I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore.<br />
<br />
There's a lot on my mind - so just <a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2018/06/pushed-too-far.html#lebron" target="_blank">click here if you just want to skip to the meat and potatoes.</a><br />
<br />
During my first year at RPI, I was encouraged to run for class representative for the fall freshman elections by some friends of mine who knew my extended history with the Institute that went far beyond that of most of my classmates. I didn't really have a whole lot of interest in student government at the time, but I decided to go ahead and put my name forward to help my friends fill out a complete slate of candidates.<br />
<br />
If I was going to run, I was going to try and win, so the challenge was to find a platform to run on - and I didn't have a whole lot to offer in terms of actual policy positions. It was OK, I was assured. Most freshmen didn't have much in the way of policy concerns, so a more generalized campaign could work.<br />
<br />
I'm a "legacy" at RPI. My grandfather graduated in 1951, and my father graduated in 1979. My great uncle even got his master's at the Institute. To some extent, I grew up with RPI as part of my heritage. I went to hockey games. I tagged along at alumni occasions, and I even participated in youth-oriented seminars and events. When I chose RPI, it was as much because I was proud of my family's association with the school as it was for any of the other myriad reasons that the school rose to the top of my list. It was easy for that to translate into pride in my school.<br />
<br />
That was what my friends and I decided on. "Proud to be RPI" was the slogan. It ended up on campaign posters and flyers. I emphasized it when I talked to classmates.<br />
<br />
I lost in a landslide.<br />
<br />
The loss slid off my shoulders fairly easily - I hadn't had any real interest in the position in the first place - but what really intrigued me afterwards was that, anecdotally, the campaign emphasizing school pride not only did not help me win, it probably actively helped me lose. "Nobody's proud of this school," I was told. "Half of us are still pissed that we didn't get into MIT." I got it, sort of. I didn't get into MIT, either.<br />
<br />
That was my introduction to the idea that school pride at RPI wasn't anywhere near what it was at your average institute of higher learning. The alumni giving figures bore that out as well - even when I arrived on campus in 2000, the rate at which former students gave back to their alma mater was lower than the national average.<br />
<br />
I didn't care. I was still proud to be there, and still proud of my school. That pride persisted for years after I graduated.<br />
<br />
I was even long proud of the way the school operated. During my time at RPI and in the first few years as an alumnus, I had no complaints, and in fact thought things were being managed quite well. In the last couple of years, however, I have seen my pride battered and abused by an administration that has become hellbent on getting what it wants, when it wants, and has no time for dissension.<br />
<br />
In February of 2016, control of the school athletics budget was unilaterally taken away from the Student Union. As chairman of the Union's Athletic Board for my junior and senior years - the subcommittee of the Executive Board that scrutinized each team's budget and ultimately submitted it for approval - I can honestly say that the move probably eliminated potential headaches down the road for athletics in general, whether from the NCAA or in limitations that the larger Institute would not have. But the Union had control of this aspect of student life for 124 years... and it was yanked without so much as a discussion, let alone input from elected student leaders. Complaints were summarily dismissed.<br />
<br />
It was a blueprint for more daring usurpations to come.<br />
<br />
From there came a more unfettered move to seize control of the Student Union in general, stopped after pushback in 2016 but only for a short time - a tactical retreat from the administration turned into a more forceful move to take over in 2017. That campaign featured aggressive measures meant to silence students, including the systematic removal of posters, a walling off of a sizable chunk of campus, and intimidation tactics used against protest leaders, adding to an already considerable culture of fear that has been nurtured in the last decade.<br />
<br />
Alums took notice, and unbridled by that atmosphere, registered their own complaints at an inopportune time for the administration - right at the beginning of a capital campaign meant to raise $1 billion. The administration's response to this growing alumni dissatisfaction with news story after news story from Troy was to send out to all alums an internal letter from Professor Chris Bystroff laden with such slavish devotion to the administration that it bordered on the absurd, while at the same time lashing out at unhappy alums with brazen ad hominem attacks.<br />
<br />
I took zero umbrage at Prof. Bystroff calling me and those like me a racist, a sexist, and... heightist, if that's a thing. Whether someone is a racist or not is objectively true or untrue, and I know I'm none of those things. I know most if not all of those who have been critical of the administration are similarly none of those things. His assertion to the contrary, as a matter of demonstrable fiction, simply made me laugh. (Unfortunately for Prof. Bystroff, whether or not someone's an asshole is completely subjective, and I have some bad news for him. But congrats on your grant, sir. Hope you can use it to change the world.)<br />
<br />
That the Institute thought attacking their alumni would be a useful way to get them back in line and re-open the wallets is a testament to just how out of touch its administration has become. They may have cowed faculty, staff, and many students through intimidation, but alumni do not have their futures controlled by the school and are far less susceptible to such tactics.<br />
<br />
Now, this administration has proposed a collective punishment for the Greek system that threatens to lay waste a crucial element of the school's social environment, and doing so during summer recess, a time during which pushback from students can be blunted until plans are advanced ahead of their return in August.<br />
<br />
College is about more than just going to classes and receiving grades. It's about personal growth on many planes, not simply on the intellectual level. My fraternity played an integral and positive role in shaping the man that I became during my experience at the Institute - more important than any one class, professor, or advisor.<br />
<br />
I'm not pollyannaish enough to claim that the Greek system is without flaws. I'm certain there are things that could be done to improve every single house on campus, including my own, and I've seen some of the truly awful things that have gone on around the nation. There are probably some houses on campus that require very serious structural changes. But not all of them. In all honesty, not most or even half of them.<br />
<br />
It does not require essentially banning Greek life for the fall semester, as has been proposed. The ban on recruitment is especially odious. It could be a virtual death knell for some of the smaller houses on campus. All houses depend on certain expected recruitment levels in order to keep their books balanced, especially for those who have mortgage payments to make. Dropping this bomb without warning - and indeed, in a manner clearly meant to minimize student outrage - makes one believe that the idea of houses closing is a feature and not a bug in terms of the end result of this "Greek Life Task Force" in the eyes of the Institute.<br />
<br />
It's another underhanded move by an administration that has engaged in far too many of them over the last few years. It's another move that has outraged stakeholders across the board, and the early reaction to that outrage is becoming familiar: the administration simply does not care. They know what they want to achieve and the anger is easily dismissable.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="lebron"></a>
(TL;DR - I've long been proud of my school, but enough is enough.)<br />
<br />
I first considered doing something along these lines a couple of years ago, when it first became apparent that the RPI administration was seeking to usurp student control of the Union. Feeling relatively helpless about the unfolding situation, I thought perhaps the school losing one of its more dedicated contributors for one of its more visible media elements might be a wake-up call.<br />
<br />
I let it go at the time. Truth be told, I enjoyed it too much to let go of it and I felt a sense of obligation - many times, if I was unavailable for a broadcast, there might not have even been a broadcast, and I frequently took it personally if there was no broadcast, even if it was because of something more important, like my family. No broadcast means plenty of fans, alums, and parents who would need to seek an alternative option to listen to the game. (I settled on thanking the "independent, student run Rensselaer Union" before the start of periods as a quiet pushback.)<br />
<br />
Loyalty was the touchstone.<br />
<br />
But as outrage began to pile upon outrage, it has finally pushed me to the point where I would be utterly unable to reconcile a deep and growing concern with the actions of this administration and my own sense of right and wrong. The problems have mounted to a level that precludes my honest continued association.<br />
<br />
This administration has actively attempted to undermine student-self governance at the Rensselaer Union, without cause.<br />
<br />
This administration has presided over falling rankings in the engineering programs that made this school prominent, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.<br />
<br />
This administration has presided over a continuing decline in alumni giving - levels of which were well below the national average when I was a freshman, but also represented a high that has never again been reached 18 years later.<br />
<br />
This administration has presided over a massive increase in institutional debt, a decline in the value of the endowment, and a decline in overall net asset value.<br />
<br />
This administration has presided over declining metrics in general with relation to peer institutions.<br />
<br />
This administration has presided over a decline in the Institute's bond rating to a position hovering just above junk status.<br />
<br />
This administration has for years ignored serious concerns about adherence to nationally accepted standards for academic governance.<br />
<br />
This administration has watched talented members of the school's faculty and staff depart in disgust for years, and it is extremely doubtful that this exodus is ending any time soon.<br />
<br />
This administration has surrounded itself with a bloated bureaucracy that seems forbidden to offer courses of action that have not been pre-approved from above, and which refuses to engage in self-criticism.<br />
<br />
Now, this administration has moved to decimate a vibrant Greek system that has long been a model for Greek life nationwide.<br />
<br />
This administration, over the last three years, has done something remarkable. They've taken a person who had an uncanny and certainly unusual amount of pride in a school that rarely seems to engender such pride in its students and alums, and turned him into someone who is quite ashamed.<br />
<br />
My nephew, who is about to graduate from high school, showed some interest in RPI during his junior year. I gave him a personal tour of campus, topped off with an evening at the Field House where we watched the Engineers play Dartmouth. The experience seemed to pique his interest.<br />
<br />
But several months later, as he began his senior year and began preparing to apply to colleges, I had to tell him my true feelings. In the aftermath of the crackdown against student protesters at the capital campaign kickoff in October, I had to tell my nephew - with a lump in my throat - that I could not recommend my beloved alma mater, not given the way they were treating their students. He did not apply. He will be attending SUNY Geneseo in the fall.<br />
<br />
I've shown my loyalty. This season, it was turning out to the Field House on a Saturday night, sick as a dog and unable to hold anything down, because no one else was available to call a home game against Princeton (be glad you couldn't see me on the radio or on RPITV). It was driving three hours through total white-out conditions and partially along roads that were closed in order to make sure there was a broadcast for Game 1 of the playoffs against Colgate - not because I had anything to gain, because expense reimbursement and free entry are the only perks. It was because I have been loyal to a fault despite having to endure watching four losses for every win in the last two seasons.<br />
<br />
I know this decision comes at a time when walking away is "easier." If the Engineers had been on some kind of tear recently, or if this coming season were one filled with expectation and big dreams, I'm certain that it would have been more difficult for me to reach this conclusion.<br />
<br />
This is not an indictment of those tough times, although I'd be lying if I said I didn't think the administration was playing an outsized role in creating them. Their blasé reaction to concerns lodged by prominent hockey alums in 2017 during the coaching change - including some of the most legendary names in a proud history - was shocking. The outright dismissal of criticism registered by Adam Oates in particular was enough to make one's jaw drop. But then again, when you compare it to everything else going on at the Institute at the present time, the downturn in results and the tin ear toward criticism fits right in with all of it.<br />
<br />
After watching the administration's thuggish tactics against student dissent, it was easy to resolve not to participate in the Institute's capital campaign. You will imagine my shock, then, to receive a letter late last year thanking me for my $40 donation to that campaign. It was my wife who ultimately called to ask about the donation - I was far too angry to be able to make a rational inquiry. It was, she learned, the donation I had made to attend the end-of-season banquet in 2017, well before the capital campaign was even announced.<br />
<br />
Enough is enough. I have been pushed too far. If a donation to the hockey program is now considered a gift to a campaign I have no intention of supporting for an administration that is completely out of control, I must consider what other contributions are in danger of bolstering this insanity. It is therefore with great reluctance that I must decline to enjoy the annual golf outing that has long been a highlight of my summer, and must relinquish my season tickets in Section 17. To the extent that this blog and its associated Twitter account was still active, that activity will now cease.<br />
<br />
I know this screed has been long (even for those who skipped a bit), but I don't want anyone to feel as though this is some kind of exercise in self-indulgence. I don't harbor any delusions that I hold any sway whatsoever over anything at all, or that this action will be that kind of magic wake-up call I considered last year that will change anything at any level. This is about not feeling helpless, and it is a sincere apology for those who have come to enjoy my contributions. I do not want to do this, but I don't feel like I have any other choice.<br />
<br />
I will continue to follow this team, and my heart still pumps the Cherry and White through my veins. I'm sure I'll drop in for a game or two. I wish Coach Smith and his charges nothing but success that I fervently hope that they achieve.<br />
<br />
Let's go Red.<br />
<br />
Jackson out.<br />
<br />
Tom Reale '04Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-64915901956607909102018-03-19T17:25:00.000-04:002018-03-19T17:25:39.762-04:00RelevantI was asked at the last home game this season whether RPI was "in danger of becoming irrelevant," with Lake Superior State and Dartmouth offered as examples of "irrelevant."<br />
<br />
Sorry in advance to any Laker or Big Green fans who may have stumbled upon this. It wasn't my example - but I did have a hard time arguing the logic.<br />
<br />
Lake State had a dynasty in the 1990s with three national championships among nine straight NCAA appearances with four CCHA titles in that stretch. They haven't won a lick of hardware since 1996 and have had just five winning seasons since then. Dartmouth had a couple of moments of national prominence, in the late 1940s and the late 1970s. Otherwise - not a whole lot. The Big Green were awful in the 1980s and 1990s, and while they've been much better under Bob Gaudet since the turn of the millennium, there's still not a whole lot of "there" there. A shared ECAC regular season title in 2006 and a shared Ivy League title in 2007, and that's about it. No ECAC title games, no NCAA tournament appearances despite coming close on both fronts a number of times.<br />
<br />
So that got me thinking. What makes a team "relevant?" Winning is really what it comes down to, and there are several great benchmarks to tell you if a team is winning. Let's explore. <i>(TL;DR - If you want to skip the nitty-gritty, just scroll down to the final bold line near the bottom.)</i><br />
<br />
<b>National championships.</b> It's an elite club - only 21 out of 60 programs have even won one, and RPI can count itself among just 14 of those with more than one to their name. So there's a historical aspect here of which the program can be rightly proud.<br />
<br />
So when I say that RPI's title drought (now the longest in school history, as 1985 is farther from 2018 than it is from 1954) is the fifth longest in the country among schools with a title, that's really nothing. There are almost 40 schools out there, including some historically heavy hitters like Clarkson and New Hampshire, who don't even have one. This one's not something that should weigh heavily on our minds.<br />
<br />
<b>Frozen Fours. </b>I'll skip the honor of even reaching the national championship game, even though we've now had to watch half of the ECAC reach that level (including three champions) since RPI's last one in 1985. Let's just cut to the entire last weekend of the season. The creme de la creme. The top dogs. A party that unites the college hockey world. If you've ever been to a Frozen Four, you know you can see practically every sweater in the country in the stands (and checking them off is a fun pastime there).<br />
<br />
21 schools have never been, so again, this isn't a whole lot to quibble over. But since the Engineers were last there, 33 different programs have had this honor. That's more than half of all teams in the country. 22 different schools have been to the Frozen Four just in the last decade.<br />
<br />
Since RPI's last turn in 1985, we've watched Clarkson (1991), Colgate (1990), Cornell (2003), Harvard (1989, 1994, 2017), Quinnipiac (2013, 2016), St. Lawrence (1988, 2000), Union (shoot me), Vermont (1996), and Yale (2013) reach the promised land. That's 9 out of 14 ECAC schools, 14 times. The balance? Army, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton... and RPI.<br />
<br />
The Engineers just haven't been close ever since hoisting that national championship in 1985. Not even a single NCAA tournament win since then. Not even a goal, but let's explore that further.<br />
<br />
<b>The NCAA tournament.</b> Just making it into the tournament field in any sport is a great achievement. Watching those last few days of the conference tournament tick down, keeping an eye on the Pairwise, it's all great fun. We've done it occasionally here at WaP, and the Engineers even snuck into the tournament once during this blog's tenure, backing in for the 2011 edition, where RPI were thoroughly destroyed by North Dakota. That was RPI's first NCAA appearance in 16 years, and it's now been a further 7 years without a bid.<br />
<br />
Division I hockey actually has a fairly large tournament for its size - 16 teams out of 60 makes for over a quarter of programs in any given year playing a tournament in which four wins makes you a national champion. Consider that in that other sport that gets all the attention in March for some reason, 68 teams make the tournament out of 351 - 19.3% as opposed to college hockey's 26.7%.<br />
<br />
So it's not terribly surprising that since 2012, 38 different programs have earned NCAA bids - nearly two-thirds of the nation has been dancing since RPI last had the opportunity. Only St. Lawrence (2007), Brown (1993), and Dartmouth (1980) have gone longer in the ECAC without a bid (to be very fair, Princeton and Clarkson in 2018 are both on their first bids since RPI's last turn).<br />
<br />
The Engineers didn't score an NCAA tournament goal in 2011 (6-0 losers against the Fighting Sioux). Nor did they score in their 1995 appearance (1-0 to Minnesota). Nor in 1994 (2-0 to New Hampshire). In fact, in a stat that will undoubtedly crop up should the Engineers ever reach the tournament again, RPI has gone over 10 and a half NCAA tournament periods without scoring a goal, reaching back to George Servinis' unassisted, short-handed (and, yes, offsides) goal at 3:49 of the second period in the 1985 title game. That's a stretch of 216:11 of tournament play over the last 36 years without scoring even a goal.<br />
<br />
So I went and checked. Literally every program that has played in the NCAA tournament since 1986 has scored at least one goal. That makes Dartmouth (1980) the only school in the country with a longer drought by total years since their last NCAA goal, and only seven teams have never made the NCAA tournament, of which Army is the only one that doesn't have the excuse of not having had a D-I varsity program in 1985.<br />
<br />
And when it comes to NCAA wins in general - only Michigan Tech (1981), Dartmouth (1980, or 1949 if you don't count the defunct third-place game), and Brown (1976, or 1951 discounting third-place games) have gone longer since winning their last NCAA game. 14 D-I programs have never won an NCAA tournament game, and of those only Alaska, Army, Princeton, and Western Michigan lack the longevity excuse. (And, of course, Michigan Tech and Princeton have the opportunity to remove their names this year.)<br />
<br />
<b>League championships.</b> For most programs, just being the top dog in your own conference can sometimes be bragging rights enough to signal a very successful season - Princeton's title this year certainly qualifies as being plenty for them this go round, with the NCAA tournament very much an opportunity to play with house money.<br />
<br />
There are only 18 programs that have not won a league championship since the Engineers last enjoyed one nearly a quarter-century ago. 11 of these have never won one (although, to be fair to Arizona State, they've never had an actual opportunity to compete for one). Four are in Atlantic Hockey, which doesn't have a history as long as RPI's current drought. Two more are Omaha and Penn State, who also doesn't have a history that long. <br /><br />Taking them out, we're left with Lake Superior (1995, along side RPI), Northern Michigan (1992), Colgate (1990), Alaska and Bowling Green (1998), Alaska-Anchorage (1987), and Colorado College (1978) among teams that have won league titles in the past, and Brown, Dartmouth, Merrimack, UMass, and Vermont among those who haven't.<br />
<br />
That means there are only three other ECAC programs that haven't won it all since the Engineers were last on top in the league: Brown, Colgate, and Dartmouth. Four if you want to include Vermont's 10 chances during that time.<br />
<br />
<b>League championship game.</b> Just the opportunity to play for a title is enough to send thrills through the spines of supporters around the country. The Engineers last had this chance in 2000, when they fell 2-0 to St. Lawrence in the ECAC championship game in Lake Placid.<br />
<br />
2000 was also the last time Omaha (falling 6-0 to Michigan State) and UConn (beating Iona 6-1) played for a league title - titles which no longer exist with the CCHA and MAAC now being defunct (along with Iona). Lake State last appeared in the CCHA title game in 1996 (losing 4-3 to Michigan), while Dartmouth's last hurrah playing for hardware was way back in 1980, a 5-1 loss to Cornell.<br />
<br />
AIC, Arizona State, and the two Alaska schools are the only ones that have never appeared in a conference tournament championship game.<br />
<br />
Every other school in the nation has had that thrill of seeing their team 60 minutes away from being crowned kings of their conference since 2000. With the notable exception of St. Lawrence (2001), every other team in the ECAC besides the Engineers, Saints, and Big Green have had that experience in the past eight years.<br />
<br />
<b>League semifinals.</b> Now we're really lowering the bar - but even just the opportunity to reach what is frequently a neutral-site celebration of the league in general is a chance for fans to hitch up the wagon and go watch their team play as one of the conference elite with a title within reach. This is, as we've seen, sometimes an easy bar to clear, to the point where failing to reach this level can be seen by itself as a total failure for a season. RPI was more or less at this level of expectations when they last reached the semifinals in 2002, their 7th such visit in 10 years, and 9th in 15 years.<br />
<br />
At worst, in 12 team leagues like the ECAC, 1/3 of the conference can be among the final four, which is still a significant chunk. It's even "easier" in places like the Big Ten, where the last four comes out to being more than half of a seven team league.<br />
<br />
RPI's long-running drought of failing to reach Albany, then Atlantic City, and now Lake Placid again are well known and painful to what can now be termed RPI's long-suffering fans. 2002 was the last hurrah, marking the beginning of what is now a 16-year drought. Only one team that has ever been to a league semifinal currently has a longer ongoing drought - Omaha, who last appeared in a league semifinal (in the CCHA - two leagues ago) during the 2001 season.<br />
<br />
This is where I point out that the Mavericks have been to three NCAA tournaments during that stretch, including a Frozen Four appearance in 2015. I'd trade our experience in the last 17 years with theirs in a heartbeat. (They'd probably ask for our prior 50 in return, so no deal.)<br />
<br />
Only two other programs haven't been in that timeframe - Arizona State, who again, doesn't have a league semifinal to reach and have only completed their third Division I season, and American International, who came within a win this year of doing it for the first time.<br />
<br />
<b>Regular season titles.</b> These mean absolutely nothing anymore, but they're at least good indicators of a great season over the course of four months of league play.<br />
<br />
Let's cut right to the chase. RPI hasn't done this since the national championship in 1985, and every other ECAC team has won at least a share of what they apparently call the Cleary Cup since except for Brown and Princeton (and Army).<br />
<br />
12 teams nationally have never won even a share of a regular season title (again, this includes Arizona State, who have never been able to), but of the ones who have, only Providence (1983 in the ECAC) and Ohio State (1972 in the CCHA) have gone longer without accomplishing the feat.<br />
