RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

[sezenack]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

I remember when the preseason polls came out, and I said "I can't wait for the boys to go out and show how ridiculous those rankings are".
I remember during the midseason break when I said that our schedule and the team set up where we could go above .500 in the second half and get back to .500 overall. I was called delusional.
I remember in January when everyone was just hoping for home ice, and I said we should be shooting higher than that for a first round bye...

This post is partially to say "I told you so" and partially to celebrate the first bye we've had since 2013, proving many doubters wrong along the way. I'm glad the boys and our wonderful coaching staff have proven me right.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Goal #1 was to improve on last year -check
Goal #2 was to get home ice for the playoffs -check
Goal #3 was to obtain a bye -check
Goal #4 is to get to Lake Placid - pending
Goal #5 is to win the first round at Lake Placid - pending
Goal #6 is to win two games at Lake Placid - pending
Goal #7 is to actually score a goal in an NCAA Tournament game - pending
Goal #8 is to win a game in the NCAA Tournament - pending
Goal #9 is reach the Frozen Four - pending
Goal #10 is to win the NCAA Championship - pending

It is a ten step program and we have made it past the first 3 steps. Just hoping we can check off a few more steps and make life miserable for as many other teams as we can.

[fr. joe]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Wow!!! This has been quite the ride since the Brown game at the Field House. I am just sitting back and enjoying this. The mountains maybe calling our names and let’s answer!!!

Seems like everything's been different since those last 38 seconds of the Brown game...

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3K5_lyqpUw

[iowabasedtraveler]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Colgate season ticket holder here (since 2017-18), who used to be an Omaha season ticket holder.
Met Dave Smith in Fairbanks when we was with Canisius, the same year Omaha was there (and Anchorage). Talked to him in hotel lobby and at tourney press conference. Came away from both meetings thinking that this guy is clued in and has integrity.
He is named RPI coach and I thought ‘kewl, he is gonna lift up the RPI program.’ Since then, at every Colgate-RPI game (home and away), I ask RPI season ticket holders, ‘What do you think of Dave Smith? I really like him.’ And the response has been, to a person, ‘Oh, I don’t know. It’s too early. Until he really delivers, he’s just like the rest. We’ve been taken (for a ride) before.’
Can anyone connected to the RPI program admit that Dave Smith IS the ‘real deal’ yet? That he IS the difference? I truly hope so.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Little known trivia - RPI just finished the regular season by winning (convincingly) all four of their final games. Now let us just see when was the last time we did that??? OH, yes, the last time was a bit back in time. How about 1985 on the way to a final record of 35-2-1 and winning the National Championship!!! Been a long time baby!!! let's Go Red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Seems like everything's been different since those last 38 seconds of the Brown game...

Anyone getting excited yet?
This was so unexpected. Who would have thought that we even had a chance to get this far in December. Quite the turn around.
I was a little surprised after the first period last night. The boys looked like they were not ready for a game of that importance. They looked nervous and out of sync.
I hope that winning that game will give them the confidence they will need in the next series.
If it is Harvard, remember that we had to play an almost perfect game to beat them by a goal. We need to be ready from the drop of the puck.
Doc, if I am still upright, I will start the scores thread for the next game. But the pressure is getting to me.

[rsfs04]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

A few general observations:
- We achieved our highest league point total since the ‘12-‘13 season, where we also finished with 27. That team also had 27 points, via a 12-7-3 record. This team managed one more win than that.
- Six of our top seven point producers are seniors. The exception: Ture Linden. Of all the things I wouldn’t have guessed this season, Ture having 21 regular season points might be at the top. He was our leading conference scorer with 20 league points! He obviously benefitted from playing with Burgess most of the year, but he deserves a lot of credit in his own right. Not a flashy player, but does a lot of the little things well. Has a good set of hands. Him stepping up was a real key to our overall success this season.
- Very curious what the 4th line looks like assuming Dubinsky and Leppanen return. I’d go Herrman/Jerry/DiGrande, think they play fast. Lacka and Mashie will be very important for us next season, but don’t feel they are best suited for a bottom line roll.
- Lets get to LP!

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Anyone getting excited yet?
This was so unexpected. Who would have thought that we even had a chance to get this far in December. Quite the turn around.
I was a little surprised after the first period last night. The boys looked like they were not ready for a game of that importance. They looked nervous and out of sync.
I hope that winning that game will give them the confidence they will need in the next series.
If it is Harvard, remember that we had to play an almost perfect game to beat them by a goal. We need to be ready from the drop of the puck.
Doc, if I am still upright, I will start the scores thread for the next game. But the pressure is getting to me.

If you are one of those who believes the glass is half full - we beat a very decent Dartmouth team on a night when admittedly we started slow and we did not play at the level that we had in the previous 3 games. But we were still able to win, on the road, in a place we have not won all that often lately. What at noticed at the end of the game when the boys skated over to congratulate Owen, they were not all that excited. it was more like, well, we took care of business and let's move on.
BTW, all of us have noted that Savory pitched 5 shutouts this year and that is one shy of Joel Laing. But OS played in 24 games (out of the total of 34). Wonder if he could have reached 6 or more if he had played in those 10 games?

