Wicked Slappaahs
I miss Tie Domi
No mention of athletics....
https://www.timesunion.com/news/art...15718865.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-CP-Spotlight
https://www.timesunion.com/news/art...15718865.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-CP-Spotlight
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RPI 2020 Off-season Overtime: In Memory of Turk181
- Thread starter Ralph Baer
- Start date
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I'm not the president of RPI and I don't want to be.
But if I were, I don't know how I could possibly tell the members of a basketball team coming off a season in which they recorded a school record for wins, featuring a player who was an All American as a junior and ready to come back for his senior season, that they cannot play this winter but the hockey team can.
But if I were, I don't know how I could possibly tell the members of a basketball team coming off a season in which they recorded a school record for wins, featuring a player who was an All American as a junior and ready to come back for his senior season, that they cannot play this winter but the hockey team can.
Wicked Slappaahs
I miss Tie Domi
At least if SAJ made a definitive decision to deep 6 all athletics then maybe it would feel less like torture.... cuz at least for now there's a theoretical glimmer of hope. I for one have mentally come to terms with the likelihood of no RPI hockey this season. Its just damage control with player and recruit losses at this point I fear.
Valid point.
As RPI president , how do you tell your entire athletic department (AD and coaches) their input means nothing since pandemic started, they cannot start again/continue to develop team/culture and build on what they have had (all sports), by keeping all facilities closed?? Imagine this......let's say no hockey season, facilities remain closed, thus no practice all year. Hockey team for example goes from March 2019 until September 2021 before they can practice as a group again. Not good for any aspect of the program. No wonder why player(s) want to test the waters and potentially leave.
80,000 tests and 17 positives......... let the kids return to the facilities with proper safety measures in place.
I rarely go on campus, and the campus is very quiet and sparsely populated most days. Here's what I've gathered from talking to friends outside of Red Army. For students outside of Red Army, no one is currently thinking about just hockey but moreso about athletics as a whole. Everyone feels terrible that all of our student-athletes have all had their seasons yanked away from them. Unfortunately outside of that, I cannot really comment on the buzz going around campus simply because it's nearly empty most of the time.
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
https://twitter.com/russbites/status/1326978288619835394
Russ Bitely @russbites
Talk of no Ivy schools in ECAC have been talk for weeks/months, yet also hear no RPI or Union, of course changes daily. If you look at schedules & transfers points in that direction...so ECAC appears as Clarkson, SLU, Colgate, & Q’piac. Maybe things change for better.
Russ Bitely @russbites
Talk of no Ivy schools in ECAC have been talk for weeks/months, yet also hear no RPI or Union, of course changes daily. If you look at schedules & transfers points in that direction...so ECAC appears as Clarkson, SLU, Colgate, & Q’piac. Maybe things change for better.
I get the frustration and the anger. And that good players are leaving. I doubt any games will be played. Look at Wisconsin football. No game again this week. The virus is totally out of control there. 51% of hospital beds in El Paso are filled with Covid patients. Utah is planning to ration care. It is going to get bad here as well. By this time next year this should be in the rear view mirror. The question is should SAJ have given us the impression hockey was right around the corner, put the ice down, spend money on that, and done what Union did and let small groups practice and then shut it down? I knew in the Spring there would be no hockey this year. There was nothing to give anyone the impression the virus could be controlled with anything other than severe restrictions. I know many don’t like SAJ. But I would not want to be in her shoes or Cuomo’s or anyone else that had to say ‘NO’ to the people. But do you open up and then when things get really bad say “Ooops” and then shut down? When you use that strategy, it is too late. Because the numbers are low on campus says only one thing : they have done the right thing so far. I want to watch hockey as much as anyone here. I want the program to succeed. But my #1 priority is to not get this virus or to see anyone else get it. And to accomplish that everyone has to sacrifice.
