RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

[jericho]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Great representation from the board. I spotted RPI's #1 fan Turk, JC, Tom R. and of course tb and myself. Unfortunately, no Red Cloud this year. I heard that he was in debrief sessions after his participation in the raid on UBL compound.

Is it a different Tom R. you're talking about?

[hawthr]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

I was also in attendance, I just like to be sneaky. Had the opportunity to sit with Chase, Kevin, and their families.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Is it a different Tom R. you're talking about?

I don't get what you mean?

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

I was also in attendance, I just like to be sneaky. Had the opportunity to sit with Chase, Kevin, and their families.

I never had the honor of meeting you, maybe at the golf outing. I thought Chase had the best line of the night about Nolan Graham.

[hawthr]

I never had the honor of meeting you, maybe at the golf outing. I thought Chase had the best line of the night about Nolan Graham.

I don't know, the remark about JFK and the bees was pretty funny...

[troyboy]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

I don't know, the remark about JFK and the bees was pretty funny...

For anyone not there Chase was mentioning in his speech what an honor it was to be mentioned in the same breath as legendary RPI players such as Bob Brinkworth,Adam Oates,Pete Chiarelli,Joe Juneau (pause) Nolan Graham...it was quite entertaining.

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

I didn't make it to the banquet -- I had a conflict -- but I never rec'd an invite in the mail either...which wasn't a big deal, but I thought it was odd as I've always gotten them and have attended in years past...maybe Seth's trying to tell me something...haaa

Was there any mention of next year's schedule or the incoming freshman class?

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

For anyone not there Chase was mentioning in his speech what an honor it was to be mentioned in the same breath as legendary RPI players such as Bob Brinkworth,Adam Oates,Pete Chiarelli,Joe Juneau (pause) Nolan Graham...it was quite entertaining.

Pete Chiarelli?

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

I didn't expect SA to say anything about next season's freshman, but I expected him to talk about the schedule. By the lack of comment, I suspect that it wasn't discussed.

[cmmarkham]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Hope everyone here is well. FlagDUDE asked me to copy the report that I wrote for the RPI Sports listserv about last night's hockey banquet here, since no one else has posted anything similar yet. It's long, and there's another long post following - sorry. To answer a couple of questions posted here, there was no mention made of next year's freshmen, no reference at all to the schedule, and no announcement about captains.

I read some of your recent posts and want to thank FlagDUDE, Dr. Demento (saw you from a distance at Princeton this year) and Ralph for the kind words.

Charlene


Hi again all,

Here's a little more detail on tonight's RPI Men's Hockey Banquet. RPI Athletic Director Jim Knowlton and President Shirley Jackson gave speeches to open the evening, praising the many accomplishments of the team and individual players this year. They both spoke of the Freakout victory over No. 1 Yale, the first Holiday Tournament victory in ten years, and, of course, the NCAA Tournament appearance. Chase Polacek, Allen York and Nick Bailen were all praised for earning All-ECAC team berths, and Coach Appert was commended for the strides he has made with the team in the past four years that the seniors have been part of the team. Most pleasing to hear, from my point of view, was that both Colonel Knowlton and President Jackson consider the accomplishments of this season as just a step on the way to the real goal of hanging another NCAA Championship banner beside those for 1954 and 1985.

John Kennedy gave the Invocation, since Father Ed was unable to attend tonight, and did a very nice job. After dinner, Coach Appert made his speech, which included praise for all his seniors and their accomplishments. He echoed and reinforced the earlier comments that this year was only the first step toward where we're really aiming - that championship banner. Good to hear!

All the seniors who were present gave speeches, as is the norm. Jeff Foss is still with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals, so wasn't able to be there, but he e-mailed a speech and requested Tyler Helfrich read it for him, which Tyler did. Chase Polacek got back from his stint with the AHL Peoria Rivermen a week or so ago and was on hand to make his speech. And Allen York was honored tonight as well, but didn't make a speech. Coach Appert carefully phrased it that "only the seniors were expected to give speeches," but knowing Allen, I suspect the truth is that he was offered the opportunity and was happy to be able to get out of it. Not that he doesn't appreciate his coaches, teammates and fans as much as any of the boys, but if there was ever a guy who shunned the spotlight more than our Yorkie, I've yet to meet him. A couple of times during the evening they asked him to stand up and be acknowledged and I swear he was up and down again before any of us could put two hands together!

