RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Great to have current students on here once again, especially ones that actually care. I really hope your PR considerations are going to work out. I know for myself, I wish they still had the "pick six" from the Fridgen days where you picked six games to attend (even though I don't know what percentage picked Freakout as one of the six), and they'd try to arrange it as a season ticket share between 2 or 3 people.

I wouldn't worry too much about the negativity whining especially around this time of year, as it seems to be a bit of a perpetual occurrence. Generally we have a few "fans" that only really show up around Freakout and/or the playoffs, and not seeing the whole product, just **** on the team. Not sure if it's a sign of the times, or if it's just another reason to look for a rabble as it's the emotion of the century. Continue to lead by example, and others will be drawn to your genuine enthusiasm.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Great to have current students on here once again, especially ones that actually care. I really hope your PR considerations are going to work out. I know for myself, I wish they still had the "pick six" from the Fridgen days where you picked six games to attend (even though I don't know what percentage picked Freakout as one of the six), and they'd try to arrange it as a season ticket share between 2 or 3 people.

I wouldn't worry too much about the negativity whining especially around this time of year, as it seems to be a bit of a perpetual occurrence. Generally we have a few "fans" that only really show up around Freakout and/or the playoffs, and not seeing the whole product, just **** on the team. Not sure if it's a sign of the times, or if it's just another reason to look for a rabble as it's the emotion of the century. Continue to lead by example, and others will be drawn to your genuine enthusiasm.

Not sure how much this aids in PR but would certainly be nice to have each and every game broadcast on WRPI. This past year was the first that I recall in many in which I had to find radio coverage by listening to the opponent's feed. The RPI TV coverage of home game is wonderful and of course should continue. Since we do not get much other media attention, every little bit helps. Would hate to see this lack of broadcasting become a trend.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Not sure how much this aids in PR but would certainly be nice to have each and every game broadcast on WRPI. This past year was the first that I recall in many in which I had to find radio coverage by listening to the opponent's feed. The RPI TV coverage of home game is wonderful and of course should continue. Since we do not get much other media attention, every little bit helps. Would hate to see this lack of broadcasting become a trend.

Sadly, most of that is based on personnel. Remember that the ECAC mandates coverage of both men's and women's games, so there has to be a commentator for any home game, so that means Perry has to be at HFH (not sure why Joe can't call home games while Perry travels). And since WRPI is having problems getting commentators that can travel (usually on account of classes; remember that they want current students to call the games), we're stuck with what we have. I have a feeling we're also having trouble getting statisticians because, at least on the occasion of the UMA game, they were pulling double duty. I very much agree that that sort of coverage is important, as they'd typically run WRPI as audio for the CCTV channels that had community bulletin board sorts of screens.

Hey sezenack, I know your focus is the Red Army, but would you happen to know anyone with interest in any of those? I'm sure jericho would love to hear from you on that one, as he's very much into at least the WRPI scene.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

sezenack,

Always good to get a new poster here. You wrote that you are a member of the Red Army. Does that indicate that you are a current student? That is something that this thread needs more of.

I agree that no matter how we do in the playoffs that there is hope for next season. We are not losing that much in the four seniors, and there should be improvement elsewhere.

A few isolated comments. Supposedly Ferner's forte is his leadership skills. Someone, I think connected to his junior team, predicted that he would a captain by his junior season. I am overall happy with this year's freshman class. Hopefully there is not a collective slump next year.

Yes, Harris is a prime candidate for not being back in the fall. A matter of fact, any of the current sophomore class could disappear (Harris, Ott, Jerry, Marshall) although I expect Marshall to be back since we have not recruited another goalie who could be either #1 or #2, and I doubt that there is one available now. Brett Miller appears to be destined to be the #3. I also think that Ott will be back, but I won't be surprised if he leaves. As to Jerry, he had a promising first season, and I don't know what his problem was this year.

As to the other recruits, I have commented here before on Fontaine. He is not expected to be here until 2020. It beats me as to whether he could arrive this fall. He was born in 2000, so normally he would be fine for 2019, but when he went to Lawrence Academy for 2007-18, he supposedly repeated a year. That happens often at prep schools. I know that it happened also to a daughter of one of my cousins who later played D-III hockey at Wesleyan including one year when one of our women's ACs, Tara Connolly, was a coach there. If Fontaine returns to Chicago next year, we may have to fight off other schools for him. A continued improvement in Troy should help us.