<br />
<b>Is RPI irrelevant?</b><br />
<br />
I don't know. I don't have a very good vantage point because the team is relevant to me and it probably always will be.<br />
<br />
But there are a whole lot of gaps in the line when it comes to benchmarks of success, benchmarks of relevancy. Some of the same teams of comparison keep popping up when you take a hard look at them, and Lake Superior State and Dartmouth do seem to be frequent cohorts. The other ones that are coming up often are Brown and Army - and I will leave it to other observers to determine whether all that adds up to "irrelevant." I don't personally see Lake State and Dartmouth as being irrelevant - especially considering that the Big Green are the conference opponent that RPI has gone the longest without beating at present - but I can see how others might feel that way.<br />
<br />
What I can say is that, more immediately, the program has just endured its worst back-to-back seasons in modern history by winning percentage. This can't be pinned on any one person, especially since there were different head coaches in both seasons and a great deal of turmoil with the roster between seasons in part because of that change. So if you're looking for me to point fingers at Seth Appert or Dave Smith, you'll be waiting for quite a while.<br />
<br />
It's not a question of whether I or any other observers think RPI is irrelevant. It's a question of whether players think RPI is irrelevant. According to Chris Heisenberg's master sheet, at least 24 programs (including RPI) have at least one committed recruit who wasn't even born yet the last time the Engineers made it to the ECAC semifinals - and the longer it keeps up, the bigger that number will get until it maxes out at every program. There are only five players slated to be on next year's RPI roster who were alive the last time RPI won the ECAC title.<br />
<br />
No college hockey player in over a decade was alive the last time the Engineers scored a goal in the NCAA tournament.<br />
<br />
It is the players who will decide whether RPI is irrelevant - and if that's the decision they are starting to make, there is not a whole lot of time left to make some of these droughts referenced above start to disappear.<br />
<br />
But there is hope. After all, Union was irrelevant for decades before they finally started breaking through and climbed all the way to the top. Michigan Tech needed a shakeup of conferences to help clear their path back to relevance and the NCAA tournament, but that alone can't account for the fact that the Huskies were ranked #1 in the country for a week in 2014. Even if we've found irrelevancy, anything is possible.<br />
<br />
We've been searching for rock bottom for a very long time. Let's hope we've found it.Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-88831082267105911392017-06-19T20:36:00.000-04:002017-06-19T20:36:41.015-04:00What's This Team Look Like?Haven't posted on the blog for a while, but we've been keeping up with goings on with the Engineers - new coach and all - on the Twitters, which is our primary outlet for breaking news. <a href="http://www.twitter.com/without_a_peer" target="_blank">Do check it out.</a><br />
<br />
This is a bit more heady of a discussion, far more than can be squeezed into 140 characters, even multiple times, so here it is, a blog post. What exactly does this team look like heading into 2017-18? There's been a lot of turnover, so it's a legitimate question to ask, especially since we're not 100% sure of who's in and who's out. Time to make some educated guesses.<br />
<br />
For the most part, we're making the assumption that any recruit who isn't known to have decommitted is still coming. To date, there's only one recruit that has been confirmed to no longer be coming to Troy, and that's forward Bailey Conger (now bound for Providence College). If there are any others, we may not know for certain until they commit elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Additionally, any player who is listed on the current RPI roster for 2017-18 is assumed to be returning, even though there have been murmurs about one or two of those names looking to possibly leave.<br />
<br />
<b>Forwards</b><br />
Senior departures: Riley Bourbonnais, Jimmy DeVito, Jake Wood.<br />
Other departures: Drew Melanson, Lou Nanne, Sam Rappaport, Alex Rodriguez.<br />
Returning: Jacob Hayhurst, Viktor Liljegren, Jake Marrello, Jesper Ohrvall, Patrick Polino, Max Reisinger, Evan Tironese, Brady Wiffen.<br />
Definitely arriving: Todd Burgess, Jaren Burke, Gavin Payne, Troy York.<br />
Possibly arriving: Billy Jerry, Emil Ohrvall, Jon Richards, Owen Stout.<br />
In the pipeline: Jon Bendorf (2018), Matt Cameron (2019)<br />
<br />
The amount of turnover up front for RPI is going to make the 2017-18 Engineers drastically different than the 2016-17 team. Nearly half of the forwards on last year's roster will be gone (although one, Rappaport, never played).<br />
<br />
Nanne's departure was somewhat unexpected although it doesn't appear to be directly related to Seth Appert's firing -- graduating with a degree in biomedical engineering in three years is a laudable accomplishment even without adding hockey to the mix, and his struggle with injuries both before and at RPI have been well known. Throwing in his brother's heart ailment and it's certainly a move that makes sense for him.<br />
<br />
Melanson's move to grad school at BU may also have been planned in advance, although the high amount of uncertainty with next year's team and the low point the program reached this past season does make the move even more understandable. On Comm Ave, Melanson will get the opportunity to play for titles and a new venue could be just the thing he needs for development in a still-promising career. The last two seasons especially have been a struggle for him in Troy to reach his true potential.<br />
<br />
Rodriguez was much more unexpected -- he was even seen in a video that Dave Smith posted on Twitter taking part in team workouts. At times, he seemed on the verge of breaking into a much stronger role this past season, but ultimately managed just one goal in 20 games last year, a drop off from his 8 points in 26 games as a freshman. It's possible that Smith decided he didn't fit the system the way he wants it.<br />
<br />
The moves leave the Engineers with only two forwards who have two or more full seasons of college hockey under their belts -- Liljegren and Jesper Ohrvall. Wiffen, a junior, had to sit out his freshman year, and Tironese, a redshirt sophomore, played just a handful of games as a true freshman before suffering a season ending injury two seasons ago.<br />
<br />
This season's forward corps, therefore, is going to be painfully inexperienced. Even if counting Burgess as a sophomore, RPI will be forced to suit up three freshmen up front for every single game even if every single returning player is healthy. Two of those returning players played only sparingly last season: Marrello appearing in just over half of RPI's games, Reisinger in juts 11 out of 37.<br />
<br />
Burgess is already in school, but when he hits the ice for the Engineers this season, he's a definite addition to last year's functional team, so he's listed as an arrival.<br />
<br />
Jerry, Richards, Burke, and York are Smith's first four RPI recruits. Burke and York are '96 birth years, which means they have to come in for this coming season, but in all honesty we can expect all four of them in the fall. Emil Ohrvall and Stout could technically play juniors again, but considering they'd make the optimal 16 forwards and with Bendorf already primed to replace the lone loss after next year (Liljegren), there's no reason for them not to come right now.<br />
<br />
The biggest question mark with the incoming forwards revolves around just how late so many of them committed. Unusual for this day and age, six of the seven likely true freshmen committed less than a year before their expected arrival on campus and five of them are just since February (Smith's recruits and Payne). That's a short amount of time to be throwing together almost a third of the offensive element.<br />
<br />
As with many RPI teams in the last several years, there are enough options for the Engineers to be competitive offensively if the most talented of the bunch can start scoring with some regularity. We've seen great stretches from the juniors and seniors (Liljegren, J. Ohrvall, Wiffen). Hayhurst and Tironese were dynamic players last year for an otherwise moribund team. If Burgess can bounce back from his medical redshirt season and display the kind of form he had in juniors, he can be a solid boost. Emil Ohrvall was impressive in high school and juniors playing these past two seasons in the US. That's seven guys right there who, if RPI could get outstanding seasons from even half of them, would be cooking with fire. And who knows? Perhaps one of these late gets is a diamond in the rough.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Defensemen</b><br />
Senior departures: Parker Reno.<br />
Other departures: Bradley Bell.<br />
Returning: Tommy Grant, Charlie Manley, Meirs Moore, Mike Prapavessis, Will Reilly, TJ Samec, Jared Wilson.<br />
Definitely arriving: Mat Harris.<br />
Possibly arriving: Cory Babichuk, Austin Cho, Atte Tuliara.<br />
In the pipeline: Jacob Modry (2018)<br />
<br />
The rock upon which the 2017-18 Engineers is built is their defense - the lone element that appears to have been relatively untouched by the massive turnover. Reno's graduation was obviously expected, and Bell never truly established himself at RPI despite some serious expectations, ultimately appearing in just 41 of 118 games while at the Institute, some of which were played as a forward.<br />
<br />
There are, however, still some questions left to be answered, especially with regards to the status of Cho, RPI's longest tenured commit at three years and three months. There are basically three options: he could come in this year, he could return to juniors, or he could be decommitting due to the coaching change. Only the first and third options are realistic. Although his age would allow him another year in juniors (and could actually happen if he decommits), at this point and with the turnover in coaching and recruits, it would almost certainly mean he's not coming at all.<br />
<br />
Harris is a guarantee since he's turning 21 in July. He gives the Engineers a total of eight defensemen, which has been the roster complement in recent years but nine is certainly preferable as a hedge against injury and slump. So it's likely that at least one of the other recruits will be coming in as well.<br />
<br />
Cho and Babichuk had long been considered likely to push off their original expected arrival date, perhaps even as far back as early 2016. Cho did that this past season, and it had previously been thought that Cho would replace Reno and that Babichuk would probably spend another year in juniors. Babichuk recently turned up in camp for the Bloomington Thunder of the USHL, so<br />
that would seem to be his path - either a move to the USHL, or another year in the BCHL. Again, if Cho is still coming, he's going to make nine.<br />
<br />
Tuliara, a product of Finland, has yet to get any North American hockey under his belt, but there's a good amount of buzz about his potential capacity to step in immediately and contribute in similar ways to Wilson, Reilly, and (despite his rough season last year) Prapavessis. It's a bit of a tossup as to whether he'll do a tour in the USHL first and then come to Troy, or whether he's due in the fall as was expected when he committed. Some reports from Finland have suggested that it's going to be this year. Either way, whether he makes nine or ten defenseman, he'd be a very welcome inclusion on a team in need of solid depth somewhere.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Goaltenders</b><br />
Senior departures: None.<br />
Other departures: Cam Hackett, Liam McBain.<br />
Returning: Chase Perry, Kyle St. Denis.<br />
Definitely arriving: Linden Marshall.<br />
<br />
Even the usually straightforward goaltending has been the focus of a lot of drama in the last six months or so. Hackett's apparent implosion set off a chain reaction that led to the inclusion of St. Denis midway through last season as an emergency backup for Perry, the fact that St. Denis never saw any ice time <i>could</i> mean that he can treat the spring semester as a redshirt year, although the fact that he dressed for the team's last 11 games as the backup could mean that he doesn't qualify and will be an athletic sophomore even though he's almost certainly still an academic freshman. Whether he is or not is probably not really relevant until 2020 at the earliest, since he now projects as the team's third-string.<br />
<br />
McBain didn't play either after being brought in from club to serve as the third-string goaltender, since St. Denis is likely to serve that role now, McBain is probably returning to club, depriving college hockey of its only D-I player from Oregon (unless there is one in this year's crop of freshmen).<br />
<br />
Marshall is going to be 19 by the time the season starts, which means he'd have the option of going back to juniors, but everything we've heard has him not only sticking to his commitment but also coming in as a freshman this fall. Given the struggles that Perry exhibited early last year, expect Marshall to get every opportunity to establish himself as the team's first choice, but Perry is certainly right there as well. He did have some flashes of excellence at times, including the noteworthy accomplishment of being the only netminder in the country to shut out Harvard last year.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Outlook</b><br />
If all of the seven potential incoming forwards (not including Burgess, of course) arrive in the fall along with Cho and Tuliara, with Babichuk pushing off to 2018, the Engineers would appear ready to field a full roster in both 2017-18 and 2018-19, with Bendorf, Babichuk, and Modry to be the entirety of the Class of 2022 (replacing Liljegren, Wilson, and Prapavessis).<br />
<br />
When the roster is released, hopefully we'll be able to do a full, extremely late (by over 6 months) pipeline piece detailing the new arrivals - of which nine of them have never appeared in a previous pipeline edition. Stay tuned.Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-19470691960034009472017-03-29T16:52:00.001-04:002017-03-29T16:52:18.381-04:00Two More For 13<a href="http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2017/03/28_RPI-Narrows-Coaching-Search.php" target="_blank">News reports</a> say that RPI has invited four finalists to interview for the open head coaching position this week.<br />
<br />
Two of the names, we covered in our previous look at potential candidates: <a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2017/03/21-for-13.html#barr" target="_blank">Ben Barr</a> and <a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2017/03/21-for-13.html#riga" target="_blank">Bill Riga</a>. Go ahead and click on their names if you'd like a refresher.<br />
<br />
Two of them weren't ones that had previously come up. Fortunately, that possibility was covered at the beginning of that long screed:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"It is not meant to be exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, if the ultimate new coach was not even on this list, I would only be mildly surprised (when I did this 11 years ago, Seth Appert wasn't on the list)."</i><br />
<br />
So it's really not that unexpected. Anyway, let's have a look at the two other finalists.<br />
<br />
<u>Ed Gosek (Oswego '83)</u><br />
Oswego (SUNYAC) - 1990-2003<br />
<i>Oswego (SUNYAC) - 2003-present</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Want a track record of success? How's a .755 winning percentage over 14 seasons as a head coach, complete with six Frozen Fours and a national championship strike you? That's what Gosek brings to the table from the Division III level.<br />
<br />
Oswego has had nothing but success under Gosek, who took over from George Roll when Roll took the open job at Clarkson. 13 of his 14 seasons have featured winning percentages over .650, the lone exception being in 2016 (14-11-2). RPI hasn't managed that over the course of a season since 1985 (which was a good year). That's not something that's likely to carry over easily into Division I, but it's proof positive that he's got a great system that wins hockey games.<br />
<br />
The Lakers moved into a new arena in 2006, a bright and vibrant 3,000 seater, huge for Division III. They won the national championship in their first season there (Gosek's fourth as head coach), and have missed the NCAA tournament only three times since then.<br />
<br />
Gosek's overall record at Oswego is 288-85-25, and his trophy case includes eight first-place finishes in the SUNYAC regular season, three SUNYAC titles, eight NCAA tournament appearances and six Frozen Fours, including five in a row from 2010 through 2014, and that national championship in 2007.<br />
<br />
The question with Gosek is this: here's a guy who played at Oswego, and then has been coaching there for the past 27 seasons straight. That's more than three full decades of association with one place. Why leave now? Is it time for a new challenge at a higher level? Is he looking for contract leverage at home?<br />
<br />
From RPI's perspective, Gosek offers a résumé that is difficult to top as long as he can transfer that level of success to the Division I level. He's renowned as a strong recruiter (especially in RPI's usual Ontario stomping grounds), regularly putting together teams that could probably run with a few Division I teams (the Lakers memorably knocked off RIT in 2006, the last time they played a Division I program).<br />
<br />
In many ways, Gosek projects a bit inverse to Bill Riga, both of whom have reputations for being able to assemble championship level teams. He's older than Riga and has the head coaching experience, but lacks the Division I résumé. Riga, on the other hand, has loads of Division I experience, but lacks the element of having been the man in charge. A lot of it depends on determining exactly what someone's looking for in a head coach. Is it playing safer to go with the guy who already knows Division I, like Barr or Riga, or the guy who has the record of getting it done at the helm?<br />
<i><br /></i>
<u>Dave Smith (Ohio State '92)</u><br />
Miami (CCHA) - 1998-2000<br />
Bowling Green (CCHA) - 2000-02<br />
Mercyhurst (AHA) - 2002-05<br />
<i>Canisius (AHA) - 2005-present</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Smith offers something that only two of the names from the original 21 had: actual Division I head coaching experience (Paul Pearl and Don Vaughan were the names, and neither were really ever serious candidates). For over a decade, he's headed up the program at Canisius. In some ways, that makes him the blend of Barr/Riga and Gosek - the Division I experience, and the head coach experience.<br />
<br />
He's got some very recent success, too. This year, Canisius finished atop the Atlantic Hockey standings for the first time (in a year where the Golden Griffins were picked to finish 9th out of 11) after rattling off a 17-game unbeaten streak from January through March (14-0-3). It marked the Griffs' first 20-win season in 17 years and earned Smith Coach of the Year honors in Atlantic Hockey.<br />
<br />
It all came to an unsatisfying halt in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals, where the Griffins were beaten 6-2 (two of the six were empty-netters) by Robert Morris, bringing an end to both the unbeaten streak and the season in general. While eventual AHA champs Air Force were on pace for a potential at-large bid even if they hadn't won the AHA crown, Canisius was not on a similar pace thanks to a 1-7-1 record outside of the conference.<br />
<br />
Smith did guide the Griffins to their first ever NCAA appearance in 2013 after a Cinderella run through the AHA tournament ended with Canisius' first AHA title. In Providence, they held a 3-1 lead over eventual national runners-up Quinnipiac with 12 minutes left in regulation, but fell 4-3 after Quinnipiac's trademark third-period comeback.<br />
<br />
Canisius just finished their third season playing in their new home at HarborCenter, the downtown Buffalo arena opened in 2014 as the Sabres' practice facility and the Griffins' first home of their own, having spent a quarter-century playing second fiddle in Buffalo State's D-III digs.<br />
<br />
There's a lot of baggage with Smith's record, though. His overall tally at Canisius is 172-223-59, only slightly better over the same exact period of time as the man he'd be replacing in Troy, but accrued playing in a weaker conference.<br />
<br />
This season's high water mark is also largely in part thanks to one player: senior goaltender Charles Williams, who led the nation in save percentage (.943), shutouts (6), and was second in GAA (1.82). That helped backstop the nation's fifth best defense, but the offense was almost perfectly ordinary at 37th out of 60. If there's one thing RPI needs imminent help with, it's with the offense. And, of course, as mentioned, the 17-game unbeaten streak meant nothing as soon as the Griffs were upset in the AHA tournament.<br />
<br />
It's not surprising that Smith would look to strike while the iron is hot - he's being rightly feted for the work he's done this season. The question from RPI's perspective has to be whether that's enough to warrant taking him on as the new head coach in Troy.Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-5974907843412659272017-03-16T11:56:00.000-04:002017-03-29T13:31:10.029-04:0021 for 13After 11 seasons, the Seth Appert era is over at RPI. It was a decade-plus that started off rough as Appert sought to retool the team's chemistry and strategy, built into a middle-stage that included a ton of promise and a few high points but ultimately little in the way of glory, and of late descended into a frustrating pattern of underperforming and underdelivering.<br />
<br />
A page is certainly being turned, and the identity author of the next chapter - the 13th head coach in the history of the program (10th in the modern era) - is quite obviously the next big thing to come for this team.<br />
<br />
But as the season wraps up for more and more teams in the 2016-17 season, the field of open head coaching positions has grown. When Appert was fired last week, it was the first opening of the year. Since then, Northern Michigan has fired Walt Kyle, Niagara announced that it would part ways with Dave Burkholder, and Dean Blais announced that he will not be returning to his position at Omaha. That already leaves RPI competing with three other programs to attract the very best available coach - an additional concern that gets added to the mix.<br />
<br />
So the time is good to have a look at the names that have been thrown around in connection with the RPI position. What follows is a list of 21 names I've heard on a fairly serious level from people around the college hockey world - writers, fans, and other observers. It is not meant to be exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, if the ultimate new coach was not even on this list, I would only be mildly surprised (when I did this 11 years ago, Seth Appert wasn't on the list).<br />
<br />
I've included each potential's coaching résumé - all positions are assistant coaching spots except for those in <i>italics</i>, which are head coaching experiences. I've further broken the list down between those with experience at RPI, either as a player or a coach (or, frequently, both), and those who would be coming to RPI fresh.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Familiar Faces</span></b><br />
Alums are frequently a good place to look for coaches: 23 Division I coaches this season were an alumnus of the school at which they were coaching, which is better than 1/3 of the entire complement. It's quite common in the Ivy League especially - only Princeton (Ron Fogarty - Colgate '95) does not have an alumnus at the head of their program.<br />
<br />
That said, there's only been one RPI alumnus who has coached the Engineers in the modern era: Garry Kearns (RPI '58), whose five years at the helm included some of the roughest years in the program's history, but whose crucial legacy was to maintain RPI's status in Division I hockey. There also haven't been any RPI alumni among the Division I head coaching ranks since Ronn Tomassoni (RPI '80) was relieved of his head coaching position at Harvard in 1999 after eight seasons (and 15 total behind the Crimson bench).<br />
<br />
Is there anyone out there that can break both of those trends? The short answer is yes, although of the many names that have popped up, only a handful could honestly be considered strong contenders.<br />
<br />
<a name="barr"><u>Ben Barr (RPI '04)</u></a><br />
RPI (ECAC) - 2004-05<br />
<i>Capital District Selects (Peewee) - 2005-07</i><br />
RPI (ECAC) - 2007-08<br />
Union (ECAC) - 2008-12<br />
Providence (Hockey East) - 2012-14<br />
Western Michigan (NCHC) - 2014-16<br />
UMass (Hockey East) - 2016-present<br />
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Starting off with the name most frequently brought up, and for good reason. It just so happens that one of the hottest commodities in college hockey coaching is an Engineer, and as with Garry Kearns, was captain of the team as a senior. It's not outside the realm of possibility that Ben Barr still being on the head coaching market was a contributing factor to the decision making process that led to Appert's dismissal.<br />
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Barr's links to the Capital District are now deeply rooted - he was here as a player or a coach from 2000 through 2012. He served as a volunteer assistant under both of RPI's most recent head coaches, first under Dan Fridgen the year after he graduated from the Institute, and later for a season under Appert after working in local youth hockey. He was about to take up a position at Albany Academy in 2008 when Nate Leaman at Union came calling, and for the last decade his star has done nothing but rise - because the programs he's been with have risen, too.<br />
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We all know what he was a part of in Schenectady, and while he wasn't there for the national championship victory, he was certainly a crucial element in putting that team together. The same goes for the national championship that Providence won in 2015 - the second time in as many years that a team had won it all shortly after Barr departed.<br />
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If not for a similar happenstance at Western Michigan, perhaps those wins could have just been chalked up to Leaman's influence. But this year, we're seeing a resurgence at WMU, undoubtedly boosted by Barr. UMass, where he came prior to this season, limped to another rough year, but his recruiting touch, which now reaches all the way across North America, has yet to be fully felt there. Folks in Amherst are certainly hoping he sticks around a little while longer.<br />
