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Re: >> RIT Tigers 2011-12 Part II: Making Some Noise at the House that Roars <<
Re: >> RIT Tigers 2011-12 Part II: Making Some Noise at the House that Roars <<
Well, it was kind of a fitting end to a team that would follow incredible highs with the lowest of lows. A night after finally getting over the hump with Niagara, they quite frankly failed to show up whatsoever last Saturday night. That performance was quite frankly among their most pathetic all season. No energy, no hustle, no effort, and apparently no pride at all. Had they competed and lost I could live with it, but when you make no effort to compete? There is no excuse for that. None.
This team was quite frankly one of the most frustrating teams to watch in quite some time. They would have moments of tremendous success and follow it up with some of the worst hockey an RIT team has played in ages. Players who were going to be depended upon coming into the season failed to deliver, or underachieved greatly (with a couple of exceptions).
And maybe a large rebuilding is exactly what is in order. This team will graduate 8 players and likely lose 1 or 2 more on top of that.
The Graduates:
Madalora: was a huge part of any success this team enjoyed since he took over the job from D-Mike. He has his spot among RIT's all time goaltenders. He could keep this team in a game they didn't belong or deserve to be in, and his presence in the net was undeniable. A well deserved fan favorite.
McReynolds: If you had told RIT fans coming into this season that he would continue to be one of the best penalty killers the program has ever had, continue to be a physical presence, continue to play with a tremendous intensity while cutting back on the penalty minutes and would chip in 15 points to boot, you would have signed up in a heartbeat. And that is exactly what he did. He quietly had a tremendous season, and a very good career at RIT.
Knowles: You absolutely cannot fault the heart, the energy, the hustle, and the ability to kill penalties like an angry badger. What was truly surprising, and disappointing, was the fact he tallied a grand total of 4 points all season. 4. I was shocked when I looked at the stats sheet, but that's exactly what happened. To say that was unexpected would be an understatement, especially after posting seasons of 13 and 17 points the 2 seasons prior.
Cornacchia: I guess he played close to his career numbers this season, posting 7 points and playing to a minus 4 on the plus/minus. He was never able to take the tremendous skating ability he has and turn it into more of an offensive presence although he was a very good faceoff man and killed penalties pretty well. I cannot figure out for the life of me if he never got on track offensively because of the role he was asked to play or if it just never clicked for him at this level. From the billing he had coming in I expected a kind of dynamic playmaker, but it just never materialized over the course of his 4 years here.
Burt: One of the most perplexing players to ever don an RIT jersey continued to perplex this season. He would finish second on the team in scoring while taking the programs all time lead in scoring for the DI era. Yet for all of that, there were stretches where he simply looked disengaged from the action going on around him. Then he would snap out of that with performances that truly showed exactly how much talent he had. And at other times it looked as though he was trying to win games all by himself, putting himself in a role that no player, no matter how good they are, can sustain and making the types of mistakes you would expect. As popular a player has been with the fans in recent history, he also had a bit of a love/hate thing going on with others, often responding to criticism posted on message boards and on Twitter with heartfelt anger and frustration. Some of the criticism was valid, some was not. But if nothing else it served to underscore exactly how much he did care about RIT, the team and the game. My lasting memory of him, and the one that underscores exactly how I think he felt about RIT, will be him kneeling down at center ice and kissing the Tiger after closing out his final game at the Ritter. Yet part of me thinks there was a whole lot more in terms of performance and skill in there that never quite came out and it makes me wonder what might have been. I think had he put the blinders on and just played the game and left some of the other stuff alone, he would have gone down as a legendary figure in RIT hockey history.
Spivak: He was quietly a tremendous presence on defense this season. I had my significant doubts about him early in his career, but he became an integral part of the defensive corps and the level of his play grew dramatically during his career at RIT. While he may have established what shall be known as the "Spivak Line" in terms of offensive production, his solid defensive play was a crucial part of the success RIT did have this past season, especially after Saracino went down for the second time.