DavidNardolillo
Member
This is a good point. I also think the unwillingness to take risk with hockey and other sports at RPI is also still being influenced by the death of an RPI grad student from the flu earlier this year right before COVID hit the United States. Given everything that has happened in the state and locally (see SUNY Albany spike), just one catastrophic health outcome at RPI, would undoubtedly be seen as an avoidable outcome if restrictions were to be lifted. Not hard to see why the people who have to make the actual decision--and bear the consequences--have taken a very conservative approach.
As for the larger implications for the program: I understand why people are despondent but, for me, it is too early to tell. Not many teams are going to have much of a season at this rate, which may create what is essentially a free transfer opportunity for certain players who might be in demand. I am terrible with the eligibility/transfer rules, but I am wondering whether some players are putting their names on the list in an attempt to salvage a semester or two of eligibility in the event the NCAA doesn't grant waivers.
DavidNardolillo
Member
Losing Owen would be a blow. In the last 10 years or so, RPI has been very competitive when it had goalies with NHL/AHL level talent (York, Kasdorf), but you saw what happened when those players were not available. Owen was our best player the last two years, but I think the overall defensive structure of the team is better than it has been in recent years (assuming roster remains mostly intact). That may soften the blow a little if we can get some decent replacement goaltending. Alec looked promising until he had that really tough game at WMU. Linden's problem has been consistency.
Personally, I am not interested in debating the administration's commitment to hockey. Generally speaking, I fear that COVID-related losses at universities might be felt for a long time across college sports, broadly speaking, and anything could happen (either out of necessity . . . or opportunity).
They are playing
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
Today is 13 November 2020. In honor of Delaney Weiss, there are 14 days (2 weeks) until RPI's next game.
This is based upon 27 November 2020 (day after Thanksgiving) for the start of next season.
This is based upon 27 November 2020 (day after Thanksgiving) for the start of next season.
engineerhockeyfan
PUCKMAN RULES!!!
The Ivys cancelled their hockey season this year.
Where does the ECAC go now?
Where does the ECAC go now?
Wicked Slappaahs
I miss Tie Domi
In my mind its a forgone conclusion that they'll be no hockey at RPI this year. How I feel about that is moot. What I do take exception to is the absolute lack of anything resembling information from the administration. (I do not blame the hockey staff, as I am certain that there is a gag order in place.) Rubbing salt in the wound is the friendly email I rec'd from UMass this morning telling me about all of the wonderful ways I can watch Minuteman games via live stream this year....that for sure sets me off! How one program can absolutely get it right in the marketing dept. and RPI on the other hand is a funeral parlor....aside of course for hitting me up for money for home games that won't occur.
ServinisScores
I'm an Implant Engineer
What I take offense to is getting PR from the corner office on stories how RPI is winning the COVID war, just this morning. Which is a good message. However, if they are brazen enough to parrot claims of "victory" yet not mention the sacrifices of the entire student body, and be forthright with the students and alumni, and fan base, then they are showing levels of disingenuousness beyond even what this administration was believed to be capable of.
Very similar feelings here. Lack of communication about all of this is a bit of a kick in the teeth after 57 years of support. I certainly received lots of messages over the years asking for donations and explaining how to keep the school in my estate planning. I don't ask for much and certainly don't need much but being kept in the dark just does not go down well for us.
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
The hockey team is D-I, and the rest are not. They go by different rules and RPI defended that when they were trying to disallow D-I schools from doing so. It is similar that the fact that the Engineering school is treated differently from H&SS in the sense one can't major in English at RPI (or at least you couldn't when I was at RPI).
I am still proud to admit that I never never attended a basketball game, neither HS, college, nor the pros.
Signed: A smallot ;-)
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What I take offense to is getting PR from the corner office on stories how RPI is winning the COVID war, just this morning. Which is a good message. However, if they are brazen enough to parrot claims of "victory" yet not mention the sacrifices of the entire student body, and be forthright with the students and alumni, and fan base, then they are showing levels of disingenuousness beyond even what this administration was believed to be capable of.
Nothing or no one could summarize the current state of affairs more eloquently than the above two statements.
