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RPI 2021-22 Restart

It is a tradition at this time of year, for RPI fans, to parse the odds of the Engineers making the playoffs. It is very rare for them to be securely in the playoffs or hopelessly out at the end of January. This year is no exception, although hope is hanging on a thin thread. I expect that Lugnut may weigh in with a more sophisticated statistical analysis of the situation, but here is my take. We are currently 5 points behind the eighth spot (shared by Cornell and Princeton, who each have a game in hand) with 7 games to go. Under the new points system, 7 games means a total potential of 21 points. The key, 'though, for RPI are the two remaining games against Princeton (tomorrow) and Cornell. Wins in those games would put the Engineers in the mix, but in both cases those would be upsets.
 
Tough OT loss to Princeton today, but the Engineers played well. Seemed to be missing some starters on D but played a strong defensive game despite. The playoffs, now, are probably unattainable, but I know that this team will surprise a few teams down the stretch.
 
Code: 
   |  KRACH |     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10    11    12 |Avg Rk |AvgPts
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ha |  561.4 |  [B]78.3[/B]  16.0   4.1   1.3   0.3   0.0   0.0                               |  1.29 | 51.27
Ya |  426.4 |  12.5  [B]40.5[/B]  22.5  15.8   7.3   1.5   0.0                               |  2.69 | 47.43
Ck |  382.9 |   3.4  23.8  [B]33.7[/B]  24.2  11.4   3.4   0.1     x                         |  3.27 | 45.97
Qu |  375.8 |   4.6  14.6  24.0  [B]27.6[/B]  20.5   8.5   0.2   0.0     x                   |  3.71 | 44.88
SL |  226.3 |   1.2   4.9  11.3  19.3  [B]29.6[/B]  29.6   4.1   0.1                         |  4.77 | 42.55
Cg |  396.5 |   0.0   0.3   4.4  11.6  29.2  [B]47.0[/B]   7.3   0.2   0.0     x             |  5.41 | 40.91
Cr |  165.9 |     x     x   0.0   0.2   1.8   9.8  [B]74.3[/B]  13.6   0.4   0.0             |  7.00 | 34.82
Pr |  119.3 |                 x     x   0.0   0.2  13.8  [B]82.6[/B]   3.3   0.2             |  7.90 | 30.92
RP |   76.5 |                                 0.0   0.2   2.8  [B]70.3[/B]  26.2   0.5     x |  9.24 | 23.76
Br |   34.0 |                                       0.0   0.8  25.9  [B]72.7[/B]   0.6     x |  9.73 | 21.27
Da |   40.7 |                                                   0.1   1.0  [B]96.5[/B]   2.5 | 11.01 | 12.98
Un |   13.7 |                                                     x     x   2.5  [B]97.5[/B] | 11.97 |  5.24

Probably not going to happen for us this year.
 
Time to close out this thread soon and start a new one looking forward to the 2022-2023 season. But before doing that, any comments on how the team performed this year? FWIW, I am never totally happy with a 10th place finish in a 12 team league, and I'm sure the players aren't either...BUT...I have to say that I am happy with the way the team rebounded from the disaster of the previous two seasons and I look forward to next year. Special congrats have to go out to all of the players who toughed it out over the last two years...every one of them upped their game this year and should be proud of that.
 
hab said:
Time to close out this thread soon and start a new one looking forward to the 2022-2023 season. But before doing that, any comments on how the team performed this year? FWIW, I am never totally happy with a 10th place finish in a 12 team league, and I'm sure the players aren't either...BUT...I have to say that I am happy with the way the team rebounded from the disaster of the previous two seasons and I look forward to next year. Special congrats have to go out to all of the players who toughed it out over the last two years...every one of them upped their game this year and should be proud of that.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, it's pretty much impossible to not improve after not winning a game. This is pretty much what I expected from this season, but I also was happy to see many of the players develop. Overall, we still lack speed and skill and don't have very many game-breakers on the team. The reviews on Vines from the players are a mixed bag, at best, and his contract is expiring. Personally, I think I'd just move on, but if they didn't do that after an 0-33-1 season, then I don't see it happening after this season where they showed improvement.
 
sezenack said:
The reviews on Vines from the players are a mixed bag ...
Click to expand...
It's kind of difficult to evaluate him. Should we judge him by his 14-win season? Or the winless one? Maybe the best thing to do is be like the judges in a sport like diving where you throw out the high, throw out the low, and look at what is left. Using the same method, Burke would be hovering fairly consistently around 10 wins, and Vines would come in a bit lower.

