>>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Sounds like a lot of poor excuses to me. I still contend that for RIT's program to advance past where it is they need to start winning some OOC games more regularly. Along with winning the AHA tourney. It the next step in progression IMHO. RIT has shown it can contend almost immediately after moving to DI. I think the point of being happy with contending is past.

RIT's current non-conference record overall is 5-12-2 which to me isn't bad considering the rest of the AHA. Most of the teams tend to be an anchor in that department. Most of the non-league games are on the road, which is hard to win. Also, I think other programs take RIT more seriously than they used to.

I think the next step for RIT is to win the conference tournament and get the NCAA bid. But it is tough because there are good teams in the conference. The way RIT came right out and won the conference it's first year may have made some people think that would happen every year and RIT would always roll the league. That didn't happen. I think this RIT team seems to have taken a small step backwards from previous years. I still think they are capable of winning the tournament, but it will not be easy.

As has been said before, it's a LOT easier to go from a bottom of the NCAA team to a middle of the road NCAA team than to go from middle of the road NCAA team to one of the best teams.

 

[kbranch]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

RIT's current non-conference record overall is 5-12-2 which to me isn't bad considering the rest of the AHA. Most of the teams tend to be an anchor in that department. Most of the non-league games are on the road, which is hard to win. Also, I think other programs take RIT more seriously than they used to.

I think the next step for RIT is to win the conference tournament and get the NCAA bid. But it is tough because there are good teams in the conference. The way RIT came right out and won the conference it's first year may have made some people think that would happen every year and RIT would always roll the league. That didn't happen. I think this RIT team seems to have taken a small step backwards from previous years. I still think they are capable of winning the tournament, but it will not be easy.

As has been said before, it's a LOT easier to go from a bottom of the NCAA team to a middle of the road NCAA team than to go from middle of the road NCAA team to one of the best teams.

I think we have seen a shift in our focus since we entered the DI ranks. First it was to win the conference, which we did. We also wanted to collect some good non-conference wins, and we played well and surprised some great teams along the way. Now the focus is on an NCAA birth - which can only be done via the conference tourney. Of course we want to advance in the NCAAs, but realistically that will be the next progression. We haven't done well in our own conference tournament to date, and all efforts will be towards putting together an AHA tourney-winning team. Winning non-conference games is a good indication of growth and success, but it is not the #1 goal at this point.

Win the conference tournament, regardless of non-conference wins and loses during the regular season. End of story.

 

[LtPowers]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Burt needs to start scoring more.

Burt's tied for second in points, assists, and goals. Sure, it'd be nice if he scored more but that goes for everyone. Why single out Burt?


Powers &8^]

 

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Burt's tied for second in points, assists, and goals. Sure, it'd be nice if he scored more but that goes for everyone. Why single out Burt?


Powers &8^]

Maybe I should have added the word "again". He's had 1 goal in the last 8 games. He's only had a couple of assists since then. The way he started out, I figured he would have more than 5 goals. I probably singled him out as he is the best forward on the team in my opinion.

Yes, everybody needs to score more. The forwards especially need to pick up the slack.

 

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

During this break, the Corner Crew web site will start their "Freshman Four" series as we interview the freshman. Today's entry: Brian Potts.

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Looking at the stats Favot and Burt are 1 and 2 in scoring but the next 4 players are defensemen. RIT needs more balanced (and reliable) scoring from the forwards. The good news is they are underclassmen so their production should go up year after year. Looking back its normal for most players to have their most productive offensive years as a senior. Which makes sense. Our senior class (according to the RIT website) is: Ringwald, Mazur, Matic, Alexin, and DeMichael. Now Ringwald and Mazur are putting up numbers but Matic and Alexin have never been known for big offense output. They are great defensively and when they graduate RIT will lose it's two best penalty killers. But that might be where part of the problem lies, our senior forwards are checkers and not goal scorers. Though with that shorty Matic scored on Saturday I could be wrong

Now this doesn't let the juniors off the hook. Need some more out of Murphy especially. He has the hands and a great shot I just think he makes 1 too many moves sometimes and turns the puck over.

And since I was looking at the stats Tanev is a +13 which is very impressive especially for being a freshmen. Mazur is a -6 I guess he does all his scoring on the power play

 

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Mazur is a -6 I guess he does all his scoring on the power play

Mazur has 5 power play goals.

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

I think the game did matter (as if you couldn't tell by my previous posts). 2 years ago RIT was beating Cornell and Minnesota with players recruited to play D3. This season we couldn't muster a win again the last place team in what might be "the next worse" conference. In my eyes that's not the program making progress. Yeah it didn't matter for the standings but in just about every other aspect it does. I am really hopefully we take it to Minnesota State to give us a good start in 2010 and set us up to finish strong and take that momentum into the playoffs. No more "RIT deserved to win that game" excuses. If RIT deserves to win a game then they need to win it.

