Fantastic effort by this year's team. Quite honestly, I wondered how Vines survived the team getting dominated in virtually every game two years ago, but he and the staff - and most importantly the players - have done a wonderful job of putting a competitive squad on the ice. It was a game that could have gone either way, but RPI winning was not a shock. They looked like they belonged on the ice with BU. The game against PC will be interesting to see if the Engineers can bring that competitive level on a consistent basis.
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RPI 2021-22 Restart
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Fantastic effort by this year's team. Quite honestly, I wondered how Vines survived the team getting dominated in virtually every game two years ago, but he and the staff - and most importantly the players - have done a wonderful job of putting a competitive squad on the ice. It was a game that could have gone either way, but RPI winning was not a shock. They looked like they belonged on the ice with BU. The game against PC will be interesting to see if the Engineers can bring that competitive level on a consistent basis.
The roster, especially the forwards, are nearly completely turned over from 2 years ago. The RPI announcer even said that Peterson, who was the "go to" player two years ago is now centering the fourth line. Not saying she is a 4th line player but there is a lot more skill added in the past 2 years. Further, there is like, what, 9 or so skaters sitting each game so if someone does not bring it, they will find themselves eating nachos and not on the ice. I'd imagine the competition in practices is much higher this year. However, Rampano is still saving this teams butt - if RPI had even just an above average instead of elite goalie, they lose this game. RPI is keeping their moniker of "goalie U" (not sure if that is a true moniker but should be). That game winning goal by Blitz was setup by Jahnke holding the puck long enough to draw the defenders to her, and made a perfect flat-on-ice-to-stick pass to Blitz who had just the goalie to beat. That play does not exist 2 years ago.
The participation opportunity requirement is proportional to enrollment. Unlike schools that are majority female, RPI doesn't have to provide a longer list of women's sports to offset the football team. Participation equality also applies to scholarships. IIRC RPI offers 18 scholarships to both men and women. Given the gender enrollment differences at the Tute, the women's team is providing opportunities well beyond Title IX requirements. However, I believe the requirement that the teams receive comparable support resources (i.e. not proportional to enrollment) would preclude going permanently with different sized coaching staffs.
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Reddington
Well-known member
Told ya Blitz would score for RPI this year.
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
RPI has equaled the goal total from 2019-20 of 21 goals scored, and it is still October.
Hey GRuss, this is one of the most fun teams you and I have seen in a long time, isn't it? Some will look at the shots and say it is just a hot goalie (and Rampado is great) but this team has a LOT more offensive spark than we have seen in years. They don't need to get a huge number of chances to put some goals on the board.
With 8 games under this team's belt, where do most feel they stand or should be ranked? I admit I have not followed our women closely for some time but from what i have seen this year, they are really fun and exciting to watch and have brought me back to the pre-2000 days before Division I.
I'm no expert but follow a lot of women's hockey programs and have adopted RPI as "my team" to follow (namely due to RPI TV) but here is my take:
The team works exceptionally hard, plays smart, and has an elite-level goalie. The individual skill level/ability of each skater though is generally speaking not on par with any team they have played except maybe Union. Vermont, BU and Providence clearly had bigger, faster, more skilled and better athletes. Just look at the shot disparities in all the games this year (it is like 2-to-1 bad gals). Not sure how many of the RPI players would have been seriously recruited by those programs. Without Rampano in goal they lose to Providence and BU, and the Union games are much closer. But they do have Rampano in goal, whatever the coaches are doing to get them highly motivated to basically out-work and out-smart the other teams is working, and it really does say this team could still end up anywhere from the bottom 4 to top 4 of the ECAC. It will really depend on if Rampano can continue to play at this level all season and if every skater keeps working as hard and smart as they do, and other teams "don't care" as much.
Being the scrappy underdogs who are overachieving and playing to their strengths through effort and smarts is what makes this team fun to root for.