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As one of the hottest commodities on the coaching market - practically a head coach, somewhere, in waiting - you can rest assured that RPI will have interest in one of its favored sons. Most college hockey observers have tabbed him as one of the top contenders, and some have gone so far as to say that the job will be Barr's should he want it. That's probably accurate. He essentially checks every single one of the Institute's boxes with the exception of head coaching experience (which isn't always easy to find anyway and surely wouldn't be a deal-breaker).<br />
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The question then becomes whether Barr is interested in starting his head coaching career at his alma mater. There are pitfalls at RPI for sure, and given his two stretches under two different coaches as an assistant in Troy, you can rest assured that he is well aware of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that the position will offer (he did, after all, graduate with a management degree). If RPI's recruiting atmosphere, facilities, or other intangibles (including salary) aren't to his liking, he could well take a pass for a better opportunity down the road, which surely will eventually come his way. If the Institute wants to make Barr their man, they're going to have to come strong, and even that may not be enough. Time will tell.<br />
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<u>Nolan Graham (RPI '03)</u><br />
Nanaimo (BCHL) - 2006-09<br />
<i>Alberni Valley (BCHL)</i> - 2009-10<br />
RPI (ECAC) - 2010-present<br />
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Given that he's still under contract with RPI as an assistant coach - and in fact is currently running the day-to-day operations of the program alongside his counterpart, Bryan Vines - it would certainly be understandable that Graham would not only be a candidate for the position, there are some ways in which it would make total sense.<br />
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For one thing, full familiarity with the atmosphere of the program is certainly a plus. The players already know him, and if they have the requisite respect for him already, that's an otherwise necessary part of pretty much any coaching change that can be moved through with minimal problems. He also has a small bit of experience running a hockey program, having been the head coach and general manager of a BCHL team for a rather successful season before he was brought back south of the border.<br />
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One of the things people never seemed to have much of a problem with during the Appert-era was the recruiting efforts. There's always going to be a handful of voices complaining if every single recruit isn't a blue-chipper as though we were BC or North Dakota, but by and large the conventional wisdom on the last decade is that recruiting was a strong point even if the result on the ice wasn't always terribly successful. The assistants, by and large, are usually responsible for doing the leg work on recruiting, even if it's the head coach who usually comes in to close deals when candidates are making the decisions - Jim Montgomery was widely credited with playing a major role in recruiting when he was at RPI, and that seems to have continued into his head coaching career at Denver. So, to the extent that recruiting has been successful during the Appert age, Graham probably deserves a solid amount of credit for his work in the last seven seasons.<br />
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The drawback, of course, is that for seven seasons, Graham has been tied to the coach that was just shown the door. The immediate question is going to be blunt and obvious: what kind of changes will he bring to the program? Continuity is important as far as it can go, but the reason there was a coaching change in the first place was to cease some levels of continuity that were undesirable. To be a serious candidate, Graham would have to articulate ways in which his approach to on-ice strategy and player development differ from that of the man he's worked under several years.<br />
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<u>Bryan Vines (Denver '02)</u><br />
Miami (CCHA) - 2006-07<br />
Alberni Valley (BCHL) - 2007-08<br />
RPI (ECAC) - 2008-present<br />
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I'm including Vines among the RPI section because he's been with the team for nine seasons now and, like with Graham, his long-term association with the program as it currently exists is both a positive and a negative aspect for any aspirations he may have for taking over the head coaching position. Many of the same things that were said for Graham would ring true for Vines as well.<br />
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One serious pitfall for Vines: he's an Appert man, from beginning to end. He played under Appert in Denver and was brought in at RPI to replace another Appert man from Denver, Shawn Kurulak. His tenure at the Institute was pretty much always linked to Appert, and his name doesn't appear to have publicly popped up in conjunction with any other Division I openings during his time behind the bench at the Field House. It would be very easy to see how those who wanted Appert out would be unsatisfied with arguably his top lieutenant then taking over.<br />
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On the positive side, he has some deep ties to RPI now - besides nearly a decade in Troy, his wife, Sachi, also works in the athletic department at the Institute. But ultimately, as with Graham, the challenge for Vines would be to firmly outline just how he would do things differently from the man under whom he's been learning the trade, as it were. The vast, vast majority of his coaching résumé falls under Appert's purview, and that might be a little difficult for him to overcome.<br />
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RPI has hired one of its own assistants to fill a vacancy fairly recently (or as recent as one can get when it comes to coaching vacancies) - Dan Fridgen had been the top assistant to Buddy Powers when he ascended to the head coaching position in 1994. The major difference between then and now - and indeed, when Frank Bretti and Jeff Matthews were considered in 2006 - was that Powers wasn't forced out of his position, he gave it up to take the same job at Bowling Green.<br />
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<u>Kirk MacDonald (RPI '07)</u><br />
RPI (ECAC) - 2013-14<br />
Reading (ECHL) - 2014-present<br />
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Another potential from the RPI assistants tree is, like Barr, a former team captain. A terrific goal scorer during his tenure at the Institute, he's very well known for potting the game-winner of the 2005 Freakout! against Brown mere weeks before he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, a diagnosis that caused him to miss the 2005-06 season for treatment. He bounced back from the ordeal to have a very solid minor league career, spending enough time with the Providence Bruins to eventually earn a two-way contract with Boston, although he never got called up to the NHL.<br />
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In his final season as a player, he won a Kelly Cup in the ECHL with the Reading Royals as an assistant captain, and after a year back in Troy as the volunteer assistant, he returned to Reading as a full-time assistant coach. Since MacDonald's return to Pennsylvania, the Royals have gone to the playoffs in back-to-back years, and are primed for another playoff appearance this season - although it's probably difficult to chalk that all up to him exclusively, as the team was having a string of solid seasons under head coach Larry Courville in the years prior to MacDonald's arrival as a player, let alone as a coach.<br />
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MacDonald has a solid history across his career of holding leadership roles, holding captaincies in junior, college, and minor league hockey during the course of his career. Anyone who's been through what he's been through with cancer has a pretty strong grasp on perseverance and handling adversity. It certainly looks like he has a bright future in coaching. But is that future now? It's possible, but in all likelihood, the top spot at RPI might be a little too much, too soon, especially given the other candidates that are out there right now. Still, it's certainly worth watching MacDonald's coaching career to see where it might go.<br />
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<u>Marc Cavosie (RPI '03)</u><br />
RPI (ECAC) - 2014-present<br />
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A local hero and former Hobey Baker candidate, Cavosie has been volunteering behind the RPI bench for the last three seasons since hanging up his skates following a 12-year professional career. He's undoubtedly gotten more than his feet wet in tangling with the rigors of coaching in college hockey.<br />
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But as with MacDonald, there are probably other candidates with more experience that would be considered first. It would be very tough to see anyone go from a volunteer assistant directly to Division I head coach in one fell swoop. Perhaps the new regime might take a look a full-time position for Cavosie.<br />
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<u>Mark Jooris (RPI '86)</u><br />
<i>Dundas Real McCoys (OHA)</i> - 2001-07<br />
HC Sierre-Anniviers (Swiss) - 2007-08<br />
<i>Burlington (CCHL)</i> - 2009-10<br />
<i>Oakville (OJAHL)</i> - 2010-11<br />
<i>Markham (OJHL)</i> - 2011-12<br />
<i>Burlington (OJHL)</i> - 2015-present<br />
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A vital element of the 1985 national championship team, Jooris enjoyed a 15 year career in Europe before returning home and becoming the player-coach of a senior hockey team in southern Ontario (for which he became their all-time leading scorer and had his number retired). After a short gig as an assistant in Switzerland, he began a string of head coaching jobs in Ontario junior leagues, starting as the coach of his son Josh's junior team in Burlington. Josh, of course, had a stellar career at Union (there are varying accounts of his interest in following his father to RPI and why that did not happen - no scholarship availability, took the wrong classes to be admitted, whatever) and is now getting NHL experience.<br />
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At this point, Jooris has a significant body of work as a coach, especially at the junior level of late, where he was recognized in 2016 as the Ontario Hockey Association's Coach of the Year, an honor which saw him besting 120 other coaches. His return to Burlington in 2015 sparked a complete turnaround of the Cougars' fortunes, powered by a sudden burst of goal-scoring from a previously moribund offense.<br />
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Sounds like a winning combination all around from RPI's perspective. Tactically sound, an outstanding developer of talent, and someone who knows the ropes at RPI. The biggest question would definitely revolve around his interest in the position - and given what he told the Hamilton Spectator around the time he won the OHA's Coach of the Year award, it sounds like moving to Troy is kind of a non-starter. At the time, it was indicated that he had plenty of offers to coach in Europe, but didn't want to uproot his family from Southern Ontario - and he professed that he had interest in a then-current vacancy with the OHL's Hamilton Bulldogs, a vacancy that was filled by Ferris State alum John Gruden.<br />
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The Capital District is at least a lot closer to Southern Ontario than Europe is, but would that be enough to draw his attention? It may well be in RPI's best interest to at least find out if Jooris has any inclination to return to his alma mater.<br />
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<u>Joe Juneau (RPI '91)</u><br />
Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program - 2006-present<br />
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Juneau gets a lot of attention because of the wild amount of success he had at RPI - still the only player in program history to lead the team in scoring for every year of a four-year college career. Following that up with an appearance in the Olympics and a lengthy NHL career has him among the top names to ever come through Troy. His story - that he spoke no English when he arrived on campus but finished his masters in aeronautical engineering in four years while accomplishing what he did on the ice at the same time - is well known and adds to his legend.<br />
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Since his retirement from the professional ranks, Juneau has gone on to work in youth hockey, first in Fairbanks and most notably in the Inuit village of Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec, where he now lives. The Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program that he instituted focuses on teaching First Nation youth through hockey and encouraging academic development - a very noble pursuit that has earned him accolades throughout Canadian media.<br />
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There's unlikely to be a whole lot of interest on either side for a Juneau move to Troy. For the last decade plus, he's been having a positive impact on an economically depressed region - not something he's likely to give up for the "you must win hockey games" atmosphere that he'd find in Troy. Don't count on either side here exhibiting very much interest at all.<br />
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<u>Adam Oates (RPI '86)</u><br />
Tampa Bay (NHL) - 2009-10<br />
New Jersey (NHL) - 2010-12<br />
<i>Washington (NHL)</i> - 2012-14<br />
<i>New Jersey (NHL) </i>- 2014-15<br />
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There are an extreme few members of the Hockey Hall of Fame who have also won a national championship in American college hockey. The list is Ken Dryden, Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios... and Adam Oates.<br />
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Easily one of the biggest, if not <i>the</i> biggest name in the history of RPI hockey, his name popped up a few times after Dan Fridgen's departure, which more or less coincided with Oates' retirement from the NHL. It cropped up almost immediately after Appert's dismissal as well, only this time, he has actual experience as a coach, having spent parts of six seasons behind the bench in the NHL, most recently as head coach of the Washington Capitals for two seasons and co-head coach of the New Jersey Devils for half a season.<br />
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So it sounds like a match, right? Not really. While a prominent hockey broadcaster once said of Oates that "there are two things you can't get him to shut up about - his family and his alma mater," Oates coming to Troy is almost certainly never going to happen unless, for some reason, he has a jones for those bus trips to the North Country and to exotic Hamilton, NY. He's currently serving as a private coach for NHL players, a gig which is almost certainly going to be far more lucrative than anything he could encounter at RPI. There's no doubt the Institute would have to pony up huge bucks to attract him, something they probably can't do given that they're buying out four years of salary for the previous coach. While having a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame as the coach could certainly attract talented players, it's doubtful that he'd be taking a very hands-on approach to recruiting. And then there's the larger aspect - could anyone really see him staying at RPI for more than a handful of years? Why would he?<br />
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In short... keep dreaming, folks.<br />
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<u>Kevin Constantine (RPI '81)</u><br />
<i>North Iowa (USHL)</i> - 1985-86<br />
<i>Northwood Prep (HS)</i> - 1986-87<br />
<i>Rochester (USHL)</i> - 1987-88<br />
Kalamazoo (IHL) - 1988-91<br />
<i>Kansas City (IHL)</i> - 1991-93<br />
<i>San Jose (NHL)</i> - 1993-96<br />
Calgary (NHL) - 1996-97<br />
<i>Pittsburgh (NHL)</i> - 1997-2000<br />
<i>Pittsburgh (NAHL)</i> - 2001-03<br />
<i>New Jersey (NHL)</i> - 2002<br />
<i>Everett (WHL)</i> - 2003-07<br />
<i>Houston (AHL)</i> - 2007-10<br />
<i>Angers (France)</i> - 2010-11<br />
<i>HC Ambri-Piotta (Swiss)</i> - 2011-13<br />
<i>Everett (WHL)</i> - 2013-present<br />
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For many years, Constantine was the absolute gold standard when it came to RPI alums in the coaching ranks. He spent most of the 1990s as a head coach in the NHL, and has had a practically uninterrupted résumé as a hockey coach for over 30 years running at pretty much every level - high school, juniors, major junior, minor league, NHL, Europe... pretty much everything except for college hockey. If he wants to get that experience, the school he attended might present a golden opportunity.<br />
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The problem is, Constantine probably doesn't have an awful lot of affinity for RPI, considering that he got kicked out of school after his junior season for crashing a car into the firehouse on 15th Street.- which also concluded his playing career. He was the starting netminder in his junior year after getting a handful of chances in net in his first two years.<br />
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The other problem is that he's pretty well ensconced in the WHL at this point. He coached the Silvertips in the middle of the last decade for four years, and he's been there for another four since returning from Europe in 2013.<br />
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Those two items seem to add up to "not a candidate," but with his résumé and history, it's not hard to see why folks have brought him up. Just don't count on it.<br />
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That brings an end to the RPI-associated names that I've heard linked with the coaching vacancy. Now, on to the non-alums.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Hello, Stranger</span></b><br />
When it comes to mining assistants, it's frequently useful to take a look at teams that have had wild success in the last several seasons. RPI is trying to turn its program around from the depths in which it's currently langushing to the very top - so it's instructive to take a look at programs that have done that recently (it's worth noting that Seth Appert was part of that in Denver). In the ECAC, that means taking a look at coaches that have been through Yale, Union, and Quinnipiac, primarily, and in Hockey East it's taking a gander at Providence and UMass-Lowell.<br />
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<u>Jason Lammers (Geneseo '98)</u><br />
Clarkson (ECAC) - 2000-01<br />
Hobart (ECAC West) - 2001-02<br />
Clarkson (ECAC) - 2002-03<br />
Alaska-Fairbanks (CCHA) - 2003-04<br />
Princeton (ECAC) - 2004-05<br />
<i>Geneseo (SUNYAC) </i>- 2005-06<br />
Ohio State (CCHA) - 2006-09<br />
Colorado College (WCHA) - 2009-11<br />
UMass-Lowell (Hockey East) - 2011-15<br />
<i>Dubuque (USHL)</i> - 2015-present<br />
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As much credit as we've seen Ben Barr getting for his work around college hockey, Jason Lammers may deserve at least as much credit for his work around the nation over an even longer period of time. He's college hockey's Johnny Cash; he's been everywhere (man). He logged multiple seasons in literally every one of the "Big Four" leagues from the pre-Big 10 shakeup. That's an impressive amount of experiences that gives Lammers a unique perspective of the national lay of the land.<br />
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His head coaching experience is fairly solid as well, even though it's a small percentage of his overall résumé. In one season at his Division III alma mater - after coaching at four different schools in five years - Lammers guided the Knights to a 19-win season (a 20-win season being an even bigger accomplishment in the shorter-season D-III than it is in D-I) and the program's third NCAA tournament appearance in its history.<br />
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Since taking up the reins with the Fighting Saints in the USHL, Lammers has continued the tradition of success started in Dubuque by Jim Montgomery. The team has never failed to make the USHL playoffs, and last season in his first year in Iowa, Lammers led them to the Eastern Conference title and an appearance in the Clark Cup Finals. This year, they'll be back in their usual position in the playoffs, again one of the best squads in the USHL. As the head coach and general manager (a typical combination in junior hockey), Lammers has the same kind of control of the program as he would have as a head coach in college hockey. Since turnover in the USHL tends to take place a bit faster than it does in college, his success over the last two seasons is probably a good indicator that he has what it takes to be a solid head coach in Division I hockey.<br />
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And there's no question that even as an assistant in recent years, he's had a tremendous amount of success as well. Both of his seasons at Colorado College were winning seasons, and he joined UMass-Lowell at the same time as head coach Norm Bazin, who reversed UML's fortunes pretty much overnight. This season will be the eighth consecutive winning season that Lammers has helped to manage.<br />
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We'll see where Lammers ends up. Given his experiences across the country, he's pretty much in control of his own destiny. He'd probably fit in well at RPI or Omaha especially - or if neither of those options are appealing to him, he's already got a pretty decent thing going on in Dubuque. Like Montgomery, he can probably afford to wait for the right opportunity to come along if it suits him.<br />
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<u>Cam Ellsworth (Michigan Tech '05)</u><br />
Sioux City (USHL) - 2008-11<br />
UMass-Lowell (Hockey East) - 2011-present<br />
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Ellsworth may be one of the most similar assistants in college hockey today that has a hockey résumé that most closely mirrors that of Appert's when he was hired at RPI - a goaltender in college who put together a strong reputation as an important lieutenant at a program that rose from the ashes to become one of the strongest teams in the nation. Essentially, he's missing only the national championships that Denver won in the early 2000s, although UML has certainly become a practical mainstay in the NCAAs since he arrived in eastern Massachusetts alongside Norm Bazin (and Lammers) in 2011. The River Hawks were somewhat famously (thanks to a clueless Lowell Sun columnist) the first ones out of the 2015 tournament, and when they make their appearance this season, they'll have been to the NCAAs in every other season in which Bazin and Ellsworth have been behind the bench.<br />
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That comparison to Appert is a bit more flattering than some of the other comparisons, really. The only major drawbacks that could be put forward based on his background would be that he was a goaltender - which is not a big deal, but offense is one of the more long-term pressing issues with the Engineers. The other item is that he doesn't have any prior experience as a head coach. But that's not a disqualifier either, as evidenced by the amount of buzz surrounding Ben Barr.<br />
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The slightly more questionable element is his limited range of programs. One of the things that makes Barr an attractive candidate is that teams have tended to have success wherever he has put his mark on the program. Ellsworth has had a tremendous amount of success, but it has largely only been in one place, in one set of circumstances. Would he be able to replicate the success he's had at a public school with a wide diversity of academic studies at a private school a quarter of the size with a much more narrow array of majors available and a distinctly more demanding admissions standard? He attended one of the most similar schools out there in the Division I hockey world at MTU, but it's worth pointing out that while he was there, MTU was still pretty well mired in what ended up being a nearly 35-year rut from which the Huskies have only just recently been able to solidly break out. Can his experience at an academically rigorous institution translate?<br />
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Ellsworth is certainly off to a robust start to his coaching career and the work he's done in Lowell will certainly merit opportunities for him in the future, perhaps even in the very near future, but from RPI's perspective, there's at least a little bit of a gamble in going with Ellsworth.<br />
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<u>Dan Muse (Stonehill '05)</u><br />
Milton Academy (HS) - 2005-07<br />
Williams (NESCAC) - 2007-08<br />
Sacred Heart (AHA) - 2008-09<br />
Yale (ECAC) - 2009-15<br />
<i>Chicago (USHL)</i> - 2015-present<br />
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In Dan Muse, there's a healthy mix of Lammers and Ellsworth. He combines Ellsworth's relative youth and strong application at a single Division I program with Lammers' expanded experience (relative to age) and current position as a second-year USHL head coach who's finding success in the junior ranks.<br />
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Muse has two things that neither Lammers or Ellsworth can boast: he's got a national championship winning team that he helped put together at Yale (in his fourth season), and over the course of six seasons in New Haven, he surely got a very solid grounding in how to put together a winning program at an academically rigorous school. He's also spent some time with the US World Junior Championship program for USA Hockey, serving as an assistant coach in 2013 and 2014.<br />
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Now in charge with the Chicago Steel, Muse has taken a USHL program that has been in the doldrums for the last several seasons and turned them into the team with the top record in the Western Conference, duking it out with Lammers' Dubuque squad for the divisional lead. The squad has seen marked improvement in pretty much every facet of the game from the year before he took over, although unlike Lammers, who essentially has total control of personnel decisions as general manager of the Fighting Saints, Muse is only Chicago's head coach. That's not to diminish what he's done for the Steel in any way, however. Any head coach has input on who the general manager brings in - much as when he was in New Haven, the final decisions merely rest with someone else. What he's done with the talent he has is remarkable in and of itself.<br />
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In his final season at Yale as the assistant in charge of the Bulldogs' defensive efforts, he helped spearhead the nation's best team defense (1.64 GAA) and best penalty kill (90.1%), both remarkable figures that are going to set any team up for success. The fact that he was able to do this in the ECAC has to be an attractive feature for the athletic department at RPI.<br />
