RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

I'd consider donating if there was a clear commitment to success. Keeping Vines shows none of that. I also highly doubt this Lake Placid retreat will actually help. Every team claims every road trip is a "bonding" experience that will help them win more, but this won't change neither the (lack of) talent in our players nor the head coach of the program.

I can understand why fans would not want to donate, but if you are on the fence I would consider still supporting the women on the team. The athletic director has apparently made a decision--which he will need to own--holding back because of the coach will not produce a positive benefit, let alone a coaching change, at this point.

In my opinion, there is something larger in play that affects both the men's and women's hockey teams: I don't think the types of resource investments needed for the programs to be consistently competitive on the national scene are high on the list of priorities for RPI leadership. Reasonable people can disagree on whether enhanced athletic investments make sense for colleges in this fiscal climate (skyrocketing tuition, dwindling enrollments, investment risks to endowment), but I think this is part of the reality for RPI in the near term.

[pucko]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

I feel very badly for these women. I think most of us know the feeling at least one time in our athletic careers of being totally overmatched against our peers, whether in low-level organized sports or as a college athlete; it can be totally dispiriting. I can't say whether they quit on the coach or not, but I know that the levee can break even when you are not trying to quit.

Comments like these are baffling. Outside of Selander last year, can anyone name one player that was worthy of All Conference or even someone that was a difference maker in this program? You have two options here. You say Vines is a bad coach because he can't recruit (which you won't see for another year or two), or you say the players that he currently has just aren't up to snuff at the Division 1 level. I don't think it makes sense to say "Poor Susie, you play for a bad coach" when Susie, in fact, is just not very good. There are many issues with RPI and the first is that for years, they relied on a goalie to get them through games, didn't utilize this success to gather like-minded players, and with her gone, it exposed this lack of recruiting. For the players that are currently there and participated in a winless season, it must have been awful, however, don't say that you feel sorry for them. They are not completely blameless in that scenario and this way of enabling them and telling them they are good and it's their coach's fault that they can't score goals is a bit silly.

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

Comments like these are baffling. Outside of Selander last year, can anyone name one player that was worthy of All Conference or even someone that was a difference maker in this program? You have two options here. You say Vines is a bad coach because he can't recruit (which you won't see for another year or two), or you say the players that he currently has just aren't up to snuff at the Division 1 level. I don't think it makes sense to say "Poor Susie, you play for a bad coach" when Susie, in fact, is just not very good. There are many issues with RPI and the first is that for years, they relied on a goalie to get them through games, didn't utilize this success to gather like-minded players, and with her gone, it exposed this lack of recruiting. For the players that are currently there and participated in a winless season, it must have been awful, however, don't say that you feel sorry for them. They are not completely blameless in that scenario and this way of enabling them and telling them they are good and it's their coach's fault that they can't score goals is a bit silly.

You are attributing opinions to me that I did not express. I said nothing about the coach's ability and I used the term "overmatched" which I think is a diplomatic way of saying the players are not good, i.e. not at the same D-I talent level of their opponents. I was responding to a comment that wondered aloud whether the players had quit on their coach, and expressing some empathy for their efforts in that context is not the same as excusing the performance of anyone.

[EDIT: corrected some poor drafting. Apologies]

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

Jahnke was identified as a Yale commit last year. Edit: missed where Ralph already mentioned this earlier. Apologies.

I wonder why that article didn't mention her sister who committed at the same time.

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

I wonder why that article didn't mention her sister who committed at the same time.

Probably a thinly-staffed publication that must have just caught the one twitter announcement and didn't dig deeper. Did the sister play for the same amateur team?

[shelfit]

What's really baffling is why one of the worst hockey programs in the country, of either gender, gets so much play on here. They have been awful for a long time and now they are the worst D1 team and second worst to D3 Finlandia who didn't register a single win or tie this season.

