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RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

turk181 said:
I noticed more players going with the full plastic face shields this year. Funny, because I just watched a clip of BU’s ENG & Melanson (#23) is now wearing that also.... <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Harper with the empty net! We're up 3-1 with 1 minute left to go! <a href="https://t.co/DHBy9MBsof">pic.twitter.com/DHBy9MBsof</a></p>— BU Men's Hockey (@TerrierHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/TerrierHockey/status/914307214759706624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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I watched that entire BU Union game. Appears that although BU lost a ton of talent to the NHL early, they just keep rolling the recruits in. 12 NHL draft choices, some very high, incredible genetics on that team with sons of NHL players, excellent preparation and coaching. They are going to be a top team all year and Melanson fit in quite well. Did not score at all but was on the ice for goal number 3 and had flashes to show off some speed. BTW, Union did not look all that bad and even with their own losses of players, will be a tough opponent for us.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

turk181 said:
Viktor Liljegren, Linden Marshall and head coach Dave Smith on RPI's 2-1 exhibition defeat to Saint Mary's (N.S). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3JXl-48JI&feature=youtu.be
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Quick observations from last night. We have absolutely no problems in goal (unless we get hit with the injury bug). We showed some great energy on the power play and we showed the ability to create chances. On the bad side, we still have not learned to win face offs and we need to finish off those chances. Hard to judge the overall performance as we have little information on how good the opponent was. Will find out bore when they play Q today. Still far too early, but I like this coach and the way he handled the post game interview. He said all the right things and sounds like he has a good handle on what he wants to improve upon.
Hard for me to judge how big this opponent was but we seemed to handle their size fairly well. Some of our boys play a bit bigger than their listed size, and some do not. I did notice one change i love and that is that Wilson has started to look around a bit more and pass as opposed to always just taking that booming shot he has. Still want him to shoot, but would love to see him add a bunch of assists to his totals. Mistakes cost us some (fully expected in the first game) and of course we seemed to run out of gas for a part of third period (also expected in the first game). But the sustained pressure we kept on during most of the power plays (not the 5 on 3) and at the end of the game with the goalie pulled, was most gratifying to see. For the past many years, we would pull the goalie with 2 minutes left and not get many decent chances and almost always gave up that killing empty net goal that insured the loss.
Not enough on the plus side to change my prediction of 18+ wins for the season, but certainly not enough bad things to lower it either. Lots of time on the road coming up which could make this a very tough early season schedule. If this team can come back home with a couple victories before the Union weekend, it could inspire a lot of confidence. Also, right after that weekend we have the dreaded North Country trip and we all know how that usually turns out.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

Fire Smith!!!! Right FlagDude? Agree with what Dr. D said about the goalie situation and just wanted to add that it was great to see Burke camped out in front of the goalie at times. That kid is huge and very physical. Would not want to take one of his checks for sure.

Good showing from the students coming out for the exhibition game. Lighter crowd than usual in my section which could be due to the exhibition game or the team/school needing to win back fans.

One note about the band that I thought was cool is the addition of a gong to the group. Pretty neat sounding.

This time on the road coming up is going to help in bonding and making this team better. I see them as a tough match up everytime they step on the ice this season.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

fishcore12 said:
Fire Smith!!!! Right FlagDude? Agree with what Dr. D said about the goalie situation and just wanted to add that it was great to see Burke camped out in front of the goalie at times. That kid is huge and very physical. Would not want to take one of his checks for sure.

Good showing from the students coming out for the exhibition game. Lighter crowd than usual in my section which could be due to the exhibition game or the team/school needing to win back fans.

One note about the band that I thought was cool is the addition of a gong to the group. Pretty neat sounding.

This time on the road coming up is going to help in bonding and making this team better. I see them as a tough match up everytime they step on the ice this season.
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Are you seriously trying to put me on the fiar train just because we lost an exhibition? **** off.

The band has always had the gong; we usually only just brought it out for Freakout.

As for the attendance, it was quite lower than the last two exhibitions. Has to be because of our poor showing last year, seeing how we saw the same effect in 09-10.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

FlagDUDE08 said:
Are you seriously trying to put me on the fiar train just because we lost an exhibition? **** off.

The band has always had the gong; we usually only just brought it out for Freakout.

As for the attendance, it was quite lower than the last two exhibitions. Has to be because of our poor showing last year, seeing how we saw the same effect in 09-10.
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Easy fella, thanks for the negative rep by the way. Nice touch. Who peed on your corn flakes this morning? Just joking with you on the Fire or as you spell it for some reason Fiar comment. Thanks for the correction on the gong.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

DrDemento said:
Quick observations from last night. We have absolutely no problems in goal (unless we get hit with the injury bug). We showed some great energy on the power play and we showed the ability to create chances. On the bad side, we still have not learned to win face offs and we need to finish off those chances. Hard to judge the overall performance as we have little information on how good the opponent was. Will find out bore when they play Q today. Still far too early, but I like this coach and the way he handled the post game interview. He said all the right things and sounds like he has a good handle on what he wants to improve upon.
Hard for me to judge how big this opponent was but we seemed to handle their size fairly well. Some of our boys play a bit bigger than their listed size, and some do not. I did notice one change i love and that is that Wilson has started to look around a bit more and pass as opposed to always just taking that booming shot he has. Still want him to shoot, but would love to see him add a bunch of assists to his totals. Mistakes cost us some (fully expected in the first game) and of course we seemed to run out of gas for a part of third period (also expected in the first game). But the sustained pressure we kept on during most of the power plays (not the 5 on 3) and at the end of the game with the goalie pulled, was most gratifying to see. For the past many years, we would pull the goalie with 2 minutes left and not get many decent chances and almost always gave up that killing empty net goal that insured the loss.
Not enough on the plus side to change my prediction of 18+ wins for the season, but certainly not enough bad things to lower it either. Lots of time on the road coming up which could make this a very tough early season schedule. If this team can come back home with a couple victories before the Union weekend, it could inspire a lot of confidence. Also, right after that weekend we have the dreaded North Country trip and we all know how that usually turns out.
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I totally agree with you Doc. I would just like to add that there was no standing around watching like I have seen in the past. The whole team was moving all the time. And there were no crazy no look passes in our defensive zone leading to easy goals.
Only one game, but seems to be a big shift in our play.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

