RPI 2022-23: Return of the Schmidt and the Fans

[DrDemento]

Latest odds have us down by 0.5 goals against Colgate and down by 1.5 against Cornell. The girls are big underdogs for both games. Minus 2.5-3.0 against Colgate and almost as much against Cornell down -2.5. My experience has been when they quote odds like this, it is like a couple touchdowns in football when so many games are decided by a field goal.

[25+years]

I am not surprised this team is having difficulty. DS had the team firing on all, well at least 6/8, cylinders two seasons ago and then the rug was pulled out. They lost their stars to the portal and were left back at square one. You can sit and look at the pandemic and SAJ all you want, but that gets us no where. How do you compete with Harvard, BU, Michigan, Denver , and so many other programs? What does RPI have to offer? A great facility? Proven coaches like Donato or Pandolfo? I am not saying DS is a lousy coach. I am saying he has to try and win with what’s left player wise after all the big name programs get their players. I think we should accept that perhaps we should look toward trying and getting to the level of Colgate, putting a good team on the ice and being competitive every game. Anything more will be icing on the cake. We have to invest in the future and the best place to start is a new and great facility. That and a great education (The president is investing in more faculty) might lure better players.

[vicious]

I can't remember having no road wins in the first half of the season...maybe in the 60s when my hero Garry Kearns saved the program and had to basically start from scratch but not even then.

It happened in the 1995-96 season, Fridgen's second year. However, there have been several seasons with only one road win in the entire first half, including 2006-7, 2008-9, 2011-12, 2016-17, and 2017-18.

[Waite21]

I think Dave Smith did a pretty good job of proving himself in his years at Canisius. In his first ten years, his teams' records improved from a less than-mediocre 10-23-2, finishing 7th in Atlantic Hockey, to 18-12-7, finishing second. (By contrast, in Ted Donato's first ten years, his Harvard teams went from 21-10-3, second in the ECAC, to 10-17-4, 11th place).

There was a time, not so long ago, when RPI was able to offer home games streamed over the Internet on RPI TV. I would think this gave RPI a considerable recruiting advantage, since they could tell parents that if their kids came to RPI, they could watch the games on the Internet, a claim which most other schools couldn't match. But now the NCAA has decreed that everybody has to use the ESPN feed, so RPI's advantage has been negated.

The Field House was a great facility in its day. As I recall, it was once the largest college-owned hockey facility in the country. RPI actually hosted the NCAA tournament in 1959, back when the tournament was limited to four teams.

I know, that was then and this is now. Is a new facility the answer? Maybe. RPI built the ECAV, and Ralph Isernia and Mark Gilbride have been able to turn out consistently winning football and basketball teams at that facility.

Could Dave Smith produce consistently winning Division I hockey teams if he had a new facility? That's a hard question to answer.

[Ralph Baer]

I think Dave Smith did a pretty good job of proving himself in his years at Canisius. In his first ten years, his teams' records improved from a less than-mediocre 10-23-2, finishing 7th in Atlantic Hockey, to 18-12-7, finishing second. (By contrast, in Ted Donato's first ten years, his Harvard teams went from 21-10-3, second in the ECAC, to 10-17-4, 11th place).

There was a time, not so long ago, when RPI was able to offer home games streamed over the Internet on RPI TV. I would think this gave RPI a considerable recruiting advantage, since they could tell parents that if their kids came to RPI, they could watch the games on the Internet, a claim which most other schools couldn't match. But now the NCAA has decreed that everybody has to use the ESPN feed, so RPI's advantage has been negated.

The Field House was a great facility in its day. As I recall, it was once the largest college-owned hockey facility in the country. RPI actually hosted the NCAA tournament in 1959, back when the tournament was limited to four teams.

I know, that was then and this is now. Is a new facility the answer? Maybe. RPI built the ECAV, and Ralph Isernia and Mark Gilbride have been able to turn out consistently winning football and basketball teams at that facility.

Could Dave Smith produce consistently winning Division I hockey teams if he had a new facility? That's a hard question to answer.

Smith really had only one very good year ay Canisius, his last year there. The previous year was under .400.

