RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

It's time to ask for suggestions for a title for "RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Part II".

Suggestions?

[puckit717]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

WOW.............. we were 2 seconds away from disaster home sweep. The HFH was so quiet I thought I was at a funeral. I hope this turns our season around. luck favors the prepared. Where was weber this past weekend? it was the first time ever for 2 games fri and sat night my kids said dad i am bored at a hockey game.

[johnk]

Also the premier bar keeper in the capital district and all around good guy !

Miss you guys. If your ever in town...

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Must not forget the Bella Napoli Bakery. Best wishes to you and Jenny and hope that you both have a safe and peaceful holiday !

OMG!! The best, and I mean the absolute best, pastry on earth! We used to pick up stuff from there on our way to the games after dinner at Verdile's (and perhaps after a few drinks) and spread them around section 6 (row K). They had one item called the Peach which had about as much Peach Brandy as i had ever seen. Usually took me until about the first intermission to actually know the score of the game and perhaps a bit longer for my teeth to no longer be numb.
**** we miss those days!!!!

[troyboy]

Showed this post to Jenny and she was flabbergasted! We had a blast with you guys and would do that again any time and any place you can meet us. From 1975 through 2001 we had the greatest time following the team and attending virtually every game. The best part was partying with the families of the players and the absolute best fans in the world. The memories of the castaways, Verdile's, Casey's, the Depot at the old Holiday Inn in Troy, the Plum Blossom, and probably about 10 other bars and restaurants will be with us forever. BTW, even after all these years, neither of us can figure out how we were able to drive home after that meet up in Princeton.

Must not forget the Bella Napoli Bakery. Best wishes to you and Jenny and hope that you both have a safe and peaceful holiday !

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Troyboy and I were talking just the other day abt some of our road trips w/ the team and one of our fondest memories was drinking out in the parking lot outside Hobey Baker and having dinner with you ,Jenny and Baboo. Dr D is one of the greatest story tellers I have ever met. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful Jenny!

Showed this post to Jenny and she was flabbergasted! We had a blast with you guys and would do that again any time and any place you can meet us. From 1975 through 2001 we had the greatest time following the team and attending virtually every game. The best part was partying with the families of the players and the absolute best fans in the world. The memories of the Castaways, Verdile's, Casey's, the Depot at the old Holiday Inn in Troy, the Plum Blossom, and probably about 10 other bars and restaurants will be with us forever. BTW, even after all these years, neither of us can figure out how we were able to drive home after that meet up in Princeton.

[ServinisScores]

The band has indeed been told to play less in favor of piped in music and "fun jumbotron things" during the game which in theory help increase fan engagement. No one is happy about this.

Who can alumni complain to? It was terrible this weekend. Bad enough the band isn’t behind the net anymore. I’ve seen visiting bands have a more prominent location.

Re: Ohrvall - he’s so talented, he can’t make the UMich lineup on a consistent basis.

[lugnut92]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

The band has indeed been told to play less in favor of piped in music and "fun jumbotron things" during the game which in theory help increase fan engagement. No one is happy about this.

[rpi82]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Hayhurst was a loss for RPI, no doubt in my opinion. Don't forget that he played a significant portion of last season with a broken hand/wrist. I am not sure he would have hung around unless RPI was going to be something other than a long shot for the NCAA tournament. A lot of big teams were interested and and Michigan is one of the all-time bigs in college hockey. Plus as a Toronto kid (4 hour drive to Ann Arbor), I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan was a place he was always interested in.

I have mixed feelings about the grad transfer rule. It's being misused (far too many who avail themselves of it don't complete the graduate degree) and I think, in some cases, coaches are using it to fill out their fourth line instead of taking a risk on a 3rd choice freshman recruit. In those cases, the player might be better off staying and occupying a bigger role on the original team.

As evidence of the problem with the grad transfer rule, Michigan lists Hayhurst’s major as undecided. How can a grad student be undecided? That hardly sounds like a guy pursuing a degree. He probably couldn’t get into Michigan’s MBA program (one of the best in the country) so he’s just taking some classes until his eligibility expires.


