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RPI 2013-2014 Season

Re: RPI 2013-2014 Season

With the rules change package this year, playing the puck with a high stick will now be legal ONLY in women's hockey. Weeeeeeird.
 
Re: RPI 2013-2014 Season

I was trying to find info on our recruits. Three of them have individual pages linked from their teams sites at the moment.

Jaime Grigsby (Whitby Wolves) http://www.whitbyjrwolves.com/grigsby.html
Josefine Hansen (Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep) Nothing up but the schedule so far http://ssmhockey.org/2014-2015-girls-u-16-schedule/
Ana Orzechowski (Pittsburgh Penguins Elite) Roster (no indvidual page yet)http://pittsburghpenguinselite.poin...burgh-penguins-elite-teams/u19-tier-1-girls-2
Makenna Thomas (Chicago Young Americans ) http://www.cyahockey.com/roster_players/5319648?subseason=160111
Lovisa Selander (SDE Hockey) http://www.lagsidan.se/damer/spelare-102-lovisa~selander.html
 
Re: RPI 2013-2014 Season

With the Engineers' opening exhibition game just a week away, time to reflect on the potential for the coming year. Lets start with this very good analysis from an impartial observer (www.atevenstrength.com) who expects RPI to finish 10th in the 12 team ECAC:

"10. Rensselaer
Key Departures: F Jordan Smelker, D Madison Marzario
Key Returners: F Alexa Gruschow, F Lauren Wash, D Heidi Huhtamaki
Key Additions: D Amanda Kimmerle, F Whitney Renn, F Marisa Raspa

Though the Engineers haven’t been able to compete among the teams in the top half of the conference, they can usually compete as a middle-of-the-pack club. RPI has reached double digits in wins in eight of their nine seasons at the Division I level, which isn’t particularly remarkable, but it does go to show that they’ve had some level of consistency. The Engineers will be looking to break the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2009-10.

Rensselaer is losing arguably their best player in Jordan Smelker, who was mixed in with the U.S. National Team player pool throughout her college career. Luckily, though, Smelker is the team’s only notable loss up front. The Pioneers [oops] are returning leading scorer senior Alexa Gruschow, who put up seven goals and 20 points in 2013-14, and their leading goal-scorer, junior Lauren Wash, who had 12. Although they were short on star power, they were better off depth-wise than other teams at the bottom of the standings. In all, last year’s squad had 10 players who scored at least double-digits in points, and eight of those players are returning.

Kathryn Schilter and Heidi Huhtamaki will lead the way defensively. Huhtamaki in particular had a good rookie year for the Engineers, posting three goals and 15 points in 29 games to lead the defense in scoring. She’ll be looked towards to make some even bigger strides this year and become a leader in all aspects on the blue line for RPI. After Schilter and Huhtamaki, the picture gets much cloudier, but incoming freshman Amanda Kimmerle should be able to help out in some way; out of Anoka, Minn., she attended USA Hockey National Camp in 2012.

Goaltending has been the real soft spot for the Engineers in recent years. Senior Kelly O’Brien, who played 30 games for the team last year, posted sub-par .904 save percentage and 2.30 goals-against average. Though she didn’t have the most outstanding defense in front of her, she saw the second-lowest shot total of 11 ECAC goalies who played more than 50% of their team’s minutes. Back-up Brianna Piper fared even worse, with a .888 save percentage and 3.43 goals-against average. RPI isn’t bringing on any other goaltenders this season. The Engineers’ skaters might make for a competent hockey team, but in the end, their goaltending will more than likely hamper them from competing this year."

While I agree that goaltending was a weak spot last year, we have seen enough flashes of brilliance from O'Brien (especially in the previous year) that I am more optimistic that we may see her bounce back with a strong year this year. The only glaring weakness in her game last year was the inability to cover up on loose pucks in the crease. If she can improve in that area I think that she can be as solid as any goalie in the league.

RPI outskated their opponents in most games last year and I hope for the same this year, although everyone on the team will have to step up a notch to replace the relentless Jordan Smelker. I haven't looked closely enough at the other teams in the conference to make a prediction on where RPI will finish this year, but with the speed and experience of the returning roster I'm sure that I'm going to pick them higher than 10th.
 
