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RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

It has been over a month since I have posted here but not from lack of interest. I have been licking my wounds. I started the thread with the prediction that RPI would be back in the playoffs. Finishing 9th in a 12 team conference is not the end of the world....but you can see it from here. Thanks to Ralph and others for keeping up with the flow of news over the last month. Some good recruits coming in next year and beyond...not US and Canada national team caliber (which we have never attracted) but good solid D1 players. And I do have confidence in John Burke, unlike some of those who post here. It will probably be a long summer with little news, but I'm looking forward to seeing this team hit the ice in September.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Ralph Baer said:
If anyone is interested, the final-four round robin today and tomorrow and the finals and consolation on Sunday of the PWHL are being streamed free through the Game Live accessible from the scoreboard page. Today http://pwhl3.stats.pointstreak.com/scoreboard.html?leagueid=837&seasonid=13188&date=03/27/15. Change the day to get tomorrow. Jaimie Grigsby is 76 for Whitby. She had an assist in the early game today.


Edit: not exactly RPI-TV. :)
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Whitby was undefeated in the round robin. They play in the final at 5 PM EDT. The "Game Live" link will appear before game time here http://pwhl3.stats.pointstreak.com/scoreboard.html?leagueid=837&seasonid=13907&date=03/29/15.

Good to see you back hab.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Stats for the recruits who participated in the U19 or U16 National Championship tourneys last week. (all 6 of our known US recruits)

Taylor Schwalbe U19 SSM 6-3-0-3-2
Ana Orzechowski U19 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 3-1-1-2-4
Makenna Thomas U19 CYA 4-1-1-2-2
Josefine Hansen U19 SSM 6-0-2-2-6
Morgan Ondrick U16 CYA 6-4-2-6-6
Kendra Farole U16 California Wave 3-0-1-1-0
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

I think you forgot Ana Orzechowski D PPE U19 3-1-1-2. She had a good weekend even though her team didn't fare too well. She scored a nice PP goal against S.Conn Stars.
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Sad to say getting to the playoffs will not be in the 4 year future for any of the incoming recruits under the current coaching setup. Change is well overdue. The truth is hard to take sometimes but is equally hard to ignore.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Good choices in my opinion. Amanda Kimmerle certainly made a huge impact this season. The freshman class overall exceeded my expectations, which is very promising.

Do we know what the roster will look like next season? Based on the commitment thread we have 7 (or 8?) incoming freshmen to replace the big senior class. Expecting big years from seniors Gruschow and Godin and a bounce-back season from Wash. I'm also expecting a lot from the freshmen class. Will Hutamaki play next season? Will we have Sara Till as the starting goalie, or will one of the freshmen goalies take the #1 spot? I hope this team can truly compete for a playoff spot next season, I think the team has enough talent to do so.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hockey21 said:
Good choices in my opinion. Amanda Kimmerle certainly made a huge impact this season. The freshman class overall exceeded my expectations, which is very promising.

Do we know what the roster will look like next season? Based on the commitment thread we have 7 (or 8?) incoming freshmen to replace the big senior class. Expecting big years from seniors Gruschow and Godin and a bounce-back season from Wash. I'm also expecting a lot from the freshmen class. Will Hutamaki play next season? Will we have Sara Till as the starting goalie, or will one of the freshmen goalies take the #1 spot? I hope this team can truly compete for a playoff spot next season, I think the team has enough talent to do so.
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"Dreamer" by Supertramp comes to mind in reading your post. It's one thing to be an optimist and I applaud you for that but the problem on this team starts with the guy running the program. He is incapable of making this program meet your hopes and dreams. How much time is left on his contract? The end can't come soon enough to help this team going forward.
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hockey21 said:
Good choices in my opinion. Amanda Kimmerle certainly made a huge impact this season. The freshman class overall exceeded my expectations, which is very promising.

Do we know what the roster will look like next season? Based on the commitment thread we have 7 (or 8?) incoming freshmen to replace the big senior class. Expecting big years from seniors Gruschow and Godin and a bounce-back season from Wash. I'm also expecting a lot from the freshmen class. Will Hutamaki play next season? Will we have Sara Till as the starting goalie, or will one of the freshmen goalies take the #1 spot? I hope this team can truly compete for a playoff spot next season, I think the team has enough talent to do so.
Click to expand...

