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RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

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

Not out of it yet but looks like last year again! So to a point, agree with shelfit. The drawing board starts with the top. I just don't know what they are thinking there anymore.

For today - two comments! I will have more - whether you agree or not - last years collapse and this years performance is telling!

This team needs wins - badly - yet in a 2-1 game this weekend, late, RPI continues to "roll" 4 lines! I don't know any team fighting for conference points would "roll" unless you have the depth of the top teams. RPI doesn't. The top teams play their top players! Period! And they play them a lot! Why? Because they are their top players! At any level of competitive play - this is the way it is! Not at RPI. Something else seems to be going on there. I saw a lot of Bouliere Friday and a lot of Ambrose and Fast Saturday.

Special team play is the difference in college hockey more often than not. Case and point 3-0 loss to Dartmouth. Two PP for Dartmouth + ENG and 0-5 for RPI. This power play - whatever it is - is not very good. No creativity - mostly perimeter. I thought it was lack of hockey sense, so I watched again and they set up that way each and every time! I remember saying the same thing last year with Smelker on the wrong side - unable to shoot off the feed!

There is no denying the players compete!! The problem is team play doesn't improve and adjustments are not made. For a coach, the measurement is wins and playoffs. Hope isn't a strategy. I am no longer sure what the strategy is!
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

shelfit said:
Might want to rename this thread, "Goin' back to the drawing board."
Click to expand...

As discussed earlier, while it would have been great to get a couple of points this weekend, they weren't really expected or necessary. This upcoming weekend is a different story. We need four points against Union. If we fail to earn even one of the four points at stake this weekend, we we start needing Yale to lose points that they likely won't lose.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hkypassion said:
Not out of it yet but looks like last year again! So to a point, agree with shelfit. The drawing board starts with the top. I just don't know what they are thinking there anymore.

For today - two comments! I will have more - whether you agree or not - last years collapse and this years performance is telling!

This team needs wins - badly - yet in a 2-1 game this weekend, late, RPI continues to "roll" 4 lines! I don't know any team fighting for conference points would "roll" unless you have the depth of the top teams. RPI doesn't. The top teams play their top players! Period! And they play them a lot! Why? Because they are their top players! At any level of competitive play - this is the way it is! Not at RPI. Something else seems to be going on there. I saw a lot of Bouliere Friday and a lot of Ambrose and Fast Saturday.

Special team play is the difference in college hockey more often than not. Case and point 3-0 loss to Dartmouth. Two PP for Dartmouth + ENG and 0-5 for RPI. This power play - whatever it is - is not very good. No creativity - mostly perimeter. I thought it was lack of hockey sense, so I watched again and they set up that way each and every time! I remember saying the same thing last year with Smelker on the wrong side - unable to shoot off the feed!

There is no denying the players compete!! The problem is team play doesn't improve and adjustments are not made. For a coach, the measurement is wins and playoffs. Hope isn't a strategy. I am no longer sure what the strategy is!
Click to expand...

I agree with some of what you have to say here, but have a little different take on the team's difficulties, having watched most of their games this season. First, a couple of things we agree on: 1) special teams have been a huge problem all season; and 2) when the team is at its best is when players are foregoing those low percentage shots from the perimeter and are driving hard to the net. I had thought that the latter issue had been improving a lot in recent games, but not so much on the weekend.

I am convinced that a good part of the reason for this team's weakness on special teams, relative to other teams, is that they lack those handful of stand-out players who can rise to the occasion on PP and PK opportunities. RPI has not been successful in recruiting the kinds of players who have been on the Canada and U.S. U-18 teams, for example, and those are the players who make other teams' special teams click. RPI has good balance, and almost always does...its third and fourth lines can compete quite well against other teams third and fourth lines. So while shortening the bench works well for most D1 teams I'm not sure that it is an obvious coaching decision in this case.

