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RPI 2022 Off-season: Surely, We Deserve Better

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Today is 13 March 2022. There are 202 days until RPI's next game. There are 110 days until RPI has a new president.


This is based upon 1 October 2022 for the start of next season and 1 July 2022 for the end of @#$%^.
 
Disappointing night, but the Harvard goalie was sharp in the key moments, and RPI just couldn't find a goal in time to put any real pressure on them. This RPI team definitely taught us something about what can happen when you never give in, but Harvard just had a more talent and timely goal scoring.

Will be interesting to see what RPI's roster looks like next season.
 
20 years without an appearance in the semifinals. At what point does the administration at RPI change the academic requirements to allow the coaches a chance to attract, or even have conversations with top tier players who may not have the greatest grades but are good character kids. I am not an alum so maybe my idea seems crazy to the alums on here but something has to give.
 
Dave smith contract expires in a few weeks. wondering why RPI has not offered an extension to coach smith? He’s proven himself a very good coach that gets the most outta his players. Considering what the program has endured the past two years with RPI’ stupidity Dave has done a fine job. Theirs likely 4-5 head coaching jobs opening up very soon. Seems crazy they would wait this long? Also coach Weber has interviewed for the union job. RPI better do the right thing and lock up Dave smith for years to come or he could say bye bye.
 
Engineers said:
Dave smith contract expires in a few weeks. wondering why RPI has not offered an extension to coach smith? He’s proven himself a very good coach that gets the most outta his players. Considering what the program has endured the past two years with RPI’ stupidity Dave has done a fine job. Theirs likely 4-5 head coaching jobs opening up very soon. Seems crazy they would wait this long? Also coach Weber has interviewed for the union job. RPI better do the right thing and lock up Dave smith for years to come or he could say bye bye.
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Wonder if Shirley leaving means the AD is leaving and just gonna let the next administration figure it out?
 
Engineers said:
Dave smith contract expires in a few weeks. wondering why RPI has not offered an extension to coach smith? He’s proven himself a very good coach that gets the most outta his players. Considering what the program has endured the past two years with RPI’ stupidity Dave has done a fine job. Theirs likely 4-5 head coaching jobs opening up very soon. Seems crazy they would wait this long? Also coach Weber has interviewed for the union job. RPI better do the right thing and lock up Dave smith for years to come or he could say bye bye.
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Coach Smith doesn't seem to have let it affect him nor have their been the leaks from "insiders" that often accompany a coach with an expiring contract. My current theory is that he was probably promised a short extension, such as one season to replace his Covid year, which will keep him here but permit the next administration to make the final decision on a long term renewal. I was hoping such a renewal was already in place but then I would have expected an announcement by now
.
 
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I don't know Dave Smith, have never seen him conduct a hockey practice and really have no idea whether he is good at recruiting and developing young hockey players.I will leave all of that to those who may have more knowledge on the matters. What I do know is that this team took a significant step forward this year in their ability to compete in the ECAC.
 
fishcore12 said:
20 years without an appearance in the semifinals. At what point does the administration at RPI change the academic requirements to allow the coaches a chance to attract, or even have conversations with top tier players who may not have the greatest grades but are good character kids.
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I am not sure that the admissions office is the major issue here, based on what I have heard from people close to the team over the last 10 years. Sure, some schools are harder to get into than others, but I don't think RPI has much harder standards than Harvard, Yale, or Cornell.
 
Today is 14 March 2022. There are 201 days until RPI's next game. There are 109 days until RPI has a new president.


This is based upon 1 October 2022 for the start of next season and 1 July 2022 for the end of @#$%^.
 
Since I haven't gone to a game in the last few years, I decided to change my title and signature to reflect my current state of mind around the program.
 
DavidNardolillo said:
I am not sure that the admissions office is the major issue here, based on what I have heard from people close to the team over the last 10 years. Sure, some schools are harder to get into than others, but I don't think RPI has much harder standards than Harvard, Yale, or Cornell.
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I don't think so either. It's been a long time since I was at RPI, but it certainly seems to me that although there are players who would not get into RPI, they it is not the main problem. The players who are or have the potential to be high NHL draft choices are being told by their family advisors that RPI is not a great place to go to. This can change, but it takes a long time.
 