Assuming that hockey along with all the other winter sports are gone and probably were already gone around the time school started with players, coaches, athletic staff and fans all getting strung along the whole time, so be it. Cannot even conceive of any plausible reason why any institutions' administration would approach things this way other than a simple lack of straight forwardness, courtesy and consideration. People in the skinniest part of an any organizational chart possessing those traits would just say we do not thing it is a very good idea or safe to play anything this year and do it at the very onset letting the chips fall where they may. Even if they were eventually proven wrong, at least you could respect their decision even if you did not agree with it.
My fear is that the administration jerked around a local fan base that is far more "advanced" in many ways (intelligence, well off financially, multiple varied interest, etc, etc,) than any other fan base that I can think of which I have ever been around. Imagine the same goes for those not from the local area who follow the program remotely. It is very possible that whenever the administration decides that we are once again "worthy" of their attention (when they want our money), they may find more than a few replies that go along the lines of thanks, but no thanks, I have moved on.
As for a shining light at the end of the tunnel, less than two years remaining on a two year contract (previously, it was usually far longer) for someone who is already 74. Assuming that exit would also eradicate all the cronies and flunkies too. If memory serves me correctly, their was also a presidential disaster in the early mid 1970's (to lazy too look up his name). When that individual was not "renewed", the replacement was the great Dr. George Low who, by all accounts, fixed things and did it quickly. Need that same bolt of lightning to strike again and to do so while good athletic administrators and coaches are still here.
P.S. Are spring sports already gone too with the only thing remaining is for those athletes and coaches to be let in on it?
Nothing or no one could summarize the current state of affairs more eloquently than the above two statements.
Assuming that hockey along with all the other winter sports are gone and probably were already gone around the time school started with players, coaches, athletic staff and fans all getting strung along the whole time, so be it. Cannot even conceive of any plausible reason why any institutions' administration would approach things this way other than a simple lack of straight forwardness, courtesy and consideration. People in the skinniest part of an any organizational chart possessing those traits would just say we do not thing it is a very good idea or safe to play anything this year and do it at the very onset letting the chips fall where they may. Even if they were eventually proven wrong, at least you could respect their decision even if you did not agree with it.
My fear is that the administration jerked around a local fan base that is far more "advanced" in many ways (intelligence, well off financially, multiple varied interest, etc, etc,) than any other fan base that I can think of which I have ever been around. Imagine the same goes for those not from the local area who follow the program remotely. It is very possible that whenever the administration decides that we are once again "worthy" of their attention (when they want our money), they may find more than a few replies that go along the lines of thanks, but no thanks, I have moved on.
As for a shining light at the end of the tunnel, less than two years remaining on a two year contract (previously, it was usually far longer) for someone who is already 74. Assuming that exit would also eradicate all the cronies and flunkies too. If memory serves me correctly, their was also a presidential disaster in the early mid 1970's (to lazy too look up his name). When that individual was not "renewed", the replacement was the great Dr. George Low who, by all accounts, fixed things and did it quickly. Need that same bolt of lightning to strike again and to do so while good athletic administrators and coaches are still here.
P.S. Are spring sports already gone too with the only thing remaining is for those athletes and coaches to be let in on it?
Ralph Isernia's letter soliciting Let's Go Red donations for the football team indicated he had some hope that the football team might be able to play a spring game.
I suppose the optimists among us can hold out hope that there could still be a Dutchman's Shoes game before this academic year is over.
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
Today is 14 November 2020. In honor of Taylor Larsen, there are 13 days until RPI's next game.
This is based upon 27 November 2020 (day after Thanksgiving) for the start of next season.
This is based upon 27 November 2020 (day after Thanksgiving) for the start of next season.
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
I wonder if this delay on posting either a schedule, a delay until the new year, or a season cancellation indicates that SAJ et al. hasn't decided yet or that it isn't important to her?
So far 8 schools have cancelled, the 6 Ivies, RIT, and UAA. Almost all of the others have schedules at least through December.
So far 8 schools have cancelled, the 6 Ivies, RIT, and UAA. Almost all of the others have schedules at least through December.
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