fishcore12 said:
Easy fella, thanks for the negative rep by the way. Nice touch. Who peed on your corn flakes this morning? Just joking with you on the Fire or as you spell it for some reason Fiar comment. Thanks for the correction on the gong.
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You had done so, or at least for that moment was "the last straw". And after dealing with it for four years (understandable since I was the first regular to start bringing it up), I wanted to make sure we're not going to start with the same fighting, especially if it stems from people putting words in my mouth. If it's tongue-in-cheek, then so be it; we'll move forward and hope for the best with what we do share in common.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

Wicked Slappaahs said:
Did they film the interviews in the Zamboni tunnel or on the tarmac at ALB?&#55357;&#56860; Background noise made it unlistenable !
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I do wonder. Seemed like a separate room, and could probably use some soundproofing, assuming SAJ didn't blow that entire budget on EMPAC...
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

engineerhockeyfan said:
I totally agree with you Doc. I would just like to add that there was no standing around watching like I have seen in the past. The whole team was moving all the time. And there were no crazy no look passes in our defensive zone leading to easy goals.
Only one game, but seems to be a big shift in our play.
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EHF-I saw it the way you did (as is often the case). The only standing around seems to be on the 5 on 3 power play which has been the case for far too long. One would think with all the open ice guys would just sense that they need to keep it moving, close in a bit before setting up any shot. I guess bad habits just die hard. I generally liked what i saw and think this coach will see what problems exist and make whatever adjustments are necessary as opposed to trying to change players to fit the system he has in mind which he sticks to regardless. I saw #25 in front of the net and want to see a lot more of that. He makes life very difficult for the defense to clear the area and i honestly do not know how a goalie will be able to see through him. Did not see him do much banging in the corners but that is not nearly as important as with his size, much like we had with big Luke, the officials might be likely to call him for penalties by the sound he makes.
Odd for me to be so positive after a loss but there were just too many good things out there to focus simply on the final score.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

I agree with the observations from last evening. Goalies played well and composed throughout the game. It was nice to see the players (with some expected tiredness in the 3rd) skate hard the entire game. There was some sloppy play at times which I expected for the first game. But the biggest problem I saw was the inability to put the puck in the net (1 goal on 36 shots). Some of the attempts were shots that missed the net in close. So hopefully they will get more goals. SA did point out several times that you need at least 3 goals for per game to climb the standings. I was impressed with the Liljegren, Burgess, Ohrvall line the most, but I thought the other lines played fairly well for the first game. PP looked good for not having practiced it. PK looked good as well. I was expecting St Mary's to be more physical than they were. I thought they looked good as a team. The question for me going forward is will RPI have the patience to improve as a team even if they lose a few at the onset and be willing to get to the dirty areas to get some more goals. Or do they focus too much on the W-L"s and not on the progress they make and get demoralized. Overall I would rate the game as a positive first step.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

DrDemento said:
EHF-I saw it the way you did (as is often the case). The only standing around seems to be on the 5 on 3 power play which has been the case for far too long. One would think with all the open ice guys would just sense that they need to keep it moving, close in a bit before setting up any shot. I guess bad habits just die hard. I generally liked what i saw and think this coach will see what problems exist and make whatever adjustments are necessary as opposed to trying to change players to fit the system he has in mind which he sticks to regardless. I saw #25 in front of the net and want to see a lot more of that. He makes life very difficult for the defense to clear the area and i honestly do not know how a goalie will be able to see through him. Did not see him do much banging in the corners but that is not nearly as important as with his size, much like we had with big Luke, the officials might be likely to call him for penalties by the sound he makes.
Odd for me to be so positive after a loss but there were just too many good things out there to focus simply on the final score.
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You are right about the 5 on 3, but the coach said that they had not practiced the power play yet.
That said, the players themselves must have been running the 5 on 4 power play, and I liked what I saw. Lets just improve on that.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

FlagDUDE08 said:
The band has always had the gong; we usually only just brought it out for Freakout.
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I don't remember ever seeing a gong while I was there... Regardless, the gong they had last night is brand new, apparently purchased over the summer with leftover funds from WeR Gold.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

lugnut92 said:
I don't remember ever seeing a gong while I was there... Regardless, the gong they had last night is brand new, apparently purchased over the summer with leftover funds from WeR Gold.
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We had one at least when I was there, but only dragged it out for Freakout. Perhaps it didn't make it on the transition from West Hall to where they are now?
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

The best thing about the interview video was that it did not end with the screech which has been present for the last few years. :D ;)

Considering that there has been no power play practice it still looked improved over last year at least on the 5 on 4. It's probably due to the fact that just improvising is better than whatever was done before.
 
Re: RPI 2017-18 Preseason Thread: To Dream the Impossible Dream

Well, SMU led Q in the 3rd, 2-1, but 2 late period goals gives Q the 3-2 win.
 
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