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With Muse at the helm, one would probably expect to see the Engineers start to draw more names from New England than we've seen essentially since Mike Addesa left. That might shift some long-term paradigms just a bit - perhaps away from Minnesota and western Canada. In that sense, there would probably be a lot more head-to-head duels with Hockey East programs for talent, but as we've seen with the work he's done at Yale, winning those duels can fuel some great success.<br />
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<u>Bill Riga (UMass-Lowell '96)</u><br />
Boston Jr. Bruins (EJHL) - 1996-2003<br />
Union (ECAC) - 2003-08<br />
Quinnipiac (ECAC) - 2008-present<br />
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Riga is doubtlessly one of the top lieutenants in the ECAC - for the last fifteen years he has been a part of two of the most successful programs during his tenure in the league, playing a role in Union's rise from the absolute doldrums into a team capable of competing for top honors on a regular basis, and for nearly a decade helping Rand Pecknold at Quinnipiac develop a squad that has been to two national championship games in the last five seasons.<br />
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Riga's work at Union was done by and large while the team was on its way up, helping Nate Leaman put together winning combinations at a school that was behind the eight-ball on a number of issues, scholarships and facilities primary among them, finding the hidden gems that worked well together. He continued that trend at Quinnipiac. The Bobcats have never had a losing season in the ECAC (the only team that can make that claim since they joined the league), but their fortunes certainly accelerated from the time Riga came aboard. He helped land several players who made immediate and lasting impacts in Hamden, becoming household names in college hockey in the process - guys like Matthew Peca, Sam Anas, and Travis St. Denis. In the process, he's helped fuel a squad that has been an absolute wrecking ball in ECAC play many years with three regular season titles in the last five years and the aforementioned NCAA runs during the same time frame.<br />
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RPI might represent a middle ground between Quinnipiac and Union. At the Q, Riga has the benefit of brand-new, state of the art facilities to pitch to potential recruits along with athletic scholarships. He had neither of those at Union, at RPI he would at least have some renovated facilities and the scholarships.<br />
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Pecknold's contract runs through 2021, at which point he'd be finishing his 27th year as the head coach of the Braves/Bobcats. He's taken the program from an unremarkable and flatlining Division II doormat to the cusp of the ultimate Division I glory, and with last year's ECAC championship, the NCAA title is literally the only thing missing from his trophy case. It would be difficult to see him leaving on anything but his own terms. The question as it pertains to Riga becomes whether he wants to stay in Hamden with eye on the top spot, which may not even necessarily come open in four years should Pecknold choose to continue. Even if it does come open, there would likely be a pair of exceptional candidates who are Quinnipiac alumni in his assistant counterpart, Joe Dumais (who we'll talk about shortly) and current Hershey Bears assistant coach Reid Cashman, who was behind the Q bench with Riga for five years before joining Hershey this season.<br />
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RPI, therefore, could represent an opening that would be rather appealing - it's within the league he's been working in for 15 years and should know like the back of his hand. That should be equally appealing from RPI's perspective as well. If he can do a satisfactory job with player development and grow the team's on-ice success, he checks most of the boxes of what a team like RPI is looking for in a head coach.<br />
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<u>Joe Dumais (Quinnipiac '06)</u><br />
Ohio (ACHA) - 2006-07<br />
Mahoning Valley (NAHL) - 2007-08<br />
Connecticut (AHA) - 2008-11<br />
Union (ECAC) - 2011-16<br />
Quinnipiac (ECAC) - 2016-present<br />
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Ben Barr rightfully gets a lot of the credit due for assembling Union's national championship team, but besides Nate Leaman and Rick Bennett, there should be little doubt that Joe Dumais deserves some respect as well for his contributions in Schenectady.<br />
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As with Riga, Dumais plied his trade in Schenectady before moving on to Quinnipiac, just a few seasons behind in each case. Dumais was with Union for the Dutchmen's greatest successes, his first four years being laden with championships of every sort leading up to the ultimate success in the 2014 Frozen Four. While Riga's fingerprints were on Union's rise, Dumais had his all over their greatest successes - Bennett heaped effusive praise upon Dumais for the work he did during the championship season to tweak the team's minor flaws down the stretch, turning Union into the runaway train that scored seven goals against one of the nation's most elite programs in the national championship game. Even before his move to Quinnipiac, his name was being linked with openings last season.<br />
<br />
Dumais did just return to his alma mater for the first time since graduation after Reid Cashman left for the AHL, and it's a little less likely that he'd be willing to jump back to the Capital District right away (unless five years here enamored him with the place). And, as mentioned with Riga, Dumais' alumnus links with Quinnipiac may make him an attractive candidate to take over for his mentor whenever Pecknold may decide to call it a career sometime after 2021.<br />
<br />
Between Riga and Dumais, it's a bit easier to see Riga choosing to leave Hamden for the top job in Troy, if only because of his additional experience and his longer tenure in his current position. While both should likely be bench bosses in Division I hockey down the road, Riga's body of work is a little more complete - although, to be fair, he did have a decade's head start. Neither have experiences as a head coach anywhere, which is a caveat but only a minor one for both as the successes they've both seen in Schenectady and Hamden are appealing to a program that is hungry for even something as slight as advancing to the ECAC semifinals.<br />
<br />
<u>Kris Mayotte (Union '06)</u><br />
Cornell (ECAC) - 2011-12<br />
St. Lawrence (ECAC) - 2012-14<br />
Providence (Hockey East) - 2014-present<br />
<br />
In the annals of RPI lore, Mayotte may always be linked with his actions in the third period of Game 2 of the ECAC first round series during his freshman year against the Engineers. Twice during the same power play, Mayotte came out of his crease to his left to try and play a cleared puck. Both times, the puck ended up on Ben Barr's stick and thrown into an open net. Ironically, Mayotte replaced Barr as an assistant coach in Providence in 2014 as he rejoined his former coach in Schenectady, Nate Leaman, just in time to be part of Providence's national championship in 2015. Barr now works with Greg Carvel in Amherst, who previously worked with Mayotte at St. Lawrence. And now both names have come up with a head coaching opening at RPI. Weird.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Mayotte's fairly new to the coaching scene, as he's just finishing up his sixth season as an assistant, but it's hard to deny that he's been part of a number of successful teams in his short career - only once in those six years has been been with a team that finished with a losing record (SLU in 2013-14). But his rising stature has already seen him linked with some bigger fish, including at the international level. Mayotte was part of St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko's staff for Team USA at the World Junior Championships this year as the Americans took gold in the Under-20 tournament in Canada.<br />
<br />
This job probably isn't for Mayotte, though. He still needs a little bit more time to build his already growing reputation, and he does seem to be very much on track for a head coaching job somewhere down the road. As with many other potential options, from RPI's perspective, he'd be something of a gamble considering who else is out there on the market. That's probably a bit of a relief for Leaman, who is quickly growing one of the most successful coaching trees in recent memories.<br />
<br />
<u>Gary Heenan (Hamilton '97)</u><br />
Brockport (SUNYAC) - 1998-99<br />
Hamilton (NESCAC) - 1999-2000<br />
<i>Utica (ECAC West)</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>- 2000-present<br />
<br />
It hasn't been with a whole lot of frequency that Division I programs draw head coaches directly from the Division III ranks, but there are a couple of examples that we can point to quickly that are both local and recent. In 1989, after Mike Addesa was forced out of the top spot in Troy, RPI turned then D-III RIT to find his replacement in Buddy Powers. And just a couple of years ago, Princeton reached out to D-III Adrian to hire the man that had built the Bulldogs from the ground up into a national power - Ron Fogarty. This season, the Tigers have shown signs of life under Fogarty more or less for the first time since Guy Gadowsky left for Penn State.<br />
<br />
Heenan and Fogarty are similar in that the latter was the only head coach Adrian had ever had when Division I came calling. The same is true for Heenan, only on a much longer term. A very young coach when he was hired as the very first bench boss for the Pioneers, he's now been in Central New York essentially since coming south of the border to play at Hamilton (Brockport is west of Rochester and probably doesn't count), and for 16 years now as a head coach. There's no question that he knows the recruiting game, and he's relatively local to boot.<br />
<br />
Utica got good quick under Heenan and they've mostly stayed good. In the program's 16 seasons, they've had just four losing seasons - and two of those were the first two overall. The Pioneers have had seven consecutive winning years, and were above .600 in five of those seasons, including a Frozen Four appearance in 2013 and the team's fourth ECAC West regular season title this year. The only thing Heenan hasn't done at Utica outside of winning the national championship has been to win the ECAC West tournament title, coming closer than ever this season but falling at home to Hobart in overtime in the championship game back on March 4.<br />
<br />
Among the impressive statistics that Heenan has put up at Utica is the attendance at Pioneers games. This will be the 11th consecutive season that Utica College has led Division III in average attendance - a complement that now has them besting 84 other programs. Lately, that lead has been completely unquestioned: over the last several seasons, they've outpaced second-place Oswego by around 1,000 fans per game. At 3,311 fans per game this season, the Pioneers draw in nearly as many fans as Utica Memorial Auditorium's other tenants, the AHL's Utica Comets, on a per-game basis (and beats RPI's average this season by 24). Bearing in mind that the level of play difference between Division III hockey and AHL hockey is rather drastic, there's no question that Heenan has put together a style and a record that draws fans in on levels mostly unseen in Division III - and that has to be appealing to a school like RPI.<br />
<br />
Heenan did have an agreement to come to Union in 2005 as an assistant under Nate Leaman, but he changed his mind in under a week and returned to his previous position at Utica. Could he now be enticed to come to Troy? As mentioned above, there are still some things he has yet to accomplish at Utica, especially that league championship. But there are certainly new horizons that could be breached at the Division I level. Could the addition of athletic scholarships and the ability to recruit higher levels of talent draw him east? Given his track record, RPI should probably have some interest in finding out.<br />
<br />
<u>Curtis Carr (Kent State '03)</u><br />
<i>Kent State (ACHA)</i> - 2003-05<br />
Mahoning Valley (NAHL) - 2006-09<br />
<i>Youngstown (USHL)</i> - 2009-11<br />
Merrimack (Hockey East) - 2011-present<br />
<br />
There's not a whole lot to say about Carr, who I've only seen mentioned at SBN College Hockey as a "dark horse candidate." A former club player at Kent State who worked his way up the junior coaching ranks, he had a rough couple of seasons as the head coach in the USHL's Youngstown franchise before joining Merrimack as an assistant coach, where he's been for the last six seasons.<br />
<br />
He apparently has a solid reputation as a good recruiter, and hails from the Toronto area originally - long one of RPI's key recruiting grounds. But other than that aspect of his résumé, there's not a lot to get overly excited about. Merrimack had a brief surge of excellent play that resulted in the Warriors' first NCAA bid in nearly a quarter of a century in 2011, the year before Carr's arrival in North Andover, but after a winning season in 2012, Merrimack has largely returned to their previous pattern of mid-to-lower table finishes that have long plagued the program in the ultra-competitive Hockey East.<br />
<br />
When compared to other candidates, there's just not a great deal to be excited about beyond the recruiting aspect.<br />
<br />
<u>Paul Pearl (Holy Cross '89)</u><br />
Connecticut (ECAC East) - 1992-94<br />
<i>Holy Cross (ECAC East)</i> - 1994-96<br />
Brown (ECAC) - 1996-97<br />
<i>Holy Cross (AHA)</i> - 1997-2014<br />
Harvard (ECAC) - 2014-present<br />
<br />
When Pearl left his alma mater after 19 seasons to become an assistant under Ted Donato at Harvard in 2014, it was a little bit shocking. After all, his name has come up more than a few times with eastern coaching openings in the past, especially ever since he helped author one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history when the Crusaders defeated the University of Minnesota in the NCAA tournament in 2006. It was mentioned during the Engineers' last opening that same year, in part because of that win.<br />
<br />
At age 50, he's relatively young for the vast amount of head coaching experience that he would bring to the job, but a quick glance at his entire history shows that he's pretty much a New England man through and through. Grew up in Massachusetts. Played at Holy Cross, coached there too, and besides his present gig, only ever had short-term positions in Connecticut and Rhode Island. There's not a whole lot of expectation that he'd have uprooted himself from his long-term position at his alma mater to become an ECAC assistant with his sights set on Troy. Should Harvard, Brown, or Northeastern have an opening in the near future, that would probably be more his speed.<br />
<br />
RPI does have a bit of experience with Holy Cross alums who led the Crusaders as their head coach, however. Mike Addesa graduated from CHC in 1966 and was their head coach in 1979 when he left to become RPI's 9th head coach, eventually guiding the Engineers to their second national championship in 1985.<br />
<br />
<u>Albie O'Connell (Boston U. '99)</u><br />
Colby (NESCAC) - 2003-04<br />
Niagara (AHA) - 2004-06<br />
Holy Cross (AHA) - 2006-07<br />
Merrimack (Hockey East) - 2007-08<br />
Northeastern (Hockey East) - 2008-11<br />
Harvard (ECAC) - 2011-14<br />
Boston University (Hockey East) - 2014-present<br />
<br />
O'Connell is a name that falls into the "often mentioned with eastern head coach openings" and he has a couple of intersections with Paul Pearl in his career as well. He served at Holy Cross under Pearl for a year just after the Crusaders' big win over Minnesota, and later was replaced by Pearl at Harvard when O'Connell left for his alma mater.<br />
<br />
And, much like Pearl, O'Connell seems to fit into the "New England man" mold. With the exception of his professional playing career and his two-season stint at Niagara, he's essentially been there his entire life. He was born just outside of Boston in Watertown, and for the last nine years in a row he's been at three of the four Beanpot schools right in Boston (all of which have had some pretty good seasons while he's been behind the bench). He has all the hallmarks of a guy who's happy where he is and who isn't going to uproot himself just to become a head coach somewhere - anywhere.<br />
<br />
<u>Jerry Keefe (Providence '00)</u><br />
UMass-Boston (ECAC East) - 2006-07<br />
<i>Westfield State (ECAC Northeast)</i> - 2007-09<br />
Brown (ECAC) - 2009-11<br />
Northeastern (Hockey East) - 2011-present<br />
<br />
Another name I've seen mentioned only by SBN, Keefe probably also fits the same New England theme as the two gentlemen above. From eastern Massachusetts, went to Providence, and he's been in New England for the entirety of his coaching career. As the top assistant at Northeastern, he was part of the Huskies' massive second-half that led to a very unexpected in December Hockey East title - recall that NU started off the season 2-11-3, and at that record went on a 20-1-2 tear to the end of the season, which ended at the hands of the eventual national champions.<br />
<br />
This season wasn't quite as successful as last year, as it ended in the Hockey East quarterfinals last weekend, but also certainly wasn't nearly as bipolar as it was last year and the firmament has been set at NU for some success down the road. Even if he wasn't deeply rooted in New England, Keefe might do well to raise his star a bit more in the South End before potentially attracting a high-visibility head coaching position.<br />
<br />
<u>Don Vaughan (St. Lawrence '84)</u><br />
Enschede (Holland) - 1984-85<br />
St. Lawrence (ECAC) - 1985-88<br />
Cornell (ECAC) - 1988-90<br />
St. Lawrence (ECAC) - 1990-92<br />
<i>Colgate (ECAC)</i> - 1992-2003, 2004-present<br />
<br />
I find it very interesting that Don Vaughan's name was brought to me by a longtime RPI fan as a potential replacement behind the Engineers' bench, and I recall his name being in the mix 11 years ago as well. It may have made slightly more sense back then, but it's hard to look at him now that he's been at Colgate for a quarter-century and see him as a viable candidate, especially now that he's got a brand new rink to work with in Hamilton.<br />
<br />
The dean of ECAC coaches since the resignation at SLU of his former boss, Joe Marsh, Vaughan has been coaching for over 30 years, immediately following his playing days at St. Lawrence and interrupted only by a year as Colgate's interim athletic director in 2003-04. Anyone who's ever met Vaughan knows that he's a great person and a tenacious competitor. RPI would absolutely do well to land someone just like him, but as for the man himself, it's really difficult to see him having any interest for leaving the school that has been his home for so long, especially for another school in the same conference.Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-32892399401415757022017-03-06T14:46:00.001-05:002017-03-06T14:46:41.734-05:00Turning Point"Something needs to change, or something needs to change."<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's how I ended my last blog post back in December. That was three full months ago - and unfortunately, nothing changed. Today, RPI decided that what needed to change was the head coach. After 11 seasons in Troy, Seth Appert is out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I must admit, I found the news simultaneously shocking, and not shocking at all. After all, the team managed just eight wins this season, failing to win 10 for the first time since 1982. 28 losses was a school record for a single season. And a .230 winning percentage was the lowest since the benchmark for disastrous RPI seasons, 1966 (still tops at .136). This was a historically bad season.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Worse, it was almost entirely unexpected. This team was supposed to do much better than this. Expectations coming into the year weren't that the Engineers were destined to be cellar-dwellers. They may not have been world-beaters, but they weren't the worst team in the conference either. Amazingly, they didn't end up being the worst team in the conference (thanks, Brown). But it was a brutal, harrowing experience this year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If this was a serious aberration, it may not have led to a change in management. But the problems really were adding up on a level that the school really couldn't keep living with. By now, they've been repeated over and over again. No ECAC semifinals since 2002. Just four winning seasons in the last 11 - just one 20-win season (at exactly 20) against five 20-loss seasons (all with 23 or more). The frustration has mounted, and a season this bad, against expectations much higher was too much to bear.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even now, looking back, it's hard to say that Appert's extensions weren't warranted when they happened. His first extension was in 2011, after an NCAA tournament appearance. The feeling was that the program had turned the corner. A second-place finish in 2013 seemed to justify that feeling, and serendipitously for him, the head coaching job at Denver came vacant at the exact same time - one of the few jobs, it was felt, that he'd leave RPI to take. Some reports even suggest that he was offered the Denver gig, and went back to RPI to see if they wanted to counter. The star was on the rise, no doubt, it seemed. RPI anted up. Unfortunately, it appears they lost the bet.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The 2014 Engineers were tabbed to be among the best in the ECAC and potentially among the best in the nation. And then Jason Kasdorf suffered a freak injury that drastically altered not only his own career but the trajectory of the program. That was bad enough. Having to watch Union go on to win the national championship that year only twisted the knife even more. It's not super fair to include that in a list of reasons why Appert is gone, but it's human nature.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There was just never a recovery. A year after the Engineers were supposed to be the toast of the league, they lost 26 games. Last year, they underperformed regularly in a better season, finally killing the home playoff bugaboo but still failing to reach Lake Placid. And then this year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Eating four years of contract is tough for a big school with a big budget. RPI is neither of those things. We don't know how much Appert was making in his position, but you can bet that the absolute, bare minimum floor of this buyout is well over a quarter of a million dollars - possibly even reaching upwards of half a million. That's why this move is at least a little bit shocking. It cannot have been easy for the athletic department to have made this move. But ultimately, the results of this season left few good options on the table.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The buyout is going to have an impact on the amount of compensation the school can offer a replacement - let there be no doubt about that. Whoever takes this position is likely to be doing so for a salary that's well below the Division I average. That's a reason why I thought it may make sense for RPI keep Appert, who, for all of his well detailed flaws, is at least at this point a well-experienced Division I coach. A low salary will more likely attract a head coach without such experience, making RPI an entry-level position for someone who will either fail to improve the program or will be gone just as soon as improvements start becoming evident to other programs. For those celebrating this moment, we're going to find out in the coming weeks if this is more of a "be careful what you wish for" situation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Personally, I'm neither celebrating nor lamenting this action. I can understand why it happened. And most people also understand that RPI does lose a class act in Seth Appert as well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But this story isn't finished being told, either. Who comes in next will play just as big of a role in determining the future of this program as today's decision did. </div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-80104102819687793892016-12-06T13:38:00.000-05:002016-12-06T13:38:21.782-05:00On the Recent UnpleasantriesNever fails. The team strings together losses, folks start tweeting at WaP that we're not hard enough on the coaching staff. The team strings together wins, folks start tweeting at WaP that we're too hard on the coaching staff. Both are usually completely unreasonable, and the more extreme the strings, the more unreasonable the shouting.<br />
<br />
We've chosen to be agnostic on the coaching staff. We're not going to advocate for either their retention nor their release. It's a departure from where we were when the site began, when we supported the coaching staff against, quite frankly, attacks that were beyond ridiculous given the circumstances at that time.<br />
<br />
But here's all that really needs to be said, and it's something I told a friend about a month ago: "something needs to change, or something needs to change."<br />
<br />
Take that for what you will.<br />
<br />
We've endured some bad RPI teams in the past - but often times, those teams were just bad and the response among reasonable folks was always "well, they're just not good right now."<br />
<br />
This year's team is outdoing so many of those other bad teams in producing bad results, but it's been even a step farther now. This squad as the talent to be far better than it has been in other years where the team put up L after L - and there's no really good reason why they haven't been.<br />
<br />
In the past, where there have been plausible excuses for falling far too short: running into hot teams at the wrong time, a rise in the number of strong teams in the ECAC, injuries riddling the squad, there's always been something that could be pointed to that says "OK, that's a bad break."<br />
<br />
What is it now?<br />
<br />
Something needs to change, or something needs to change.Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-80065585173520398632016-10-31T09:40:00.000-04:002016-10-31T09:40:33.805-04:00Long Time RunningThis is a post we always expected to make some day but never really wanted to.<br />
<br />
For seven years, Without a Peer has been a delight for us to run. We've met new people, engaged with fans on the Internet and in person, and had the opportunity to give our opinions on matters regularly.<br />
<br />
We're very proud of the fact that we were the first source for RPI live tweets - both for the RPI women and for the RPI men from the very beginning. No one else that we knew of was doing that in 2009 - today there are multiple places where you can keep tabs on the game in progress.<br />
<br />
But as life has evolved for both of us, so has the site in and around that. When we started WaP, both of us were not working full-time and both of us were single. Today we're both married, both of us have full-time jobs with significantly increasing responsibilities, and notably, Tom is going to become a father for the first time in November.<br />
<br />
You can see where this is going.<br />
<br />