We have 7 recruits for this fall to the best of my knowledge: Kira Bombay, Jaimie Grigsby, Josefine Hansen, Ana Orzechowski, Taylor Schwalbe, Lovisa Selander, and Makenna Thomas. If there is an eighth, the name has not been posted here. So far, we have one recruit for 2016, Kendra Farole, and one for 2017, Morgan Ondrick. I doubt that Till will be the #1 goalie.
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

lugnut92 said:
It's quite another to be an insufferable pessimist...
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I'd say I'm an insufferable realist. To make a statement like I did because it's a hard shot of reality certainly does not make me a pessimist. I have said before that I'd love to see this program make the playoffs again, which is obviously a positive hope. However I simply don't see that happening under current leadership and I know I won't be proven wrong, sadly. That truth is hard to hear for some people and I know that but it's still the current truth until proven otherwise. This program is tanking and I'll be extremely shocked if he gets renewed whenever his current contract expires (I think someone said he has one more year on it). For the sake of the players I just wish that the necessary change would happen sooner than later. It doesn't mean he's a bad person or anything like that. In fact he is a good guy. Maybe he's too nice for that matter. However, sometimes we all have to recognize that he's just not able to do the job the situation demands and a change is needed...if they want to win and make the ECAC playoffs ever again. None of that means he's a bad person. His time has simply past and that's the way it goes in coaching. Sorry you see this situation through those rosy colored glasses of yours.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

shelfit said:
I'd say I'm an insufferable realist. To make a statement like I did because it's a hard shot of reality certainly does not make me a pessimist. I have said before that I'd love to see this program make the playoffs again, which is obviously a positive hope. However I simply don't see that happening under current leadership and I know I won't be proven wrong, sadly. That truth is hard to hear for some people and I know that but it's still the current truth until proven otherwise. This program is tanking and I'll be extremely shocked if he gets renewed whenever his current contract expires (I think someone said he has one more year on it). For the sake of the players I just wish that the necessary change would happen sooner than later. It doesn't mean he's a bad person or anything like that. In fact he is a good guy. Maybe he's too nice for that matter. However, sometimes we all have to recognize that he's just not able to do the job the situation demands and a change is needed...if they want to win and make the ECAC playoffs ever again. None of that means he's a bad person. His time has simply past and that's the way it goes in coaching. Sorry you see this situation through those rosy colored glasses of yours.
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I don't know what your connection to RPI and Coach Burke is. I also know little about how well he coaches, but this time of year I am always optimistic. It does not appear that RPI is able to get blue chip recruits which really does not surprise me since RPI is a technical school. (Rhetorical question: How did CCT win the championship in 2014? I should have said technical school which doesn't suck. :D) Considering what he has to work with, being at the border of making the playoffs or not is about what I would expect.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Ralph Baer said:
I don't know what your connection to RPI and Coach Burke is. I also know little about how well he coaches, but this time of year I am always optimistic. It does not appear that RPI is able to get blue chip recruits which really does not surprise me since RPI is a technical school. (Rhetorical question: How did CCT win the championship in 2014? I should have said technical school which doesn't suck. :D) Considering what he has to work with, being at the border of making the playoffs or not is about what I would expect.
Click to expand...

Ok, let's start with straight statistics: since his last contract extension in 2010 his win % is 25%!! Add to that his win% in the final 10 league games over that same contract period is worse at 23%!! Let's not even touch his PP%!! He is less than dynamic in the way of offensive creativity and has a very bad habit of blaming the defense (ex-goalie issue?!). You can't win if you don't score. And the girls need to be creative which is not a strong suit of a defense minded coach.

Secondly, although they don't have any U18 players on their roster, they do have past National Camp players. The problem is these girls come in highly skilled as freshman, but then do not continue to improve due to a lack of coaching. That's why the epic collapse at the end of their seasons historically - other coaches do a good job improving their teams as the season goes along, but not at RPI. These girls work hard and have talent - talent enough to make the ECAC playoffs - they just don't have anyone developing them on an ongoing basis to achieve this goal.

