RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Fellas looked good last night. Played tough and hard. Brutlag was an absolute warrior. Chase was pressing a little in the beginning but settled down around the middle of second and dominated. Chase is really a joy to watch. Rogic did not play hardly at all in the second and third periods (maybe not at all, wonder why not?). Tinordi, Dolan and Halfren did not dress. Allen was good again (key to season). I was amazed at the minutes that Bailen played. Chase, TH and others look for Nick at the point. The puck is glued to NB stick, as you guys know I am high on him but he is real deal. Plays like a Senior because of experience in USHL. SA put Higgs in some big spots. BH drew a penalty in NU zone with sheer determination in the Third. As B12 stated it's a great hockey atmosphere. Students sit in second tier of arena (balcony) and when overtime came the male students took their shirts off, they were very loud. Great game. I am encouraged because we played gritty. BTW -Captain Kennedy played his steady self. This was a close game we played that we would have lost a couple of years ago. I think we are going to be fine but need to find scoring.

Thanks for the report SA....wish I could have made Matthews..soudns like a great joint. Though I must say, T-Bone and I were waaaaaaay ahead of you on the Bailen bandwagon... :-)

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Good game. Great atmosphere. Beautiful arena.

The Engineers had another couple bone-headed mistakes (too many men on the PP?! REALLY!?) but none of them turned straight into goals. The refs were definitely a little whistle-happy, except when they decided to not call anything for 10 minutes in the third.

NU's power play was pretty sad. I'm hoping to attribute that to some great penalty killing, but I've heard that that isn't entirely the case. Overall, I want to see more from the team, but it's pretty clear Appert was experimenting today. Putting Koudys and Leboeuf on the same pairing for a number of shifts... Bailen, Bergin, and Polacek all quarterbacking the PP... Coach wants to see what the team can do.

And, one last request... this one goes out to the refs... DON'T CALL ONE TEAM FOR KEEPING THE VERY (and I mean, seriously, it was the very) EDGE OF HIS SKATE ON THE CREASE (not even in it) WITHOUT CALLING IT BOTH WAYS!!

Thank you. Love, burgie12

Overall, I love the effort given by the team, and I'm looking forward to seeing them back in Troy for their home opener.

Totally agree with you B12...I posted nearly the same thoughts on the score thread last night. Even listening on the radio, I knew the crease calls on Brut were BS.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

For the football fans-RPI today upset the number 19 ranked(and previously undefeated) Alfred University team 27-24. It was a nail biter after RPI raced out to a 24-0 early lead and had to hold on for the victory. After the performances of the first 4 weeks this is a major upset as Alfred was nationally ranked since the beginning of the season. I guess surprises do happen-wonderful call of the game as usual by Kurt Stutt. Now lets have the hockey team make this a really successful day by swamping Bentley-Go Red!!!!

[rpi82]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Looking at the LiveStats play-by-play it appears that after an RPI FG with 6 seconds left put the Engineers back in the lead, Alfred tried the Cal laterals return and got the ball down to the Engineer 20 before fumbling as the clock ran out. It must have been a great finish. At least the band wasn't on the field............

[jmhusker]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Thought I'd throw my thoughts on the pile regarding yesterday's game, without trying to copy what others had to say..