This isn't the end, and it's not goodbye. We'll still be kicking around here. WaP will continue to exist - it just won't quite be the same thing you've seen for the last seven years.<br />
<br />
First, live tweeting will come to an end. This is tough to do, since that has been one of WaP's bread-and-butter items since the very beginning, but after seven years, it's time for us to return to simply being fans instead of guerilla journalists in the stands, informing folks on what's happening at as many turns as we can. When we're busy tweeting, we're not celebrating goals, or appreciating saves, or fully getting the fan experience that we love so much. We miss that - and we hope our fans won't begrudge us deciding to go back to it.<br />
<br />
Second, we won't be doing weekly recaps anymore. These have always been a staple of the site since the start, always fairly-research intensive, delivering game summaries with an RPI-centric eye in an attempt to convey the fan mood, with plenty of links and insights for the reader to digest. But lately, these recaps have been less fun to produce and have felt more like a chore. In past seasons, it was always a little more difficult to write these when the team was struggling, but it never truly felt like it was being done for form until some time last season. When Tom sat down to write last week's recap for the Niagara-RIT weekend, he felt more like he was writing a recap for a difficult and heart-wrenching borefest rather than the engaging and interesting weekend that the Engineers had.<br />
<br />
After discussing the matter, we've decided that rather than continuing on as we have, with the site starting to feel more of a chore than a source of enjoyment, we're going to cut way back on expectations by eliminating these two elements. But when there's something either of us want to say, you'll still have WaP to read it if it's substantive, and you'll still have @without_a_peer on Twitter if it's short and/or snarky - possibly including in-game tweets, which will probably assume that you're already watching, listening, or otherwise keeping tabs on things.<br />
<br />
Certain features will continue. When the mood strikes, we'll have a weekend pumpup with cogent commentary. The yearly recruit pipeline piece every January will continue. Tom is hoping to continue the summer's "Know Your Enemy" roll, although that may be altered somewhat. Engineer Bracketology will probably make a comeback whenever it's necessary (not looking good this year, but stranger things have happened).<br />
<br />
This was not an easy decision, and it was made only after we tossed around a few ideas. Among the bigger items was deciding against starting a Patreon account. WaP has always been free. We always wanted it to be free, and it always will be. It'll also always be ad-free. We've had a tip jar for several years, but that has always gone directly to site related costs. We've now taken that down - and we thank those who have made donations over the years to keep WaP up and running.<br />
<br />
Through Patreon, we considered that we could allow our readership to decide how valuable the site has been to them, and that we could offer additional content (or a return of past content, like podcasts and stupid photoshops) if our readership as a whole found it worthwhile enough to voluntarily fund. But when it felt like another job even without funding, it would have felt like even more of a job with funding.<br />
<br />
So instead of forcing our way thorough the rest of the season, we decided that the time was right to make this change right now. We hope our readership will understand.<br />
<br />
Gary will still be seen at women's games - when he's around to attend them - and you'll still be able to catch Tom on WRPI covering men's games. Feel free to say hello if you see us, we're always up for a chat on RPI hockey.<br />
<br />
Thank you, so very much, from the bottom of our hearts. This entire endeavor would have been nothing without you. We both feel an immense amount of pride in Without a Peer, and we hope to continue bringing some insight and analysis through WaP, even if it's no longer going to be on a regular schedule.<br />
<br />
-- Tom and Gary<br />
<br />
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Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-64523339211388046272016-10-25T17:29:00.001-04:002016-10-25T17:29:03.257-04:00Men's Hockey - Niagara/RIT (21/22 Oct)After a couple of weekends on the road to start the season, the Engineers began a rather long homestand (9 in 10, with the odd game out in Schenectady) with a pair of non-conference tilts against Niagara and RIT - the only non-conference weekend on the schedule featuring two different squads. A strong performance on Friday night ended in a very dissatisfying 3-3 draw with Niagara (the proverbial "bad tie"), but sticking with the same themes on Saturday led to the Engineers' first victory of the season, scoring a 6-3 victory over the Tigers.<br />
<div>
<br />
<b>Niagara</b><br />
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Melanson<br />
Nanne-Hayhurst-Ohrvall<br />
Wood-DeVito-Liljegren<br />
Marrello-Polino-Rodriguez<br />
<br />
Prapavessis-Reilly<br />
Wilson-Grant<br />
Bell-Reno<br />
<br />
<div>
Perry<br />
<br />
Jake Marrello made his RPI debut on Friday night as the Engineers returned to a standard 12x6 lineup to take on the Purple Eagles, still searching for their first positive result of the season after starting off with three losses in as many games.<br />
<br />
Early returns were not positive for the Engineers, although game remained scoreless for well over 30 minutes. Nine penalties were called before the game's first goal, and all of them were of the "obstruction" type that the NCAA is cracking down on this year (interference, slashing, hooking, tripping, holding, and the sort). The first eight - four per team - were killed off without great incidence, and the RPI penalty kill reached a rather impressive 21-for-21 to start the season while the power play reached a miserable 1-for-23.<br />
<br />
RPI's perfect penalty kill was ended by the goal that put Niagara up 1-0 a little over halfway through regulation. A one-timer from the left faceoff circle by Derian Plouffe evaded Chase Perry to put the Purple Eagles ahead - but they would not hold the lead for long. Just 38 seconds later, Evan Tironese one-touched a pass from Riley Bourbonnais to the back of the cage from the middle of the slot to even the game back up.<br />
<br />
After 21 straight successful penalty kills, RPI made it two power play goals in a row given up just 57 seconds after that, as Johnny Curran scored 10 seconds into a Parker Reno penalty on a floater that beat Perry top shelf to put Niagara back in front, 2-1.<br />
<br />
1:44 into the third period, the Engineers tied the game for the second time, with Lou Nanne scoring his first goal of the season doing what he typically does to score goals - redirecting shots from the perimeter. A slapper by Tommy Grant was tipped in front by the RPI junior and past Niagara's Jackson Teichroeb to knot the score once again.<br />
<br />
The biggest pivot of the game came in the denouement of regulation, as on their 7th power play opportunity of the night, the Engineers finally scored their second power play goal of the year, coming off a big shot from the blue line by Jared Wilson for his second goal of the year (both of RPI's power play goals for the season), giving the Engineers their first lead of the game late in the contest at 3-2.<br />
<br />
About a minute later, a dustup between Plouffe and Viktor Liljegren ended with both in the box, but Plouffe with an extra two minutes for holding, putting the Engineers back on the power play with 4:15 left in regulation. Seconds later, Wilson appeared to give the Engineers a two-goal cushion with a goal that was practically a mirror image of the one he'd just scored a minute-and-a-half earlier, but it was immediately wiped out, as the officials called a slashing penalty against Jimmy DeVito, essentially for making a solid stick-check that allowed Wilson to take the loose puck in the first place.<br />
<br />
Before an outraged Field House crowd, Niagara won the ensuing faceoff in the RPI end at four-on-four, and an ill-advised no-look pass by Tironese was picked off by Curran, who one-timed it past Perry to tie the game back up at 3-3, only further enraging the RPI partisans.<br />
<br />
A Niagara penalty for cross-checking in the final minute of regulation carried over into the overtime period, but the Engineers were unable to get anything done on the man advantage, finishing the night 1-for-9 on the power play. Meanwhile, both teams put up four shots in the extra period, but neither were able to find the game winning goal, and the contest ended with a very unsettling 3-3 tie.<br />
<br />
Other than the continued struggles on the power play and the seemingly botched ending late in the third period, the game did display an RPI team that looked like they were ready to compete. They unleashed 41 shots on the evening, and full credit has to be given to Teichroeb, who simply didn't let up a great many rebounds.<br />
<br />
<b>RIT</b><br />
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Melanson<br />
Nanne-Hayhurst-Ohrvall<br />
Wood-DeVito-Liljegren<br />
Reisinger-Polino-Rodriguez<br />
<br />
Prapavessis-Reilly<br />
Wilson-Reno<br />
Manley-Grant<br />
<br />
<div>
Hackett<br />
<br />
Max Reisinger made his RPI debut against RIT on Saturday night, replacing Marrello in the lineup, and Charlie Manley returned as well, replacing Bradley Bell. Finally, Cam Hackett got his first start of the season in net for the Engineers.<br />
<br />
A fortunate angle got RIT on the board first midway through the first period. A pass by Abbott Girduckis to Caleb Cameron on a two-on-one break didn't result in a shot, but as Cameron passed by Hackett, he tried to blindly backhand the puck back into the slot. It didn't get there - instead it hit off the back of Hackett's leg and into the back of the net, a goal certainly created by the two-on-one that the Tigers earned but certainly one that falls into the category of "good puck luck" in the end.<br />
<br />
The Engineers got their stroke of luck about four minutes later as Riley Bourbonnais sniped a shot that RIT netminder Christian Short probably should have nabbed with his glove - instead it flew into the cage over that glove as Bourbonnais scored his second shorthanded goal of the season (perhaps only technically a shorthanded goal, as it came exactly as a 4x4 ended) to tie the score.<br />
<br />
On the power play to start the second period, Mike Prapavessis gave Houston Field House a glimpse of the potential that RPI has on the man advantage, scoring with a snap shot from the point just over a minute into the second period to put the Engineers ahead 2-1 - Prapavessis being part of a potentially potent 1-2 punch with fellow power play QB Jared Wilson. Then, just 33 seconds later, Evan Tironese notched his third goal in as many games on a nifty wraparound to make it 3-1 and ending Short's night, as the RIT sophomore made just 7 saves on 10 shots in 21:41 of work. He was replaced by RIT's usual netminder, Mike Rotolo.<br />
<br />
RIT clawed one back about two minutes later on one of the many four-on-four situations that would arise over the course of the game, as a disorganized RPI defense left Gabe Valenzuela open to roof one and cut the RPI lead in half. 10 minutes later, late in the second period, the Tigers got things square once more with a goal by Erik Brown, again taking advantage of a disjointed RPI defense.<br />
<br />
But the Engineers would regain the lead for good with about two minutes left in the second period as Jared Wilson scored his third goal of the year - and third power play goal of the season - this time with a slapper from the top of the left faceoff circle, giving the Engineers a 4-3 lead heading into the final period.<br />
<br />
The Tigers worked hard in the third period trying to find the tying goal, but the Engineer defense did a good job of bending without breaking. Hackett secured 13 saves in the last 20 minutes to help bolster the victory, and the Engineers ultimately got an insurance goal from Bourbonnais on a perfectly executed give-and-go while behind the defense with Tironese during a 4x4, and Jake Wood added his second goal of the season on an empty netter with just over a minute to play to seal the game up for a 6-3 victory.<br />
<br />
Tironese ended the night with a goal and four assists, having been a part of the scoring combination on every RPI goal against the Tigers with the exception of Prapavessis' power play blast early in the second period. His career night was a first in several years for the Engineers in a pair of categories - it was the first four assist performance for RPI since Chase Polacek against Brown in December 2010, and the first five point night for an Engineer since Kevin Croxton (3 goals, 2 assists) against RIT in December 2005. Those are a pair of names that put Tironese in some very exclusive company in relatively recent RPI history. With nine points in five games, he is now 7th in the nation in scoring, averaging 1.80 points per game.<br />
<br />
RPI's offense does look a bit more improved, with a goals per game now at 2.80, closing in on that coveted 3.00 GPG that they've been missing for some time. Tironese, Bourbonnais, Wilson, and Prapavessis all look fairly dangerous in their various scoring roles, just as we'd hoped to start the season.<br />
<br />
The problem is that they've also given up three goals in all five games they've played this season, calling into question a defense that was supposed to be one of the team's brightest points.<br />
<br />
Continued improvement on both of those aspects is needed in a hurry, as the ECAC schedule opens this coming weekend against Union in the annual home-and-home set, of which the Engineers have won four contests in a row against the Dutchmen (and six of seven overall when including the Mayor's Cup). They'll be keen on the need to stop Union senior Mike Vecchione, who won ECAC Player of the Week plaudits over Tironese by scoring six goals on the weekend against the same two teams that RPI did battle with, including four against Niagara.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Niagara at RPI</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
10/21/16 - 7:00pm<br />
<br />
RESULT: RPI 3, Niagara 3 (OT)<br />
<br />
<div>
BOX SCORES<br />
<a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mniaren1.o21" target="_blank">College Hockey Stats</a><br />
<a href="http://www.uscho.com/box/mens-hockey/2016/10/21/niagara-vs-rensselaer/" target="_blank">USCHO</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS<br />
<a href="http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/21/mens-hockey-ties-niagara-3-3.aspx" target="_blank">RPI</a><br />
<a href="http://www.troyrecord.com/sports/20161021/ncaa-ice-hockey-rpi-ties-niagara-in-home-opener" target="_blank">Troy Record</a><br />
<a href="http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-hockey-settles-for-tie-with-Niagara-10096603.php" target="_blank">Albany Times Union</a><br />
<br />
VIDEO<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9cFXA4_OI" target="_blank">Full game (RPI TV)</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8m9Z7-6UqM" target="_blank">Highlights (RPI TV)</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
RECORD: 0-3-1<br />
<br />
<div>
<b>RIT at RPI</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
10/22/16 - 7:00pm<br />
<br />
RESULT: RPI 6, RIT 3<br />
<br />
<div>
BOX SCORES<br />
<a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mrenrit1.o22" target="_blank">College Hockey Stats</a><br />
<a href="http://www.uscho.com/box/mens-hockey/2016/10/22/rit-vs-rensselaer/" target="_blank">USCHO</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS<br />
<a href="http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/22/mens-hockey-downs-rit-6-3.aspx" target="_blank">RPI</a><br />
<a href="http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-hockey-tops-RIT-for-first-victory-of-season-10133982.php" target="_blank">Albany Times Union</a><br />
<a href="http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/college/2016/10/22/rit-loses-rpi-road/92623934/" target="_blank">Rochester Democrat and Chronicle</a><br />
<br />
VIDEO<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyXKdJjc-c" target="_blank">Full game (RPI TV)</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
RECORD: 1-3-1</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Upcoming games<br />
28 Oct - Union<br />
29 Oct - at Union<br />
04 Nov - Brown<br />
05 Nov - #17 Yale<br />
11 Nov - Clarkson</div>
</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-15282057383963345562016-10-21T13:45:00.001-04:002016-10-21T13:45:26.491-04:00Dial It Back<div>
The Engineers (0-3-0) open their home schedule with a doozy of a homestand - nine in 10 within the friendly confines of Houston Field House, with the oddball being the short journey to Houston Field House West just up Route 7 next weekend. That's more than half of the entire home schedule taking place within the next five weekends - only seven games remain on the regular season tableau after a weekend series with Ohio State on the 18th and 19th of November. It would be prudent for the team to produce some results in the next five weeks.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They get that mission underway tonight against Niagara (0-2-1) and tomorrow night against RIT (1-1-1). No offense to the Purps or the Tigers, but they're not quite Maine (who are off to a surprisingly strong start) and they're not quite North Dakota (enough said). Look at the last two weekends as a resistance run. Back when I ran cross-country in high school N years ago, we'd take a couple of practices and run down to the beach, where we'd do wind sprints while knee-deep in Lake George. It helped make running down a nature trail seem a whole lot easier.<br />
<br />
If RPI can take a three really tough road games and play the same way at home against teams less likely to burn mistakes, less likely to simply outclass, and less likely to make life in general super difficult, it could be a strong bounce in the correct direction - and perhaps prove that losing your first three games isn't necessarily a season killer, especially if it prepares you for games that will ultimately matter more... games which start next weekend.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Continuing our selection of Tragically Hip pumpups, here's "Fifty Mission Cap," a song that relates the true story of hockey player Bill Barilko. If you don't know it, learn it. Certainly one that will help get the blood flowing as the Engineers return home after a couple thousand miles of road trip to start the year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q-t8W4X8Obo" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-35324659113951172112016-10-18T15:55:00.002-04:002016-10-18T15:55:27.807-04:00Men's Hockey - at North Dakota (15 Oct)It was always going to be hard to expect anything about traveling to the defending and eight-time national champions, and the end result was pretty much as one would have expected. RPI was actually fairly efficient with their shots, scoring twice on 14 of them, but of course, 14 shots is not what you're looking for against a team like North Dakota, who have proven in their first three games to be very stingy on defense and full of firepower on offense. The end result was a 5-2 defeat from which the Engineers can at least draw some positives going forward, if not a victory for the resume.<br />
<div>
<br />
<b>North Dakota</b><br />
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Nanne<br />
Melanson-Hayhurst-Ohrvall<br />
Liljegren-DeVito-Polino<br />
Wood, Rodriguez<br />
<br />
Prapavessis-Reno<br />
Wilson-Reilly<br />
Manley-Grant<br />
Moore<br />
<br />
<div>
Perry<br />
<br />
Whatever Brady Wiffen's injury is, it kept him from traveling with the squad and the Engineers again went with an 11x7 lineup, with Meirs Moore returning from a minor thumb injury and replacing Bradley Bell among the starting 18, with a healthy amount of line jumbling as well.<br />
<br />
The first goal was a repeat from both RPI and North Dakota's last outings - the Engineers scored first and the Fighting Hawks gave up the first goal. Evan Tironese notched his first goal of the year and his second collegiate goal when he one-timed a pass from Riley Bourbonnais past UND netminder Cam Johnson to put the Engineers ahead 1-0 on their first shot of the game.<br />
<br />
RPI maintained that lead for much of the first period, and even had two opportunities to extend that lead on the power play, but both power plays were cut short by penalties taken by Viktor Liljegren. The Swedish junior took a tripping penalty just under a minute into RPI's first power play of the game, and then a hooking call about 20 seconds into the Engineers' second man advantage.<br />
<br />
UND tied things up with about 4:30 left in the first period as sophomore Joel Janatuinen struck pretty much out of nowhere with a one-timer from Ludvig Hoff to put the Fighting Hawks on the board.<br />
<br />
The Engineers didn't fall behind until almost six minutes into the second period. North Dakota took a 2-1 lead on a goal by super-freshman Tyson Jost, and just over a minute later a second goal by Janatuinen gave the home team a more comfortable 3-1 edge.<br />
<br />
After a very solid penalty kill for RPI about five minutes later, freshman Will Reilly found Jake Wood on an outlet pass, and the senior was off to the races. Wood buried the puck just three seconds after a penalty to Mike Prapavessis ended - technically an even-strength goal but functionally a short-handed tally as the play began before the penalty concluded, but nevertheless pulling the Engineers back within a goal with two goals scored on just 10 shots in the first two periods of the evening.<br />
<br />
But the ending still wasn't terribly in doubt, and the Fighting Hawks left zero doubt early in the third period, as a goal by Cole Smith five and a half minutes into the final period gave UND their two-goal cushion back, and the conclusion of the hat trick by Janatuinen - the second hat trick scored on the Engineers in three games - pretty much sealed things tight. After putting five shots on goal in each of the first two periods, RPI managed just four in the third period, certainly not anywhere close to being enough to pull back the three-goal hole. Chase Perry was once again a hard-luck loser in net with 33 saves on 38 shots - it really wasn't poor play by the Engineers that caused the loss, more just the outstanding play by the home team getting the job done without a shadow of a doubt.<br />
<br />
Again, this wasn't an unexpected result. RPI was going to need to catch North Dakota on a bad night in order to find success and it just wasn't in the cards. The Fighting Hawks didn't even look particularly bad in the first period, when the Engineers led for over 10 minutes. So it's an 0-3 start for RPI, but that's probably not the best metric for measuring them just yet. The sweep at Maine suddenly looks a lot better after the Black Bears split with Quinnipiac in Orono over the weekend, with both games going to overtime - and from here, the schedule not only gets a touch easier, it also shifts home for the first time... and for the next five consecutive weekends.<br />
<br />
RPI went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill on the evening, extending their streak of penalty kills to start the season off with 17 successful kills in a row. Only Bemidji State (22) has started off their season with more successful kills without allowing a power play goal, and Penn State (15) is the only other non-Ivy that has yet to allow a power play goal.<br />
<br />
On the flip side, the Engineers are 1-for-19 on the power play to start the season. Only Alaska-Anchorage (1-for-23) and, amazingly, Boston College (a mind-numbing 0-for-20) have been worse on the power play to start the season. Mercyhurst, Minnesota, and St. Cloud State all have yet to score a power play goal as well, but all have fewer than 10 opportunities, so let's not be too harsh on them just yet.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, the first two games of a nine-out-of-ten in a row homestand - the one being a road trip all the way to Schenectady - get underway this weekend against Niagara and RIT of Atlantic Hockey. RIT is no slouch, but they're not Maine on the road and they're not the defending national champions. The key, especially on Saturday night against the Tigers, is for the Engineers to display what they've learned in three tough games and show that they can win games that they're supposed to win, even if they couldn't win games they weren't necessarily favored to win.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
<b>RPI at #1 North Dakota</b><br />
US Hockey Hall of Fame Game - Alfond Arena (Orono, ME)<br />
10/15/16 - 8:00pm<br />
<br />
RESULT: North Dakota 5, RPI 2<br />
<br />
<div>
BOX SCORES<br />
<a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mndkren1.o15" target="_blank">College Hockey Stats</a><br />
<a href="http://www.uscho.com/box/mens-hockey/2016/10/15/rensselaer-vs-north-dakota/" target="_blank">USCHO</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS<br />
<a href="http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/15/mens-hockey-falls-at-no-1-und.aspx" target="_blank">RPI</a><br />
<a href="http://bismarcktribune.com/sports/janatuinen-helps-und-top-rpi/article_1270d3eb-f520-5b24-9253-aa9ee623c4cd.html" target="_blank">Associated Press</a><br />
<a href="http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/4137801-und-hockey-hat-trick-homecoming" target="_blank">Grand Forks Herald</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
RECORD: 0-3-0</div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Upcoming games<br />
21 Oct - Niagara<br />
22 Oct - RIT<br />
28 Oct - Union<br />
29 Oct - at Union<br />
04 Nov - Brown</div>
</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-79446223674691521702016-10-17T08:30:00.000-04:002016-10-17T08:30:24.598-04:00Women's Hockey - UConn (14/15 Oct)RPI finished off its early season non-conference play by hosting UConn for a weekend pair at Houston Field House. The Engineers soundly defeated the Huskies in a 3-0 shutout on Friday, but the tables were turned Saturday as UConn took a 4-1 victory in the rematch.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b><br />
<br />
Grigsby/Schwalbe/Thomas<br />
Rooney/Repaci/Tomlinson<br />
Hayes/Nolan/Orosz<br />
Raspa/Hylwa/Tremblay<br />
<br />
Hansen/Iwanski<br />
Kimmerle/Behounek<br />
Seper/Renn<br />
<br />
Selander<br />
<br />
Lovisa Selander earned her first shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over UConn Friday night, also notching an assist on the Engineers' first goal. Six other players each tallied a point on the evening, while Marisa Raspa led the team in shots with seven.<br />
<br />
RPI scored once in each period, starting out with a goal by Makenna Thomas at 5:45 of the opening frame. Thomas skated in one-on-one and put a shot off the pipe and in to give the Engineers a 1-0 lead.<br />
<br />
Amanda Kimmerle made it a 2-0 game at 17:48 of the second period, firing a rocket of a shot through traffic from the point to beat a screened Annie Belanger.<br />
<br />
Hannah Behounek grew the lead to 3-0 8:59 into the final period, an impressive unassisted tally where she picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated in one-on-three and still managed to get the puck past Belanger.<br />
