>>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I think we're missing a lot of little pieces, and it's adding up to one big hole.

- We have injuries to some of our top scorers -- all upperclassmen. We've been without Garbowsky and Mitchell for a while, but against Holy Cross we also missed Lynch. They've been some of our most reliable goal-scorers, and we didn't have them.

Absolutely. Garbowsky not only puts up really good numbers, but he makes everyone on the ice with him better. He just works hard every shift and wins those battles that we've been losing, especially along the boards.

- We have a slightly weak defensive corps. Our senior class never developed into lock-down d-men, and our only junior is Brownell, who never plays. The rest of our D is young but has a lot of potential.... but at the moment, we lack a true lock-down defensive pairing.

The problem is that our seniors and natural top pairing D-men are both offense first guys. Nolan and Greg love to skate with the puck, they love to pinch, and they love to cheat in for scoring opportunities. This leads to the majority of our defensive lapses...

When they stay back and play D, they are actually fairly solid. Nolan is so much better this year than he has been in previous years.

I definitely see a lot to be encouraged by out of the younger core though. Kuqali has played consistantly well and Perron-Fontaine doesn't play like a freshman at all. Fostvelt and Holland are pretty good too.

- We have slightly unsteady goaltending. Good but not great.

Even though I am on the Rotolo bandwagon, this is definitely true. I think all the looks he's getting as a freshman will turn him into a great goalie for the future at RIT...at least I hope so. He's given us more reason to believe than Watson/Ruby ever did taking over for Madolora.

- They seem to lack chemistry as a team. They send passes to no one, fail to be in position when a puck comes out into the opponents' slot, and look awkward in transition.

This is the downside of having a deeper bench, too. Wilson seems to be rotating a lot of guys in and out of the lineup between Friday and Saturday. This combined with injuries to team leaders/upper classmen makes it hard to keep lines together long enough to develop that chemistry so important to a team that isn't necessarily skills based (in the way a line of say Favot-Brenner-Lynch was).

Our power play is really good, though. And I noticed that 5-on-5 in the offensive zone, there were big gaps where there should be a player. My theory: the unsteady defense and goaltending is forcing them to keep both D-men at the blue line, keeping them from pinching in. So we have D-men at the blue line, two guys fighting for the puck in the corner, one forward off to the side to receive a pass, and no one in the slot ready to fire the puck at the net.

Our powerplay is statistically good, true. It's incredibly frustrating to watch at times, but when it comes down to it, Colevecchia has a great shot and if he shoots enough one-timers, eventually one makes it through. If teams were to realize this, I feel like they could easily shut our PP down.

 

[SmallTown]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Speaking of a deep bench and rotating players in and out a lot. Aside from the known injuries and McMullen breaking a team rule and being sat Saturday, I don't really understand why Wilson would sit Shumway who is a good defenseman in favor of Fosvelt and Holland who he then has ride the bench the entire game? They both got almost no ice time on Saturday night and it seems every time he plays Fosvelt he ends up riding the bench. Then you've got either Raibl or Shumway out and are playing 5 D-men. I'm a bit baffled by that. I also don't understand why Reid and Hamburg rode the bench pretty much the entire game Saturday night? I know with McMullen out they didn't have 4 complete lines, but I don't understand why they weren't rotated in more often. What a waste to have 4 guys suited, but riding the bench especially Reid and Hamburg who I think play well. It's not surprising to me that they fell apart in the 3rd on Saturday, starting making stupid mistakes, when they were basically playing short handed. They played excellent in the 1st and 2nd periods, but I think they just ran out of gas.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Speaking of a deep bench and rotating players in and out a lot. Aside from the known injuries and McMullen breaking a team rule and being sat Saturday, I don't really understand why Wilson would sit Shumway who is a good defenseman in favor of Fosvelt and Holland who he then has ride the bench the entire game? They both got almost no ice time on Saturday night and it seems every time he plays Fosvelt he ends up riding the bench. Then you've got either Raibl or Shumway out and are playing 5 D-men. I'm a bit baffled by that. I also don't understand why Reid and Hamburg rode the bench pretty much the entire game Saturday night? I know with McMullen out they didn't have 4 complete lines, but I don't understand why they weren't rotated in more often. What a waste to have 4 guys suited, but riding the bench especially Reid and Hamburg who I think play well. It's not surprising to me that they fell apart in the 3rd on Saturday, starting making stupid mistakes, when they were basically playing short handed. They played excellent in the 1st and 2nd periods, but I think they just ran out of gas.

