RPI 2023-24: In Our 200th Year, We're Getting It Right

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Did not have the luxury to replay our 5 minute penalty as we were at a local pub watching the game. No one in the place was an RPi fan. Virtually no one was even a hockey fan. But absolutely no one who saw the call was able to figure out why anything at all was called, let a lone a 5 minute major. There was virtually no contact and definitely no attempt at contact to the head. If it was supposed to be a make up call - the added misconduct and disqualification from the game was far more than the Union player got for his penalty earlier. Which, btw, I thought might also be only a 2 minute penalty. Would not have mattered since we played those 5 minutes about as poorly as we could giving whatever momentum we had to Union.

You're not wrong Doc. Given the refs took at least 5 mins to look at it before making the horrible call tells you it was a stretch. If it takes two adults that long to decide, then its not a call. Just my opinion...

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

So far this season, these guys panic whenever they are pushed. And any opponent that has film, can see it.
Our defensive coverage in our own zone is non existent.
I don't know if we have a defenseman who can stay calm in those situations.
We need a reset, and soon.

The d-zone play this weekend was nothing short of horrible. I don't pretend to know the reason, but I do know that sound team defense in any sport is made up largely of effort and attitude...which was nowhere to be found this past weekend.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

I made the mistake of tuning into Smitty's weekly appearance on 104.5 the Team today. Once again, there was remarkably little discussion of the team's actual performance over the weekend...thanks to the host's ignorance of the sport. Smitty did mention the lack of checking and physicality on Saturday, despite it having been a point of emphasis.

Our crew will be making the north country trek this weekend as per usual. But with a team that is giving up 5 goals per game, I'll arrive with absolutely no expectations....

 

[Engineers]

I made the mistake of tuning into Smitty's weekly appearance on 104.5 the Team today. Once again, there was remarkably little discussion of the team's actual performance over the weekend...thanks to the host's ignorance of the sport. Smitty did mention the lack of checking and physicality on Saturday, despite it having been a point of emphasis.

Our crew will be making the north country trek this weekend as per usual. But with a team that is giving up 5 goals per game, I'll arrive with absolutely no expectations....

I have absolutely no expectations with this coaching staff. The play to start the year has been terrible and honestly nobody should be surprised. I said it once before smith had one decent year only because they relied heavily on savory who played out of his mind. I understand why they fired appert but to replace him with this? Give me a break.

 

[sezenack]

I have absolutely no expectations with this coaching staff. The play to start the year has been terrible and honestly nobody should be surprised. I said it once before smith had one decent year only because they relied heavily on savory who played out of his mind. I understand why they fired appert but to replace him with this? Give me a break.

I think Reilly was the best player on that team, and the defense in front of Savory was really good in general. He didn't have to make very many difficult saves the second half of the season. They also scored a good amount in the second half of the year.

That was a good team in general; I don't agree they were carried. After that, 2021-22 was as good as it could have been given all the players they lost.
Last year was disappointing for sure, and this year has been so far to start.

It's been 6 games though against a really tough schedule; there's a lot of hockey left to play. The story on this team is nowhere close to being written, and I wouldn't give up on them quite yet.
PS: It's worth noting that BC is now #1, PC is now #5 and Maine is now #13.

 

[sk8tronthepond]

PS: It's worth noting that BC is now #1, PC is now #5 and Maine is now #13.

Good point. It will be at least 3 years before we can compete with these programs. Look where Maine was just last year!! Quite the turn around in year 2.

 

[RPI67]

I have absolutely no expectations with this coaching staff. The play to start the year has been terrible and honestly nobody should be surprised. I said it once before smith had one decent year only because they relied heavily on savory who played out of his mind. I understand why they fired appert but to replace him with this? Give me a break.

Interesting stats from RPI site. 1st line - #19 - 7 points leads scoring (+/-) = -2. #9 (+/-) = -8, #12 (+/-) =-8 (highest on team). Maybe they always play against the top line.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Interesting stats from RPI site. 1st line - #19 - 7 points leads scoring (+/-) = -2. #9 (+/-) = -8, #12 (+/-) =-8 (highest on team). Maybe they always play against the top line.

The uncontested goals that Union was allowed to score should alarm everyone... Here's hoping they have an awakening in practice this week that there are two ends of the ice that require attention...

 

[sezenack]

Good point. It will be at least 3 years before we can compete with these programs. Look where Maine was just last year!! Quite the turn around in year 2.

Yeah I think you're probably right. At least in terms of competing consistently at that level. I believe this is year 3 of Barr, no? Anyways, looks like they were #31 in the pairwise last year, so it is definitely a very good jump for them! Good for them and Barr

 

[DavidNardolillo]

That was a good team in general; I don't agree they were carried.

I agree with this assessment of '19-20, especially as the team got stronger during the season. Savory was a difference maker, but the team play overall was good.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

Those are the two issues that jumped out at me. Union was extremely aggressive and showed no respect for our puck handlers. It was most apparent during the power plays, but it was true even up as well.