<br />
RPI outshot UConn by a 41-21 margin on the night<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b><br />
<br />
Grigsby/Schwalbe/Thomas<br />
Rooney/Repaci/Tomlinson<br />
Hayes/Nolan/Orosz<br />
Raspa/Hylwa/Tremblay<br />
<br />
Iwanski/Hansen<br />
Kimmerle/Behounek<br />
Farole/Renn<br />
<br />
Selander<br />
<br />
After a good win on Friday night, the Engineers didn't fare so well on Saturday - defeated by UConn 4-1 while being outshot 35-22. Aly Tremblay scored the Engineers' lone goal, while the Huskies' second line of Leah Lum, Briana Colangelo, and Theresa Knutson combined for a 3-6-9 line on the afternoon.<br />
<br />
Lum was responsible for two goals, both scored in a first period which saw the Engineers outshot 16-2. Both goals were assisted by Colangelo and Knutson.<br />
<br />
After a scoreless second period, RPI drew to within one on Tremblay's goal at 5:05 of the third. The Engineers found themselves back in a two-goal hole shortly after when Knutson scored to make it 3-1.<br />
<br />
With the RPI net empty in favor of the extra attacker to get back to 5-on-5 during a penalty kill, UConn put the game away with a goal from Madison Badeau.<br />
<br />
Morgan Fisher earned the win in the Huskies' net in her first collegiate appearance, making 21 saves on 22 shots. Lovisa Selander stopped 31 of 34 shots she faced on the afternoon.<br />
<br />
RPI now takes a weekend off before opening up ECAC play at home against Cornell and Colgate on October 28th and 29th. Both games will have 3pm start times as the men also host Union the evening of the 28th.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>RPI vs. UConn</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
10/14/16 - 6pm<br />
RPI 3, UConn 0<br />
<br />
BOX SCORES:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5783">http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5783</a><br />
College Hockey Stats: <a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wconren1.o14">http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wconren1.o14</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/14/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-shuts-out-uconn.aspx?path=whock">http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/14/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-shuts-out-uconn.aspx?path=whock</a><br />
UConn: <a href="http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/101416aab.html">http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/101416aab.html</a><br />
Video Highlights: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQspoAs-MtI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQspoAs-MtI</a><br />
<br />
RECORD: 2-4-1<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>RPI vs. UConn</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
10/15/16 - 3pm<br />
UConn 4, RPI 1<br />
<br />
BOX SCORES:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5784">http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5784</a><br />
College Hockey Stats: <a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wconren1.o15">http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wconren1.o15</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/15/womens-ice-hockey-uconn-splits-with-womens-hockey.aspx?path=whock">http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/15/womens-ice-hockey-uconn-splits-with-womens-hockey.aspx?path=whock</a><br />
UConn: <a href="http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/101516aaa.html">http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/101516aaa.html</a><br />
<br />
RECORD: 2-5-1<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>Upcoming Schedule</b><br />
<br />
Oct. 28 - Cornell (3pm)<br />
Oct. 29 - Colgate (3pm)<br />
Nov. 4 - at Yale (6pm)<br />
Nov. 5 - at Brown (3pm)Gary Russinkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11256126727674401144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-87265972968014039202016-10-15T13:22:00.002-04:002016-10-15T13:22:45.528-04:00The Great PlainsNeither the men nor the women got off to the starts they wanted - but the women may have turned the corner a bit last night with a 3-0 victory at home against UConn, and the men have at least the opportunity to mimic last season with a tough game against the #1 team in the nation.<br />
<br />
For the third straight year (2014 - Minnesota, 2015 - Boston College) the Engineers' second opponent of the year is the #1 team in the nation. For RPI (0-2-0), it's not looking like a game that's going to produce a result. The goal tonight against North Dakota (2-0-0) is to take strides from last week's pair of losses in Maine - get shots on goal. Finish when possible. Hopefully, don't get destroyed. Then take what you learn in playing against the very best and apply it at home next weekend against not the very best.<br />
<br />
The women (2-4-1) got themselves off a five game winless streak with their first shutout of the season, at home against UConn last night, a 21-save shutout for Lovisa Selander that included the third goals of the season for both Makenna Thomas and Hannah Behounek. They'll be seeking an opportunity to complete their first weekend sweep since January (the Union home-and-home) on home ice this afternoon.<br />
<br />
Yes, it's more Tragically Hip this weekend, and it's impossible not to use this tune. Sure, the Engineers have a pair of games that will be played farther west than this, but they'll never be closer to the magic longitude.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BCFo0a8V-Ag" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br />Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-65426056390719203352016-10-11T16:47:00.003-04:002016-10-11T16:47:33.813-04:00Men's Hockey - at Maine (7/8 Oct)The opening weekend is almost never an opportunity to define a season, but it's at least a good way to get an early vibe for the most part. Even on a long road trip like Maine, it's hard to look at RPI's season opener and feel overly positive. While it's hard to go into any barn on the road and win twice in two nights, the expectations on results from the Maine road trip had to be a lot higher than the end results - a pair of losses, one a sound defeat and one a heart-crushing loss as the Engineers looked flat in a 5-1 loss on Friday before blowing a lead in the third period to fall 4-2 on Saturday.<br />
<div>
<br />
<b>Friday</b><br />
Liljegren-Bourbonnais-Wiffen<br />
Ohrvall-Tironese-DeVito<br />
Nanne-Melanson-Rodriguez<br />
Wood-Hayhurst-Polino<br />
<br />
Wilson-Reno<br />
Prapavessis-Grant<br />
Bell-Reilly<br />
<br />
<div>
Perry<br />
<br />
The starting lineup was actually very little changed from the exhibition contest. As expected, Lou Nanne replaced Jake Marrello on the third line. Perhaps the only minor surprise was on the third blueline pairing, as both Bradley Bell and Will Reilly suited up at the expense of Meirs Moore.<br />
<br />
Any wishes that the penalty-fest that marred not only the McGill exhibition in Troy but exhibition contests across the country were limited to games between NCAA and Canadian teams were dashed pretty quickly on Friday night. As games around the country became similar death marches to the penalty box, so too was the season opener in Orono. Seven minor penalties were called in the first period alone - none of which resulted in any power play goals being scored.<br />
<br />
The Black Bears jumped out to a quick lead about six minutes into what had previously been a pretty back and forth affair. Freshman Patrick Shea scored at 6:06 of the first to put the home team ahead, and then just 1:26 later another freshman, Mitchell Fossier, made it 2-0 to put RPI in a serious road hole early in the game.<br />
<br />
In dire need of the next goal, RPI hit a post and came perilously close to netting one over the next 20 minutes, but simply couldn't find a way to beat Maine netminder Rob McGovern, who made 23 saves in the opening 40 minutes. Meanwhile, Fossier made it 3-0 at almost exactly the same time in the second period that he'd scored during the first period.<br />
<br />
Late in the second, the Engineers picked up four power plays, almost back-to-back-to-back-to-back (the last one created a short 5x3 opportunity), but still were unable to get anything done.<br />
<br />
Maine pretty much sealed things up two minutes into the third period when yet another freshman, Chase Pearson, notched his first collegiate goal to make it 4-0 in the home team's favor. Jared Wilson responded 45 seconds later, 9 seconds into a power play opportunity, but it was quite obviously too little, too late. Fossier finished up by completing a hat trick in his first collegiate game at 14:45 of the third period.<br />
<br />
The Engineers went 1-for-10 on the power play, while the Black Bears were 0-for-7, a rare bright spot for RPI on an otherwise dismal night. Chase Perry had limited returns in his first official game in an RPI sweater, making 31 saves on 36 shots.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b><br />
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Rodriguez<br />
Melanson-Hayhurst-Nanne<br />
Wood-DeVito-Polino<br />
Liljegren, Ohrvall<br />
<br />
Wilson-Reno<br />
Prapavessis-Grant<br />
Manley-Reilly<br />
Bell<br />
<br />
<div>
Perry<br />
<br />
Brady Wiffen went off in the second period and did not return, and then did not factor into the starting lineup on Saturday. His effective replacement was Charlie Manley, making his RPI debut and giving the Engineers 11 forwards and 7 defensemen - although this lineup choice may have been heavily influenced by the number of players RPI brought on the trip to Maine.<br />
<br />
A penalty to Wilson for hooking five minutes into the game - ending what was seemingly the longest stretch of 5x5 play all weekend to that point - turned into a shorthanded goal for the Engineers as Riley Bourbonnais scored on a breakaway 19 seconds after the kill began to put RPI ahead 1-0. That lead lasted for nearly 10 minutes until senior Blaine Byron tied things up with about four and a half minutes left in the opening period.<br />
<br />
A five-minute major to Jake Wood for kneeing four minutes into the second period looked like a negative turning point for the Engineers, but for the second consecutive penalty kill, RPI managed to go +1 while down a man. Drew Melanson's first goal of the season, assisted by Jacob Hayhurst (for his first collegiate point) was scored short-handed just over a minute into the major, putting the Engineers ahead 2-1, which was the scoreline for the next 20 minutes.<br />
<br />
Perry made 21 saves on 22 shots in the first two periods, but the offense in front of him left the door open for the third period, and Maine took advantage. Daniel Perez scored for the Black Bears about six minutes into the final period on a delayed penalty to Bourbonnais to knot the score, and Friday night's hero, Fossier, scored to put them ahead about three and a half minutes later.<br />
<br />
The Engineers put 11 shots on goal after Perez tied the score, but couldn't put another one past Rob McGovern - and in fact, scored no even-strength goals on the entire weekend. Pearson scored an empty-netter with eight seconds left to seal the weekend sweep for Maine, whose freshmen scored just eight goals all of last season but accounted for seven of Maine's nine goals this weekend.<br />
<br />
Saturday's game was also a serious departure from Friday (and the exhibition) in terms of penalties. Just seven power plays on Saturday, where there had been seven in the first period alone on Friday. The Engineers do at least go forward boasting a 100% penalty kill (11-for-11) in two games, which is 24-for-24 if one includes the exhibition (which you shouldn't).<br />
<br />
Next up for the Engineers is an even bigger test - one game next weekend in North Dakota against the #1 team in the nation and the defending national champions. The Fighting Hawks opened their season by bludgeoning Canisius twice at home, 6-0 and 4-1. A step in the right direction for RPI would be to at least put up a better front than did the Golden Griffins, who managed just 28 shots on the weekend.</div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>RPI at Maine</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Alfond Arena (Orono, ME)<br />
10/7/16 - 7:00pm<br />
<br />
RESULT: Maine 5, RPI 1<br />
<br />
<div>
BOX SCORES<br />
<a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mmneren1.o07" target="_blank">College Hockey Stats</a><br />
<a href="http://www.uscho.com/box/mens-hockey/2016/10/07/rensselaer-vs-maine/" target="_blank">USCHO</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS<br />
<a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/7/maine-tops-mens-hockey-in-opener.aspx" target="_blank">RPI</a><br />
<a href="http://www.pressherald.com/2016/10/07/umaine-hockey-routs-rpi-in-season-opener/" target="_blank">Portland Press Herald</a><br />
<br />
VIDEO<br />
<a href="http://www.wlbz2.com/sports/umaine-hockey-wins-season-opener-first-time-in-6-years/330395716" target="_blank">WLBZ recap</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
RECORD: 0-1-0<br />
<br />
<div>
<b>RPI at Maine</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Alfond Arena (Orono, ME)<br />
10/8/16 - 7:00pm<br />
<br />
RESULT: Maine 4, RPI 2<br />
<br />
<div>
BOX SCORES<br />
<a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mmneren1.o08" target="_blank">College Hockey Stats</a><br />
<a href="http://www.uscho.com/box/mens-hockey/2016/10/08/rensselaer-vs-maine/" target="_blank">USCHO</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS<br />
<a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/8/mens-hockey-drops-series-finale.aspx" target="_blank">RPI</a><br />
<a href="http://bangordailynews.com/2016/10/09/sports/umaine-hockey-engineers-second-straight-victory-4-2-at-alfond/" target="_blank">Bangor Daily News</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
RECORD: 0-2-0</div>
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</div>
<div>
Upcoming games<br />
15 Oct - at #1 North Dakota<br />
21 Oct - Niagara<br />
22 Oct - RIT<br />
28 Oct - Union<br />
29 Oct - at Union</div>
</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-11754423250608742312016-10-07T12:11:00.001-04:002016-10-07T12:11:41.765-04:00Bearing DownFair warning this season - there's probably going to be a lot of Tragically Hip in the pumpup rotation in the approaching months. That's just how it's going to be. I know our Canadian audience won't have much of a problem with that. Americans, just avail yourself the opportunity to soak in a band you should have been listening to years ago - their lead singer, Gord Downie, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an uncurable brain tumor recently and they just concluded what may be their final tour back in August.<br />
<br />
Anyway. The women (1-3-0) were in Maine a couple of weeks ago and got their season off on the right foot with a victory, but they've dropped three in a row since, including both games at home to Ohio State. The Buckeyes are battle-tested, playing in a league that, to paraphase a coach out there in the midwest, is "women only." The ECAC's no slouch, but the WCHA is a war, night in and night out, which is a good reason why they've produced all but one of the women's hockey national champions. Robert Morris (2-0-0) may not be much of a respite for the Engineers, especially as they travel to Pittsburgh to do battle with the Colonials. RPI dropped a pair at home to RMU last season, and the Colonials are off with a road sweep of Providence to kick off their season. Another tough pair coming up for the Engineers this weekend.<br />
<br />
The men (0-0-0) are two weeks behind the women in kicking off their season at Alfond Arena in Orono. It's never easy to go on the road and get two wins, but against the Black Bears (0-0-0), picked to finish last in Hockey East, RPI's probably going to want to at least pick up a split in this series if they want to start off on the right foot.<br />
<br />
So for the first time this season - and sorry about missing the last two weeks - turn the speakers up and get in the mood for some hockey. Four games this weekend for the first time since February.<br />
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<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vPJ2rcYQC88" width="560"></iframe>Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-82153546206084543982016-10-05T12:00:00.000-04:002016-10-05T12:00:21.564-04:00Know Thyself: RPIWell, the time is here. We've seen the exhibition, we've analyzed the opposition, and now it's time to cast a critical eye on our own side. Last year the Engineers overcame an institutional hurdle by winning a home playoff series for the first time in over a decade. That shouldn't be a thing, and now it's not. And the way they did it, coming from 3-0 down in Game 2 to ensure that there would be no Game 3 was crucial. It showed guts from a team that played well for each other all season. If that same kind of attitude can prevail this season, perhaps there are a few more long-term problems that can be overcome.<br />
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/ren120.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/ren120.gif" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">RPI</span><br />
Nickname: Engineers<br />
Location: Troy, NY<br />
Founded: 1824<br />
Conference: ECAC<br />
National Championships: 2 (1954, 1985)<br />
Last NCAA Appearance: 2011<br />
Last Frozen Four: 1985<br />
Coach: Seth Appert (11th season)<br />
2015-16 Record: 18-15-7 (8-7-7 ECAC, 5th place)<br />
All-Time Record: 1042-938-135 (1017-865-129 in the modern era)<br />
First Game: January 25, 1902 (Cohoes, NY)<br />
First Win: February 26, 1904 (Albany, NY)<br />
First Modern Era game: January 7, 1950 (Clinton, NY)<br />
First Modern Era win: February 3, 1950 (Plattsburgh, NY)<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Key players: F Riley Bourbonnais, sr.; F Jimmy DeVito, sr.; D Parker Reno, sr.; F Jake Wood, sr.; F Viktor Liljegren, jr.; F Drew Melanson, jr.; F Lou Nanne, jr.; D Mike Prapavessis, jr.; D Jared Wilson, jr.; D Tommy Grant, so.; G Cam Hackett, so.; D Meirs Moore, so.; F Jesper Ohrvall, so.; G Chase Perry, so.; F Brady Wiffen, so.; F Jacob Hayhurst, fr.; F Evan Tironese, fr.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Key losses: G Jason Kasdorf, D Chris Bradley, F Milos Bubela, F Zach Schroeder, D Phil Hampton, F Mark Miller, F Travis Fulton<br />
<br />
(<i>I know, I know, I'm missing this potential impact freshman or that upperclassman primed to break out... I only assembled it the way I assembled the KYE teams, just to be fair. I'm sure I've left out some of the same for other teams.)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Of the teams who lost their all-star goaltenders this offseason in the ECAC, the Engineers might be in the best position. Yale and Quinnipiac both have at least some questions as to how they're going to fare in net, but RPI basically doesn't have a wrong answer. Hackett was the ECAC's All-Rookie selection last season, and he's now joined by Perry, who may be one of the best incoming netminders in the country (and one with NCAA experience already to boot, as he's a transfer from Colorado College). What will be interesting here is seeing exactly how the goaltending duties are meted out in Troy - how often each of them will get playing time - but there's little doubt that it should continue to be a strength for the Engineers, even with the departure of Kasdorf.<br />
<br />
It's easy to look at the situation and shrug your shoulders if you want to. When last we saw Hackett, he gave up 8 goals against Harvard, and he was being named as the ECAC All-Rookie goaltender, but almost by default as there were pretty much no other decent candidates. But that overlooks the reason why he was a legitimate All-Rookie selection, given that he was unbeaten in his first seven decisions (one relief, six starts) with an overall 2.88 GAA certainly skewed by the lopsided finale. One can look at Perry and see a 3.97 GAA at CC two years ago and an .892 save percentage in the BCHL last year - except CC was beyond bad two years ago and the BCHL is a goal-happy league. The bottom line is that the Engineers have two excellent options to choose from. Word out of the exhibition game is that Perry is more or less the starter at the moment, but that Hackett certainly has the ability and capacity to displace him. Regardless, Perry looked outstanding in net against McGill.<br />
<br />
Defense should be a strong point in front of Perry and/or Hackett as well. Reno last season really grew into the starring role he was long expected to play at RPI, while Prapavessis and Wilson have turned in two very solid years already halfway through their collegiate eligibility. Moore was a mainstay in the back last season, and saw good development in his defensive skills to compliment his offensive capacity, and Grant was a revelation last year when he started getting regular playing time when Reno came out of the lineup late in the season. All five should dress regularly, with four options for the role Hampton played well last year as the reliable if not overwhelming sixth d-man.<br />
<br />
Injuries and other issues keeping players off the ice played a significant role in the struggles that the Engineers had from time to time last season. Kasdorf, Bourbonnais, Reno, Melanson, and Bubela were crucial parts of this team's success last year, and they missed a combined 47 games, practically never as healthy scratches. Tironese looked on pace to have a phenomenal freshman season, leading the team in scoring six games in with seven points, but a season ending shoulder injury meant he was out of the lineup for 34 starts (he will be a redshirt freshman this year), and DeVito proved to be a crucial element of the team's second semester makeup - he missed 20 games early in the year with academic concerns. Wiffen's designation as a partial qualifier by the NCAA kept him on the sidelines for the entire season.<br />
<br />
This year hasn't even started yet, and there are more issues that have cropped up. Freshman Todd Burgess picked up a knee injury in Ottawa's development camp after being drafted in the 4th round of this year's NHL Draft, and he'll be redshirting. Kenny Gillespie, who developed into a team leader and a reliable grinder, is on a leave of absence from the Institute - word is he could return in January, but it's not a given.<br />
<br />
The biggest question mark, as it has been for the last several seasons, is offense. And as it has been for the last several seasons, there are a number of potential answers - unfortunately for that same stretch, those answers haven't really cropped up.<br />
<br />
We've said it for years that college hockey is frequently "first to three." Therefore, it stands to reason that averaging three or more goals per game is a good thing. And as we mentioned in May, the Engineers haven't accomplished that bar since 2002 - perhaps not coincidentally, the last year they went to Lake Placid. In the ECAC, every other team has accomplished this in the last 10 years, and only Brown and Clarkson haven't done it since 2010. In fact, discounting Arizona State, 54 out of 58 other teams have done it since RPI last accomplished the task. Army also last did it in 2002, and only Alaska-Anchorage, Lake Superior State, and American International are on a longer drought of failing to reach three goals per game.<br />
<br />
That needs to change. It's said that defense wins championships, but you still can't win games without putting the puck in the net a little more often than RPI has for many years now. As with Cornell in last week's capsule, the options are there, it's simply a matter of getting those options to click. If this team can reach that three goals per game bar, there's no telling what they can accomplish.<br />
<br />
* Melanson and Nanne have been linemates for two years, but it's always seemed like one or the other was out of the lineup too often to get into a rhythm (word is they'll be starting the season with Alex Rodriguez).<br />
<br />
* Bourbonnais was an offensive juggernaut for RPI last year - until he got hurt.<br />
<br />
* Wiffen was an offensive powerhouse in the OJHL in 2015, and was the "most improved player" last season without being able to play a shift.<br />
<br />
* As mentioned above, Tironese displayed serious offensive capacity before being lost for the season at the end of October.<br />
<br />
* Liljegren had a displayed goal-scoring touch as a freshman, but had a downturn last season. Countryman Ohrvall did everything but score in game after game after game as a freshman - and he found his finishing touch late in the season.<br />
<br />
* Wilson and Prapavessis have offensive prowess from the blue line, and both became increasingly vital as last season progressed. Reno's set-up potential also increased dramatically.<br />
<br />
* Hayhurst produced over a point per game in the OJHL at the age of 18 two years ago (he turns 20 in January).<br />
<br />
* And in the realm of what might have been for this season, Burgess tied the NAHL record for points in a season before becoming a rare 20-year-old NHL draftee in June.<br />
<br />
These are all great options, and the Engineers really only need two or three of them to be the real engine, especially if the others can simply be threats to score on an even basis, the way St. Lawrence and Yale have been able to boast a balanced attack in their second and third lines for a few years now.<br />
<br />
(For the sake of the future, bear in mind that everyone above except for Bourbonnais and Reno will have eligibility in 2018 - when the team will add to the mix Burgess, Ohrvall's brother Emil, who last year led Shattuck-St. Mary's in scoring, and Bailey Conger, who last year potted nearly two points per game for Cushing Academy.)<br />
<br />
So here's the call on RPI this year - let's look at this in the context of the rest of the ECAC. There's always three kinds of teams at the end of the regular season: the top four with byes, the middle four at home in the first round, and the bottom four on the road.<br />
<br />
Looking at the two preseason polls and our (mostly secret) ballot that was part of the media poll, it's fair to call Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence really strong favorites for the much-desired top four. We're on record picking SLU as our top selection.<br />
<br />
The next tier has to be Harvard, Yale, and Clarkson - none of these teams finishing in the top four should shock anyone.<br />
<br />
After that, Cornell, RPI, and Union. The Dutchmen would be at least mildly shocking as they don't seem to be quite as well-rounded, but they have one or two pieces that could power a solid run. We don't think anyone should be shocked if Cornell or RPI manage to nab a top four finish, both have longer odds for anything outside the middle four, where they should be solid favorites.<br />
<br />
The bottom four, according to both preseason polls, were Dartmouth, Colgate, Brown, and Princeton (and we'll admit to agreeing with at least three of those calls), all look pretty hard-pressed to make a run at the top, but the ECAC being what it is, there's no team that can start the season with a bad projection that can't potentially find a way to finish at least in the middle four.<br />
<br />