• Bailen is very, very good. Easily our 2nd best skater (IMO) after CP
• CP is really suffering without JD on his line. He is just not getting the room out there without him. If he gets 25 goals this year then he deserves the Hobie.
• Helfrich and Lee on CP's line looked pretty good. Lee can keep up with him but just don't have that extra gear that Jerry has. Helfrich can create some chances though he isn't as fast as the others. It doesn't appear we have better options though so hopefuly they can hustle and create enough to get CP some clear chances.
• Leboef (SP?) looks very solid. Looks like we have 3 great new D on the team.
• Rogic is very fast but other than speed it's not clear to me that he is exceptional from a skill perspective.
• Higgs looks to have the skills but not so much the speed. He'll be good but will need linemates to work with.
• Our 5 on 3 power play is an odd setup. 3 men high in a very shallow umbrella (almost straight across). The guy in the middle (Bailen) is essentially the quarterback. With the D in a triangle with one forward high, they essentially passed back and forth until a lane opened up with the goal of getting a one timer off from Polacek on the left or Helfrich on the right. Thought it would have been better with a lefty on the right side (Bergin or Higgs maybe). It was actually an effective alignment but the 3 guys up top didn't move much (they didn't need to) and as a result it just looked odd. They really didn't try to work it low for the back door and I supose that was because of the triangle (2 men low) that NE used. If the triangle inverted then perhaps they would have..
• Our PK blocks a ton of shots. Gotta be brave to play hockey.
• I kept thinking that Eric was wearing his brothers jersey given the number of trips Greg B took to the box. Poor Greg, half the ECAC refs have a vendetta against him and he's never played a game for us before.
• All in all a good effort. Our D is solid. Our goaltending is solid too. If someone can step up with Chase then good things can happen. Time will tell.
• Almost forgot to add that Helfrich looks better. He must be healthy again. Got a bum call on him on that last PP with a couple minutes left. I guess if you hustle and try hard and the other guy falls down then it's a penalty in HE.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Thanks JM-all of that seems to fit the way it sounded to me at home on WRPI. I keep thinking we will get enough scoring from the Polacek Helfrich line but really need to find another line or two that can put the puck in the net. Defensively we seem solid but we will not be able to keep every team to 2 goals or less. Special teams have been the key for years now and this year will be no different. If our short handed defense can hold up as well as it has through 4 games and we can be average or better on the man advantage, we will have a very succesful year.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Thought I'd throw my thoughts on the pile regarding yesterday's game, without trying to copy what others had to say..[LIST][*]Bailen is very, very good. Easily our 2nd best skater (IMO) after CP]

He is also the second best player on the team. The real deal.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

For those at the game:
There was a moment of silence before the game to honor two former players who recently passed away. One was Dale Watson '69. Who was the other? It sounded like the class of '73. That was a fairly large class.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

For those at the game:
There was a moment of silence before the game to honor two former players who recently passed away. One was Dale Watson '69. Who was the other? It sounded like the class of '73. That was a fairly large class.

I was at the game, but I do not remember the name. Sorry.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Troy Record article about the Bentley game http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2...7404541625.txt

[Senna]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

I dont see where anyone posted about last nights game against Bentley. RB - I did not catch the names either. Sorry for that. Got to HFH with my son before the doors opened and a number of people were waiting in the lobby, including a gentleman with a Cornwall Colts jacket on. Once inside and but before warm-ups, he was alone and I introduced myself...it was LeBoeuf's father. Very nice man and we chatted for probably 10 min. His thought is that the team has speed to burn but still not enough skill guys, but knows they are coming. He mentioned that JL was now committed to the 'tute, but nothing beyond that. Nothing about the Spinks twins.

I am liking this team - a lot. Some things of note...
- Chase is the real deal and was a force last night. I start with him also because the kid is a class act. He went directly to the net after CJ Lee scored to get the puck for him (more on that goal in a bit), and hunted it down to get for CJ. No hesitation. I hadent realized that Lee never scored last year so this was his first as an Engineer. They actually get the refs to cough up the puck before the face off and get another so they could get that one for CJ. Like I said, a class act.
- What a goal on the Lee tally. 3 players involved and didnt seem like anyone clearly had possession they way they wanted bt some nice tic-tack passing and CJ was wide open in front with an empty net. Absolutely beautiful goal.
- Bryan Brutlag played like a monster last night. Hit everything in site, drove the net, had great speed, and I'll take the 2 penalties for the way he cleared out in front of the net...there was no hesitation and no doubt about taking the man out of the play. Fantastic effort.
- I thought CJ Lee looked really good last night. Kid got a ton of ice and I think is going to do great on the line with Chase. They were clearly the best line and are only going to get better.
- Allen York looked unbelieveable. Confident, no mistakes. If he plays like that all year, watch out.
- Seemed as though all the boys were closing the gap and finnishing their checks. My son really likes AAG and couldnt stop mentioning the effort and hitting he was doing.
- Josh Rabbani is not the skill guy of some of the others, but eeryone know when he is on the ice. Total effort all the time. Had the absolute hit of the night open ice on some guy during the 2nd period. The guy had to have heard the tone of the radar lock on him but couldnt do anything about it and absolutely got exploded. I was waiting for a Charlie Brown with **** flying everywhere. I wonder if he knows where he is this AM.
- I'm liking the D. JK is a warrior but he may in fact be our least talented defenseman. Good to see Seth put the kids together a lot (particuarly Koudys and Leboeuf). Leboeuf could use some more ice.
- the guys need to shoot more. Shots on this game were even I think, but we should have won by at least a couple more the way we dominated play at times. Cant ever be afraid to get the puck on net....good things happen.
- sometimes still a little difficulty in breaking out of our end with missed passes and turn overs in the neutral zone. That needs to be cleaned up.
- Overall team speed is very good. We can skate with anyone...as Mr. Leboeuf metioned we need the hands and playmaking and we are there for a run at March.