This has been a recipe for success in defending RPI's power plays for many years over the last 15 or so. Some big struggles in years when you don't have puck-handling and offensive talents like Polacek, Bailen, etc.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

The uncontested goals that Union was allowed to score should alarm everyone... Here's hoping they have an awakening in practice this week that there are two ends of the ice that require attention...

Definitely a disconnect going on in the defensive zone play. Concerning given the number of returning players from last year.

 

[Engineers]

I think Reilly was the best player on that team, and the defense in front of Savory was really good in general. He didn't have to make very many difficult saves the second half of the season. They also scored a good amount in the second half of the year.

That was a good team in general; I don't agree they were carried. After that, 2021-22 was as good as it could have been given all the players they lost.
Last year was disappointing for sure, and this year has been so far to start.

It's been 6 games though against a really tough schedule; there's a lot of hockey left to play. The story on this team is nowhere close to being written, and I wouldn't give up on them quite yet.
PS: It's worth noting that BC is now #1, PC is now #5 and Maine is now #13.

Reilly was very good but I think the team played with more confidence knowing they had savory
Behind them if they made a mistake. The second half they scored more because they were taking more chances because savory was backstopping them. That’s not the whole picture but it’s a very big part of why they were good that year. Reilly was also a appert recruit. If savory wasn’t on the team that year would they have been that good? I don’t think so. Kudos to Dan jewell for finding savory.
I agree the schedule this year was brutal to start and most people didn’t think they would beat bc,pc maine but it’s the way they have been beaten. Team play has been really bad with a veteran team. The union series was ridiculous. I’m not giving up on them just yet but something has to change. This weekend will be a really tough.

 

[Engineers]

Good point. It will be at least 3 years before we can compete with these programs. Look where Maine was just last year!! Quite the turn around in year 2.

It’s been 3 decades since they competed against those teams 3 years might be a stretch especially with this coaching staff. Maine is this good after year 3 because Ben Barr is an outstanding coach who can recruit with the best recruiters in the country. I do think with our new prez and AD will invest heavily with the hockey programs but it’s going to take time. This coaching staff has been inconsistent at best. I remember McElroy saying one of the big reason for letting appert go was because they haven’t been consistent. Well what do we call this now?

 

[DavidNardolillo]

Times Union article on RPI going with a 5 player leadership group instead of captains. At the end, it mentions that Watson is injured and likely unavailable this weekend: https://www.timesunion.com/sports/a...-18479156.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-latest-news

 

[DrDemento]

A little late with these for the week but cable company had us totally off line for 4 days doing some sort of maintenance which of course screwed everything up totally.

Odds for the games this weekend-
Football RPI is a 6.5 point underdog to Union
Girls Hockey - RPI is a 0.5 goal underdog to Brown
RPI is a 2.5 goal underdog to Yale ( the largest spread we have faced this year)
Boys Hockey - RPI is a 1.5 goal underdog to Clarkson
RPI is a 0.5 goal underdog to St Lawrence

 

[CMcGarvey]

SLU Preview https://open.substack.com/pub/thefi...109?r=1mx7gw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

 

[Engineers]

Did we seriously blow a 3 goal lead? Which how we were even up by 3 is miraculous considering how bad we were playing but nonetheless we then let slu score 6 straight? I mean after watching the game this is probably the worst rpi team I’ve seen on special teams. Happy we beat Clarkson Friday night I don’t know how they beat them considering how bad we are but happy we did. Special teams is brutally bad and that falls on the coaches. No getting around that. The defensive play is so bad it’s mind blowing.

 

[DrDemento]

Did we seriously blow a 3 goal lead? Which how we were even up by 3 is miraculous considering how bad we were playing but nonetheless we then let slu score 6 straight? I mean after watching the game this is probably the worst rpi team I’ve seen on special teams. Happy we beat Clarkson Friday night I don’t know how they beat them considering how bad we are but happy we did. Special teams is brutally bad and that falls on the coaches. No getting around that. The defensive play is so bad it’s mind blowing.

We got that 3 goal lead in about 1+ minute. Then had a full 40 minutes to just try to play even and we could not do it. 100% correct - special teams, defense and fundamentals have to be the responsibility of the coaches.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

We got that 3 goal lead in about 1+ minute. Then had a full 40 minutes to just try to play even and we could not do it. 100% correct - special teams, defense and fundamentals have to be the responsibility of the coaches.

After watching all of the games this season, I have come to the conclusion that we just don't have the personnel.
We don't have a single defensive minded player on this team. I would love to see the time of possession for all the games.
We are stuck in the defensive zone for most of the game, and we only get a couple of minutes in the offensive zone where we are lucky to get a shot off.
The offense suffers from having to spend most of their shifts defending.
The special teams are an embarrassment. I am sure that the coaching staff is frustrated, and the special teams performance is going to cost them their jobs.
Just the way it is.