That said, RPI may be the most unpredictable team in the ECAC this season. Of that third tier, Cornell finishing in the bottom four would probably be as unlikely as we described Union in the top, but RPI finishing in either the top or bottom... doesn't seem impossible given what they bring back, what they add, and what they've accomplished (or failed to accomplish) in recent years.<br />
<br />
We'll see what the coaching staff can coax from this group. It has the potential to be very, very good, but we've seen the potential to be great translate into "OK" or "not so great" recently - that's why the Engineers are perhaps the most enigmatic team in the entire conference for 2017.</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-13525037673564454752016-10-04T16:50:00.001-04:002016-10-04T16:50:28.818-04:00Men's Hockey - McGill (2 Oct)It's not a guarantee that a game full of penalties is going to be a snoozer. Sometimes it's an indication of a really raucous, hard hitting contest. When it's an exhibition game, it's probably more likely than not to be boring if it's full of penalties, and that's pretty much exactly what we got from RPI's "first" game on Sunday night against McGill. 29 penalties for 85 minutes made for a very uneven contest between a pair of teams that didn't have much of an investment in the final outcome once the final whistle blew. RPI alone picked up 16 penalties and went on the penalty kill 13 times, but still managed to come away with a 3-0 victory over the Redmen.<br />
<div>
<br />
<b>McGill</b><br />
Liljegren-Bourbonnais-Wiffen<br />
Ohrvall-Tironese-DeVito<br />
Marrello-Melanson-Rodriguez<br />
Wood-Hayhurst-Polino<br />
<br />
Wilson-Reno<br />
Prapavessis-Grant<br />
Manley-Reilly<br />
Bell-Samec<br />
<br />
<div>
Perry<br />
<br />
The only scratches were Max Reisinger (who isn't officially cleared to play yet, but should hopefully be cleared this week), Lou Nanne (sick, but not long term), Meirs Moore and Sam Rappaport (who likely just didn't have bench space in an exhibition).<br />
<br />
The aforementioned penalties came early and often. Tommy Grant was called for hooking just 70 seconds into the game, and that stretch may have been one of the longer stretches of 5x5 play for the entire game. Both of McGill's first two power plays in the first period were truncated due to McGill penalties being called during those power plays, but the Redmen ultimately ended up 0-for-5 on the man advantage in the first period alone.<br />
<br />
Riley Bourbonnais opened the game's scoring at even strength at 6:43 of the first period, rifling home a rebound off a shot by Viktor Liljegren to give RPI a 1-0 lead. The Engineers outshot McGill 14-5 in the first period, a stunning statistic when one considers that there was at least one Engineer in the penalty box for nearly half the period - just under nine minutes.<br />
<br />
That's because one of McGill's best opportunities of the first period came when Jared Wilson was called for a trip while Evan Tironese was already off for slashing, giving the Redmen a 5x3 of just over a minute. They called timeout to prepare for the advantage, but the RPI penalty kill, led by Chase Perry between the pipes, kept the Redmen from scoring.<br />
<br />
Four RPI minors in the first nine minutes of the second period got the middle frame going, but the penalty kill continued to stay strong, running McGill's power play futility to nine even before the game was half over. By the time Jake Wood was called for hooking at 9:03 of the second period, the Engineers had taken seven straight penalties by seven different players.<br />
<br />
The true game-changer came with about a minute and a half left in the second period, and as one would expect, it was a penalty that drove the moment. One minute into RPI's sixth man advantage of the game, McGill captain Patrick Delisle-Houde was assessed an automatic five-minute major and game misconduct for slew-footing, giving the Engineers a 5x3 power play. Jacob Hayhurst needed just 16 seconds to put the Engineers up 2-0 on a one-timer of a pass from Mike Prapavessis in the left faceoff circle.<br />
<br />
An interference call against McGill early in the third period with the major penalty still active gave RPI another 5x3, and Evan Tironese cashed in with a blast from the point to make it 3-0. From there, the march to the penalty box continued unabated.<br />
<br />
Midway thorough the third, McGill appeared to get on the board early in a penalty to Liljegren, but after review, the goal was waved off. From the overhead view, the puck certainly appeared to have been kicked in, but a side shot provided by RPI TV certainly makes it look as though the puck was accidentally pushed in by Prapavessis' stick. Either way, the wave-off was at least a little bit of justice for Perry, who had made an incredible toe-save just a beat earlier. Perhaps the Engineers' best penalty killer all night long, his 26-save performance helped key an impressive 13-for-13 showing for RPI on the kill.<br />
<br />
RPI ended the evening 2-for-9 on the power play, uncorking a total of 43 shots on goal in the contest. Two of the three goals came on 5x3 power play opportunities, which could highlight a nagging problem that has hampered the RPI offense for a few years now - a lack of finishing. Hopefully, the wisdom that it's foolish to draw too many conclusions from an exhibition game will apply to that element as well.<br />
<br />
The Engineers kick off their 2016-17 schedule with two weekends on the road, opening up this coming Friday and Saturday against Maine. These games are not expected to be aired on WRPI, unfortunately, but they do represent an opportunity to get out of the gate the right way, as Maine doesn't look ready to reclaim their lost mantle as one of the top teams in Hockey East, not this season at least, as the Black Bears were pegged to finish last in the conference in the preseason coaches' poll.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<b>McGill at RPI</b><br />
Exhibition Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
10/2/16 - 7:00pm<br />
<br />
RESULT: RPI 3, McGill 0<br />
<br />
<div>
BOX SCORES<br />
<a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/mmcgren1.o02" target="_blank">College Hockey Stats</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS<br />
<a href="http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/2/mens-hockey-shuts-out-mcgill-in-exhibition-opener.aspx" target="_blank">RPI</a><br />
<a href="http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/RPI-zips-McGill-in-feisty-contest-9549752.php" target="_blank">Albany Times Union</a><br />
<br />
VIDEO<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtF2LRFjGWs" target="_blank">Highlights (RPI TV)</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENv9-spUr_g" target="_blank">Full game (RPI TV)</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
RECORD: 0-0-0<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
Upcoming games<br />
07 Oct - at Maine<br />
08 Oct - at Maine<br />
15 Oct - at #1 North Dakota<br />
21 Oct - Niagara<br />
22 Oct - RIT</div>
</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-52402772647255622582016-10-03T08:30:00.000-04:002016-10-03T08:30:10.848-04:00Women's Hockey - Ohio State (30 Sep / 1 Oct)RPI fell behind early against Ohio State Friday afternoon and never recovered, needing a last-minute goal to avoid a shutout in a 4-1 loss.<br />
<br />
Saturday didn't go much better, with the Engineers being shutout 2-0 despite outshooting their visitors by a 33-23 margin (and 35-22 the day before).<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b><br />
<br />
Horwood/Tomlinson/Rooney<br />
Grigsby/Schwalbe/Thomas<br />
Hayes/Repaci/Raspa<br />
Tremblay/Hylwa/Orosz<br />
<br />
Hansen/Behounek<br />
Kimmerle/Iwanski<br />
Farole/Renn<br />
<br />
Selander<br />
<br />
Ohio State scored three goals in the first period, including two in the game's opening two minutes, en route to a 4-1 victory over RPI at Houston Field House on Friday. Sabrina Repaci scored the Engineers' only goal - an extra attacker power play tally with four seconds left in the game.<br />
<br />
Samantha Bouley opened the scoring for the Buckeyes 1:03 into the game, picking up a rebound and putting it past Lovisa Selander for the early 1-0 lead.<br />
<br />
Erin Langermeier doubled that lead to 2-0 just 45 seconds later, stealing the puck as the Engineers attempted to exit their zone and skating in alone to beat Selander with a backhand shot on the breakaway.<br />
<br />
OSU scored one more in the first period off the stick of Jincy Dunne, who fired a shot from the point through traffic, preventing Selander from getting a good read on the shot.<br />
<br />
After a scoreless second period, things went from bad to worse for RPI at the Buckeyes made it a 4-0 game when Katie Matheny grabbed a bouncing puck in the RPI zone and found herself all alone with Selander much like Langermeier had earlier in the game.<br />
<br />
Repaci's goal came with the net empty and on the Engineers' eighth power play of the evening. After several attempts were turned aside by Kassidy Sauve, the puck bounced out to Repaci in the slot who put it in with 3.9 seconds left to spoil Sauve's shutout bid.<br />
<br />
It was not a great evening for Selander, who allowed four goals on 22 shots, or for the Engineers' offense, which managed just the single late goal despite putting 35 shots on net.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b><br />
<br />
Rooney/Repaci/Tomlinson<br />
Grigsby/Hylwa/Thomas<br />
Hayes/Schwalbe/Orosz<br />
Tremblay/Nolan/Orzechowski<br />
<br />
Hansen/Behounek<br />
Kimmerle/Seper<br />
Farole/Renn<br />
<br />
Selander<br />
<br />
After a strong start by RPI on Saturday, Ohio State scored in the last minute of the first and again in the first minute of the second to jump out to a 2-0 lead which held up for the rest of the afternoon. Kassidy Sauve got the shutout that was narrowly thwarted on Friday, and Lovisa Selander made 21 saves on 23 shots.<br />
<br />
The Engineers had several power play chances early in the game, including a short stretch of 5-on-3, but couldn't break through for an early lead. Instead it was Maddy Field scoring on a breakaway for the Buckeyes with 35 seconds left in the opening frame.<br />
<br />
Hannah Behounek was penalized for slashing on the play, and on the ensuing power play, the Buckeyes capitalized to make it a 2-0 game 40 seconds into the second period. Jessica Dunne fired a shot from the point which was tipped past Selander at the top of the crease by Maddy Field. The play was set up by Jincy Dunne who narrowly kept the puck in the zone after an RPI clearing attempt.<br />
<br />
It was another disappointing day for the RPI power play, which went scoreless again on seven more opportunities. The Engineers have now scored just one goal in the past three games - a 6-on-4 extra attacker goal - and will need to scrounge up some scoring to improve the outcome of coming games.<br />
<br />
RPI hits the road for a pair at Robert Morris next weekend before returning home to play UConn twice to close out the early season non-conference schedule.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>RPI vs. Ohio State</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
9/30/16 - 6pm<br />
OSU 4, RPI 1<br />
<br />
BOX SCORES:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5779">http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5779</a><br />
College Hockey Stats: <a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wosuren1.s30">http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wosuren1.s30</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/9/30/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-falls-to-ohio-state.aspx?path=whock">http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/9/30/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-falls-to-ohio-state.aspx?path=whock</a><br />
OSU: <a href="http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/093016aaa.html">http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/093016aaa.html</a><br />
Video Highlights: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEBURMxEXs0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEBURMxEXs0</a><br />
<br />
RECORD: 1-2<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>RPI vs. Ohio State</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)<br />
10/1/16 - 3pm<br />
OSU 2, RPI 0<br />
<br />
BOX SCORES:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5780">http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5780</a><br />
College Hockey Stats: <a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wosuren1.o01">http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wosuren1.o01</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/1/womens-ice-hockey-ohio-state-stymies-womens-hockey.aspx?path=whock">http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/10/1/womens-ice-hockey-ohio-state-stymies-womens-hockey.aspx?path=whock</a><br />
OSU: <a href="http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/100116aaa.html">http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/100116aaa.html</a><br />
Video Highlights: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoICZQxsIA4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoICZQxsIA4</a><br />
<br />
RECORD: 1-3<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>Upcoming Schedule</b><br />
<br />
Oct. 7 - at Robert Morris (7pm)<br />
Oct. 8 - at Robert Morris (3pm)<br />
Oct. 14 - UConn (6pm)<br />
Oct. 15 - UConn (3pm)Gary Russinkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11256126727674401144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-24944623596112994072016-09-29T15:30:00.000-04:002016-09-29T15:30:00.841-04:00Know Your Enemy: CornellIt's time for the time-honored indication that the season is nigh - the final installment of WaP's Know Your Enemy. The Cornell class of 1996 very nearly went their entire collegiate careers without beating RPI (not that this is something they would even focus on), but they pulled out a 4-0 win in Ithaca in February of their senior year to avoid the feat - which has never happened in the half-century plus since the two schools have been regularly playing each other as league foes. With the Engineers boasting a 3-0-3 record against the Big Red in the last three seasons, the Cornell class of 2017 needs a similar result in February of their senior year in order to avoid becoming the first.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/cor120.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/cor120.gif" /></a></div>
<b>Cornell</b><br />
Nickname: Big Red<br />
Location: Ithaca, NY<br />
Founded: 1865<br />
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)<br />
National Championships: 2 (1967, 1970)<br />
Last NCAA Appearance: 2012<br />
Last Frozen Four: 2003<br />
Coach: Mike Schafer (22nd season)<br />
2015-16 Record: 16-11-7 (8-8-6 ECAC, 7th place)<br />
Series: Cornell leads, 60-36-10<br />
First Game: January 31, 1908 (Albany, NY)<br />
Last RPI win: January 15, 2016 (Troy, NY)<br />
Last CU win: February 22, 2013 (Ithaca, NY)<br />
<br />
2016-17 games: February 4, 2017 (Troy, NY); February 24, 2017 (Ithaca, NY)<br />
<br />
Key players: F Matt Buckles, sr.; F Eric Freschi, sr.; G Mitch Gillam, sr.; F Jeff Kubiak, sr.; D Patrick McCarron, sr.; F Jake Weidner, sr.; D Ryan Bliss, jr.; F Jared Fiegl, jr.; F Dwyer Tschantz, jr.; D Dan Wedman, jr.; F Trevor Yates, so.; F Anthony Angello, so.; D Alec McCrea, so.; F Beau Starrett, so.; F Mitch Vanderlaan, so.; D Yanni Kaldis, fr.; F Connor Murphy, fr.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Key losses: F Christian Hilbrich, D Reece Willcox, F John Knisley; F Teemu Tiittinen</span><br />
<br />
Previous KYE installments:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2010/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html">2010-11</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2011/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html">2011-12</a></span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2012/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html" target="_blank">2012-13</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/07/know-your-enemy-cornell.html" target="_blank">2013-14</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2014/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html" target="_blank">2014-15</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html" target="_blank">2015-16</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Standards are high at Cornell. That's why this could well be a make or break season for Mike Schafer - the Big Red have finished 7th in the ECAC in back-to-back seasons, outside the top-half of the league twice in a row for the first time since the late 1990s. Now, that's not quite the end of the world, of course, but it's the things that are adding up. The senior class that just graduated was only the second of Schafer's tenure that never played an NCAA tournament game or won any league hardware. That's four years of not being among the fearsome beasts of the conference (and frequently, in the nation) as has been the norm in the last couple of decades, and their record against RPI in the last three years is merely a microcosm of that recent reality.<br />
<br />
The Big Red no longer led the nation in lowest-scoring games last year (beaten out by Army and Lake Superior State) in part because of an improvement in offense - but when you were starting out at 1.84 goals per game a year earlier, 2.32 is at least a step up even if it is still pretty far from where you want to be in order to be regularly successful (just ask 2.42 goals per game RPI).<br />
<br />
The good news is that Cornell was young last year, and that youth led the way to a pretty solid degree on offense. That's not always the easiest place to be in - but when you've got a freshman reaching double digits in both goals and assists (Angello with 11 and 13 respectively), and another almost reaching 20 points (Vanderlaan with 19), that's at least a good starting point for what the Big Red will certainly hope is a launching point for even bigger numbers in the future. Defenseman McCrea managed 15 points as a freshman as well - and it's easy to overlook Starrett, who has played just 22 games last two seasons (across juniors and his freshman year) with injuries. He's a third-round NHL selection who was admittedly off to a slow start last year before getting hurt (just one goal in 15 games), but he represents a good amount of potential as well.<br />
<br />
In a spoiler alert for next week's "Know Thyself," Cornell finds itself in a very similar situation to the Engineers on offense - there's lots of places that it could come from, including Kubiak, Weidner, Buckles, and Yates, as well as everyone listed above - but the trick is going to be getting two or three of them to take significant strides forward, and for the team in general to be able to roll two or three lines that are capable of scoring on any given shift.<br />
<br />
On defense, it's Cornell.<br />
<br />
Oh, you probably want more than that. Well, if you're used to a stifling defense with a better-than-average goaltender and a difficult time unleashing shots on said goaltender, that's more of what you can expect this coming season. A solid, seasoned goaltender in Gillam, a solid, seasoned blue line featuring four upperclassmen and losing just one senior from an effort that put up a solid 2.41 GAA last year - a bit high, perhaps, from the Cornell norms, but certainly an acceptable output from any team that is looking to take a step forward. Even if they merely duplicate that effort this year - and they can probably best it - all they'd need is a squared-away offense to be the Cornell we've come to know.<br />
<br />
As with last week, I'm a little hesitant to really make predictions when it comes to RPI-Cornell simply because both teams have a lot of hockey - nearly their entire schedules - to play before they match up in Troy in early February in a game that was originally pegged as Big Red Freakout! before it was awkwardly pointed out that having the Big Red as an opponent would be strange - not to mention only add a few extra hundred eyeballs to a game that probably comes closer to selling out than any game that doesn't include Clarkson or Union.<br />
<br />
But suffice it to say that if you know how the Cornell series has gone historically for the Engineers - and just take a quick glance at the wins and losses above if you don't - and it's hard not to just feel like Cornell's due. Yeah, it's being gun shy, but the Big Red have earned that over the decades. That said, Cornell may be the team that best mirrors RPI this season with pre-season expectations and potential, and that could make for a couple of really strong, close games when these teams meet, should they both live up to them.</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-48366445427897735052016-09-27T08:30:00.000-04:002016-09-27T08:30:02.175-04:00Women's Hockey - at Maine (24/25 Sep)The 2016-17 season got underway this past weekend with RPI traveling to Orono for a weekend pair against Maine. After playing a solid game on Saturday afternoon and skating to a 3-1 victory, the Engineers fell short on Saturday, getting shut out 2-0 in the weekend's second game.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b><br />
<br />
Hayes/Tomlinson/Rooney<br />
Horwood/Schwalbe/Orosz<br />
Grigsby/Repaci/Raspa<br />
Thomas/Hylwa/Orzechowski<br />
<br />
Kimmerle/Renn<br />
Farole/Behounek<br />
Hansen/Iwanski<br />
<br />
Selander<br />
<br />
Lovisa Selander stopped 25 of 26 and Laura Horwood tallied a goal and an assist en route to a 3-1 victory over Maine on Saturday afternoon. Makenna Thomas and Hannah Behounek also scored for the Engineers, making it three unanswered goals after Maine took a quick 1-0 lead just 17 seconds into the second period.<br />
<br />
Rather than get shellshocked by the early goal, Horwood answered just 23 seconds later, with a nifty move and a top shelf shot to beat netminder Carly Jackson and tie the game.<br />
<br />
Thomas scored at 7:45 of the middle frame, with asissts to Ana Orzechowski and Lindsey Hylwa, giving the Engineers a 2-1 lead.<br />
<br />
That lead grew to 3-1 in the middle of the third period after Maine's Tereza Vanisova was sent off on a five-minute major for boarding. About two minutes into that power play, a checking call put the Engineers two skaters up and Horwood took advantage, dropping down into the faceoff circle to score the Engineers' third goal.<br />
<br />
RPI outshot Maine 29-26 on the afternoon, with Horwood leading the way with seven shots and Jamie Grigsby and Katie Rooney tacking on four each.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b><br />
<br />
Horwood/Schwalbe/Thomas<br />
Nolan/Tomlinson/Tremblay<br />
Grigsby/Repaci/Rooney<br />
Raspa/Hylwa/Orzechowski<br />
<br />
Kimmerle/Renn<br />
Seper/Behounek<br />
Hansen/Iwanski<br />
<br />
Selander<br />
<br />
After opening the season with a win, RPI couldn't maintain the momentum for a weekend sweep, falling 2-0 to Maine on Saturday afternoon. Selander made 29 saves in the loss while Mariah Fujimagari earned the shutout for the Black Bears.<br />
<br />
It was another early second period goal on Saturday, with Kara Washer scoring on the power play just 22 seconds into the second. This time around, the Engineers didn't have an answer, and though the teams traded penalties throughout the rest of the second, it went scoreless until 9:41 of the third when Vanisova made it a 2-0 lead for Maine.<br />
<br />
The Engineers spent the final minute with the extra attacker but couldn't find the back of the net.<br />
<br />
RPI will continue non-conference play and hit the ice at Houston Field House for the first time next weekend as Ohio State comes to Troy.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>RPI at Maine</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Alfond Arena (Orono, ME)<br />
9/24/16 - 4pm<br />
RPI 3, Maine 1<br />
<br />
BOX SCORES:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5777">http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5777</a><br />
College Hockey Stats: <a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wmneren1.s24">http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wmneren1.s24</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/9/24/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-takes-opener-3-1.aspx?path=whock">http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/9/24/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-takes-opener-3-1.aspx?path=whock</a><br />
Maine: <a href="http://www.goblackbears.com/news/2016/9/24/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-drops-season-opener.aspx">http://www.goblackbears.com/news/2016/9/24/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-drops-season-opener.aspx</a><br />
<br />
RECORD: 1-0<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>RPI at Maine</b><br />
Non-Conference Game - Alfond Arena (Orono, ME)<br />
9/25/16 - 2pm<br />
Maine 2, RPI 0<br />
<br />
BOX SCORES:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5778">http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5778</a><br />
College Hockey Stats: <a href="http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wmneren1.s25">http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/boxes/wmneren1.s25</a><br />
<br />
RECAPS:<br />
RPI: <a href="http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/9/25/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-splits-with-maine.aspx?path=whock">http://rpiathletics.com/news/2016/9/25/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-splits-with-maine.aspx?path=whock</a><br />
Maine: <a href="http://www.goblackbears.com/news/2016/9/25/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-bounces-back-shuts-out-rpi-to-split-series.aspx">http://www.goblackbears.com/news/2016/9/25/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-bounces-back-shuts-out-rpi-to-split-series.aspx</a><br />
<br />
RECORD: 1-1<br />
<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<b>Upcoming Schedule</b><br />
<br />
Sep. 30 - Ohio State (6pm)<br />
Oct. 1 - Ohio State (3pm)<br />
Oct. 7 - at Robert Morris (7pm)<br />
Oct. 8 - at Robert Morris (3pm)Gary Russinkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11256126727674401144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-58820205480273922842016-09-21T16:30:00.000-04:002016-09-21T16:30:29.037-04:00Know Your Enemy: ColgateEvery once in a while, you get a team that underwhelms and it makes you scratch your head at just how unexpectedly bad they turned out to be. The 2014 Engineers were certainly one good example, but Jason Kasdorf's early season-ending injury was an obvious cause of that disappointing result. Chosen fifth in both preseason polls as a contender for a first-round bye with one of the program's best classes in decades reaching their senior year, the Raiders instead sputtered on defense all season long and ended up closing Starr Rink on the last weekend of the regular season instead of in the playoffs.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/clg120.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/clg120.gif" /></a><b>Colgate</b><br />
Nickname: Raiders<br />
Location: Hamilton, NY<br />
Founded: 1819<br />
Conference: ECAC<br />
National Championships: 0<br />
Last NCAA Appearance: 2014<br />
Last Frozen Four: 1990<br />
Coach: Don Vaughan (24th season)<br />