Are you referring to Niagara? Their record doesn't reflect how good a hockey team that is. The balk of the CHA schedule is still to come and they will not be in last place for long. They will battling with Bemidji for an NCAA birth. Next year they also be right near the top of the Atlantic standings. The CHA 2nd worst conference? The same CHA that has sent as many teams to the NCAA Frozen Four the last two years as the might WCHA?

A lot of you guys are sounding like Remy now, get some perspective here. We are not a D-I powerhouse. Those days of just stepping into a barn and scaring people are gone with the D-III days. We have already established ourself as a power house in the Atlantic. However that is a conference which winning percentage against the other conferences is some where around 30%. Lot of the games are played on the road, lot of the games are early on when you trying to discover your team.

Seriously what more do you want. 3 years as a full memeber of D-I. Two conference regular season titles. Wins against Cornell, Minnesota, and Saint Lawerence. Sold Out Arena all most every night, over 7,000 at the Blue Cross game. Can you not see what is going on here, can you not read between the lines? Are you so desperate to wave your RIT banner and brag to the hockey world how good RIT is that you can't even see how far this program has come? Yes I want more, yes the team wants more. However it is really sad that the players, coaches, and administrators have worked so hard and accomplished so much that some of their own fans dump on their accomplishments because of their delusions of grandeur. Not to mention that must of these people seem to have no idea what is going on on the ice at the Ritter or around any other ice in college hockey. Very sad in my opinion!

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Probably should have been called??? Absolutely should have been called - it was as obvious an intential cover of the puck as it gets. A faceoff in the Niagara zone with a two man advange (pulled goalie) and 8 or so seconds on the clock could have made a difference.

I wish the team had taken care of business on the power play - that, along with burning too much daylight on the PK, made the difference.

My point there was that it was not even close to penalty shot and it was out right embarassing for a color commentator not ti know that...

It was under 5 seconds when he grabbed the puck. I don't think the refs could see it, I could not see it, I did not know till I saw the tape that he had covered the puck. Would it had made a difference in the game, even if it had been 8 seconds, it would have taken a miracule.

 

[RITProf]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Are you referring to Niagara? Their record doesn't reflect how good a hockey team that is. The balk of the CHA schedule is still to come and they will not be in last place for long. They will battling with Bemidji for an NCAA birth. Next year they also be right near the top of the Atlantic standings. The CHA 2nd worst conference? The same CHA that has sent as many teams to the NCAA Frozen Four the last two years as the might WCHA?

A lot of you guys are sounding like Remy now, get some perspective here. We are not a D-I powerhouse. Those days of just stepping into a barn and scaring people are gone with the D-III days. We have already established ourself as a power house in the Atlantic. However that is a conference which winning percentage against the other conferences is some where around 30%. Lot of the games are played on the road, lot of the games are early on when you trying to discover your team.

Seriously what more do you want. 3 years as a full memeber of D-I. Two conference regular season titles. Wins against Cornell, Minnesota, and Saint Lawerence. Sold Out Arena all most every night, over 7,000 at the Blue Cross game. Can you not see what is going on here, can you not read between the lines? Are you so desperate to wave your RIT banner and brag to the hockey world how good RIT is that you can't even see how far this program has come? Yes I want more, yes the team wants more. However it is really sad that the players, coaches, and administrators have worked so hard and accomplished so much that some of their own fans dump on their accomplishments because of their delusions of grandeur. Not to mention that must of these people seem to have no idea what is going on on the ice at the Ritter or around any other ice in college hockey. Very sad in my opinion!

Well put, Tom. So good it deserved to be repeated!

 

[kbranch]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

It was under 5 seconds when he grabbed the puck. I don't think the refs could see it, I could not see it, I did not know till I saw the tape that he had covered the puck. Would it had made a difference in the game, even if it had been 8 seconds, it would have taken a miracule.

Friday, February 16, 2007
Mercyhurst (MRC) at RIT (RIT)

3rd Period
RIT 6 - 5 6x5 PP GW LL Dan Ringwald (4) (Al Mazur, Matt Smith) 19:58

This was off a faceoff to the right of Mercyhurst goalie Wakefield at the Ritter, right in front of the Corner Crew.

http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0607/boxes/mmrcrit1.f16

 

[MattS]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Are you referring to Niagara? Their record doesn't reflect how good a hockey team that is. The balk of the CHA schedule is still to come and they will not be in last place for long. They will battling with Bemidji for an NCAA birth. Next year they also be right near the top of the Atlantic standings. The CHA 2nd worst conference? The same CHA that has sent as many teams to the NCAA Frozen Four the last two years as the might WCHA?