Finally, I see a lot of improvement in this team since the beginning of the year, especially in the area of puck movement, completing passes, cycling in the offensive zone etc. Whether it is enough improvement to put together a string of wins in the last 10 games remains to be seen.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hab said:
I agree with some of what you have to say here, but have a little different take on the team's difficulties, having watched most of their games this season. First, a couple of things we agree on: 1) special teams have been a huge problem all season; and 2) when the team is at its best is when players are foregoing those low percentage shots from the perimeter and are driving hard to the net. I had thought that the latter issue had been improving a lot in recent games, but not so much on the weekend.

I am convinced that a good part of the reason for this team's weakness on special teams, relative to other teams, is that they lack those handful of stand-out players who can rise to the occasion on PP and PK opportunities. RPI has not been successful in recruiting the kinds of players who have been on the Canada and U.S. U-18 teams, for example, and those are the players who make other teams' special teams click. RPI has good balance, and almost always does...its third and fourth lines can compete quite well against other teams third and fourth lines. So while shortening the bench works well for most D1 teams I'm not sure that it is an obvious coaching decision in this case.

Finally, I see a lot of improvement in this team since the beginning of the year, especially in the area of puck movement, completing passes, cycling in the offensive zone etc. Whether it is enough improvement to put together a string of wins in the last 10 games remains to be seen.
Click to expand...

I don't think RPI is the type of school that will attract the US and Canada U18 type of players no matter who the coach has been, is now, or will be in the near future. Shortening the bench is always an obvious coaching decision no matter what team you're talking about because you will always have a top 6 list of forwards in all cases. One team's top 6 might not be as strong as the next team's top 6 but you've still got to shorten the bench to try to get that tying goal, keep a one goal lead, or maintain a tie to force OT, etc. You can't just roll the lines in those situations. Sometimes you shorten the bench just to create higher and more focused energy and you'd be surprised how often that leads to very exciting finishes. Coach if you read this it's time to start taking chances because what you're currently doing just isn't working. It's desperation time. You've got nothing to lose (well, maybe that's not entirely true) and everything to gain. You might surprise yourself with the risks you come up with. Sometimes they turn out to not be as risky as you thought. You need to win the next 3 in a row to keep your playoff hopes alive (and Brown needs to help you out this weekend). Go for it and good luck!
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hab said:
I agree with some of what you have to say here, but have a little different take on the team's difficulties, having watched most of their games this season. First, a couple of things we agree on: 1) special teams have been a huge problem all season; and 2) when the team is at its best is when players are foregoing those low percentage shots from the perimeter and are driving hard to the net. I had thought that the latter issue had been improving a lot in recent games, but not so much on the weekend.

I am convinced that a good part of the reason for this team's weakness on special teams, relative to other teams, is that they lack those handful of stand-out players who can rise to the occasion on PP and PK opportunities. RPI has not been successful in recruiting the kinds of players who have been on the Canada and U.S. U-18 teams, for example, and those are the players who make other teams' special teams click. RPI has good balance, and almost always does...its third and fourth lines can compete quite well against other teams third and fourth lines. So while shortening the bench works well for most D1 teams I'm not sure that it is an obvious coaching decision in this case.

Finally, I see a lot of improvement in this team since the beginning of the year, especially in the area of puck movement, completing passes, cycling in the offensive zone etc. Whether it is enough improvement to put together a string of wins in the last 10 games remains to be seen.
Click to expand...

Agree with the comments on recruitment (and shelfit's comments as well)! Add to that is the schools uniqueness as a polytechnic engineering school, but thats my point. The other schools have those few players who can make a difference and when they are on the ice who are we matching with? I also have watched many if not most games and I just don't see the passing execution you speak of. I wish I did, but I don't. What I see is forwards who have no direction or purpose in their patterns - three at a time to the left - three at a time to the right. Thats what video is for! I shouldn't see it again and again. Even on something as simple as a tip dump! Seen one lately? I agree there is a level of competitiveness that should allow them to win games - but again there is something missing in their development.
As the premier programs there on the hill - I really wish they could contend.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

I know I've said a couple of times that we didn't need any points this weekend to make the playoff dream come alive, but they sure as hell would have helped.

