RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

The North Country has never been an easy trip, but the teams seem to be a little more equal this year.
It was good to see RPI finally win a game they were supposed to win on Saturday night.
It is still too early to get excited about this year, but two solid performances up north will go a long way to getting the engineer fans on their feet at HFH.
On Friday, we finally started cashing in on our opportunities, if we continue to do that, we will be tough to beat anywhere.
Will we be getting Helfrich back for this weekend?

I would not only like to see the HFH crowd get on its feet-I would like to see more coming in the door. Attendance has not exactly been sterling and this team deserves to have a full house cheering for them. If Jenny and I could travel 200 miles each way for so many games then why cant the locals seem to go a few blocks to the HFH? I know this economy sucks-but what better entertainment can you get for the cost of a ticket to HFH and seeing an exciting young hockey team come of age? Troy just does not offer any better entertainment.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Troy just does ot offer any better entertainment.

Especially since the Cinema Arts theater was closed.

[TimU]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Some of it can partially be chalked up to the opponents - St. Lawrence (throw out the records) . . .

Well, sort of. Cheel's still a tough place to play, and Clarkson had a good game against SLU - special teams in particular. They've definitely played better teams on the road, but St. Lawrence's record shouldn't be totally dismissed. SLU hasn't played a really tough schedule, but especially when you consider the huge losses in talent and scoring to graduation, they've done very well so far. They're a better team than I thought they'd be at this point. The offense has been pretty good (though they need to finish better), and the freshman defensemen have stepped right in and contributed.

That said, neither NC team is going to have a great season. Clarkson obviously has a lot of things to work on. SLU still has a lot of new players, the goaltending needs to stabilize, and they're as vulnerable at home as they've been in quite a few years. And RPI looks to be getting better. 4 losses for the home teams are a possibility this week, and I'll be happy with 2 points any way we can get them.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Especially since the Cinema Arts theater was closed.

I thought I was the only pervert who remembered that place! A long time before Internet Porn there was the Cinema Arts Theater.

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Tim, I wasn't dismissing SLU as a team. It's just that I know better than to judge a Clarkson-SLU game by its score and the records of either team.

[FireKnight]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Thanks for this year's numbers-but I was referring to getting the benefit of the doubt over many past years-I have made the trip up to watch RPI Clarkson several times and it seems we take more penalties up there than any other place-even back in the mid 80's when we had no need to take them. Perhaps the refs have changed over the years and Clarkson does not get the home town cooking they used to? I think we also have gotten called more often than need be in Ithaca.

I don't know how it was back in the 80's but the refs these days aren't assigned due to proximity. In fact, we had your Capital District friend Alex Dell on Saturday afternoon in Princeton (who coincidentally, didn't call a bad game although IMO, although Coach Roll seemed to differ). I think a lot of what you may have seen up at Clarkson is the style of play I've seen since my freshman year there. The team prides itself in its physical play. In fact, against PU on Saturday, Clarkson was winning all of the physical battles, they just didn't put the puck anywhere near Reynolds.

I don't know what to expect for this weekend. Clarkson needs a few guys to finish plays and put the puck in the net.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

I don't know how it was back in the 80's but the refs these days aren't assigned due to proximity. In fact, we had your Capital District friend Alex Dell on Saturday afternoon in Princeton (who coincidentally, didn't call a bad game although IMO, although Coach Roll seemed to differ). I think a lot of what you may have seen up at Clarkson is the style of play I've seen since my freshman year there. The team prides itself in its physical play. In fact, against PU on Saturday, Clarkson was winning all of the physical battles, they just didn't put the puck anywhere near Reynolds.

I don't know what to expect for this weekend. Clarkson needs a few guys to finish plays and put the puck in the net.

Alex Dell has surprised me this year-perhaps he is aging and his brain is becoming a bit foggy? He actually has been consistent in the 2 games I have seem him ref. He has called all 3 periods the same way and almost all of his calls have been legit. Nowadays my worst nightmares are Kotyra and the Murphys. And yes going back-the refs were assigned based on proximity to limit the costs of travel.