Of the forwards expected, I think that Ashbrook and Herrman will step right in as many of this year's freshmen did. I think that McIsaac could benefit from another year in juniors, and Dubinsky is a big question mark because of his lengthy injury. Supposedly he his begun skating again. As to the defensemen expected -- Babichuk, Davies, Kjellberg, and Klee -- there are also question marks. When listening on the internet, it is hard to get a sense on how good defensemen are. I think that Klee is the most likely to step right in. Kjellberg was drafted, but it isn't clear to me as to whether that was mainly because of his father. I was surprised that Davies signed a LOI. I still expect him to return to juniors. As to Babichuk, the question is how well he will recover from his injuries. The fact that he has survived as an RPI recruit despite being an Appert holdover, speaks highly of his ability because so many others haven't for one reason or another.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Not sure how much this aids in PR but would certainly be nice to have each and every game broadcast on WRPI. This past year was the first that I recall in many in which I had to find radio coverage by listening to the opponent's feed. The RPI TV coverage of home game is wonderful and of course should continue. Since we do not get much other media attention, every little bit helps. Would hate to see this lack of broadcasting become a trend.

QFT. I was very disappointed that WRPI did not broadcast every game. That was apparently in large part due to not having announcers available. Tom Reale made a point that last year that sometimes the only reason that we had broadcasts was that he was willing to drive to games when no one else wanted to.


Edit: I should have read FlagDUDE08's post first.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

QFT. I was very disappointed that WRPI did not broadcast every game. That was apparently in large part due to not having announcers available. Tom Reale made a point that last year that sometimes the only reason that we had broadcasts was that he was willing to drive to games when no one else wanted to.


Edit: I should have read FlagDUDE08's post first.

Exactly as you and FDude point out. But it indicates a little bit about how the program has changed in just a very few years. Lots of things have changed and sometimes you have to add up all of them, even the small ones, to see how different things are. i realize it is impossible to compare to the really old days but for some of us we saw a lot of this coming. the loss of the Invitational Tournament, the loss of the hype associated with the Freakout, the diminution of the attendance, the overall lack of student involvement and spirit, and the past year or two the lack of media broadcasting of all the games. The ECAC mandate about broadcasting is certainly a point but the emphasis has to be placed on which broadcast will get the most listeners. i hope this trend can be reversed and that it will simply just take a team that begins to win the majority of their games. But I am not so sure that it has not gone down the path a bit too far. After all, it has been a very long time since we have been considered as a top echelon program.

[rpi82]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Not sure how much this aids in PR but would certainly be nice to have each and every game broadcast on WRPI. This past year was the first that I recall in many in which I had to find radio coverage by listening to the opponent's feed. The RPI TV coverage of home game is wonderful and of course should continue. Since we do not get much other media attention, every little bit helps. Would hate to see this lack of broadcasting become a trend.

As an aside, I want to compliment the young announcer Joe that has been doing some of our games. When he first started he was clearly nervous and his play-by-play was choppy at best as he struggled to keep up with the play. He doesn't have the smooth style of Perry, Kurt or Tom yet, but the dramatic improvement in a relatively small number of games was noticeable. He's doing a much better job of letting us know who is in possession and where they are on the ice. Listening solely to the radio feed he still needs to provide more detail to provide a "mental image" of the action, but watching on TV where he can let RPI TV's tremendous coverage complement his play-by-play was comfortable. I don't know what year he is but I hope he keeps it up and can grow with the team in coming years.

[jericho]

As an aside, I want to compliment the young announcer Joe that has been doing some of our games. When he first started he was clearly nervous and his play-by-play was choppy at best as he struggled to keep up with the play. He doesn't have the smooth style of Perry, Kurt or Tom yet, but the dramatic improvement in a relatively small number of games was noticeable. He's doing a much better job of letting us know who is in possession and where they are on the ice. Listening solely to the radio feed he still needs to provide more detail to provide a "mental image" of the action, but watching on TV where he can let RPI TV's tremendous coverage complement his play-by-play was comfortable. I don't know what year he is but I hope he keeps it up and can grow with the team in coming years.