The boys all did a great job on their speeches, sharing some funny moments, telling what their RPI career has meant to them, and thanking all the right people. There was hardly one of them who didn't choke up quite a bit when they got to their parents, and some of them - notably John Kennedy and Bryan Brutlag - were quite emotional. And they all talked about how close they are with their teammates, and with their fellow seniors especially. That's a constant at RPI - no matter what they've been through, no matter what other divisions and controversies have surrounded them, the boys on the team are always tight with each other, and with their own classmates in particular. Kevin Beauregard spoke of how there were some tough times for him in his four years, times when he thought about leaving, but said his classmates kept him at RPI - "I just couldn't leave you guys." That echoed the sentiments of all the seniors - a real band of brothers.

Before I close, I just have to elaborate a bit on Alex Goulet's Scholar-Athlete Award. In addition to having the highest GPA on the team (3.81, I think they said), Alex is completing his bachelor's degree, which Coach Appert referred to as pre-med, already this year and will be doing a master's degree in his senior year. A bachelor's and master's in four years while playing D-1 hockey! That hasn't been done since... well, since his brother Matt did it two years ago! Those Goulet boys sure know how to keep their noses to the grindstone. Matt is in med school now and doing well, so there's no reason to think Alex won't make a success of the plan as well.

All in all, it was a fun evening and a great chance to honor the Class of 2011 and thank them one more time.

Charlene

[cmmarkham]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Again, from a report to the RPI Sports listserv.

Hi again everyone,

Hope you can stand a few more words about yesterday's hockey banquet. I wanted to get a report to you as quickly as possible last night and in doing so forgot a few noteworthy moments.

The most touching thing that I left out was when John Kennedy, after having just received the Most Inspirational Player award, took the podium and said that they actually had one more Most Inspirational Player award to give out, and then asked Ben Mayo to come up. You may remember that Ben is the young man who has been fighting cancer for the past year and was adopted by the team as an honorary member. He and his family were there and Ben, now cancer-free and sporting a full head of hair instead of his knit cap, was all smiles as he received his award from JFK and posed for pictures with him, Coach Appert, Colonel Knowlton and President Jackson. John said that it was truly inspirational having Ben in the locker room after losses to help them put things in perspective. No matter how much they wanted to win, John said, no matter how down they felt, Ben made them remember that at the end of the day, they were just playing a game. Ben was battling cancer and had a lot more at stake, but he was always smiling and offering THEM words of encouragement. I saw Ben's mom wiping a few tears and thought that, once again, our boys in cherry and white demonstrated that they are terrific hockey players but even better people.

I forgot to mention too that there were a few hockey alumni in attendance. Kevin Broad was there, and was in fact the presenter for the Most Inspirational Player award. Scott Basiuk was there too, and Erik Burgdoerfer was also in attendance, freshly back from his year with the ECHL Bakersfield Condors. And of course, assistant coach Nolan Graham was there, and presented the Most Improved Player award. They had all the awards announced by short videos this year, though, and none of the presenters was actually called on to say anything (though Bob Conway, academic advisor to the team, took the opportunity to make a few remarks when he presented Alex Angers-Goulet the Top Scholar Athlete award).

Chase Polacek got the biggest laugh of the evening when he spoke of all the famous hockey players who have come out of RPI. He began naming them - "Bob Brinkworth, Frank Chiarelli, Adam Oates ... (pause and sidelong glance toward the coaches' table)... Nolan Graham..." Nolan rolled his eyes and shook his head, laughing, while everyone else roared, and then Chase said, "Sorry, Nolan, couldn't resist" and resumed his list with "Joe Juneau..."

I also thought it nice that at least one of the seniors (can't remember which one right now - Scott maybe?) mentioned Ben Contini in his speech and said that he will always be one of them too. Ben was a member of the class of 2011 but left after a frustrating sophomore year.

All in all, it was a very nice evening. Here's a thanks to our tablemates who added to the fun - the Higgses and fellow listserv members, the Cotlers (hope I'm remembering that right).

Okay, I'm done annoying you all for a while.

Charlene

[troyboy]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Pete Chiarelli?

Sorry thats His Son...Bruins GM...What was I thinking.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Sorry thats His Son...Bruins GM...What was I thinking.

I figured that you knew.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Thanks Charlene. Stick around.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2011: There Will be a Title Here Next Season

Today is 9 May 2011. There are 145 days until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 1 October for the start of next season.

That is the day that an exhibition game is supposedly scheduled.