RPI KRACH (RRWP): 20.45 (.2281)

MCTs (Mean/Median/Mode/Range):
Points - 11.02 / 11 / 10 / 4 - 22
Rank - 9.68 / 9 / 9 / 6 - 12
Playoffs - 0.8%
Most likely opponent - Quinnipiac (0.6%)

Conference rankings:
  1. Quinnipiac
  2. Harvard
  3. Clarkson
  4. Cornell
    —————
  5. SLU
  6. Dartmouth
  7. Princeton
  8. Yale
    —————
    —————
  9. RPI
  10. Colgate
  11. Union
  12. Brown

We need to beat Union. Twice.
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Ralph Baer said:
According to a post on the recruit thread, RPI got a commitment from a second goalie, Kira Bombay of Nepean http://nepeanwildcats.com/player-profile.php?player_id=1427864&team_id=317464.

She couldn't be related to Gordon, could she? :eek:

Edit: it says on RPI University on the upper left of Twitter page. :eek:

Edit: Under 11/19/14 http://www.ngha.ca/public/default2.asp
Click to expand...


Her Stats are properly documented here : http://pwhl3.stats.pointstreak.com/playerpage.html?playerid=7137713&seasonid=13188

And "yes" there is a connection to Gordon Bombay - a character whose "back story" is briefly mentioned in the original movie, parallels also the story of her grandfather's brief hockey career at Bemidji State.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

DaDudester said:
Her Stats are properly documented here : http://pwhl3.stats.pointstreak.com/playerpage.html?playerid=7137713&seasonid=13188

And "yes" there is a connection to Gordon Bombay - a character whose "back story" is briefly mentioned in the original movie, parallels also the story of her grandfather's brief hockey career at Bemidji State.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes, I caught those stats and entered them on the RPI Recruit thread in the men's forum.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Ralph Baer said:
According to a post on the recruit thread, RPI got a commitment from a second goalie, Kira Bombay of Nepean http://nepeanwildcats.com/player-profile.php?player_id=1427864&team_id=317464.

She couldn't be related to Gordon, could she? :eek:

Edit: it says on RPI University on the upper left of Twitter page. :eek:

Edit: Under 11/19/14 http://www.ngha.ca/public/default2.asp
Click to expand...

Looks like a good recruit. I was a little worried that we had only one known goalie recruit and were graduating both starting goalies. This might finish off RPI's recruiting for 2015-16, as they now have exactly replaced the 3F, 2D and 2G graduating.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

A question.

The PWHL website shows Kira Bombay's GAA as 1.68 while Nepean's website shows it as 2.09 for league games. There is a slight difference in the number of minutes played on two sites, but that doesn't account for much. What happened was the PWHL figured GAA based upon 50-minute games which is what they play, while Nepean used 60 minutes for a game. So if KB gave up one goal in a regulation game, PWHL would call her GAA 1.00 while Nepean would say it was 1.20.

What is usually done, and does anyone have an opinion as to which I should use? It isn't really an important question, but I want to also put her nonleague games in the stats which I post on the men's recruit page and conceivably those have variable lengths.
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Ralph Baer said:
A question.

The PWHL website shows Kira Bombay's GAA as 1.68 while Nepean's website shows it as 2.09 for league games. There is a slight difference in the number of minutes played on two sites, but that doesn't account for much. What happened was the PWHL figured GAA based upon 50-minute games which is what they play, while Nepean used 60 minutes for a game. So if KB gave up one goal in a regulation game, PWHL would call her GAA 1.00 while Nepean would say it was 1.20.

What is usually done, and does anyone have an opinion as to which I should use? It isn't really an important question, but I want to also put her nonleague games in the stats which I post on the men's recruit page and conceivably those have variable lengths.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I am quite surprised that the PWHL would have 50 minute games. Not necessarily a bad idea, but as one of the premier recruiting grounds for CIS and NCAA teams you would think that 60 minutes would be standard. I don't think it matters a lot how they report the GAA stats, but I would probably go for doing it on the basis of 60 minutes.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

hab said:
Interesting. I am quite surprised that the PWHL would have 50 minute games. Not necessarily a bad idea, but as one of the premier recruiting grounds for CIS and NCAA teams you would think that 60 minutes would be standard. I don't think it matters a lot how they report the GAA stats, but I would probably go for doing it on the basis of 60 minutes.
Click to expand...

