RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Fair point. I guess I based those judgements on how they left the team. I understand they had to make the decisions that were best for them and wished them well like everyone else-it just seemed they came and the focus wasn't on RPI hockey but the next level. I did not mean to judge their decisions it was just an observation. All of them are gone now and new leaders will emerge.

When the NHL is waving money at you, it's hard to say no, especially when you're an impressionable young man (which all young men are). To some extent, every man in that locker room wants to play at the next level and like it or not, that's why student athletes come to RPI and that's the only real way to bring the very best to the school - the promise that the program will develop them enough to make them ready for the next level.

Hindsight being what it is, both men could have used another year or two in Troy, it seems. Pirri probably just one year, D'Amigo probably could have used a couple it looks like. But regardless of whether they left early or not, the dollars that they're now making could well help bring in bigger fish.

Not sure about the leadership aspect but it's probably fairly moot since they were both freshmen when they were here. D'Amigo was named an assistant captain before he left, so that may be an indication of his leadership capability.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

D'Amigo was named an assistant captain before he left, so that may be an indication of his leadership capability.

Good point.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Not sure about the leadership aspect but it's probably fairly moot since they were both freshmen when they were here. D'Amigo was named an assistant captain before he left, so that may be an indication of his leadership capability.

They both came in promising to improve the power play to a certain level. They were not shy, and the fact that they produced what they promised gives an indication of their confidence and leadership.
Certainly, they were both leaders on the ice.
Once again, I will say that we continued to improve after they left, so they are no longer relevant to todays situation. Would we be better this year with them? Sure. But we did not need them to improve last year.
Honestly, I have no idea what the problem is this year. Going in, we were happy with the leadership in the locker room.
At the beginning of the year, we had great defense and goaltending. Lack of scoring was not a surprise as we had significant injuries and the scoring was going to come from freshman.
What happened to the defense and goaltending? I believe that all of the freshman that we were counting on have now scored at least one goal. So they should be able to relax and get on with their normal abilities.
I see a lot of good play from JL and Schroeder. I have not seen the others in person, so I will not comment on them.
Defense wins championships, and we had that in the beginning. So how do we get it back?

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

They both came in promising to improve the power play to a certain level. They were not shy, and the fact that they produced what they promised gives an indication of their confidence and leadership.
Certainly, they were both leaders on the ice.
Once again, I will say that we continued to improve after they left, so they are no longer relevant to todays situation. Would we be better this year with them? Sure. But we did not need them to improve last year.

Agreed - especially considering that had they not left, we probably do not have one or two of our freshman forwards and I kind of suspect that's definitely Neal and if there's a second one, Schroeder.

Honestly, I have no idea what the problem is this year. Going in, we were happy with the leadership in the locker room.

Always difficult to know exactly what the situation is with leadership - case in point, there's little way any of us would have known that Justin Smith, with his limited ice time, is a leader in practice and in the locker room. All we definitely know is that when he plays, he's got a heck of a lot of heart. It's worth bearing in mind that every single captain on the team last year (after D'Amigo's departure) was a senior. That's in line with Appert's usual reliance on his seniors as leaders on the team, but it could also be at least somewhat telling that there wasn't a lot of faith in the juniors (now seniors) to even wear an A. Recall that John Kennedy was wearing the C as a junior, so it's not like that would be out of character to see a junior in the defined leadership.

It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here, if anywhere. I kind of doubt we're going to see any letters get stripped at this point - even if they were, who'd get them? And perhaps even more concerning, if there aren't any juniors that are among the captains and assistant captains now, who's on deck next year?

At the beginning of the year, we had great defense and goaltending. Lack of scoring was not a surprise as we had significant injuries and the scoring was going to come from freshman.
What happened to the defense and goaltending? I believe that all of the freshman that we were counting on have now scored at least one goal. So they should be able to relax and get on with their normal abilities.
Defense wins championships, and we had that in the beginning. So how do we get it back?

The $64,000 question. The worst thing of all so far this season is that the defense went to hell just about the same time the offense started improving - I won't say "got better," but it certainly seems to be on its way. Then the one thing that was working stopped working.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Agreed - especially considering that had they not left, we probably do not have one or two of our freshman forwards and I kind of suspect that's definitely Neal and if there's a second one, Schroeder.

I agree about Neal. It wouldn't surprise me if the second one would have been Laliberte. It's conceivable that he didn't get along with Pirri when they were teammates on Team Canada East. it's just a guess, however. Anyway, I am happy that we have the ones that we got this year.

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

I agree about Neal. It wouldn't surprise me if the second one would have been Laliberte. It's conceivable that he didn't get along with Pirri when they were teammates on Team Canada East. it's just a guess, however. Anyway, I am happy that we have the ones that we got this year.

Considering that Laliberte never decommitted and committed before Pirri or D'Amigo, there's no way we can count him as a second pickup.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Considering that Laliberte never decommitted and committed before Pirri or D'Amigo, there's no way we can count him as a second pickup.