Haltigan: Chris was RIT's #1 defenseman the past 2 seasons, played in every possible situation (even, PK, PP) and simply did everything that one could ask from a #1 defenseman. His intelligence and ability as a defender is obvious the minute he steps onto the ice. He has been an absolute rock on the back end for the past 2 seasons and his leadership will be sorely missed.
Eckenswiller: He is a story in perseverance. 2 significant knee injuries really took away a large amount of time from his career at RIT and after the second one, no one could have faulted him had he chosen to walk away. He clearly wasn't quite the player he was before each of the knee injuries, but he did a workman like job.
Overall this class isn't as bad as some would make it out to be, but I can�t deny that in many regards they underachieved, which when you think about it is quite something. 4 straight trips to the AHA tournament, an NCAA frozen 4, and 2 regular season titles and they are considered by some to be underachievers. Yet I don't think it is a totally unfair tag to hang on this group, when you look at what was left on the table on so many occasions.
Obviously there will be 8 new faces stepping into the picture to fill these spots and maybe 1 or 2 more beyond that, depending on how a couple of things sort out. This team could ultimately be turning over half the roster, which would be something unprecedented in the DI era. The returning players need to significantly step up their play and this coming years recruiting class needs to be of exceptional quality, and needs to be able to step in and have a far greater impact than this years class did. This years class of freshman was a disappointment to me.
I am hoping the coaching staff has surveyed the landscape and taken note of the trend of larger, more physical players in our competitions lineup. There were a lot of occasions this past season where I felt like RIT got physically dominated and manhandled in AHA games, far more than in past seasons, when it seemed like only out of conference teams were able to physically dominate RIT for the most part.
I think next season is going to be a tough one to watch at times, with lots of young faces trying to find their way at the DI level and it will be a real test of the coaching staff to get these guys acclimated and playing well. I think this team managing to find its way to the BCA in March would be a tremendous accomplishment, and I don't think it's a likely event.
Re: >> RIT Tigers 2011-12 Part II: Making Some Noise at the House that Roars <<
Well, it was kind of a fitting end to a team that would follow incredible highs with the lowest of lows. A night after finally getting over the hump with Niagara, they quite frankly failed to show up whatsoever last Saturday night. That performance was quite frankly among their most pathetic all season. No energy, no hustle, no effort, and apparently no pride at all. Had they competed and lost I could live with it, but when you make no effort to compete? There is no excuse for that. None.
This team was quite frankly one of the most frustrating teams to watch in quite some time. They would have moments of tremendous success and follow it up with some of the worst hockey an RIT team has played in ages. Players who were going to be depended upon coming into the season failed to deliver, or underachieved greatly (with a couple of exceptions).
And maybe a large rebuilding is exactly what is in order. This team will graduate 8 players and likely lose 1 or 2 more on top of that.
The Graduates:
Madalora: was a huge part of any success this team enjoyed since he took over the job from D-Mike. He has his spot among RIT's all time goaltenders. He could keep this team in a game they didn't belong or deserve to be in, and his presence in the net was undeniable. A well deserved fan favorite.
McReynolds: If you had told RIT fans coming into this season that he would continue to be one of the best penalty killers the program has ever had, continue to be a physical presence, continue to play with a tremendous intensity while cutting back on the penalty minutes and would chip in 15 points to boot, you would have signed up in a heartbeat. And that is exactly what he did. He quietly had a tremendous season, and a very good career at RIT.
Knowles: You absolutely cannot fault the heart, the energy, the hustle, and the ability to kill penalties like an angry badger. What was truly surprising, and disappointing, was the fact he tallied a grand total of 4 points all season. 4. I was shocked when I looked at the stats sheet, but that's exactly what happened. To say that was unexpected would be an understatement, especially after posting seasons of 13 and 17 points the 2 seasons prior.