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[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

He was like Wayne Gretzky compared to what we have now.

Hayhurst was a loss for RPI, no doubt in my opinion. Don't forget that he played a significant portion of last season with a broken hand/wrist. I am not sure he would have hung around unless RPI was going to be something other than a long shot for the NCAA tournament. A lot of big teams were interested and and Michigan is one of the all-time bigs in college hockey. Plus as a Toronto kid (4 hour drive to Ann Arbor), I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan was a place he was always interested in.

I have mixed feelings about the grad transfer rule. It's being misused (far too many who avail themselves of it don't complete the graduate degree) and I think, in some cases, coaches are using it to fill out their fourth line instead of taking a risk on a 3rd choice freshman recruit. In those cases, the player might be better off staying and occupying a bigger role on the original team.

I am less sure of the impact of Ohrwall's departure. I don't know if he's hurt, but he didn't play in the weekend series against Penn State.

[DavidSec17]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

At the season ticket holder pick up party, a few people mentioned to Norris Pearson about playing more band and less music. Apparently it was ignored.

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

First, I agree with Doc, that there is nothing like watching hockey in person. I truly miss it.
I have done some digging into RPI's record since the 04/-5 season (that's as far back as I could find)
Since 04/05, our record is 196-310-63. Not pretty.
Since then, we have had 4 winning seasons.
09/10 18-17-4
10/11 20-13-5 we followed that season with 12-24-3
12/13 18-14-5
15/16 18-15-7 we followed that with 8-21-1

That is not going to bring the fans rushing to see the games. Just sayin'

You can find RPI's season by season record here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...hockey_seasons

It's a bit hard to read, but it confirms your point of an overall trend. Fridgen was 18 games over .500 over his tenure, but 28-39-8 his last two years. Seth was 69 games under .500. Even Mike Addesa's last 3 seasons were under .500. Going back further, you can see plenty of down periods. RPI's all-time record is just over .500.

In other words, I think it is fair to say that the attendance is probably down for a combination of reasons not solely down to poor play. Disinterested students, competition from increased sports entertainment options (locally, online, and otherwise), and a lack of immunity from national attendance trends are all part of the mix.

The real issue with the atmosphere this weekend is that the team is in a real funk in terms of scoring and running an effective power play, and even creating good chances for that matter, so both games seemed pretty uninspiring even though RPI controlled the shots on goal statistic. Part of that is a lack of scoring talent, an evergreen issue for RPI hockey over the last 10+ years, but I'd like to see a bit more aggressive pressing forecheck style to try and create turnovers. That was effective early in the season, but RPI has seemed to abandon it, perhaps out of fear of defensive lapses.

[fishcore12]

You can smooth things over by buying them some beer. I think you are flush with cash after your trip inside the SEFCU Money Machine on the ice between periods!

Flush with crumpled up $1 and $5 bills and the blower not running the first 10 seconds haha.

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

It doesn’t help the % capacity calculation that they use a figure (5217) for HFH that hasn’t been accurate for well over a decade. That was the capacity with the old section 1 grandstand in place. Take away the behind stage seats, which no one in their right mind would buy for any game besides the Freakout, and the effective capacity is about 4,000.

That's a good point, and I would also take the USCHO stats with a grain of salt. Those numbers are self reported and each school counts differently (e.g. tickets sold or given away instead of actual attendance). Watching Minnesota on TV this year, there is no way they are over 80% capacity, unless half the people attending have dressed as empty seats.

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Is it a fact that the band music has been cut back? If it is, someone needs to be fired.

I don't know if it has been cut back but for a number of years, the band leader has had a headset on to communicate with somebody in the press box so they don't play over the reading of sponsor advertising, etc. Recorded music has also been piped in seemingly during about half of the breaks in play for a number of years, instead of the band playing, but I am not sure why that is. I did notice the band doing a dance routine to recorded music after the alma mater both nights this weekend, which gave me a chuckle.

I, too, would like to hear the band play more, except for "The Office" theme song, which seems permanently on the playlist. Not sure how gets into a pep band playbook.