Words, however, are not always what they seem to mean. He didn't come when Pirri did for some reason. Supposedly, he wasn't mature enough or something similar. (I forget the words that we heard at the time.) That could take in a lot. In any case, I am happy that he is here now.

 

[Jasma]

The reason Polacek had the success was because he was a leader and team player. He obviously also has talent-I do not believe D'A or Pirri were leaders or team players. It is interesting though after D'A and Pirri left the team actually did better and now with Polacek/York and gang gone they are struggling.

Absolutely

 

[Beman]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

I invite you to come say that to my face sometime, old man. Since you seem to know me oh so well, you know where to find me.



Games we have no chance of winning? You aren't even paying attention, are you?

Replying twice to the same post.... I struck a nerve, didn't I?

And I love the "red cloud is insane" tag. Really got me there.

I am an old man but I have a boston whaler with twin 150 screws harbored in Maine. You are paddling. You have a web site WAP begging for money Kinda like a blind man with a cup. You are a loser. But youngster I will fight you any time. Tommorrow is good for me. Got a sack dbag

 

[Beman]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

guess not

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

I am an old man but I have a boston whaler with twin 150 screws harbored in Maine. You are paddling. You have a web site WAP begging for money Kinda like a blind man with a cup. You are a loser. But youngster I will fight you any time. Tommorrow is good for me. Got a sack dbag

I don't see any money near that mouth.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

The $64,000 question. The worst thing of all so far this season is that the defense went to hell just about the same time the offense started improving - I won't say "got better," but it certainly seems to be on its way. Then the one thing that was working stopped working.

Anyone who's seen more games than me this season (both before AND after Thanksgiving): Would you say that our offense has been taking risks in trying to bolster our scoring numbers, as opposed to playing too tentatively in fear of giving up an odd man rush when we weren't scoring? My point is an inquiry of if our offense is getting better because we happen to be "letting up" on D...

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Think I'll just let him talk to himself. Don't know how asking someone to speak slanderous words to my face rather than behind a computer constitutes an invitation to fight, but I guess it makes sense to him.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Anyone who's seen more games than me this season (both before AND after Thanksgiving): Would you say that our offense has been taking risks in trying to bolster our scoring numbers, as opposed to playing too tentatively in fear of giving up an odd man rush when we weren't scoring? My point is an inquiry of if our offense is getting better because we happen to be "letting up" on D...

I have to second that. From what I had seen live and on the web this team was playing as a defensive unit out there early in the season. It hurt our offense, but we kept scores low and the games close enough to be in them all pretyy much. We have indeed tried to change the system and become more offensive and no question it has hurt the defense. We are not playing with the same defensive unity that we had earlier and unless we are able to score more than 2 or even 3 goals in a game we are in trouble. This team may just need to pick an identity-be a close checking defensive team and play a bunch of 2-1 games. Or try to be as offensive as we can and try to overcome giving up 4-5 goals or more. I vote for the first choice. Just my 2¢

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

I have to second that. From what I had seen live and on the web this team was playing as a defensive unit out there early in the season. It hurt our offense, but we kept scores low and the games close enough to be in them all pretyy much. We have indeed tried to change the system and become more offensive and no question it has hurt the defense. We are not playing with the same defensive unity that we had earlier and unless we are able to score more than 2 or even 3 goals in a game we are in trouble. This team may just need to pick an identity-be a close checking defensive team and play a bunch of 2-1 games. Or try to be as offensive as we can and try to overcome giving up 4-5 goals or more. I vote for the first choice. Just my 2¢

So the choice is between losing 2-0 and losing 5-2?

 

[FreshFish]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

So the choice is between losing 2-0 and losing 5-2?

How about shutting out the other team during regulation and then taking our chances during overtime??

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

How about shutting out the other team during regulation and then taking our chances during overtime??

If we can do that, but relying upon shutting out another team is quite different. I also feel that playing a defensive game at the expense of offense will hurt recruiting. I suspect that some of our forwards were lured by the prospects of a game relying upon speed and offense.

 

[FreshFish]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

If we can do that, but relying upon shutting out another team is quite different. I also feel that playing a defensive game at the expense of offense will hurt recruiting. I suspect that some of our forwards were lured by the prospects of a game relying upon speed and offense.

Do I need to include an "irony alert" when I am being facetious?

 

[hockeymascot]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

I also feel that playing a defensive game at the expense of offense will hurt recruiting. I suspect that some of our forwards were lured by the prospects of a game relying upon speed and offense.

I respectfully disagree Ralph. If that was the case, Cornell would be at the bottom of the league year after year! Does that mean being offensive minded in the defensive zone? I think that is a very dangerous concept for a team to adopt.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2011 - 12 Part IV: We ain't Bailen on this season yet, Go Red!!

Do I need to include an "irony alert" when I am being facetious?

I should have caught that one.