Sophomore

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

As an aside, I want to compliment the young announcer Joe that has been doing some of our games. When he first started he was clearly nervous and his play-by-play was choppy at best as he struggled to keep up with the play. He doesn't have the smooth style of Perry, Kurt or Tom yet, but the dramatic improvement in a relatively small number of games was noticeable. He's doing a much better job of letting us know who is in possession and where they are on the ice. Listening solely to the radio feed he still needs to provide more detail to provide a "mental image" of the action, but watching on TV where he can let RPI TV's tremendous coverage complement his play-by-play was comfortable. I don't know what year he is but I hope he keeps it up and can grow with the team in coming years.

Agreed- we have been blessed in the past with some extremely competent broadcasters and Joe is slowly getting his level up to what we have had. i must say the Colgate Broadcast from a couple weeks ago had one of the best I have heard on any opponent's feed.

[rvd5star69]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Is game online or tv Friday? To view

[sezenack]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Hey sezenack, I know your focus is the Red Army, but would you happen to know anyone with interest in any of those? I'm sure jericho would love to hear from you on that one, as he's very much into at least the WRPI scene.

My friend at WRPI actually asked if I'd be interested in announcing for hockey games, and I ended up saying yes. He said I should hear from someone at WRPI, so they can train me and get me on that, and I never ended up hearing from anyone. Not sure what's up with that, but honestly I'd much rather sit in the student section for home games than announce. However, if they want someone to do away games, I'd be more than willing to do that.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

My friend at WRPI actually asked if I'd be interested in announcing for hockey games, and I ended up saying yes. He said I should hear from someone at WRPI, so they can train me and get me on that, and I never ended up hearing from anyone. No sure what's up with that, but honestly I'd much rather sit in the student section for home games than announce. However, if they want someone to do away games, I'd be more than willing to do that.

So, after all the times that WRPI has asked if anyone is interested in announcing they ignore replies. It sounds like Shirley has been intercepting the messages.

[sezenack]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

sezenack,

Always good to get a new poster here. You wrote that you are a member of the Red Army. Does that indicate that you are a current student? That is something that this thread needs more of.

I agree that no matter how we do in the playoffs that there is hope for next season. We are not losing that much in the four seniors, and there should be improvement elsewhere.

A few isolated comments. Supposedly Ferner's forte is his leadership skills. Someone, I think connected to his junior team, predicted that he would a captain by his junior season. I am overall happy with this year's freshman class. Hopefully there is not a collective slump next year.

Yes, Harris is a prime candidate for not being back in the fall. A matter of fact, any of the current sophomore class could disappear (Harris, Ott, Jerry, Marshall) although I expect Marshall to be back since we have not recruited another goalie who could be either #1 or #2, and I doubt that there is one available now. Brett Miller appears to be destined to be the #3. I also think that Ott will be back, but I won't be surprised if he leaves. As to Jerry, he had a promising first season, and I don't know what his problem was this year.

As to the other recruits, I have commented here before on Fontaine. He is not expected to be here until 2020. It beats me as to whether he could arrive this fall. He was born in 2000, so normally he would be fine for 2019, but when he went to Lawrence Academy for 2007-18, he supposedly repeated a year. That happens often at prep schools. I know that it happened also to a daughter of one of my cousins who later played D-III hockey at Wesleyan including one year when one of our women's ACs, Tara Connolly, was a coach there. If Fontaine returns to Chicago next year, we may have to fight off other schools for him. A continued improvement in Troy should help us.

Of the forwards expected, I think that Ashbrook and Herrman will step right in as many of this year's freshmen did. I think that McIsaac could benefit from another year in juniors, and Dubinsky is a big question mark because of his lengthy injury. Supposedly he his begun skating again. As to the defensemen expected -- Babichuk, Davies, Kjellberg, and Klee -- there are also question marks. When listening on the internet, it is hard to get a sense on how good defensemen are. I think that Klee is the most likely to step right in. Kjellberg was drafted, but it isn't clear to me as to whether that was mainly because of his father. I was surprised that Davies signed a LOI. I still expect him to return to juniors. As to Babichuk, the question is how well he will recover from his injuries. The fact that he has survived as an RPI recruit despite being an Appert holdover, speaks highly of his ability because so many others haven't for one reason or another.