Hamburg could play for 20 minutes and you still wouldn't notice he was on the ice.

Holland seems to be designated the goon..every time he's out there he seems determined to settle a score with somebody and not much else. Maybe that's why Wilson doesn't want to play him a lot in tight games where you can't afford the PIMs. I can't find any TOI numbers but I felt like Fostvelt was out the appropriate amount of time for a 3rd pairing D man who doesn't get special teams minutes.

Shumway/Holland/Fostvelt/Raibl are all part of the rotating crew though. Typically two of them play Friday and sit Saturday, and vice versa. It's been the same with Hamburg and McMullen.

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I thought Shumway had a pretty rough game on Friday. If coach had the same thinking might be why he sat him down too. Like Winters said Hamburg hasn't really stood out or developed, Reid hasn't really either

 

[ritBLKnORGsuit]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Speaking of a deep bench and rotating players in and out a lot. Aside from the known injuries and McMullen breaking a team rule and being sat Saturday, I don't really understand why Wilson would sit Shumway who is a good defenseman in favor of Fosvelt and Holland who he then has ride the bench the entire game? They both got almost no ice time on Saturday night and it seems every time he plays Fosvelt he ends up riding the bench. Then you've got either Raibl or Shumway out and are playing 5 D-men. I'm a bit baffled by that. I also don't understand why Reid and Hamburg rode the bench pretty much the entire game Saturday night? I know with McMullen out they didn't have 4 complete lines, but I don't understand why they weren't rotated in more often. What a waste to have 4 guys suited, but riding the bench especially Reid and Hamburg who I think play well. It's not surprising to me that they fell apart in the 3rd on Saturday, starting making stupid mistakes, when they were basically playing short handed. They played excellent in the 1st and 2nd periods, but I think they just ran out of gas.

I've heard Wilson is playing favorites this season so those players might be on Wilson's bad side and therefore don't get a lot of playing time.

Holland seems to be designated the goon..every time he's out there he seems determined to settle a score with somebody and not much else. Maybe that's why Wilson doesn't want to play him a lot in tight games where you can't afford the PIMs. I can't find any TOI numbers but I felt like Fostvelt was out the appropriate amount of time for a 3rd pairing D man who doesn't get special teams minutes.

I don't think Holland is the designated goon Thompson seems to have that role covered for RIT. Thompson is the one constantly getting into fights with the other team and getting penalized for not being able to keep his cool. His stats show he has the most penalties (22) and penalty minutes (74) on the team.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I don't think Holland is the designated goon Thompson seems to have that role covered for RIT. Thompson is the one constantly getting into fights with the other team and getting penalized for not being able to keep his cool. His stats show he has the most penalties (22) and penalty minutes (74) on the team.

Thompson has also played 25 games to Holland's 9.

Having been in Ritter for several of his games, Holland definitely gets into it after every whistle he's on the ice for. Thompson plays hard and hits people a lot, and that style leads to a lot of penalties, but Holland clearly likes to rustle jimmies.

Also even if Wilson is playing favorites, he only seems to be benching ineffective/underperforming players..so it's not like he's unfairly helping guys he likes get over on everyone else. No one can seriously watch Hamburg's play, look at his stats, and then tell me he deserves MORE ice time.

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Nice to see we are now developing conspiracy theories on the line up decisions. My favorite quote for the weekend.... "We have a slightly weak defensive corps."

Try extremely weak on the blue line. Since I started watching RIT in the fall of 1998, only 03-04 was this weak on the blue line. I watched Saturday's game standing next to a old wise hockey man, and I swear we most have said something like "Now why would you move the puck there?", and funny enough the old man said that right before the game winning goal. The top 2 guys seem to think this is a Lacrosse game and they are "midis". The decision making is lacking of hockey 101. I don't attend practice or film sessions, but I have to believe a Coach who has been as successful as Wayne Wilson, and a coach who was a defense-man and caption of a National Championship team has had to say more than once, don't throw the puck blindly out of the zone on the backhand. That is most likely why Shumway sat on Saturday night. Fairness to him it is just one of many repeated sins the blue line has made, but you can't sit all of them. But I am starting to wish we could. The good news, I really have no complaints about Perron-Fontain, he kind of reminds me of Saracino when he was a Freshman and I think PF is further along than Chris was on skating and puck handling...

You know my heart goes out to a Colevecchia, he looked ready to skate through a wall to try and help this team win. Yet still it was a horrible giveaway by Mike that really changed a first period that RIT was dominating. Not long after the mistake that made it 1-1 the advantage in Shots that RIT had vanished and the game was even from their on out. It was like they were good to that moment and then, give away, back of the net and "here we go again..."