Cornacchia: I guess he played close to his career numbers this season, posting 7 points and playing to a minus 4 on the plus/minus. He was never able to take the tremendous skating ability he has and turn it into more of an offensive presence although he was a very good faceoff man and killed penalties pretty well. I cannot figure out for the life of me if he never got on track offensively because of the role he was asked to play or if it just never clicked for him at this level. From the billing he had coming in I expected a kind of dynamic playmaker, but it just never materialized over the course of his 4 years here.
Burt: One of the most perplexing players to ever don an RIT jersey continued to perplex this season. He would finish second on the team in scoring while taking the programs all time lead in scoring for the DI era. Yet for all of that, there were stretches where he simply looked disengaged from the action going on around him. Then he would snap out of that with performances that truly showed exactly how much talent he had. And at other times it looked as though he was trying to win games all by himself, putting himself in a role that no player, no matter how good they are, can sustain and making the types of mistakes you would expect. As popular a player has been with the fans in recent history, he also had a bit of a love/hate thing going on with others, often responding to criticism posted on message boards and on Twitter with heartfelt anger and frustration. Some of the criticism was valid, some was not. But if nothing else it served to underscore exactly how much he did care about RIT, the team and the game. My lasting memory of him, and the one that underscores exactly how I think he felt about RIT, will be him kneeling down at center ice and kissing the Tiger after closing out his final game at the Ritter. Yet part of me thinks there was a whole lot more in terms of performance and skill in there that never quite came out and it makes me wonder what might have been. I think had he put the blinders on and just played the game and left some of the other stuff alone, he would have gone down as a legendary figure in RIT hockey history.
Spivak: He was quietly a tremendous presence on defense this season. I had my significant doubts about him early in his career, but he became an integral part of the defensive corps and the level of his play grew dramatically during his career at RIT. While he may have established what shall be known as the "Spivak Line" in terms of offensive production, his solid defensive play was a crucial part of the success RIT did have this past season, especially after Saracino went down for the second time.
Haltigan: Chris was RIT's #1 defenseman the past 2 seasons, played in every possible situation (even, PK, PP) and simply did everything that one could ask from a #1 defenseman. His intelligence and ability as a defender is obvious the minute he steps onto the ice. He has been an absolute rock on the back end for the past 2 seasons and his leadership will be sorely missed.
Eckenswiller: He is a story in perseverance. 2 significant knee injuries really took away a large amount of time from his career at RIT and after the second one, no one could have faulted him had he chosen to walk away. He clearly wasn't quite the player he was before each of the knee injuries, but he did a workman like job.
Overall this class isn't as bad as some would make it out to be, but I can�t deny that in many regards they underachieved, which when you think about it is quite something. 4 straight trips to the AHA tournament, an NCAA frozen 4, and 2 regular season titles and they are considered by some to be underachievers. Yet I don't think it is a totally unfair tag to hang on this group, when you look at what was left on the table on so many occasions.
Obviously there will be 8 new faces stepping into the picture to fill these spots and maybe 1 or 2 more beyond that, depending on how a couple of things sort out. This team could ultimately be turning over half the roster, which would be something unprecedented in the DI era. The returning players need to significantly step up their play and this coming years recruiting class needs to be of exceptional quality, and needs to be able to step in and have a far greater impact than this years class did. This years class of freshman was a disappointment to me.
I am hoping the coaching staff has surveyed the landscape and taken note of the trend of larger, more physical players in our competitions lineup. There were a lot of occasions this past season where I felt like RIT got physically dominated and manhandled in AHA games, far more than in past seasons, when it seemed like only out of conference teams were able to physically dominate RIT for the most part.
I think next season is going to be a tough one to watch at times, with lots of young faces trying to find their way at the DI level and it will be a real test of the coaching staff to get these guys acclimated and playing well. I think this team managing to find its way to the BCA in March would be a tremendous accomplishment, and I don't think it's a likely event.
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