Yes, I am a current student (Sophomore), and Red Army is the official student fan group and official student fan section for RPI Athletics (mainly just hockey since that's the only D1 sport here)

I must be mistaken, but I thought that in NCAA Division 1 athletics that signing your NLI locked in the recruit to entering the school and program the next fall? I mainly followed football growing up, and I know that is how it works for football. I just assumed that's what it is for hockey too, which is why I assumed all 9 players who signed would be coming in the fall. If that's not true, then hopefully we can get Beaton to come in if Fontaine cannot. They appear to be the most offensively touted recruits. Regardless, the freshman class this year has been pretty good, and I have high hopes for next season.

[sezenack]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Is game online or tv Friday? To view

I believe it will be on ESPN+ like all the regular season ECAC games (well not RPI home games of course). Speaking of that, I actually think we can beat Yale. We probably should have beaten them at the Freakout, and that game also had terrible officiating. We definitely are and should be underdogs, but Yale is a team that they can beat.

The main thing that absolutely ****ed me off with regards to my previous comments on the lack of PR was how the athletics department and media team barely even acknowledged that Hayhurst was a Hobey Baker Nominee. I had to tweet FOR THEM promoting him and then they retweeted my tweet. After that, not another mention of it. That's a huge PR and marketing opportunity and they did next to nothing. Having a Hobey Baker nominee is huge given our recent seasons and could have promoted the **** out of it and out of Hayhurst to get him and the team some publicity and even maybe some more fan support and hype. For example, just look at what UMass did for Cale Makar and what Quinnipiac did for Chase Priskie if you want a good example of how run a PR and marketing campaign. That's what we needed to do with Hayhurst. Instead, they retweeted a tweet that I had to make for them (I also made sure the Red Army twitter account tweeted about it as well) and that was all.

That's just a small piece of the puzzle, but it's basically a microcosm of what the team's PR and self-promotion has looked like

[25+years]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

Wow, this thread blew up since I've been gone, so I'm going to comment on everything I've seen said here.

Everyone was very optimistic recently when the team was competitive pretty much in every game since the start of 2019 and was looking solid. Yes, they laid a stinker this entire weekend in pretty much identical games, but that does not erase an entire season's work. This team showed many flashes and was markedly an improvement in all areas over last season's team. This was a positive step forward for the program. Being competitive with top teams was what I liked most this season and that gives me hope for next season.

Now onto some other things. I don't understand the thrashing of Hayhurst, Reilly and Burgess.
Hayhurst is by far our best player and looks a step above everyone else on the ice. This season he was a hobey baker nominee, and next season, I think there's a good chance he makes the jump from nominee to actual contender.
Reilly is by far our best defenseman. He has wonderful offensive skills and is pretty reliable defensively. He can be streaky and inconsistent, but he's our best defenseman and that's just a fact. Hopefully, next season he develops that consistency. As for the Penguins, I don't see them trying to sign him honestly. I don't think he is consistent enough to make the immediate jump to the NHL, and they likely know that.
As for Burgess, this is essentially his sophomore season, and he has looked pretty good this season. Last season, I was confused about how he was drafted, but this season has been a great improvement. He has a great release and shot (see a couple of his absolute snipes for goals this season), his hands are way better and look like the most upgraded part of his game, and with his size, he plays physical and wins a good amount of puck battles. Next season, he should also be better like the 2 above, and if Burgess doesn't want to use his medical redshirt, I wouldn't be surprised if those 3 are the captains.