Missing Garbowsky and Adam Mitchell hurt, but they still should be able to take more than a point from Holy Cross. Wilson basically said it when interview, I will say it a little more simple, they are not a good hockey team right now. I think the problem is it's not just one class, but members from more than one class hurting the room. I still do like the freshmen and think they will be key to a turn around in the future, but they need not pick up bad habit and glad Wilson sitting guys for being "silly". RIT has some good Freshman classes, need a really good one with a goaltender for next season.

As for this year, I just tell the guys, especially the upperclassman, how do you want to be remember?

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

http://www.starnewsdaily.com/sports/other/story/Mikowski-commits-to-RIT-2013-12-12

Bumped into Article on Max Mikowski committing to RIT

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

http://www.starnewsdaily.com/sports/other/story/Mikowski-commits-to-RIT-2013-12-12

Bumped into Article on Max Mikowski committing to RIT

Max's main reason for committing to RIT: “When it came down to it, the main thing that drew me to RIT was the coaches”. That might be a tough sell to some of the posters around here recently...

 

[Rochester]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Max's main reason for committing to RIT: “When it came down to it, the main thing that drew me to RIT was the coaches”. That might be a tough sell to some of the posters around here recently...

We'll see if he reaches his full potential as a senior.

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Well I actually got out to a Jr. Sabres game last night. Normally get to a few since its a stone throw from my house, but been a busy. I was impressed by Max's play in an 11-2 blow out of an extremely young Oakville Blades team. He had a goal and two nice assist. Moves well for a big man and like his hockey sense. Was in the right areas and made things happen. Hope to catch him again when the playoffs come against better team, but I saw a lot of upside in him...

 

[LtPowers]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

You know my heart goes out to a Colevecchia, he looked ready to skate through a wall to try and help this team win. Yet still it was a horrible giveaway by Mike that really changed a first period that RIT was dominating.

He certainly always wants the puck on his stick... maybe even when it shouldn't be.


Powers &8^]

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

He certainly always wants the puck on his stick... maybe even when it shouldn't be.


Powers &8^]

Shades of Cameron Burt.

Who wouldn't love to have Burt back?

 

[mar7967]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/RochesterHistory/2014/02/05/2752/5219553/

A look back at RIT's game against Bowling Green in the first D1 season...

 

[RITFan67]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

I visited the campus a few days ago and spent some time walking around the outside of the new rink. You can only see one side of the rink with the webcam view, so I thought I'd take a look at the other sides. There's been a ton of progress and the building sounds "alive" with sounds of the large heaters running. Large HVAC units have been installed on the roof at the south side. The building really seems huge and impressive when you are near it. Whoever is in charge of the RIT rink construction website should be updating it with lots of photos of the outside... AND the inside. They finally updated the paragraph that had said the steel structure was being finished!

 

[lmg6841]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Chris: These are teams moving in opposite directions: RIT has won just twice in its last 11 games

Man that hurts to read.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Wilson says Rotolo starts tonight, per his interview with Ditullio

 

[Chris Lerch]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Chris: These are teams moving in opposite directions: RIT has won just twice in its last 11 games

Man that hurts to read.

If there's a time to step up and get any kind of momentum going, these games are it. Get swept here and there's a chance to not win again in the regular season. RMU is the hottest team in the league, followed by Mercyhurst, the best team in the league, followed by road games at Air Force, where RIT has won exactly twice since moving to D-I (2-10-2, last win coming in 2008) and then ending with Canisius, who have won the last four meetings.

It's gut-check time.

 

[RITProf]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Sadly, due to some weird travel scheduling on my part, tonight could be the last game I ever see in the Ritter. I made my travel plans under the assumption there would be a home playoff series. I thought a finish below 8th was unthinkable (so I didn't think it).

Bummed...

 

[komey1]

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2013-2014 - Rocking The Ritter One Last Time <<<<<

If there's a time to step up and get any kind of momentum going, these games are it. Get swept here and there's a chance to not win again in the regular season. RMU is the hottest team in the league, followed by Mercyhurst, the best team in the league, followed by road games at Air Force, where RIT has won exactly twice since moving to D-I (2-10-2, last win coming in 2008) and then ending with Canisius, who have won the last four meetings.

It's gut-check time.

It's been gut-check time for a while. RIT has to win games to hang on for a home playoff series. The reality is that someone below them will gain points every game from here on out thanks to being in pod play.