Fortunately-Unfortunately

Ryan Haggerty (ECAC Hockey)

The good news from last weekend? RPI picked up their first league point with a tie against Princeton and is no longer looking at a donut in their ECAC points column.

The bad news? That one point is all they got, and they continue to sit in last place in the 12-team league. Without going back to look, I’m going to guess that we might have done a tag-and-run with 12th place in the recent past but haven’t actually stayed there for a six-game span like this.

If I may keep the fortunately-unfortunately pattern going, I’ll point out that the boys actually played quite well most of the time this past weekend, with “most of the time” being of course the operative phrase. They stayed out of the penalty box, with only five minors total for the two nights (compared to a total of 20 for the four previous games!) and actually mounted a fair amount of offense, with more speed and passing than I’ve come to expect from the Engineers lately.

Continue reading on RPI Hockey. net

The Hill Just Got Steeper for RPI

(Troy Record)

When I did my usual morning check of the Troy Record for articles about RPI hockey, Iwas not rewarded with an upbeat article outlining their prospects for the coming weekend as I might have hoped. Two victories over Mercyhurst, a weekend off to practice and build on that, and the eagerly-anticipated return to league play should have been cause for enthusiasm and maybe even some cautious optimism.

But no. Instead the headline that jumped out at me was “Engineers Will Be Short-handed This Weekend.” Great. And the news in the article was worse than the headline. RPI has FIVE, count’em FIVE, forwards injured or ill that are questionable for the weekend. AND two defensemen that are suspended for both weekend games for disciplinary reasons.

Continue reading on RPI Hockey.net

Ready to Get Back in Action!

(RPI.edu)

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I’ve been a bit remiss lately and never wrote after the Dartmouth-Harvard weekend (there really wasn’t a lot good to say there anyway) or after the Mercyhurst weekend. And with the Engineers off this past weekend, I let things slide even further to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.

But other teams were in action for the last two weekends, including some ECAC matchups while RPI was playing Mercyhurst, and the Engineers will be back in action this weekend, so it’s time to take a look at our situation and our prospects again.

First of all, getting two wins over Mercyhurst was HUGE, although just as much for what didn’t happen as what did. For RPI to have lost both of those games would have dug a pit for their season prospects that would have been almost impossible to climb out of. Losing even one of those games would have left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths, theirs included, because Mercyhurst is a team of questionable prospects themselves. Winning both, however, sent a message that there is hope, and that RPI’s opponents – and their fans! – shouldn’t write this season off yet.

Check out the entire post on RPI Hockey.net

Union-RPI 2009 Thanksgiving Classic

I tried my best to find a video of a Turkey playing hockey while wearing an ECAC Hockey's team jersey, but couldn't find one. So, here's the best I could've done:

These videos are from one of the craziest games I've ever seen. It took place in the 2009 RPI Holiday Tournament.

The Dutchmen earned a bid to the championship game vs. RPI after beating Lake Superior State in a shootout (game finished 0-0) the night before. Union took an early 3-0 lead in the contest with three first period goals. But, the host team fought back to cut Union's lead to 4-3 with about three minutes left in regulation. A Dutchmen player then took a penalty with 30 seconds to play, putting RPI on the power-play. Coach Appert then proceeded to pull the goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage.

Then, a miracle happened:


But, then all of a sudden, it became a disaster for the Engineers:



Now wasn't that exciting! [Full Box Score]


Hope everyone out there has a great Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Time for the Rose-Colored Glasses

RPI's Nick Bailen fights for the puck on Black Friday vs. Union (TU)

Okay, I like a challenge. And the challenge right now is to find a bright side to this past weekend’s two losses to Union. Or, maybe not a bright side to the weekend specifically – that would probably take rosier glasses than even I can manage. But a bright side to where the Engineers are so far with their season. And I believe that really is possible.

“It’s early yet” has to be our mantra for the moment. I know it can be hard to consider it early once league play has started, but it really is. We’re only six games into our 34 game season. There is plenty of time to iron out the problems that we saw on the weekend, especially considering that many of them were results of the boys trying too hard and getting too caught up in the moment. Hey, there have been times in the past when they were accused of not caring enough about their matchups with Union. Maybe the pendulum has swung a little too far the other way lately, but their overeagerness is something they will learn to avoid with experience and maturity. And even right away it won’t be as much of a factor in games that aren’t as intense as the Union games.

Read the entire post on RPIHockey.net.

Video of the Week: Union-RPI Rivalry

The Dutchmen and Engineers renew the Route 7 Rivalry this weekend with Friday's game in Troy and Saturday's game in Schenectady. While Union has had the upper-hand recently, each game has been extremely close and hostile. Having attended many of these recent matchups, it is obvious that the two teams and their fans don't like each other. Many feel that this rivalry is currently the best in the ECAC and one of the most hostile in Eastern college hockey.

