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RPI 2022 Off-season: Surely, We Deserve Better

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Neutral Zone rated Budy as 4.25 *'s several years ago.

public evaluation: Budy is a great skater and knows how to get into the soft open areas of the ice. He has a physical pressence to his game and isn't scared to battle. Budy's vision may be his best asset, yet he is also very skilled with the puck and can create offense off his speed alone.
 
Ralph Baer said:
Budy's ND page https://fightinghawks.com/sports/men...dan-budy/10727.

He was the play to be named later for Ferner. :-D
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I almost made the same joke. I would assume that Budy spoke to Ferner about RPI and the feedback was positive. That's good to know because I really liked Ferner but understood that any of the players sidelined by our Covid reaction had to make the best decision for themselves.
 
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rpi82 said:
I almost made the same joke. I would assume that Budy spoke to Ferner about RPI and presumably the feedback was positive. That's good to know because I really liked Ferner but understood that any of the players sidelined by our Covid reaction had to make the best decision for themselves.
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But you thoguht better of it, as opposed to me. ;-D

BTW, Neutral Zone lists him as a center which is probably his preferred position.
 
So we replaced twelve losses that we know about: 4 D (Johnson, Kjellberg, Baxter and Helsen), 7 F (Bowman, Dubinsky, Lacka, Linden, Lepannen, Sellar and Addamo) and 1 G (Marshall) with 3 D, 6 F and a G. That's two fewer slots on the roster, which we may want to use next year because there may not be many departures. As far as I know the only guy that will exhaust all potential eligibility this season is Hallbauer. It will be interesting to see if guys like Walsh, Herrman, Mahshie and Klee decide to move on or play into a Covid-enabled 5th year of eligibility. It will also be interesting to see if some of last year's freshman, who didn't see a lot of ice time due to a crowded roster, may fare better this time. If not, that may also open a slot or two.

Now, who's going to play center?
Edit: I see Ralph may have partly answered my question below. If Budy can step into a top six center role along with Beaton, then we can probably fill the last two lines with Muzzati and Herrman. Let's hope that Coach Smith can release the potential in another former North Dakota player the way he did with Gornall.
 
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Today is 15 July 2022. There are 78 days until RPI's next game.

This is based upon 1 October 2022 for the start of next season.
 
sezenack said:
Budy is not in the RPI directory FWIW
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Presumably his commitment was the last piece of the class. I'm more of a fan of Coach Smith each day. New contract or not, what he's accomplished since the end of the season is impressive. Handed significant off-season losses, most expected, but at least two cases (Dubinsky and Kjellberg) that were probably not (and after what the team's been through over the last 24 months at the hands of the pandemic and the administration I doubt were attributable to coaching issues), he went to work. In addition to the previous recruits he added two strong junior recruits previously committed to HE, a goaltender that was a standout at the Canadian Junior A championships, a proven college scorer from Atlantic Hockey, and two additional transfers that have, for various reasons, not shown what they can really do in college hockey but had excellent resumes from junior hockey. That's a man getting things done.

Strom is coming off double shoulder surgeries, but, if back to good health, it sounds like he can step right in and be a solid defender on the left side. Everything I've read about him brings to mind a left-handed Brady Ferner. But it's Budy that really could be the heart of this class. When Dubinsky and Linden left Smith saw the same hole down the middle that we did and went about fixing it. Top six centers aren't easy to find in any recruiting season, much less at the very end. The best available transfer centers were quickly snapped up by big programs so Smith had to find a diamond in the rough. You had to go a long way down the portal list and do some homework to find Budy and understand his situation. He was a scoring stud in juniors but has been buried down the roster at upper echelon programs Denver and North Dakota. In one line chart I saw ND had him playing 4th line left wing with a couple of guys that combined had one goal in 33 games. It's not a given that even a good defensive top six center will see success as a checking line wing. With our roster he'll be moving back to his natural position. Note also that he's a diabetic so Smith undoubtedly had to consult with the medical staff too. There have been all-star caliber players in virtually every sport that were T1 diabetics - they just need to maintain an appropriate blood sugar monitoring and maintenance regimen. Here's hoping that Budy and RPI have a great partnership. Read more in Sezenack's review above.
 
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rpi82 said:
Note also that he's a diabetic so Smith undoubtedly had to consult with the medical staff too. There have been all-star caliber players in virtually every sport that were T1 diabetics - they just need to maintain an appropriate blood sugar monitoring and maintenance regimen. Here's hoping that Budy and RPI have a great partnership.
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When I read this on his twitter account, it brought back the recollection of us having a diabetic before, and it did not affect him it all at RPI. Does anyone recall who it was? iI suspect that it was about 20 years ago, but I could be wrong.
 
Ralph Baer said:
When I read this on his twitter account, it brought back the recollection of us having a diabetic before, and it did not affect him it all at RPI. Does anyone recall who it was? iI suspect that it was about 20 years ago, but I could be wrong.
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I think it was Pete Gardiner.
 
rpi82 said:
I think it was Pete Gardiner.
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Yes, it was him! Thanks.

He was at RPI from 1996-2000, so it was even longer than the 20 years that crossed my mind.

When i wrote that it didn't affect him, I meant that we didn't hear that he missed games on account of diabetes. i assume that he continued monitoring it, etc.
 
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Ralph Baer said:
Yes, it was him! Thanks.

He was at RPI from 1996-2000, so it was even longer than the 20 years that crossed my mind.

When i wrote that it didn't affect him, I meant that we didn't hear that he missed games on account of diabetes. i assume that he continued monitoring it, etc.
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Not missing games is an understatement. Pete played in 144 out of 145 Engineer games during his 4 seasons. I think we'd be thrilled if Budy or any other player, diabetic or not, plays in 99.3% of available games. Gardiner then went on to play a half-dozen seasons in the minors before retiring. He obviously made the best of his situation and I wish similar good fortune to Budy.
 
Ralph Baer said:
When I read this on his twitter account, it brought back the recollection of us having a diabetic before, and it did not affect him it all at RPI. Does anyone recall who it was? iI suspect that it was about 20 years ago, but I could be wrong.
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Going way back, I think Steve Stoyanovich also was a diabetic.
 
DavidNardolillo said:
Do you know what happened (sorry if I missed it earlier in the thread)? His Twitter bio still lists RPI, and his transfer announcement is still pinned on his feed.
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I don't. The first thing that came to mind was he did not get through admissions, but I have not heard anything.
 
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