Could a new coach do better, or is there something else regarding the program that needs to be addressed before they can consistently win more than 10 games a year?
 
Was not able to watch most of the 2nd half this year, but this year had some signs of hope and despair. The Good? Beat BU, Providence, OT win at Clarskson, swept Union decisively, only 1 or 2 'bad' games. Were in most every game all year. The Bad? Not making playoffs and while no games were really out of hand, the few I saw against the upper teams RPI was not really in either and just were hanging on. The Ugly? Split Brown and Dartmouth. Given the team did not even practice at all last year I am not sure what more could really be asked for. Things will get even more competitive with Union and RIT now offering scholarships, and RMU coming back on line. In the games I saw, the players did not seem to give up in any game and that reflects well on the coach and culture.
 
Some really good, thoughtful responses to my question. It shows the depth of interest in RPI hockey.

Does anyone know how we stack up vs other D1 teams in the area of financial support for the program? Is that an issue or not?

Any thoughts on advantages / disadvantages in recruiting? RPI has high academic standards and a strong science / engineering focus. Advantage or disadvantage? My daughter went to RPI because of the strong Eng reputation (combined with the strong hockey tradition), but that may not be typical?
 
hab said:
Some really good, thoughtful responses to my question. It shows the depth of interest in RPI hockey.

Does anyone know how we stack up vs other D1 teams in the area of financial support for the program? Is that an issue or not?

Any thoughts on advantages / disadvantages in recruiting? RPI has high academic standards and a strong science / engineering focus. Advantage or disadvantage? My daughter went to RPI because of the strong Eng reputation (combined with the strong hockey tradition), but that may not be typical?
Click to expand...

I should say that in reviewing the comments of a lot of our players over the years, the strong academics of RPI are often mentioned as a positive. But some competitors, like Clarkson, have tended to draw top players from Ontario, some of whom may be there only for hockey?
 
ARM said:
It's kind of difficult to evaluate him. Should we judge him by his 14-win season? Or the winless one? Maybe the best thing to do is be like the judges in a sport like diving where you throw out the high, throw out the low, and look at what is left. Using the same method, Burke would be hovering fairly consistently around 10 wins, and Vines would come in a bit lower.

Could a new coach do better, or is there something else regarding the program that needs to be addressed before they can consistently win more than 10 games a year?
Click to expand...

This is very fair to bring up. I do think the administration needs to better support the program for sure. I'm not sure what a new coach could do, but I look to teams like Clarkson that have a very similar profile to RPI. And I think that there's no reason our program can't be as successful as Clarkson.
 
Hab to address your comment on academics. I would think that would actually help recruiting because women cannot make professional careers off of hockey alone like men can (unfortunately). Education should be much more important for recruits because they will need their education to make a living even if they can play professionally. The pay simply isn't good enough to live on full-time. Obviously outsiders like us won't know for sure, but that's my opinion
 
sezenack said:
This is very fair to bring up. I do think the administration needs to better support the program for sure. I'm not sure what a new coach could do, but I look to teams like Clarkson that have a very similar profile to RPI. And I think that there's no reason our program can't be as successful as Clarkson.
Click to expand...

I would disagree with the comment that Clarkson and RPI have a similar profile. Clarkson has lower academic standards and seems to have more money to spend on hockey. I am speaking from some experience: my daughter was offered a far better $ deal to go to Clarkson, but chose RPI.
 
hab said:
I would disagree with the comment that Clarkson and RPI have a similar profile. Clarkson has lower academic standards and seems to have more money to spend on hockey. I am speaking from some experience: my daughter was offered a far better $ deal to go to Clarkson, but chose RPI.
Click to expand...

It worked for us because we were able to handle the finances, but for many families the Clarkson deal would have been far more attractive. but this was many years ago. What is the current situation? Is RPI competitive, financially, in the recruiting area, for players and coaches?
 
The sport has improved so much over the NCAA Tournament era. Now, the worst player that I'll see take the ice in a D-I game is still pretty good. I'm watching the first round of HEA playoffs, and the #10 and #9 seeds both scored the first goal in their games on skill plays. It used to be that the bottom seeds scored when a puck hit a leg and bounced in.

For coaches, I think it is now a finer line between winning and losing, and less about just recruiting better players than everyone else. That's still a factor, but now the emphasis to a greater extent is about putting that talent together into winning systems.

I think it's now harder to tell why some teams win and others lose, because there are so many things that factor into it.
 
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