What? Are you seriously trying to pass off the CHA as an equal to the WCHA? hahahahahahahaha! Niagara is a bad team. Try to spin it all you want but they are bad. As for them contending for their conference title, well since they are in a 4 team conference and both Alabama-Huntsville and Robert Morris (3 combined wins) are horrible they very well might contend but I doubt it. It's Bemidji's to lose.

A lot of you guys are sounding like Remy now, get some perspective here. We are not a D-I powerhouse. Those days of just stepping into a barn and scaring people are gone with the D-III days. We have already established ourself as a power house in the Atlantic. However that is a conference which winning percentage against the other conferences is some where around 30%. Lot of the games are played on the road, lot of the games are early on when you trying to discover your team.

I don't think anyone is insinuation that RIT is a "D-I powerhouse". I certainly am not. I don't think RIT ever will be a DI powerhouse. Or at least not in the foreseeable future with the limitations they have. They simply are not set up to compete without scholies. It's the reality of the NCAA.

Seriously what more do you want. 3 years as a full memeber of D-I. Two conference regular season titles. Wins against Cornell, Minnesota, and Saint Lawerence. Sold Out Arena all most every night, over 7,000 at the Blue Cross game. Can you not see what is going on here, can you not read between the lines? Are you so desperate to wave your RIT banner and brag to the hockey world how good RIT is that you can't even see how far this program has come? Yes I want more, yes the team wants more. However it is really sad that the players, coaches, and administrators have worked so hard and accomplished so much that some of their own fans dump on their accomplishments because of their delusions of grandeur. Not to mention that must of these people seem to have no idea what is going on on the ice at the Ritter or around any other ice in college hockey. Very sad in my opinion!

I agree that RIT has come a long way withing their confines in a short amount of time. That is the only part of your post you are correct on. It doesn't change my mind that I believe that RIT has apparently, by the results, stalled as a program when it comes to winning outside of the AHA. Deflect and spin all you want it doesn't change the fact that RIT is 0-4-0 in OOC play. I don't think saying that the team needs to do better in OOC to take the next step is "fans dump[ing] on their accomplishments because of their delusions of grandeur.". It's simply stating what needs to accomplish for the next progression and lamenting the fact that they just lost to a two win team.

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Are you referring to Niagara?

Duh. Who was it, Bill Parcells? that said: "You are what your record says you are"

A lot of you guys are sounding like Remy now, get some perspective here. We are not a D-I powerhouse. Those days of just stepping into a barn and scaring people are gone with the D-III days. We have already established ourself as a power house in the Atlantic. However that is a conference which winning percentage against the other conferences is some where around 30%. Lot of the games are played on the road, lot of the games are early on when you trying to discover your team.

Seriously what more do you want. 3 years as a full memeber of D-I. Two conference regular season titles. Wins against Cornell, Minnesota, and Saint Lawerence. Sold Out Arena all most every night, over 7,000 at the Blue Cross game. Can you not see what is going on here, can you not read between the lines? Are you so desperate to wave your RIT banner and brag to the hockey world how good RIT is that you can't even see how far this program has come? Yes I want more, yes the team wants more. However it is really sad that the players, coaches, and administrators have worked so hard and accomplished so much that some of their own fans dump on their accomplishments because of their delusions of grandeur. Not to mention that must of these people seem to have no idea what is going on on the ice at the Ritter or around any other ice in college hockey. Very sad in my opinion!

Seriously you're pretty off base with this rant. The point I am making (and others) is that we probably don't have as good of a shot at making it out of our conference tournament (this year) because we seem to have taken a step back or two this year. I love how well the program has done since making the jump to D1. But last I knew there wasn't a grace period for getting sellouts where we aren't allowed to criticize the play of some of the team. Isn't this what fans do?

 

[MattS]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Duh. Who was it, Bill Parcells? that said: "You are what your record says you are"

Yes he said that and it's true.

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

It was under 5 seconds when he grabbed the puck. I don't think the refs could see it, I could not see it, I did not know till I saw the tape that he had covered the puck. Would it had made a difference in the game, even if it had been 8 seconds, it would have taken a miracule.

8 seconds is plenty of time to win a draw, get a shot, and crash the net. Which while low would still have given us a chance, especially if they called a minor penalty we would have had 6 skaters on for their 4.