Lastly, if the rumor is correct, the outgoing AD helped out "his bud" by giving him another contract extension! :confused::confused: Every other contract extension was announced except this one (if rumor is correct) - why? He has not EARNED any extension with his track record. Unless the new AD listens to feedback, looks at his track record, and makes the change it will be tough to get back to the winning ways. And the longer it takes to turn this around, the harder it will be to recruit any level of quality player (there are girls who want the quality education!).
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Ralph Baer said:
I don't know what your connection to RPI and Coach Burke is. I also know little about how well he coaches, but this time of year I am always optimistic. It does not appear that RPI is able to get blue chip recruits which really does not surprise me since RPI is a technical school. (Rhetorical question: How did CCT win the championship in 2014? I should have said technical school which doesn't suck. :D) Considering what he has to work with, being at the border of making the playoffs or not is about what I would expect.
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Ralph, I'm just a long-time ECAC and WCHA fan. I have had the opportunity to talk with him and I like him. He seems like a very nice guy but he's never going to ignite much of a flame in any athlete's heart - with no offense to him personally, he's pretty dull to talk with. He doesn't exactly ooze with energy or passion. I agree with you about the school and its inability to attract the top talent and have said the same thing in the past too only to get shot down by what I guess would be ardent RPI fans. The reality is some schools just aren't going to be able to get to the NCAA tournament no matter who the coach is. RPI is one of those schools. However I think it's perfectly ok to expect some appearances in a team's conference playoffs. Most people feel at least once every four years isn't too much to expect so that all graduating players can experience playoff hockey at least one year out of their four years of eligibility. That's not happening under current "leadership" and isn't going to happen until new leadership takes over. Even then it will take some time to get back to the ECAC playoffs. Other than that hkypassion gave some detailed reasons that I don't need to waste time repeating.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hkypassion said:
Ok, let's start with straight statistics: since his last contract extension in 2010 his win % is 25%!! Add to that his win% in the final 10 league games over that same contract period is worse at 23%!! Let's not even touch his PP%!! He is less than dynamic in the way of offensive creativity and has a very bad habit of blaming the defense (ex-goalie issue?!). You can't win if you don't score. And the girls need to be creative which is not a strong suit of a defense minded coach.

Secondly, although they don't have any U18 players on their roster, they do have past National Camp players. The problem is these girls come in highly skilled as freshman, but then do not continue to improve due to a lack of coaching. That's why the epic collapse at the end of their seasons historically - other coaches do a good job improving their teams as the season goes along, but not at RPI. These girls work hard and have talent - talent enough to make the ECAC playoffs - they just don't have anyone developing them on an ongoing basis to achieve this goal.

Lastly, if the rumor is correct, the outgoing AD helped out "his bud" by giving him another contract extension! :confused::confused: Every other contract extension was announced except this one (if rumor is correct) - why? He has not EARNED any extension with his track record. Unless the new AD listens to feedback, looks at his track record, and makes the change it will be tough to get back to the winning ways. And the longer it takes to turn this around, the harder it will be to recruit any level of quality player (there are girls who want the quality education!).
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I have been to several of their games this year and I think they are lacking a player that can take control and run their PP. I believe one of the recruits coming in this season will be filling that roll based on what I am hearing.

It can't always fall on the coaches to improve the players from year to year. The players have to take some responsibility in their development too. At the D1 level, If your not working at your game in the off season then you are going to fall behind the competition. I've seen several RPI practices this past year and they are run well and the girls are being coached.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

engineer said:
I have been to several of their games this year and I think they are lacking a player that can take control and run their PP. I believe one of the recruits coming in this season will be filling that roll based on what I am hearing.

It can't always fall on the coaches to improve the players from year to year. The players have to take some responsibility in their development too. At the D1 level, If your not working at your game in the off season then you are going to fall behind the competition. I've seen several RPI practices this past year and they are run well and the girls are being coached.
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You're not working on your spelling so you are falling behind the competition.

There is a ton more to running a successful program than running good practices. I'll leave it at that.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

engineer said:
I have been to several of their games this year and I think they are lacking a player that can take control and run their PP. I believe one of the recruits coming in this season will be filling that roll based on what I am hearing.....
Click to expand...

Based on your post history, I'll guess that that player is Ana Orzechowski. Thanks, Mom or Dad!!!!
 
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