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

It was nice to us beat a team we should beat last night. The crowd was late arriving thanks to the football game, but it ended up being a decent crowd ...probably 2600 or so. The lighting, paint job and improvements are great additions.

A few random thoughts...apologies in advance for the rambling

-York played with a lot of confidence. I LOVED it. He bounced up quickly several times to take exception to B players in his crease and in the 3rd ...when a B player was standing over him in the crease.. gave him a Billy Smith-esque shiver with his stick. Rebound control seemed very good.

- Foss is playing with more quickness, better decisions on clears and with his reach and size in corners is an instant mismatch for opponents. IMO, Bergin did not look good very good last night, struggled with clears and outlet passes into our guys feet (though to be fair, this was an issue for much of the night...passing was not great). We'll need more out of him.

- The young D guys have a lot of skill...none of them are afraid to shoot the puck. Koudys is smooth and mobile for his size. LeBoeuf is a bit less smooth, but has a nice shot and has a ton of upside. Dolan has great wheels and stick skills, but he becomes invisible in traffic with bigger players. When his body fills out a little he'll have the makings of a Brutlag type blueliner...a guy who can clear the puck and isn't afraid to carry it into the opposing zone.

- Bailen is as advertised. Plays like a senior. I did think he passed up some shots from the point, but he'll settle in as he gets to know the system and players better.

- Great to see CJ Lee bury his first career goal. Chase and Tyler were hell bent on getting it for him, as they both passed up open looks to get him the puck down low. CJ is playing with a ton of energy and is faster than he looks...

- Brutlag is a man possessed right now. He is all over the ice pressuring the puck handlers and getting the puck to the net. As was mentioned at the NE game, AAG is playing with a ton of speed, he's a smart player who makes excellent decisions and will get his chances to bury pucks.

Our conditioning appears very good. All of the guys appear stronger and are tough to get off of pucks. A few like Rabbani, Lee, JFK, Brutlag and the big frosh D are immovable...

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Schott's notes from the Bentley game. He must've been too busy eating pizza to write a full article.... :-)

http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/...stgame-report/

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

21 straight penalty kills? That's definitely a tribute to Coach Vines. He does wonders for this program.

On the other side of the coin, I really like how we're creating opportunities on our power play. 6/28 thus far on the PP (according to CHS), that's not too bad. Plus, we've definitely had our chances on the power play even where we did not score.

One of my friends was talking about our defensive pairings from a standpoint of seniority. Personally, I like Koudys and Lebœuf together, they seem to have good synergy. If there's any need-for-improvements to take from this game, I think that Guy should work on being more assertive around the puck. One moment that stands out in my mind was that, on the power play in the neutral zone, he had the chance to get the puck back towards the attacking zone and set up again, but instead hesitated, and it created a breakaway for Bentley (which, thankfully, York was able to stop). I realize he's only a freshman and that confidence in this level will come, so hopefully by league play (either the beginning of it or when we get to the big stretch in January), all of the wrinkles are ironed out and he's a confident puck handler.

I am very happy to see Tyler Helfrich back to full form. That line was amazing! One line that also really clicked well, although they didn't score (but they had a few good chances), was Rabbani/Higgs/O'Grady. I like the way O'Grady plays. At first you barely notice him, but then he comes right through in that clutch situation. If we have a close game, and the top line seems somewhat overworked, Marty is one of those guys I'd really want on the ice.

This will be a fun team to watch. I'm glad I bought seasons this year. Now if only we can keep gas at a reasonable price...

[fishcore12]

Re: RPI 2010-11: Houston, We've had a Facelift!

Preseason training coming along nicely for the boys from Pyongyang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwFx...eature=related