The team works exceptionally hard, plays smart, and has an elite-level goalie. The individual skill level/ability of each skater though is generally speaking not on par with any team they have played except maybe Union. Vermont, BU and Providence clearly had bigger, faster, more skilled and better athletes. Just look at the shot disparities in all the games this year (it is like 2-to-1 bad gals). Not sure how many of the RPI players would have been seriously recruited by those programs. Without Rampano in goal they lose to Providence and BU, and the Union games are much closer. But they do have Rampano in goal, whatever the coaches are doing to get them highly motivated to basically out-work and out-smart the other teams is working, and it really does say this team could still end up anywhere from the bottom 4 to top 4 of the ECAC. It will really depend on if Rampano can continue to play at this level all season and if every skater keeps working as hard and smart as they do, and other teams "don't care" as much.
Being the scrappy underdogs who are overachieving and playing to their strengths through effort and smarts is what makes this team fun to root for.
Thanks for the response. They have indeed been fun and exciting to watch and I agree about your assessment of the opposition having higher level recruits. I am hoping that a very positive season with some surprising results against these teams will help with recruitment in the future. As you mention RPI TV is a major plus - they do an incredible job.
My assessment is similar to Cornholio's. Rampado is clearly their strength. However, having watched this team over many years, one huge area of improvement is their ability to finish plays in the offensive zone...which has been an agonizing weakness in some years. That also helps to explain how they can win games while being outshot...they do well at capitalizing on their opportunities. And I am not sure I have seen any D1 team forecheck as aggressively as they did in the second period against BU: it totally turned the game around. Hope they can find a way to bottle that for future games. It has been so long since I have seen any of the other ECAC teams that it is really hard to call where the Engineers will finish in the standings. Colgate is off to an impressive start, although this last weekend demonstrated once again that even the best in the ECAC cant compete with the WCHA. If I had to make a gut call at this point, I would say they make the playoffs, but without home ice advantage (in other words, 5th to 8th). I reserve the right to amend that several times as we start to get a feel for how the rest of the conference is shaping up.
The addition of Wagner (who is a RMU refugee) has given this team just enough offensive firepower to put them over the top I'd say. McCutcheon brings a booming and accurate shot but needs to develop a more well-rounded skillset and see the ice a bit better. Same for Blitz. Jahnke quietly has a 4-game point streak going. Severson and the rest of the crew are just working their butts off and getting into position to get dirty goals and outwork the other team's D on the forecheck. But the team will go as far as Rampano brings them. The highlight video pretty much says it all (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrwXPKzxHjM). It is "Rampano leg save", "Rampano glove save", "Rampano! Rampano! Rampno!". Not sure how many times the ECAC can give "goalie of the week" to the same player but if she does not win this week, I'd like to know who outplayed her.
Those are all excellent assessments of the individual players. You are hereby appointed President of the Rampado fan club...but first you need to learn how to spell her name.
I think we all agree that Rampado is the horse this team must ride to be successful. However, I think the rest of the team was more competitive than seems to be the general assessment. I must admit I wasn't focused on the broadcast during the first period of the BU game, which the Terriers apparently dominated, but I was impressed with how the Engineers came back to control more than their fair share of shifts in the second and third period. It clearly wasn't a Marie-Philip Poulin class BU team, but they were a solid top half of D-1 team and the RPI could clearly skate with them, although BU (particularly Shaughnessy (sp?)) seemed bigger. Against Providence, which controlled the flow of play for most of the game, the Engineers seemed to focus on playing a more conservative style, particularly after they got a 1st period goal. They seemed to block an awful lot of shots as they tried to help their netminder. Even so, there's enough speed and skill on this year's team that they were able to capitalize on mistakes and launch effective counter-attacks. While PC admittedly appeared to be the stronger team, that win wasn't just "a super goaltender and some luck" as we often saw during the Selander days - they earned it.
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Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
It also seemed to me that although Rampado has been the major force this season so far, the supporting cast is better than it was when Selander was here.
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Strong feeling that this weekend (home games vs SLU and Clarkson) will give a good indication of how RPI will fare in the ECAC this year. Engineers were winless two years ago and then no games and no practices last year, so expectations had to start LOW. However, record so far very encouraging. If they get 3 or 4 points this weekend (unlikely) they may have a shot at top 4 in ECAC; if 2 points, probably making playoffs; less than two points and it will be the usual battle for a playoff spot. Just my opinion.