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

A few general observations:
- We achieved our highest league point total since the ‘12-‘13 season, where we also finished with 27. That team also had 27 points, via a 12-7-3 record. This team managed one more win than that.
- Six of our top seven point producers are seniors. The exception: Ture Linden. Of all the things I wouldn’t have guessed this season, Ture having 21 regular season points might be at the top. He was our leading conference scorer with 20 league points! He obviously benefitted from playing with Burgess most of the year, but he deserves a lot of credit in his own right. Not a flashy player, but does a lot of the little things well. Has a good set of hands. Him stepping up was a real key to our overall success this season.
- Very curious what the 4th line looks like assuming Dubinsky and Leppanen return. I’d go Herrman/Jerry/DiGrande, think they play fast. Lacka and Mashie will be very important for us next season, but don’t feel they are best suited for a bottom line roll.
- Lets get to LP!

Yes we all notice that 6 of the top scorers are seniors. But we have 12 players with double digit points this year and 6 are not seniors!! We will lose a lot of our offense at the end of the season (which I hope goes on for several weeks more) but I am not sure when the last time we RETURNED a total of at least 6 double digit point scorers for the following season??) And of course we are winning with defense (Savory now has an overall GAA of just a shade over 2.06) and he is only a sophomore and we have much of the defense that has helped him achieve these numbers (save percentage .932) all as underclassmen. I think this year is turning out just so much better than almost any of us expected but looking at the group we have returning, and the way this coach handles this team. I suspect we are going to be more of the beast of the east and less of the least of the east for a few years to come. Just my 2¢

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

If you are one of those who believes the glass is half full - we beat a very decent Dartmouth team on a night when admittedly we started slow and we did not play at the level that we had in the previous 3 games. But we were still able to win, on the road, in a place we have not won all that often lately. What at noticed at the end of the game when the boys skated over to congratulate Owen, they were not all that excited. it was more like, well, we took care of business and let's move on.
BTW, all of us have noted that Savory pitched 5 shutouts this year and that is one shy of Joel Laing. But OS played in 24 games (out of the total of 34). Wonder if he could have reached 6 or more if he had played in those 10 games?

At this point, I believe that the glass is overflowing. We did what we had to do last night, and that is something that we have not done in years.
I look forward to our series with "whoever". I am glad that they got that big game feeling out of the way and can now go back to the play that got them here.
LGR

[NPC19850330]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

BTW, all of us have noted that Savory pitched 5 shutouts this year and that is one shy of Joel Laing. But OS played in 24 games (out of the total of 34). Wonder if he could have reached 6 or more if he had played in those 10 games?

Laing's record of 6 was in the 1999-00 season. If you take a look at http://www.collegehockeystats.net/9900/schedules/renm (switching https to http), you'll notice he split shifts with Scott Prekaski for part of the season. So the same could be said of him. But I don't think anyone looking at Savory's future, including Owen himself, is too worried about him having a few nights off here and there. I'd be more worried if the skaters weren't stepping up when he isn't between pipes, or the other goalies aren't as tough in their position, similar to what happened with the women's team depending way too much on Selander and then hit bottom after she graduates.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Yes we all notice that 6 of the top scorers are seniors. But we have 12 players with double digit points this year and 6 are not seniors!! We will lose a lot of our offense at the end of the season (which I hope goes on for several weeks more) but I am not sure when the last time we RETURNED a total of at least 6 double digit point scorers for the following season??) And of course we are winning with defense (Savory now has an overall GAA of just a shade over 2.06) and he is only a sophomore and we have much of the defense that has helped him achieve these numbers (save percentage .932) all as underclassmen. I think this year is turning out just so much better than almost any of us expected but looking at the group we have returning, and the way this coach handles this team. I suspect we are going to be more of the beast of the east and less of the least of the east for a few years to come. Just my 2¢

This year, we returned 7 double digit point scorers from last year: Leppanen 19, Reilly 18, Burgess 16, Zieky 14, Polino 11, Hallbauer 11, Lacka 10.

[CLKHockey]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Congrats to RPI on the 4th place and next weekend off. Would love to see them in Placid.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Looking at both the Coaches & Media Pre-season Polls the top teams (exception Harvard) finished where predicted. Looking where RPI was predicted by both Polls I nominate Dave Smith ECAC Coach of the Year...... Coaches Poll........ 1. Cornell (8) - 118

2. Quinnipiac (3) - 109

3. Clarkson (1) - 100

4. Harvard - 93

5. Yale - 74

6. Dartmouth - 68

7. Brown - 61

8. Union - 57

9. RPI - 31

9. Princeton - 31

11. Colgate - 29

12. St. Lawrence - 21
Media Poll..... 1) Cornell (13) 185 points
2) Clarkson, 163 points
3) Quinnipiac (1) 162 points
4) Harvard (1) 150 points
5) Dartmouth (1) 123 points
6) Yale 108 points
7) Brown 96 points
8) Union 86 points
9) Colgate 54 points
10) RPI 52 points
11) Princeton 50 points
12) St. Lawrence 19 points

Yes, improved scoring, good D and a shutdown goalie has fueled this @RPI_Hockey run. that part is obvious.

however, being this group each week for 2 years #ECACHockey Coach of the Year should be an easy choice .... @RPI_HockeyCoach

— Sean Martin (@Sean_Martin77) March 1, 2020