Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October
Okay, here's the first installment in my ever-longer hockey banquet report. Apologies to those on the RPI sports listserv, who will have already seen something very similar.
The banquet was held this past Saturday. Before the day even arrived, we knew this year's edition of the banquet was going to be a different animal. It was held at the Hilton Garden Inn instead of the alumni house and, since it was scheduled for 11 am rather than in the evening, it was a brunch with no alcohol available. None of this bothered me, but what did bother me is that about a third of the team was missing. For some reason the banquet was scheduled for a date that those seniors playing pro hockey - which was all three of them this year - were likely to still be away. As it happened, Mike Prapavessis coincidentally made it back just a few days before the banquet. Viktor Liljegren and Jared Wilson did not.
In addition, as we already knew, seven players besides the seniors are not returning next year. Some were cut, others may have chosen to leave. Those things have happened before, although not in these numbers, but they were not usually announced before all the players attended the banquet. The hockey banquet has always been intended to honor the accomplishments of the season and the departing seniors and that's a little awkward to do without the team's third-, fourth- and fifth-highest scorers (Evan Tironese, Jared Wilson and Viktor Liljegren). Luckily, the team's highest GPA and therefore the Scholar Athlete award belonged to someone still on the team, Mike Prapavessis.
So that's my griping - on to the events of the day. The whole affair seemed to be just a little bit rushed and skimmed-down from other years. There weren't individual presenters for the awards - all were awarded by master of ceremonies Al Shibley, RPI's former Sports Information Director and current public address announcer. Other years the awards were presented by hockey alumni including at times Matt Murley, Scott Basiuk, Kirk MacDonald and Marc Cavosie. I didn't see any of them or any other hockey alumni in attendance this year (although Kirk, of course, is still coaching in the ECHL). Okay, maybe I wasn't quite done griping, but I am now - really!
The awards given, as Ralph already posted from my Twitter feed, were as follows:
Outstanding Freshman - Linden Marshall (.904 saves percentage, 3.17 GAA)
Erick James Student Athlete - Mike Prapavessis (4.0 GPA last semester, 3.87 GPA overall)
Best Defensive Player - Jared Wilson
Best Offensive Player - Jacob Hayhurst
Ben Mayo Most Inspirational Player - Viktor Liljegren (they didn't say why, not that I disagree)
Most Improved Player - TJ Samec
MVP - Jacob Hayhurst (leading scorer with 12 goals and 11 assists)
Both AD Lee McElroy and RPI President Shirley Jackson gave speeches before the awards, and Coach Dave Smith spoke at the end of the event. I'll give some thoughts about their speeches in another ridiculously long post soon. Mike Prapavessis gave a speech, of course, and the other two seniors sent speeches which were read by other players. I'll cover their speeches in yet another mind-numbingly long post.
There was a nicely done slideshow running before the speeches and awards with a lot of pictures taken of the guys in off-ice situations - in Ireland, doing community service, and at team events throughout the year. Of course, the pictures included the guys no longer on the team.
There were also slideshows for each senior, with childhood pictures, RPI highlights and memories from other players. They too were very nicely done. There was not, as there has been other years, a video highlighting the team's accomplishments on the ice this year. Maybe they couldn't come up with enough.
I think overall there were less people in attendance than I'm used to seeing, perhaps because of the different start time. All in all, it was a nice time and a chance to see the boys once again and hear Dr. McElroy's, Dr. Jackson's, and Coach Smith's thoughts on the season and the future of RPI hockey. No surprises there - they all basically said it's on the right track and we'll see great improvements soon. After hearing it for so many years, I could have given that part of the speech myself.
But maybe they really mean it this time. Hope springs eternal!
More coming sometime soon.