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Well, sort of. Cheel's still a tough place to play, and Clarkson had a good game against SLU - special teams in particular. They've definitely played better teams on the road, but St. Lawrence's record shouldn't be totally dismissed. SLU hasn't played a really tough schedule, but especially when you consider the huge losses in talent and scoring to graduation, they've done very well so far. They're a better team than I thought they'd be at this point. The offense has been pretty good (though they need to finish better), and the freshman defensemen have stepped right in and contributed.

That said, neither NC team is going to have a great season. Clarkson obviously has a lot of things to work on. SLU still has a lot of new players, the goaltending needs to stabilize, and they're as vulnerable at home as they've been in quite a few years. And RPI looks to be getting better. 4 losses for the home teams are a possibility this week, and I'll be happy with 2 points any way we can get them.

I'm not buying it Tim... Marsh knows how to coach 'em up and always seems to be ready to play RPI. I fully expect the Larries will be a tough opponent for either team this weekend. That said, I'm looking for an RPI win.

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

I would not only like to see the HFH crowd get on its feet-I would like to see more coming in the door. Attendance has not exactly been sterling and this team deserves to have a full house cheering for them. If Jenny and I could travel 200 miles each way for so many games then why cant the locals seem to go a few blocks to the HFH? I know this economy sucks-but what better entertainment can you get for the cost of a ticket to HFH and seeing an exciting young hockey team come of age? Troy just does not offer any better entertainment.

Doc, if the home wins continue we'ill see a significant bump in bodies at HFH. As has been stated here many times before, winning draws crowds. I don't care if you've got circus elephants out front of the rink, if the team is lousy attendance will be too. Just ask the River Rats.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Doc, if the home wins continue we'ill see a significant bump in bodies at HFH. As has been stated here many times before, winning draws crowds. I don't care if you've got circus elephants out front of the rink, if the team is lousy attendance will be too. Just ask the River Rats.

I hope so-this team deserves to play in front of a packed, loud HFH. I think too many are content to sit home and listen to the game rather than experience it live. Would love to see those home attendance figures start reaching over 4000 for every game.

[GreatLakerMohawk]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

I hope so-this team deserves to play in front of a packed, loud HFH. I think too many are content to sit home and listen to the game rather than experience it live. Would love to see those home attendance figures start reaching over 4000 for every game.

For what it's worth, the last couple of weekends has seen the curtains on the ends of both the north and south sides of HFH have been pulled back which generally means they've sold seats back there but that hasn't been the case (as there were only folks sitting there for the Army game, not for Ylae/Brom). The Ylae game saw quite a line at the ticket windows for walkups whereas (as expected) there wasn't a line at all for Brom.

The fans will come, folks in Troy are excited about the team and word will get around. I'll blame weaker attendance on Saturday's game for it being the notoriously obnoxious Greek night.

[TimU]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

Tim, I wasn't dismissing SLU as a team. It's just that I know better than to judge a Clarkson-SLU game by its score and the records of either team.

And I didn't mean to imply that you were. I do think you have a point when you suggest that we should take Clarkson's great home record with a grain of salt this year. And SLU certainly isn't the favorite to win the ECAC. I think we're pretty much saying the same thing.

I'm not buying it Tim... Marsh knows how to coach 'em up and always seems to be ready to play RPI. I fully expect the Larries will be a tough opponent for either team this weekend. That said, I'm looking for an RPI win.

Yeah, nobody's going to roll over for anybody. I think these will be four hard-fought games. And I'm looking for an RPI win, too. We're just looking in different places.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

So-have we forgotten this topic? Come on-this is the North Country trip and we are going up there with 2 ECAC wins in the bank.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

So-have we forgotten this topic? Come on-this is the North Country trip and we are going up there with 2 ECAC wins in the bank.

It is surprising that we had more talk about Brown and Yale.

BTW, RPI is taking the ECAC Belt to the North Country. They won it from Yale and successfully defended it from Brown. It's the 'Tute's first successful defense of this Belt since March 2002. (I suspect no one cares. )

[GreatLakerMohawk]

Re: RPI & Union @ Clarkson & St. Lawrence (11/13, 11/14)

It is surprising that we had more talk about Brown and Yale.

BTW, RPI is taking the ECAC Belt to the North Country. They won it from Yale and successfully defended it from Brown. It's the 'Tute's first successful defense of this Belt since March 2002. (I suspect no one cares. )

The ECAC Belt is like the old WCW TV Championship isn't it?