Ralph Baer said:
I don't think so either. It's been a long time since I was at RPI, but it certainly seems to me that although there are players who would not get into RPI, they it is not the main problem. The players who are or have the potential to be high NHL draft choices are being told by their family advisors that RPI is not a great place to go to. This can change, but it takes a long time.
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Could not agree more. Having known some of the families and advisors over the years, their opinion of RPI as a training ground or step towards playing at the professional level has changed. Some of that has to do with the lack of national exposure from coming to Troy as opposed to schools that have been playing just about every year in the NCAA tournament. Success breeds further success in regards to recruiting.
 
hab said:
I don't know Dave Smith, have never seen him conduct a hockey practice and really have no idea whether he is good at recruiting and developing young hockey players.I will leave all of that to those who may have more knowledge on the matters. What I do know is that this team took a significant step forward this year in their ability to compete in the ECAC.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed - we were probably one extra attacker goal allowed on Friday from a trip to Lake Placid. Coach Smith had this team in a similar position before the program was shut down 2 seasons ago. We are not quite there yet but we have moved in the right direction. Next season may depend on whether a bunch of the boys from this team decide to take one more shot at it next year.
 
DrDemento said:
Yes indeed - we were probably one extra attacker goal allowed on Friday from a trip to Lake Placid. Coach Smith had this team in a similar position before the program was shut down 2 seasons ago. We are not quite there yet but we have moved in the right direction. Next season may depend on whether a bunch of the boys from this team decide to take one more shot at it next year.
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We have quite a few seniors and grad students on this team. If they all decide to leave the program, it will be starting all over again.
As for Dave Smith, he is in limbo. We don't have a new AD yet, and we may not until July which would really put us behind the eight ball going into next season no matter who the coach is.
I would like to see this all taken care of before graduation. (but I doubt that the current administration cares).
 
engineerhockeyfan said:
We have quite a few seniors and grad students on this team. If they all decide to leave the program, it will be starting all over again.
As for Dave Smith, he is in limbo. We don't have a new AD yet, and we may not until July which would really put us behind the eight ball going into next season no matter who the coach is.
I would like to see this all taken care of before graduation. (but I doubt that the current administration cares).
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Three of the top four scorers are graduating. However, there is a core to build around - Kjellberg, Mahshie, Dubinsky, and Addamo (assuming they all return). In net, Watson showed some real brilliance down the stretch and is not far from being among the top goalies in the league.

I too give Smith a lot of credit and believe he's done a good job moving the program forward. In terms of competitiveness, I don't know how much of it is admissions standards keeping blue-chip recruits out. There has been a lot of talk on this board about the lack of administrative support for the program. When Smith was hired, there was a lot of talk about "investing" in the program and increasing administrative support to a point where it seemed like that was part of the deal - Smith would take the job if the administration did x, y, and z to support the program. Maybe I am not recalling correctly, but for those with insider knowledge, five years later, do we know what has been done? Has Smith gotten at least some of the things he asked for?
 
Fwiw Shirley Jackson stated 20 million would be invested in the program at the time of Dave’s introduction presser. I highly doubt any of that has been made available to the program. It’s not a admissions problem it’s a lack of caring from the higher ups.
 
I appreciate and am humbled by my second selection of my thread title. And I hope next year’s offering from me will be: Surely, we did do better.
As to the future. I watched all 3 games. A great hockey match up and I think the better team won. That we matched up against a team with 12 NHL draft picks says a lot about the program.
A couple thoughts: Linden’s skates will be hard to fill. If he doesn’t get a chance in the pros, I would be surprised. He reminds me a lot of Patrice Bergeron.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out when visiting campus without ever meeting the coaches or the team that this is a place that isn’t interested in D1 sports. For years people have pleaded for a better facility. And now, apparently, the ice making surface is a mess. Try competing with BU or Wisconsin for recruits (Wisconsin has 2 rinks- one each for the men and the women). So start there. If you build it, they will come. Invest in good coaches and you will be putting one foot in front of the other rather than dancing in circles and wondering why you aren’t getting anywhere.
 
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