Last edited:
hab said:
With the Engineers' opening exhibition game just a week away, time to reflect on the potential for the coming year. Lets start with this very good analysis from an impartial observer (www.atevenstrength.com) who expects RPI to finish 10th in the 12 team ECAC:

"10. Rensselaer
Key Departures: F Jordan Smelker, D Madison Marzario
Key Returners: F Alexa Gruschow, F Lauren Wash, D Heidi Huhtamaki
Key Additions: D Amanda Kimmerle, F Whitney Renn, F Marisa Raspa

Though the Engineers haven’t been able to compete among the teams in the top half of the conference, they can usually compete as a middle-of-the-pack club. RPI has reached double digits in wins in eight of their nine seasons at the Division I level, which isn’t particularly remarkable, but it does go to show that they’ve had some level of consistency. The Engineers will be looking to break the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2009-10.

Rensselaer is losing arguably their best player in Jordan Smelker, who was mixed in with the U.S. National Team player pool throughout her college career. Luckily, though, Smelker is the team’s only notable loss up front. The Pioneers [oops] are returning leading scorer senior Alexa Gruschow, who put up seven goals and 20 points in 2013-14, and their leading goal-scorer, junior Lauren Wash, who had 12. Although they were short on star power, they were better off depth-wise than other teams at the bottom of the standings. In all, last year’s squad had 10 players who scored at least double-digits in points, and eight of those players are returning.

Kathryn Schilter and Heidi Huhtamaki will lead the way defensively. Huhtamaki in particular had a good rookie year for the Engineers, posting three goals and 15 points in 29 games to lead the defense in scoring. She’ll be looked towards to make some even bigger strides this year and become a leader in all aspects on the blue line for RPI. After Schilter and Huhtamaki, the picture gets much cloudier, but incoming freshman Amanda Kimmerle should be able to help out in some way; out of Anoka, Minn., she attended USA Hockey National Camp in 2012.

Goaltending has been the real soft spot for the Engineers in recent years. Senior Kelly O’Brien, who played 30 games for the team last year, posted sub-par .904 save percentage and 2.30 goals-against average. Though she didn’t have the most outstanding defense in front of her, she saw the second-lowest shot total of 11 ECAC goalies who played more than 50% of their team’s minutes. Back-up Brianna Piper fared even worse, with a .888 save percentage and 3.43 goals-against average. RPI isn’t bringing on any other goaltenders this season. The Engineers’ skaters might make for a competent hockey team, but in the end, their goaltending will more than likely hamper them from competing this year."

While I agree that goaltending was a weak spot last year, we have seen enough flashes of brilliance from O'Brien (especially in the previous year) that I am more optimistic that we may see her bounce back with a strong year this year. The only glaring weakness in her game last year was the inability to cover up on loose pucks in the crease. If she can improve in that area I think that she can be as solid as any goalie in the league.

RPI outskated their opponents in most games last year and I hope for the same this year, although everyone on the team will have to step up a notch to replace the relentless Jordan Smelker. I haven't looked closely enough at the other teams in the conference to make a prediction on where RPI will finish this year, but with the speed and experience of the returning roster I'm sure that I'm going to pick them higher than 10th.
Click to expand...

Realistically I just don't see them passing any team ahead of them other than possibly Dartmouth.

I must admit to being really surprised that they didn't recruit a goalie this year. I agree with the author thats their most glaring weakness...and likely to become even more of an issue In the coming season without Smelker and Marzario in front
 
Re: RPI 2013-2014 Season

hab said:
With the Engineers' opening exhibition game just a week away, time to reflect on the potential for the coming year. Lets start with this very good analysis from an impartial observer (www.atevenstrength.com) who expects RPI to finish 10th in the 12 team ECAC:

"10. Rensselaer
Key Departures: F Jordan Smelker, D Madison Marzario
Key Returners: F Alexa Gruschow, F Lauren Wash, D Heidi Huhtamaki
Key Additions: D Amanda Kimmerle, F Whitney Renn, F Marisa Raspa

Though the Engineers haven’t been able to compete among the teams in the top half of the conference, they can usually compete as a middle-of-the-pack club. RPI has reached double digits in wins in eight of their nine seasons at the Division I level, which isn’t particularly remarkable, but it does go to show that they’ve had some level of consistency. The Engineers will be looking to break the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2009-10.

