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

[Engineers]

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.

I turned it off after the slu tied it up. It was like watching an oncoming train wreck. We hired a 3rd coach this year. Seems to be working out well.

 

[Engineers]

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.

All true. If it was up to me I would fire the whole staff Monday morning and get on the horn with McDonald, tapper, Dumais etc…anyone but this shit. Marty Schmidt and the new AD want to turn the program around well here’s your chance. Start busting out the $$$ cause that’s what it takes to win. Top coaches, facilities, recruiting budgets etc… it’s gonna cost you. What we’re watching now is balderdash.

 

[vicious]

I turned it off after the slu tied it up. It was like watching an oncoming train wreck. We hired a 3rd coach this year. Seems to be working out well.

I made the trip to Appleton. SLU lost Friday to Union and came out flying last night. SLU started their backup goalie, Grant Adams, who's only appearance this season was a month ago (a loss to UVM). They dominated the first 10 minutes of the game and Cherepak made save after save to keep it scoreless. When RPI finally get the puck into the SLU zone, Adams seemed caught off guard and gave up the 2 quick goals. Then SLU pulled Adams and put in Kraws, their #1 guy. He gave up a quick goal to make 3-0 but shut the door the rest of the night.

On the offensive side, SLU was faster and won a lot of battles for the puck. Gavars is a special player. RPI's effort was good but SLU gave them all they could handle. Defensively, this was an improvement from prior weeks. More blocked shots, more breaking up plays, and just overall smarter play on defense. The real weakness is special teams - SLU 3/5 on the PP. PK is down to 70% and power play is second-worst in the country, behind only Yale, which has yet to score a PPG this season. Cherepak was solid. So, some positives but still some areas that need big improvements, and soon.

This was my first trip to Appleton. Fun place to watch a game. A classic old barn, even with the $10 million renovation a few years ago.

 

[DavidSec17]

Blowing leads is nothing new. Not the same team obviously, but in the 2022 playoffs we blew a 3 goal lead to Harvard in 4 minutes only to lose in OT.

Also the same bunch responsible for the no - show in last seasons one game home playoff loss to Yale, which was only Yale's 7th win of the year. Good times.

 

[Engineers]

I made the trip to Appleton. SLU lost Friday to Union and came out flying last night. SLU started their backup goalie, Grant Adams, who's only appearance this season was a month ago (a loss to UVM). They dominated the first 10 minutes of the game and Cherepak made save after save to keep it scoreless. When RPI finally get the puck into the SLU zone, Adams seemed caught off guard and gave up the 2 quick goals. Then SLU pulled Adams and put in Kraws, their #1 guy. He gave up a quick goal to make 3-0 but shut the door the rest of the night.

On the offensive side, SLU was faster and won a lot of battles for the puck. Gavars is a special player. RPI's effort was good but SLU gave them all they could handle. Defensively, this was an improvement from prior weeks. More blocked shots, more breaking up plays, and just overall smarter play on defense. The real weakness is special teams - SLU 3/5 on the PP. PK is down to 70% and power play is second-worst in the country, behind only Yale, which has yet to score a PPG this season. Cherepak was solid. So, some positives but still some areas that need big improvements, and soon.

This was my first trip to Appleton. Fun place to watch a game. A classic old barn, even with the $10 million renovation a few years ago.

Well that’s frightening if yesterday an improvement defensively. Could of fooled everyone

 

[DavidNardolillo]

Some sad news this week that people may have already heard, but the obituary was only published this morning. Bill Anslow, who works the penalty boxes/scoring table as an off-ice official at HFH, and had done so for a number of years, passed away earlier this week. Really nice person and I always enjoyed chatting with him pre-game at HFH.

Obit here:https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesunion-albany/name/william-anslow-obituary?id=53569585

 

[RPI fan 4 life]

Was looking at the stats according to USCHO. And some of the numbers are downright appalling:
Out of 64 teams…
Team Offense 35th (middle of the pack)
Team Defense T-62nd (with Army)
Power Play percentage 64th (dead last)
Penalty Kill percentage 57th (and dropping)
Goaltending- Cherepak 71st, Watson 80th (out of 81)

How this team managed to win 2 games is astounding.
Or as Charlie Brown once said to Lucy, tell your statistics to shut up…

 

[AspyDad]

Some sad news this week that people may have already heard, but the obituary was only published this morning. Bill Anslow, who works the penalty boxes/scoring table as an off-ice official at HFH, and had done so for a number of years, passed away earlier this week. Really nice person and I always enjoyed chatting with him pre-game at HFH.

Obit here:https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesunion-albany/name/william-anslow-obituary?id=53569585

Bill loved his Engineers. Pleasant man. Rest in Peace.

 

[AspyDad]

Blowing leads is nothing new. Not the same team obviously, but in the 2022 playoffs we blew a 3 goal lead to Harvard in 4 minutes only to lose in OT.

Also the same bunch responsible for the no - show in last seasons one game home playoff loss to Yale, which was only Yale's 7th win of the year. Good times.

+1

 

[AspyDad]

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.