Now, as for our future, there are a lot of pieces to this team that are really promising. First off, we have an outstanding goaltender who was one of the best in all of college hockey this season, AND he's only a freshman. That is a major building block. In addition, Ottoville Leppanen looked really, really good this season. He has a knack for finding the open man, wins puck battles with strength and skill and is just all-around a very solid and good player. Our freshmen defensemen also all look pretty promising. Jake Johnson is a solid all-around defenseman who has great talent and skills on both sides. He had the occasional mental lapse which would lead to a goal or an odd-man rush, but he's only a freshman and as he cuts down on those, he will be a really good player for the rest of his career (he already is a good player I'd say). Kyle Hallbauer has excellent offensive skills and is a long-term Reilly replacement in that regard. He also needs to cut down on mental mistakes and play more disciplined defensively, but his offensive skills are much needed. Brady Ferner hasn't really impressed me with exceptional skills, but he has seemed solid all-around and does not make many mental mistakes. He already seems very disciplined and mature and routinely makes good defensive plays even if he does not contribute much offensively. Other freshmen to look at are Jakub Lacka (good shot and release and offensive skills but needs to get much stronger and play better defense), Nick Bowman (great release and shot, needs more consistency and less mental lapses, but has the size and strength too), Tommy Lee (almost looks like Hayhurst but needs to play stronger and more consistent; very fast and has great pucks skills) and Ture Linden (solid all-around, not an outstanding skills in one area, but no major weaknesses and does not have mental lapses or make too many mistakes). I think they provide a solid foundation.

The transfers were also pretty good. Zieky has been our top goal scorer despite playing half the season, and his shot is outstanding. Gornall is aggressive, physical and great defensively. Bear hasn't really impressed but he's a solid piece.

Looking to next season, I expect Mat Harris for sure to be cut. He has looked absolutely horrendous this season and like a liability every time he's been on the ice. Jaren Burke already left, so that is already set. Ott sometimes has looked good and sometimes not good at all, so he will be one to watch as he hasn't played much in the 2nd half but has been good at times. Billy Jerry hasn't really done much this season and has rode the bench most of the second half but had a promising freshman year. Those would be the main cut candidates.

The recruits look pretty decent too, but I'm mostly excited for Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (forward) as he's been excellent in the USHL this season (plus how can't you be excited by his name and his flow!) and Simon Kjellberg, a defenseman from Sweden who is a Rangers draft pick. In summary, I think we've got some talent and will be good next season.

As for the "who even cares about this team?" question, I ********** care. I'm the treasurer of Red Army and will be transitioning to president at the end of the semester. Sure, we haven't had good attendance, but we had 90 students buy season tickets this year (a lot considering the disaster of the past 2 seasons). Hopefully, that number will go up. The lack of attendance this week was because this weekend was the start of our spring break. In general, I will admit that the student body does not care about the team. The general mentality from talking to other students is "why should I go to the games; we suck and we'll lose". However, I have some plans and ideas to try to improve the outlook from the students and the publicity (PR), media and general atmosphere surrounding the team. I am looking forward to when I can discuss that at length with the athletics department once I am president. Unfortunately, that will still only do so much as winning (or lack thereof) is what will change things, but that won't stop me from trying to do what I can. All we can do is hope that they finish the year strong and next year make some noise.

I have hope for the future of this team, and after seeing positivity for all of the second half of the season (until now), it's annoying that everyone seems to be turning against the team and Smith after one bad weekend when overall the team has been competitive this season. I think this season can be seen as a stepping stone to better things to come, and I hope I'm not the only one

Just wanted to respond to the thread here. First off I have been a hockey fan for 42 years and an RPI season ticket holder for 27 years. I am not going anywhere. Second. While it may seem like people like me are dumping on the team and program,I think if we didn't care, we wouldn't post. Yes this team has taken steps forward. But we have also said that before. Burgess "was" 4.25, but no longer. Jerry was real good,now sits on the bench. And so on. The vast majority, vast majority of the season we were a less than 2gpg team. Then along comes Savory. There were glimmers of team greatness, but then that dimmed. And now we are hoping this was a bump in the road. I think what you should take away from this is we are a hungry fan base. The important word there is base. And we have looked for answers in every nook and cranny. The players, the coach, the AD, SAJ, the facilities have all had fingers pointed at them. I agree with and applaud your efforts to get the student body behind this team. There are things that could help: open the Shirley box seats to various groups like school clubs and organizations, out of town alumni, youth groups and so on (SAJ doesn't use it and most games it is dark). And how about this...For away games have one or two non dressed players do the commentary. Be good for them, good for WRPI, good for the fans, good for the school. Union with a more successful team lately and a recent national championship has no radio coverage, I don't believe. So yes we are down. We suffer from a chronic case of disappointment. I think after all the years and all the lean ones, we have the right to voice our concern and offer suggestions.