Yep the PWHL's games are 50 minutes (15, 15, 20) not sure why - possibly ice booking..? The majority of the team's use city ice and book 2 hour blocks. The statistics on the PWHL Site are more correct, updated every night, ***Except for the "League Records" section which hasn't been updated for over a year. The Nepean site may not have been updated very recently.

Her PWHL Career Stats are :

YEAR............TEAM...... Lge.....GP.....GS....MIN............W....L....T....SO....GA.....GAA......SV.....SV%

Reg. Season
2013/2014...NEPEAN....PWHL...23.....21....1104:05......20...1....1.....9......18.....0.82....376.....0.954

Playoffs
2014...........NEPEAN.....PWHL....8.......7.....349:38........6....1....0.....3.......4.....0.57.....125......0.969

Reg. Season
2014/2015...NEPEAN.....PWHL...15.....14....742:36........7.....5....2.....1......25....1.68......298.....0.923
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Thanks, DaDudester and hab.

hab said:
Interesting. I am quite surprised that the PWHL would have 50 minute games. Not necessarily a bad idea, but as one of the premier recruiting grounds for CIS and NCAA teams you would think that 60 minutes would be standard. I don't think it matters a lot how they report the GAA stats, but I would probably go for doing it on the basis of 60 minutes.
Click to expand...

That makes sense when you want to compare against goalies who play 60-minute games. I just looked at the CISAA site for St. Andrews College where men's recruit Austin Cho plays. We aren't recruiting a goalie from there so this problem hasn't come up for me. They do however play 54-minute league games and often play in tourneys with 50 minutes in a game. Anyway, the stats here use 54 minutes which does make the GAAs smaller than if 60 were used. Four years ago when we recruited Brianna Piper from the PWHL, I just reported what was on the site.

There opinions are very welcome.

I probably should have started a separate thread on this, but at least when I post on an RPI thread, the first comment which I get isn't "ugh, math!" :D
 
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Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

I just compared the stats for league games for Kira Bombay shown on the PWHL website with those shown on Nepean's site. The PWHL site is definitely more accurate. For example, an incorrect number of goals scored against was entered for one game on Nepean's site. I am thus going to use the PWHL site for the rest of the year. However, unless I hear a convincing argument to the contrary, I will go with what hab stated and use 60 minutes as the standard game length as this makes the most sense to me also. Even this way it is impossible to compare our two goalie recruits because KB 's team is much more competitive in its league than LS's team.

As to nonleague games, there are many games where the number of shots faced is not included on Nepean's website making it impossible to calculate her Save Percentage. Conceivably I could find some of the figures elsewhere, but I doubt that I could find all of them. Anyway, the following are her stats to date. They will appear on the next update on the recruits thread on the Men's forum here. The stats listed are GP,W,L,T,GAA,S%.

Code: 
 1 Kira Bombay          G Nepean Jr. Wildcats (PWHL)     15- 7- 5-2-2.02-.923
                          non-league                     12- 6- 4-2-2.32-.xxx
                          total                          27-13- 9-4-2.14-.xxx 01/31/15
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

OUCH! RPI trailing Union 1-0 and being outshot 9-5 after one period. Most encouraging item from the period: finally, Mariana Walsh is put on the power play! This team needs to continue to reward players who are willing to take the hits and move to the top of the crease.
 
Re: RPI 2014-2015: Goin' back to the playoffs

Name: Jaimie Grigsby
Class: First-Year Student
Curriculum: Business and Management

Name: Kira L. Bombay
Class: First-Year Student
Curriculum: Biology

Name: Taylor Marie Schwalbe
Class: First-Year Student
Curriculum: Business and Management


Only Selander is now missing.
 
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