Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2018/2019 - Time For The Tigers to Roar <<<
Were you actually at the games or just look at the box score? RIT outshot A-State on Friday, and would have been in it for a few bad bounces and a couple soft goals in the end from the backup goalie. Saturday, with Drackett back in net, RIT played another good game to just come up short. Don't forget, A-State is ranked and more importantly, #8 in Pairwise so this is not some bottom feeder team they played
Frankly, it sounds like you're the one reading from a boxscore in an attempt to make Friday's game look better than it really was here. They were badly outplayed for all but about 10 minutes in the 2nd period where they were ascendant when they were down 3 goals. Everything outside of that 10 minutes came from the outside and had very little chance of beating a good keeper. Then, once they scored, Arizona State turned the screws and not only allowed just 7 shots over the final 22 minutes or so but scored 3 more times to put the game away. Yes, there were a couple soft goals, but there were plenty of other grade-A chances Arizona State had that didn't go in. The SOG total of this game was deceiving - RIT was never really in the game while it was close.
komey said:
What kind of growth are you looking for? I don't think RIT is a mediocre team - just one that has had a couple down years where they were still not near the bottom of the league. This year's team looks to be much better than that. As for a mediocre league - that's actually a step UP from where the league was before. The bottom teams are way more competitive now than they were back then. Just what exactly is it that you expect?
Mediocre might be harsh when describing RIT with regards to the rest of the conference, but they have been barely above average in winning percentage for about 7-8 years. To be exact, from 2012-2019 they are a grand total of 5 games over .500 over 186 games. That's a .513 winning percentage over 7 years of play. I'm not sure mediocre sounds too far off. It sounds more like a mediocre team got hot at the right time a couple of times than any consistent performance over that span. (I think the Garbowski team was legitimately great by the end of the year, but I do not feel the same way about the year after - I feel that team did just get hot at the right time.) Certainly they have a chance to end this season on a high note and even compete for the regular season championship for the first time in that span, particularly with what their schedule is coming down the home stretch, but let's not count our chickens before they hatch. They could just as easily struggle with the poor teams down the stretch, limp to the finish line, and end up having to play in the first round yet again.
As for the conference, mediocre is being kind. For all the improvements the bottom of the league has made, the conference is still playing less than .300 hockey against the rest of the country - lower than the last two seasons (when it peaked at .330), and even at .330 you're still looking at the worst conference in college hockey.
I do think it's a little bit ridiculous to downplay what Wilson has done at the D-1 level (particularly in the early days), and I'd like to wait to see what the end result of this season is and where the team is trending at that point before making any sweeping judgements about much of anything, but I do think that if this team fails to reach the last 4 in the conference again, that some conversations may need to at least begin.