2<span style="background-color: white;">015-16 Record: 11-24-2 (6-14-2 ECAC, 10th place) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Series: RPI leads, 61-57-4</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">First Game: February 19, 1916 (Hamilton, NY) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Last RPI win: </span><span style="background-color: white;">January 16, 2015 (Troy, NY)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Last CU win: </span><span style="background-color: white;">February 26, 2016 (Hamilton, NY)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">2016-17 games: February 3, 2017 (Troy, NY); February 25, 2017 (Hamilton, NY)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Key players: F </span>Emilio Audi, sr.; <span style="background-color: white;">D Brett Corkey, sr.; G Charlie Finn, sr.; F Tim Harrison, sr.; D Jake Kulevich, sr.; D Anthony Sanniti, sr.; F Mike Panowyk, jr.; F Evan Peterson, jr.; F Sebastian Weberg, jr.; D Willie Brooks, so.; D Ken Citron, so.; F Adam Dauda, so.; D Rory McGuire, so.; </span><span style="background-color: white;"> F Hunter Racine, so.; F Jared Cockrell, fr.; F Bobby McMann, fr.; D Nick Quillan, fr.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Key losses: F Tyson Spink, F Tylor Spink, F Mike Borkowski, F Darcy Murphy, D Kevin Lough</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Previous KYE installments:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2010/09/know-your-enemy-colgate.html">2010-11</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2011/09/know-your-enemy-colgate.html">2011-12</a></span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2012/09/know-your-enemy-colgate.html" target="_blank">2012-13</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/08/know-your-enemy-colgate.html" target="_blank">2013-14</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2014/09/know-your-enemy-colgate.html" target="_blank">2014-15</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/09/know-your-enemy-colgate.html" target="_blank">2015-16</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
The quintet of the Spink twins, Borkowski, Murphy, and Kyle Baun (who signed a pro deal after his junior season) will certainly go down in history in Hamilton. They were the effective engine of the Raider offense throughout their entire tenure at Colgate. One of the Spink twins led the team in scoring each of the four years (Tylor as a freshman, Tyson the other three years), and at least three of the group figured in the top four scorers each season (and they were the complete tally of the top five in their sophomore campaign).<br />
<br />
But it was defense that by and large let the Raiders down last year. Last in the ECAC (3.23 team GAA) and in the bottom 10 nationally (3.57). RPI, Union, and Clarkson were the only three teams in the league who weren't able to hang three goals on the Raiders in at least one of their meetings - in fact, Princeton and Brown were the only other ones who didn't do it twice (although Brown did do it a second time in a non-league game in Vermont). Dartmouth was five-for-five in scoring three or more against the Raiders, which was helpful in the Big Green getting past them in the playoffs.<br />
<br />
So while Finn returns for his senior season on a squad where he's been the undisputed starter since his arrival on campus, you've got to think freshman Colton Point, a fifth-round selection of the Dallas Stars back in June, will get more than ample opportunity to unseat him. At the very least, expect Colgate's clear netminder of the future to get plenty of playing time even if he doesn't fully displace Finn as the starter as Finn did to senior Erik Mihalik as a freshman.<br />
<br />
And of course, on top of needing to find a way to keep the puck out of their own net, the Raiders need to replace four forwards who have been beyond crucial for their offensive structure for the last four years. They comprised the top four scorers last season, combining for 114 of Colgate's 253 total points last year - four players notching 45% of the offense, and now all gone.<br />
<br />
The effort begins with Panowyk, the leading returning scorer (18 points) and Harrison, a Calgary draft pick who tied with Peterson for the goals lead among returning players (8 each). Dauda (9 points) deserves some recognition as well - he arrived midseason last year after initially expecting to defer his arrival to this season due to medical concerns, so with a full year he'd probably have been right up there with Panowyk.<br />
<br />
All of it is for naught if the Raiders can't get back on track on defense, though. Along the blue line, Colgate had three freshmen suiting up regularly last season, so look for growth in those same three sophomores - Brooks, Citron, and McGuire - as keys to success. The whole scope seems to peg the Raiders as a work in progress this coming season, which undoubtedly will be a difficult one building more toward a much stronger 2017 and/or 2018.<br />
<br />
RPI will be the last ECAC team to play its first game in Colgate's new digs, the Class of 1965 Arena, as they close out their league schedule on the final day of the regular season in Hamilton - and as with Harvard and Dartmouth, there's a lot of hockey that both teams will play before they finally link up in February (twice). On paper from September, more than four months out, it seems that RPI's defensive edges might certainly give the Engineers a leg up, but don't forget that while Colgate finished 10th in the ECAC last season, they won the season series against RPI in the process. There's certainly no room to overlook this team, at least not from Troy.</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-74363060871178346202016-09-16T13:10:00.000-04:002016-09-16T13:10:23.486-04:00Know Your Enemy: Dartmouth2016 has been a bizarre year for Dartmouth hockey. The Big Green were a goal and about 15 minutes away from a perfect record in January (a 1-0 loss to Vermont and a home loss to Quinnipiac in which Dartmouth held a 5-2 lead in the 3rd period being the only blemishes). Then they were kind of all over the place in February to sputter into a 7th place finish. Then the playoffs got even more weird - relying on two overtime wins to beat Colgate at home in three games in the first round (trailing in all three games), which gave the appearance of limping into unbeaten-in-16-of-18 Yale. Nope, the Big Green swept two close games to punch their ticket to Lake Placid. That's why they play the games, kids.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Dartmouth</span><a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/dar120.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/dar120.gif" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 120px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 120px;" /></a><br />
Nickname: Big Green<br />
Location: Hanover, NH<br />
Founded: 1769<br />
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)<br />
National Championships: 0<br />
Last NCAA Appearance: 1980<br />
Last Frozen Four: 1980<br />
Coach: Bob Gaudet (20th season)<br />
2015-16 Record: 18-16-1 (11-11-0 ECAC, 7th place)<br />
Series: RPI leads, 46-37-5<br />
First Game: January 17, 1908 (Albany, NY)<br />
Last RPI win: November 8, 2014 (Troy, NY)<br />
Last DC win: February 13, 2016 (Hanover, NH)<br />
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2016-17 games: January 14, 2017 (Troy, NY); February 10, 2017 (Hanover, NH)</div>
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<br />
Key players: F Troy Crema, sr.; D Josh Hartley, sr.; F Grant Opperman, sr.; F Carl Hesler, jr.; F Corey Kalk, jr.; F Kevin Neiley, jr.; D River Rymsha, jr.; D Tim Shoup, jr.; F John Ernsting, so.; F Alex Jasiek, so.; F Kevan Kilistoff, so.; D Connor Yau, so.; D Ben DiMaio, fr.; F Shane Sellar, fr.; F Daniel Warpecha, fr.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Key losses: F Jack Barre, G Charles Grant, F Brad Schierhorn, F Nick Bligh, F Brett Patterson, G James Kruger, D Geoff Ferguson, D Ryan Bullock, F Tim O'Brien</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Previous KYE installments:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2010/08/know-your-enemy-dartmouth.html">2010-11</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2011/09/know-your-enemy-dartmouth.html">2011-12</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2012/07/know-your-enemy-dartmouth.html" target="_blank">2012-13</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/07/know-your-enemy-dartmouth.html" target="_blank">2013-14</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2014/07/know-your-enemy-dartmouth.html" target="_blank">2014-15</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/08/know-your-enemy-dartmouth.html" target="_blank">2015-16</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
The Big Green were almost perfectly average last year on both offense and defense. Within the ECAC, they had a pretty solid offense (2.73 GPG) but a defense that could lag at times (3.14 GAA). That kind of made them the anti-RPI in some ways (the Engineers were 4th in the league in defense and 9th in offense, Dartmouth was the exact opposite). With two senior netminders and two defensemen graduating as part of what was a senior-laden team last season, that certainly calls the defensive element of Dartmouth's game into question for the coming season.<br />
<br />
Dartmouth has long had a fairly... fluid situation in net. You have to go all the way back to Nick Boucher, who graduated in 2003, to find a Big Green netminder who spent four years as the clear starter. Since then, we've seen goaltenders have solid seasons as freshmen or sophomores, only to take a backup role down the line, and vice versa. It's been true with a number of goaltender tandems that were in the same class or close together classwise, and it was the case with Grant and Kruger as well.<br />
<br />
In 2013, Grant split time with junior Cab Morris. In 2014, Grant was more or less the top guy - then in 2015, it was Kruger getting the lion's share, without any reported injury to Grant. Kruger's 1.98 GAA in 2015 wasn't enough to let him keep the starting job in 2016, however, as Grant returned to the top last year - which you might not be aware of if you're an RPI fan, as the Engineers never saw Grant after his sophomore year. In fact, Grant only played against RPI three times - on three consecutive nights, during Dartmouth's playoff upset in 2014. In 50 ECAC league games during his career, Grant played exactly zero against the Engineers.<br />
<br />
Anyway, expect a three-man playing time battle between junior Devin Buffalo and freshmen Dean Shatzer and Adrian Clark. Buffalo looked great in picking up his first collegiate victory at RPI last season, but then he got rocked in his next two outings against Union and UNH and never saw the ice again. He's appeared in only five games for his Dartmouth career, so simply being the elder statesman doesn't really make the job his. The favorite might be the 6'3" Clark, who according to recruiting guru Chris Heisenberg is the <i>only</i> NCAA recruit coming from the almost universally ignored by colleges Maritime Hockey League this season, and he replaces another MHL alum in Kruger.<br />
<br />
RPI and Dartmouth don't play until January, so expect them to have a pretty solid handle on their goaltending situation by then. Fortunately, the Big Green does at least have three upperclassmen on the blueline to help smooth the transition, especially with guys like Hartley and Shoup, who have done yeoman's work on defense during their Dartmouth careers without a great deal of fanfare.<br />
<br />
On offense, the Big Green lose a number of solid contributors in guys like Barre, Patterson, Bligh, and Schierhorn. They do return some leaders in Hesler and Kalk, who both reached double digits in goals, along with Crema and Opperman who were also among the team lead in points. The rest of the attack had a good amount of balance to it last season - 14 players with 10 or more points, but only three (Barre, Hesler, and Patterson) reached 20. So there were a number of players who could ably contribute on offense, but many times they weren't doing it with frequency.<br />
<br />
This is a team that will probably have some growing pains this season. It's hard not to when you graduate 10 seniors and then bring in 11 freshmen. If the Big Green can replace their senior goaltending tandem with a guy who'll display top-end ability, they'll be able to turn some heads. If not, it could be a real struggle this season in Hanover while the new arrivals mature in the college game. It's hard to put a finger on the Dartmouth-RPI series just yet since both squads will have plenty of time to develop their question marks before they meet in January, and the recent games between the two sides have been... odd to say the least (for instance, RPI led nearly the entire game in Hanover but were utterly dominated otherwise). But if we're going off recent trends, expect Dartmouth to get good production from someone unexpected - that seems to be the most consistent norm in this series lately.</div>
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</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-44158661268094041432016-09-09T10:00:00.000-04:002016-09-09T10:00:05.721-04:00Know Your Enemy: HarvardHarvard now has four Hobey Baker Award winners in its history, which is four more than any other ECAC program can claim and more than any other school outside of Minnesota-Duluth (five) and Minnesota (also four). Never mind that Jimmy Vesey's crowning as college hockey's top player came more than a quarter-century after Harvard's (and the ECAC's) last Hobey winner - the plaudit certainly helps re-establish the Crimson to its position as one of college hockey's more storied programs despite the fact that they've now lost eight consecutive NCAA tournament games.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Harvard</span><a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/har120.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/har120.gif" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 120px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 120px;" /></a><br />
Nickname: Crimson<br />
Location: Cambridge, MA<br />
Founded: 1636<br />
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)<br />
National Championships: 1 (1989)<br />
Last NCAA Appearance: 2016<br />
Last Frozen Four: 1994<br />
Coach: Ted Donato (13th season)<br />
2015-16 Record: 19-11-4 (12-6-4 ECAC, 3rd place)<br />
Series: Harvard leads, 53-37-7<br />
First Game: December 27, 1951 (Troy, NY)<br />
Last RPI win: February 12, 2016 (Boston, MA)<br />
Last HU win: March 12, 2016 (Boston, MA)<br />
<br />
2016-17 games: December 30, 2016 (Boston, MA); January 13, 2017 (Troy, NY)</div>
<div>
<br />
Key players: D Clay Anderson, sr.; F Luke Esposito, sr.; F Alexander Kerfoot, sr.; F Sean Malone, sr.; F Tyler Moy, sr.; F Devin Tringale, sr.; D Jake Horton, jr.; F Seb Lloyd, jr.; G Merrick Madsen, jr.; D Wiley Sherman, jr.; F Ryan Donato, so.; F Mike Floodstrand, so.; D Jacob Olson, so.; F Lewis Zerter-Gossage, so.; D Adam Fox, fr.; F Colton Kerfoot, fr.; D John Marino, fr.; F Ty Pelton-Byce, fr.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Key losses: F Jimmy Vesey, F Kyle Criscuolo, F Colin Blackwell, D Desmond Bergin, D Brayden Jaw</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Previous KYE installments:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2010/08/know-your-enemy-harvard.html">2010-11</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2011/09/know-your-enemy-harvard.html">2011-12</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2012/08/know-your-enemy-harvard.html" target="_blank">2012-13</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/07/know-your-enemy-harvard.html" target="_blank">2013-14</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2014/07/know-your-enemy-harvard.html" target="_blank">2014-15</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/09/know-your-enemy-harvard.html" target="_blank">2015-16</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Let's get this out of the way first - Harvard has plenty of talent returning, but losing a Hobey Baker winner is rarely easy for any but the most entrenched of the national powers - a fraternity that really doesn't include any ECAC program, let alone the Crimson. Harvard's attack wasn't quite as balanced as Quinnipiac's last year, so a program like the Q is likely to be able to absorb losing a huge scoring star like Sam Anas a bit better. Anas and Vesey undoubtedly helped their cohorts succeed a bit more by drawing the opposition's best defensive efforts whenever they were on the ice, but Harvard simply wasn't getting quite as much out of their other lines as the Bobcats were.<br />
<br />
But the qualifier is still important. Harvard does have plenty of talent returning, even if the loss of Vesey and his linemate Criscuolo is going to be a bit tough to swallow. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Alexander Kerfoot, who played on that top line as a set-up man, especially with so many options for pairing off. Malone and Donato both return as 10+ goal scorers from last year, and Esposito had a great season playing alongside Malone and Blackwell as their puck distributor. There are still some very good options offensively for the Crimson, the questions really are how Ted Donato puts them together and how effective they can be without Vesey and Criscuolo helping to open things up for the others.<br />
<br />
On defense, Madsen is certainly in the discussion for the top returning goaltender in the league alongside SLU's Kyle Hayton. His 1.75 GAA and .936 save percentage is tops among returning netminders in league play, giving Harvard a huge boost heading into a season where they'll need to retool their attack. Anderson, Sherman, and Horton return as key elements along the blue line, and they add a pair of strong freshmen in Fox and Marino to the mix this season. While Harvard's defense wasn't wildly impressive on the national level last season, coming in 17th at 2.38 GAA as a team, this is one area of their game that shouldn't be a problem at all.<br />
<br />
Harvard was very clearly one of the top teams in the ECAC last season - they had a year that in recent decades past would have probably made them far and away the best in the league, but last year was good enough for only third in the final league standings. Nevertheless, the Crimson stormed their way through the ECAC playoffs to the championship game for the second straight year, falling short of their second straight league crown after being downed 4-1 by Quinnipiac. Their NCAA rematch with Beanpot rivals Boston College down the road in Worcester ended with the same score. Both games featured Harvard falling behind 3-0, scoring to break the shutout, and then giving up an empty-netter to seal their fate. Harvard hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since 1994, when they defeated UNH 7-1 to advance to the Frozen Four.<br />
<br />
The five games between RPI and Harvard last year were a study in three different sets. Harvard played to its advantages against a depleted and illness-ravaged RPI squad in the Shillelagh Tournament title game. Jason Kasdorf put on a defensive masterstroke against the Crimson in the two ECAC contests, making an amazing 43 saves as part of a 75-save goaltender's duel between him and Madsen in one of the best 0-0 draws you will ever see, then practically singlehandedly won the game in Boston by making 49 saves on 50 shots. Perhaps more than most, Harvard won't miss Kasdorf's presence in Troy - his injury and departure from the ECAC Quarterfinals helped the Crimson grease the skids a little and overcome RPI with a 13-4 punishment across the two game set, defeating an injured and ineffective Kasdorf on Friday and Cam Hackett, who had taken the loss in South Bend, on Saturday.<br />
<br />
This year's RPI-Harvard matchup figures to play better for whichever team is able to better overcome their greater loss, RPI with Kasdorf or Harvard with Vesey. With both league games coming fairly quickly - within a few weeks of each other just after the Christmas break - there are a lot of variables that could play into things. Injured players, even with somewhat minor injuries, could miss both games. The game in Boston especially will be a "return to action" game for both teams after the December layoff.<br />
<br />
So while Harvard may now be missing the engine of its offensive success last season, there's still plenty of reason to expect that they'll be a tough out for anyone this year, including RPI.</div>
</div>
</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6706038979814602447.post-87071771151037008382016-08-31T12:30:00.000-04:002016-08-31T12:30:08.302-04:00Know Your Enemy: PrincetonThe Quinnipiac/Princeton weekend, for the last few years, has become a study in contrasts. It cannot have been easy for the Tigers to face a team on Saturday nights that had just had to up their games to take on one of the very best teams in the nation - not when Princeton has been among the worst. The results kind of bear this out - the Tigers have won only two games on Saturday night of a regular league weekend in the last three years (Clarkson and Yale last year), but honestly, things have just been downright bad in New Jersey for a while now and it's hard to ascribe that futility to Quinnipiac's impact alone. Fortunately, things may be starting to turn in the other direction - slowly.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Princeton</span><a href="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/prn120.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.collegehockeystats.net/img120/prn120.gif" style="float: right; height: 120px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 120px;" /></a><br />
Nickname: Tigers<br />
Location: Princeton, NJ<br />
Founded: 1746<br />
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)<br />
National Championships: 0<br />
Last NCAA Appearance: 2009<br />
Last Frozen Four: None<br />
Coach: Ron Fogarty (3rd season)<br />
2015-16 Record: 5-23-3 (3-16-3 ECAC, 12th place)<br />
Series: RPI leads, 67-33-11<br />
First Game: January 18, 1952 (Troy, NY)<br />
Last RPI win: February 20, 2016 (Troy, NY)<br />
Last PU win: January 10, 2014 (Princeton, NJ)<br />
<br />
2016-17 games: December 3, 2016 (Princeton, NJ); February 17, 2017 (Troy, NY)<br />
<div>
<br />
Key players: D Tommy Davis, sr.; F Ben Foster, sr.; G Colton Phinney, sr.; D Quin Pompi, sr.; F Ryan Siiro, sr.; F Garrett Skrbich, sr.; D Joe Grabowski, jr.; F David Hallisey, jr.; D Matt Nelson, jr.; F Eric Robinson, jr.; F Ryan Kuffner, so.; F Alex Riche, so.; D Josh Teves, so.; F Max VĂ©ronneau, so.; F Jackson Cressey, fr.; D Derek Topatigh, fr.</div>
<div>
<br />
Key losses: F Kyle Rankin, F Mike Ambrosia<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Previous KYE installments:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2010/10/know-your-enemy-princeton.html">2010-11</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2011/08/know-your-enemy-princeton.html">2011-12</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2012/08/know-your-enemy-princeton.html" target="_blank">2012-13</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2013/08/know-your-enemy-princeton.html" target="_blank">2013-14</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2014/08/know-your-enemy-princeton.html" target="_blank">2014-15</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/09/know-your-enemy-princeton.html" target="_blank">2015-16</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
In seven seasons at D-III Adrian, a program that Ron Fogarty started from the ground up, the Bulldogs lost a grand total of 23 times under the tutelage of their first head coach. In two seasons at Princeton, Fogarty has lost 23 times... in both seasons. That's against a grand total of 9 wins across those two campaigns. Things couldn't get more starkly different for the man behind the wheel at Baker Rink.<br />
<br />
Princeton has been in the absolute basement of the ECAC for the last three seasons, finishing 8 points behind 11th place in 2014 (twice their point total), and 7 points behind 11th in 2015 (on a total of 6 points). 2016 saw an improvement of sorts, as the Tigers finished just 3 points behind 11th place Brown (on 9 total points), but that's pretty thin.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
There is certainly room for hope that this year will be better - perhaps only marginally better, but better nonetheless. Rankin and Ambrosia combined for just 5 goals and 13 assists last year (6th and 7th on the team in scoring, respectively), so their contributions won't be that difficult to replace. Realistically, there's nowhere to go but up, and the lack of "losses" for the Tigers only reinforces that idea.<br />
<br />
And there's no doubt that Fogarty's recruits are showing some promise. Kuffner became both the first freshman to lead Princeton in scoring and the first Tiger frosh to post a 20-point season since Andrew Calof did both in 2011. VĂ©ronneau's 11 goals were the most by a Princeton freshman since Brett Wilson in 2006. The two freshmen paced what little offense the Tigers were able to put up, followed by sophomores Robinson and Hallisey. This quartet is doing good things at a relatively young experience level, and if they can show more growth in the next season, that only improves Princeton's upward mobility.<br />
<br />
This year, there's no one coming in that stands out as a sure thing injection into a team that still has a lot of gaps to fill, but Cressey at least qualifies as a player who's coming in off a very strong season, scoring well over a point per game with Coquitlam of the BCHL as the captain of the Express. Topatigh was also captain of his team in the OJHL, where he led Orangeville as a puck-moving defenseman. Notably, Fogarty's son Jordan also joins the program this year, giving the ECAC two sons playing for their fathers (Harvard's Ryan Donato being the other).<br />
<br />
The Tigers' ace in the hole is Phinney, a player that would probably be earning far wider plaudits had he not been playing on the worst team in the league and being compared to guys like Alex Lyon, Kyle Hayton, Jason Kasdorf, and Michael Garteig at the same time. He's been Princeton's MVP practically since his arrival, and his numbers have only improved from year to year. 2.86 and .924 may look plain and average for most strong netminders, but on this team those are fairly impressive, especially the save percentage. He faces a ton of shots and manages to keep a lot of them out - 2,450 saves in three seasons. By way of comparison, Kasdorf made only 2,290 at RPI and had a career save percentage of .920 - below the mark Phinney had last year. That's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but it's at least illustrative that Phinney is better than he's usually given credit for.<br />
<br />
It's hard to see Princeton making vast improvements over what they had last year to the tune of being super competitive in the ECAC this year, but they pieces are certainly in place to at least continue the progression. If Phinney can get any semblance of defensive capacity in front of him, he might be enough to push the Tigers toward a position where they could fight to nab one of the last home playoff spots in the first round, but it'll be a battle for sure. Princeton might be improving, but they're still not quite at the league average just yet. But Ron Fogarty does at least seem to have things moving in the right direction and this could be an entirely different conversation in a year, maybe two.</div>
Tom Realehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08634888836738584031noreply@blogger.com0