This video is from last year's ECAC Quarterfinal matchup between the two teams, and features beat writers, coaches, and players from both sides.

 

Okay, But Still…

The Engineers blew two third period leads at Minnesota State this weekend leading to a tie and overtime loss (Mankato Free Press)

Yeah, I know. It wasn’t quite the weekend we were hoping for out in Mankato. Especially since the Engineers had two-goal leads both nights that somehow slipped away. But the upside of that is that they actually HAD two-goal leads. How often did that happen last year, especially early in the season?

In the first 20 games of last season, RPI had a two-goal lead exactly once (against Minnesota State, as it happens). In fact, over the first twelve games, there were only two in which they even scored two goals! In the current young season, they’ve already been up by two in three of their four games. C’mon, that’s definitely progress. They can TAKE the lead, now they just need to learn how to HOLD the lead! (Hmm… I think there’s a Seinfeld episode somewhere in that.)

Seriously, the season is very young yet and, as Dave pointed out in his comment below, it’s one game at a time. And for now, it’s enough that there are some positives to build on. Senior leadership, as Bob mentioned, is one. The power play is a very respectable 6 for 17 and the penalty kill an even more impressive 12 for 13. And, best of all, there looks to be some strong scoring potential, especially in the sophomore class. Matt Neal and Jacob Laliberte both have three goals already and Ryan Haggerty has two.

Read the rest of the post on RPIHockey.net.

Incautious Optimism

Jacob Laliberte (via Times Union)

I was going to talk about being cautiously optimistic for RPI’s season now that they have a really strong showing against 11th-ranked Ferris State in the books. A win and a tie against a team that went to last year’s Frozen Four looks good to all of us, especially with sophomores Jacob Laliberte and Matt Neal, both of whom dealt with injuries and other problems last year, looking ready to be big contributors.

Okay, we were disappointed for a long stretch after a promising start last year and it’s very early yet, so CAUTIOUS optimism may be in order, or so I told myself after Saturday’s game. But on further consideration, I thought isn’t it our right, as fans, to be INcautiously optimistic at times? Isn’t that what being a fan is all about? I say let’s run with it.

This is a great team! They can do it all – offense, defense, goaltending, special teams! They’re going all the way! ECAC Tournament! Frozen Four! NCAA Championship! Stanley Cup! Oh, whoops – maybe not that last one. And who knows – maybe not some of the rest of this. This early in the season, none of that is really the point.

See what else Charlene has to say on RPIHockey.net.

One Game Under Their Belts, and So Far, So Good

RPI captain CJ Lee (ECAC Hockey)

Well, it’s a start. RPI beat Acadia 6-2 Saturday night in an exhibition game that was their first contest of the season.

It would probably be foolish to take too much from that one way or the other. On the plus side, 6-2 is a pretty decisive win. On the minus side, RPI beat this same team 7-0 to start the season last year before heading into a 1-9 slide.

On the minus side, RPI allowed Acadia the first goal and, after taking a 2-1 lead, allowed them to tie the game up again early in the second. But on the plus side, RPI went ahead for good less than four minutes later and continued to build their lead throughout the rest of the game.

The boys themselves admitted that things were a little sloppy early, but they continued working and things started to come together as the game went on. Each of RPI’s three goalies played a period and all acquitted themselves well. Scott Diebold came up with a particularly nice save minus his stick during his stint and freshman Jason Kasdorf, while he wasn’t severely tested, stopped all nine shots he faced.

Read the rest of Charlene's post on RPIHockey.net

And They’re Off!

via the Times Union

Okay, here we go. The hockey season is almost upon us and just when you were wondering (and maybe in some cases hoping!) that I had given up my feeble attempts at blogging – I’m ba-a-a-ck! I won’t promise to be the world’s most regular blogger (if you know me at all, you wouldn’t believe me if I did), but there is lots to write about, and that’s even before the Engineers take the ice tonight in their first game of the season, so I will try to hit the keyboard pretty often and keep you all up to date on what’s happening with our favorite team.

For the second consecutive year, RPI will open with an exhibition game against the Acadia Axemen from Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Exhibition games against Canadian universities appear to be Coach Appert’s preferred way to start the season and get an early look at new players, replacing in most years RPI’s traditional Red and White intersquad scrimmage. Me, I prefer the Red and White game, since we see more of our players, especially those who might not play much otherwise, and things can be manipulated to make the game exciting, with players changing sides and goalies switching in and out. Somehow it almost always ends up with overtime and then a shootout, giving us more fun and more chances to evaluate new players.

But no matter your preference, tonight is our first opportunity to see the freshmen on the ice and make our guesses as to who will contribute early, who will be a big scorer, who will throw his weight around, etc. I feel the need to offer a warning here that my early judgments rarely pan out, at least during Coach Appert’s era, but I probably won’t be able to resist offering them anyway.

Check out the complete post on RPIHockey.net.