I would also note Burgess played well. I think Seth took a flyer on him bx he had a history of injuries. Todd also worked hard to get back after his injuries at RPI.

 

[CMcGarvey]

I would also note Burgess played well. I think Seth took a flyer on him bx he had a history of injuries. Todd also worked hard to get back after his injuries at RPI.

A flyer?? He had 95 points in Fairbanks and was a 4th round pick.

 

[AspyDad]

A flyer?? He had 95 points in Fairbanks and was a 4th round pick.

Good point, Seth brought in talent.

 

[Engineers]

I would also note Burgess played well. I think Seth took a flyer on him bx he had a history of injuries. Todd also worked hard to get back after his injuries at RPI.

Yeah I forgot to mention burgess. He played very well that year.

 

[Engineers]

Good point, Seth brought in talent.

Seth definitely brought in talent. How many NHL picks did he bring in? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him behind the bench in the NHL soon.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

I would also note Burgess played well. I think Seth took a flyer on him bx he had a history of injuries. Todd also worked hard to get back after his injuries at RPI.

I agree with you on Burgess that season. Injuries totally derailed Burgess, who had an impressive stat line his last year in juniors. He had committed to RPI and then blew out his knee in an NHL development camp and missed his first season at RPI entirely. He developed into a good two-way player for RPI and in his grad season with MSU Mankato. He's also been productive as a pro, and he's nearly a point-a-game player this season overseas.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

Seth definitely brought in talent. How many NHL picks did he bring in? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him behind the bench in the NHL soon.

Seth brought in some top players. However, his win-loss record didn't reflect that, and the successful seasons during that time came when he had a goaltender that wound up logging NHL minutes (York, Kasdorf). Historical debates on this board show that reasonable people can disagree what conclusions may be drawn about him and RPI at that time.

I am glad Seth is enjoying success on the pro level; always a good guy, I think he's grown as a coach.

 

[sezenack]

Some sad news this week that people may have already heard, but the obituary was only published this morning. Bill Anslow, who works the penalty boxes/scoring table as an off-ice official at HFH, and had done so for a number of years, passed away earlier this week. Really nice person and I always enjoyed chatting with him pre-game at HFH.

Obit here:https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesunion-albany/name/william-anslow-obituary?id=53569585

May Bill rest in peace. Condolences to his family :-(

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Seth definitely brought in talent. How many NHL picks did he bring in? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him behind the bench in the NHL soon.

I agree...but I hope he's not in any hurry to jump to the NHL. That's a meat grinder world ...as Woodcroft just found out. Seth has done a great job and clearly has the support of the Sabres brass. It's worth noting that they've stacked a lot of young talent in Rochester with Seth's assignment being development....but he's won a ton of games while doing so. Losing his AC Michael Peca to the Rangers is a blow ....I was surprised BUF didn't elevate him to the Sabres as an AC...which may have been why he departed for greener pastures.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

I made the trip to Appleton. SLU lost Friday to Union and came out flying last night. SLU started their backup goalie, Grant Adams, who's only appearance this season was a month ago (a loss to UVM). They dominated the first 10 minutes of the game and Cherepak made save after save to keep it scoreless. When RPI finally get the puck into the SLU zone, Adams seemed caught off guard and gave up the 2 quick goals. Then SLU pulled Adams and put in Kraws, their #1 guy. He gave up a quick goal to make 3-0 but shut the door the rest of the night.

On the offensive side, SLU was faster and won a lot of battles for the puck. Gavars is a special player. RPI's effort was good but SLU gave them all they could handle. Defensively, this was an improvement from prior weeks. More blocked shots, more breaking up plays, and just overall smarter play on defense. The real weakness is special teams - SLU 3/5 on the PP. PK is down to 70% and power play is second-worst in the country, behind only Yale, which has yet to score a PPG this season. Cherepak was solid. So, some positives but still some areas that need big improvements, and soon.

This was my first trip to Appleton. Fun place to watch a game. A classic old barn, even with the $10 million renovation a few years ago.

I attended both north country games as well. I agree with your thoughts, but would add that SLU out-efforted RPI for the 2nd half of the game. They got in the Engineers head and the team had no answer....we were not a hard team to play against...they were living rent free in front of our net. That's a leadership thing --attitude and effort --that needs to get solved in the locker room (not something the coach can fix). Chrepak played REALLY well Friday night, he moves very well and is positionally very sound. He needs to clean up his rebound control and he definitely was fighting with the glove on Saturday night. But overall I like him and he seems very calm and mentally ready to play at this level.

 

[DrDemento]

With all our complaining, mine included, we are 2-2 in the ECAC and so far as the standings go are in the middle of the pack. Wonder where we might be if our special teams and team defense was playing even partially well? We have a couple weeks now to figure some of this out. The numbers posted by RPI Fan for Life are simply appalling and have probably never been worse since perhaps 1965 yet we are a .500 ECAC team that just had a chance at a North Country trip sweep. This may be my first bit of optimism this season but I am trying to look for anything positive at this stage. or perhaps I am just desperately trying to get in the holiday spirit?