 

[kbranch]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

8 seconds is plenty of time to win a draw, get a shot, and crash the net. Which while low would still have given us a chance, especially if they called a minor penalty we would have had 6 skaters on for their 4.

We scored 5 seconds off the draw against Mercyhurst in Feb 2007 to win the game. Reference the box score I posted above. The refs not seeing the infraction is no excuse - it is their job to see it. What else should they have been looking at? It was clear from the visitors side of the arena. Does it mean we would have scored on the ensuing faceoff? No. Could we have scored to tie the game with a faceoff in the Niagara zone and a two-man advantage (goalie pulled) with seconds left? Maybe - we have done a similar feat before.

Did we take care of business during the rest of the game when we had pleanty of chances? No.

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

We scored 5 seconds off the draw against Mercyhurst in Feb 2007 to win the game. Reference the box score I posted above. The refs not seeing the infraction is no excuse - it is their job to see it. What else should they have been looking at? It was clear from the visitors side of the arena. Does it mean we would have scored on the ensuing faceoff? No. Could we have scored to tie the game with a faceoff in the Niagara zone and a two-man advantage (goalie pulled) with seconds left? Maybe - we have done a similar feat before.

Did we take care of business during the rest of the game when we had pleanty of chances? No.

It was obvious all over the arena. I think the refs were worried about the game cutting into their post game beer time if it went to OT.

 

[RITProf]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

I don't think anyone is insinuation that RIT is a "D-I powerhouse". I certainly am not. I don't think RIT ever will be a DI powerhouse. Or at least not in the foreseeable future with the limitations they have. They simply are not set up to compete without scholies. It's the reality of the NCAA.

There are plenty of reasons, but lack of athletic scholarships is not one of them. In many ways, the aid packages RIT can offer are far more attractive than athletic scholarships (e.g., not limited in number, not lost if the student doesn't make the team, get's seriously injured, etc.). More important reasons are the arena, the magnitude of other financial support (staff, recruiting, etc.), and the AHA (we need to at least be in ECAC to get to "powerhouse" status, or the AHA has to rise to the level of at large bids).

The lack of athletic scholarships only means we can't get a wealthy and dumb player unless he wants to pay his own way!

 

[kbranch]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

There are plenty of reasons, but lack of athletic scholarships is not one of them. In many ways, the aid packages RIT can offer are far more attractive than athletic scholarships (e.g., not limited in number, not lost if the student doesn't make the team, get's seriously injured, etc.). More important reasons are the arena, the magnitude of other financial support (staff, recruiting, etc.), and the AHA (we need to at least be in ECAC to get to "powerhouse" status, or the AHA has to rise to the level of at large bids).

The lack of athletic scholarships only means we can't get a wealthy and dumb player unless he wants to pay his own way!

Athletic scholarships would be another tool in the belt to attract good talent. It doesn't mean that the team/coach/program would forgo the academic standards they have in place today, though I am sure it would be tempting at times. I don't think Wilson is the kind of coach to compromise his standards. Aid packages would still be available to players who aren't on an athletic scholarship, like they are today.

 

[RITProf]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' The Ritter For Another Year

Athletic scholarships would be another tool in the belt to attract good talent. It doesn't mean that the team/coach/program would forgo the academic standards they have in place today, though I am sure it would be tempting at times. I don't think Wilson is the kind of coach to compromise his standards. Aid packages would still be available to players who aren't on an athletic scholarship, like they are today.

Yes, another tool, but I don't think a terribly important one. The question would be how many top recruits would say no to an aid package and yes to an athletic scholarship? It's difficult to say, but assuming there is no hard limit on resources under either scenario, I'd guess the number is not significant and not enough to really impact the quality of the program. (E.g. Cornell seems to have no problem putting together a team that most would consider a powerhouse and they easily compete with ECAC teams with the full load of scholarships but less going for them in other dimensions. Union is an example of a school that could probably benefit from athletic scholarships. If RIT throws in all the other resources we can easily be like Cornell given our size, financial position, etc.) I just don't buy any part of the argument that some make that RIT can't get to the upper echelon without athletic scholarships. That might be true for some schools, but those would have hard time even with scholarships.

For the sake of argument, you could say that RIT is currently a middle of the pack DI program overall (say ranked 29th or so out of 58). That would mean there are plenty of teams with a full complement of athletic scholarships and significantly longer history in DI that are already ranked below RIT on a consistent basis. Throw in a new arena, some NCAA success, and maybe a conference upgrade and the sky's the limit (see Bemidji).

Fun to speculate nonetheless. I do hope RIT comes up with a way (probably a big donor) to build a first-rate arena on campus before too many years pass by. IMHO, that's the biggest missing link.