Rensselaer is losing arguably their best player in Jordan Smelker, who was mixed in with the U.S. National Team player pool throughout her college career. Luckily, though, Smelker is the team’s only notable loss up front. The Pioneers [oops] are returning leading scorer senior Alexa Gruschow, who put up seven goals and 20 points in 2013-14, and their leading goal-scorer, junior Lauren Wash, who had 12. Although they were short on star power, they were better off depth-wise than other teams at the bottom of the standings. In all, last year’s squad had 10 players who scored at least double-digits in points, and eight of those players are returning.

Kathryn Schilter and Heidi Huhtamaki will lead the way defensively. Huhtamaki in particular had a good rookie year for the Engineers, posting three goals and 15 points in 29 games to lead the defense in scoring. She’ll be looked towards to make some even bigger strides this year and become a leader in all aspects on the blue line for RPI. After Schilter and Huhtamaki, the picture gets much cloudier, but incoming freshman Amanda Kimmerle should be able to help out in some way; out of Anoka, Minn., she attended USA Hockey National Camp in 2012.

Goaltending has been the real soft spot for the Engineers in recent years. Senior Kelly O’Brien, who played 30 games for the team last year, posted sub-par .904 save percentage and 2.30 goals-against average. Though she didn’t have the most outstanding defense in front of her, she saw the second-lowest shot total of 11 ECAC goalies who played more than 50% of their team’s minutes. Back-up Brianna Piper fared even worse, with a .888 save percentage and 3.43 goals-against average. RPI isn’t bringing on any other goaltenders this season. The Engineers’ skaters might make for a competent hockey team, but in the end, their goaltending will more than likely hamper them from competing this year."

While I agree that goaltending was a weak spot last year, we have seen enough flashes of brilliance from O'Brien (especially in the previous year) that I am more optimistic that we may see her bounce back with a strong year this year. The only glaring weakness in her game last year was the inability to cover up on loose pucks in the crease. If she can improve in that area I think that she can be as solid as any goalie in the league.

RPI outskated their opponents in most games last year and I hope for the same this year, although everyone on the team will have to step up a notch to replace the relentless Jordan Smelker. I haven't looked closely enough at the other teams in the conference to make a prediction on where RPI will finish this year, but with the speed and experience of the returning roster I'm sure that I'm going to pick them higher than 10th.
Click to expand...

Gruschow is a Junior. I also see Tomlinson as a more important recruit than Raspa, at least based upon their performance last season.
 
Re: RPI 2013-2014 Season

Trillium said:
Realistically I just don't see them passing any team ahead of them other than possibly Dartmouth.

I must admit to being really surprised that they didn't recruit a goalie this year. I agree with the author thats their most glaring weakness...and likely to become even more of an issue In the coming season without Smelker and Marzario in front
Click to expand...

I suspect that Burke's thinking was along these lines: "I have 2 senior goaltenders with full scholarships, one of whom was our team's MVP 2 years ago; I have confidence one or both will step up with a strong senior year; I have a very promising goalie coming in next year (Selander, from Sweden)."

Given the extent to which the Engineers outplayed their opponents in most games last year, with just average goaltending they would have ended up solidly in the top half of the league. I'm hopeful they will get solid goaltending this season and should be competitive for a playoff position.

Ralph, I think that I agree with you about Tomlinson.
 
Re: RPI 2013-2014 Season

hab said:
Though the Engineers haven’t been able to compete among the teams in the top half of the conference, they can usually compete as a middle-of-the-pack club. RPI has reached double digits in wins in eight of their nine seasons at the Division I level, which isn’t particularly remarkable, but it does go to show that they’ve had some level of consistency. The Engineers will be looking to break the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2009-10.
Click to expand...

How can they have double digit wins in 8 of their 9 seasons at D1 without having done so since 2009-10? I'm pretty sure that the distinction is between overall wins and conference wins, but that's one ugly paragraph.
 
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