Lovisa's absence was not the problem. They couldn't score goals. Yes, he's a terrible coach, but he's a terrible coach coaching D3 level players and no coach can turn a teamful of D3 talent into a competitive D1 program. This program needs a new coach who will recruit heavily to replace this current roster as soon as it's possible. Oh wait, it's RPI, generally speaking top-end female hockey players aren't as interested in going to this type of a school, so this program is destined to always be a low-end program. End of story.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

Probably a thinly-staffed publication that must have just caught the one twitter announcement and didn't dig deeper. Did the sister play for the same amateur team?

Her sister was in Japan although they both played in Dallas in 18-19. They list the sister also as an RPI recruit on their website.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

What's really baffling is why one of the worst hockey programs in the country, of either gender, gets so much play on here. They have been awful for a long time and now they are the worst D1 team and second worst to D3 Finlandia who didn't register a single win or tie this season.

Lovisa's absence was not the problem. They couldn't score goals. Yes, he's a terrible coach, but he's a terrible coach coaching D3 level players and no coach can turn a teamful of D3 talent into a competitive D1 program. This program needs a new coach who will recruit heavily to replace this current roster as soon as it's possible. Oh wait, it's RPI, generally speaking top-end female hockey players aren't as interested in going to this type of a school, so this program is destined to always be a low-end program. End of story.

Isn't Clarkson the same type of school?

[DavidNardolillo]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

Oh wait, it's RPI, generally speaking top-end female hockey players aren't as interested in going to this type of a school, so this program is destined to always be a low-end program. End of story.

I would not underestimate women hockey players. I picked the #1 team, Cornell, and googled "Cornell women's hockey engineering majors" and the first search result revealed that that Cornell's starting goaltender is an engineering major (and in ROTC). https://blogs.cornell.edu/admissions...womens-hockey/

I am sure RPI may lose some recruits due to the specialized nature of its academic offerings, but there are more and more students majoring in STEM fields (even in liberal arts colleges), the RPI profile offers a lot for those with that interest.

[vicb]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

Isn't Clarkson the same type of school?

Only Better (Except for may be Location)

[joecct]

Only Better (Except for may be Location)

Potsdam >> Troy

[vicb]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

Potsdam >> Troy

[hab]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

What's really baffling is why one of the worst hockey programs in the country, of either gender, gets so much play on here. They have been awful for a long time and now they are the worst D1 team and second worst to D3 Finlandia who didn't register a single win or tie this season.

Lovisa's absence was not the problem. They couldn't score goals. Yes, he's a terrible coach, but he's a terrible coach coaching D3 level players and no coach can turn a teamful of D3 talent into a competitive D1 program. This program needs a new coach who will recruit heavily to replace this current roster as soon as it's possible. Oh wait, it's RPI, generally speaking top-end female hockey players aren't as interested in going to this type of a school, so this program is destined to always be a low-end program. End of story.

Shelfit, I would have thought that you would have figured this out by now. RPI gets so much play on here for one simple reason: we know that it eats at you and we all delight in seeing you lose it. Relax, find a team to follow / cheer for, and find a few positive things to say about that team. Or you could continue to lose it here and continue to provide entertainment for the rest of us.

[ARM]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

In all seriousness, I would like to commend the RPI fans in this thread for their continued support of their team in what has gone beyond "lean" times. If you follow the decline in fans in the threads of some teams that were once successful, I would have to say that the Engineers fans have set a new standard for loyalty. I think that we can all acknowledge that when a team endures a winless season, there were likely many deficiencies: coaching, administration, resources, talent, and what have you. For your sake, I hope that things turn around sooner, rather than later.

[D2D]

Re: RPI 2019-2020: Life after Lovisa

In all seriousness, I would like to commend the RPI fans in this thread for their continued support of their team in what has gone beyond "lean" times. If you follow the decline in fans in the threads of some teams that were once successful, I would have to say that the Engineers fans have set a new standard for loyalty. I think that we can all acknowledge that when a team endures a winless season, there were likely many deficiencies: coaching, administration, resources, talent, and what have you. For your sake, I hope that things turn around sooner, rather than later.

So well said; I couldn't agree more.