I also wonder if we lose a significant number of recruits due to the HFH rather than to the team's record in recent seasons and the fact that pro scouts supposedly don't go there a lot. I do agree that a new rink would help, but how much?

A good point that the ending of the free RPI-TV stream is a new negative which we have to deal with.

[vicious]

I also wonder if we lose a significant number of recruits due to the HFH rather than to the team's record in recent seasons and the fact that pro scouts supposedly don't go there a lot. I do agree that a new rink would help, but how much?

I wonder this as well. If my memory recalls we're now 40 years from the last major renovation of the building. Some teams with subpar/aged facilities field strong teams - Merrimack, Northeastern, Michigan. Maybe AIC? Some with modern facilities struggle: UNH. It certainly matters but it's tough to know how much. I think it's fair to say we don't get any advantage from it, like we did in the 80s. It also doesn't help that a "good night" attendance-wise these days is 2000, 2500 - another sign we're a long way from the 80s.

Other schools are building new facilities - Sacred Heart, UConn, and there's been some talk of NU replacing Matthews. Colgate opened Class of 1965 arena in 2016. Didn't Union get money in the last state budget for a new arena?

My sense is that one NCAA appearance since 1995 and not making ECAC semis in 20 years, plus a growing number of competitive programs, coupled with lack of investment/financial support for the program (especially under the previous administration), as well as the facility, are probably all factors (albeit not the only ones) in our recent struggles.

President Schmidt has become a fixture at home games. This is good to see. He clearly has an interest in the program. I would be interested to hear his thoughts on the state of the building and his vision for the hockey program.

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Didn't Union get money in the last state budget for a new arena?



President Schmidt has become a fixture at home games. This is good to see. He clearly has an interest in the program. I would be interested to hear his thoughts on the state of the building and his vision for the hockey program.

Union was kicking the tires on becoming the anchor tenant at what was presented/proposed to be a new privately owned ice facility located at the Mohawk Harbor Casino site in Schenectady. There has not been much in the way of any updates or anything approaching construction timetable. I don't believe that Union's president has stepped up to formally commit the school to a long term lease (and likely a hefty check to offset construction costs), and I have no doubt that the developer is chasing taxpayer dollars to fund the project whose budgeted construction cost has easily ballooned 35-40 % in the past two years. Add in the fact that the pandemic has hammered higher education very hard, I am sure they are not in any hurry to commit dollars that they don't currently have.

As for RPI, I think they need to do a substantial renovation at HFH. Given the other issues that Marty is addressing I don't imagine anything of the sort is imminent. He would absolutely need a new AD who was skilled at fundraising / development to lead the effort .....

[Liveatjrl]

Hey Ralph - anything from Jim H at elynah on the 2023-24 ecac schedule?

[Ralph Baer]

Hey Ralph - anything from Jim H at elynah on the 2023-24 ecac schedule?

Thanks. I had forgotten that he usually posts that on 1/1. I just asked.

[engineerhockeyfan]

Good game last night, but it seems like we are giving up the great defense that we had at the beginning of the season for more offense.
Last night we gave up a lot of odd man rushes band got away with it. We won't get away with it against Cornell.
It was great to see some goals from the offense last night. We could really use more of that.

Lets go RED!!!

[sezenack]

Gagnon has a separated shoulder :-(

[Ralph Baer]

Gagnon has a separated shoulder :-(

That explains why he didn't play yesterday. :-(

[sezenack]

That explains why he didn't play yesterday. :-(

He didn't play most of the game Friday. I don't think I saw him at all after the first period

[DrDemento]

Gagnon has a separated shoulder :-(

That is one diagnosis that can actually be all over the map. The separation itself can be of several degrees. This can be a short time out of the line up or season ending. Shoulder injuries are among the most difficult to give a prognosis. i have had both mine operated upon in the past and the recovery was markedly different for each. Jenny will be seeing a shoulder specialist soon for an evaluation. Wishing him the absolute best from here.

[fr. joe]

Was looking at the ELynah thread on our game and what seems to draw the most attention from Cornell posters was RPI's power play success. They thought it was, but for a Lake Placid game against Harvard, several years since anyone had as much power play success against them as we did on Saturday night.