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

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While I agree that Smith has a lot to do with the team this season, but I have to question the players also.
There seems to be no leadership on the ice. They don't seem to care about the team or even themselves.
It has been hard to watch all season, and yesterday was just awful. I feel sorry for the goaltenders. They seem to be the only players trying to do their job with no help from anyone else on the team.
I don't think that even Barr could make a difference with this group.
I think that the transfer portal will take care of the players, now who is going to take care of the coaches?
 
engineerhockeyfan said:
While I agree that Smith has a lot to do with the team this season, but I have to question the players also.
There seems to be no leadership on the ice. They don't seem to care about the team or even themselves.
It has been hard to watch all season, and yesterday was just awful. I feel sorry for the goaltenders. They seem to be the only players trying to do their job with no help from anyone else on the team.
I don't think that even Barr could make a difference with this group.
I think that the transfer portal will take care of the players, now who is going to take care of the coaches?
Click to expand...

It's called quitting on the Coach
 
Do you guys realize we were the only team in Division 1 to not allow fans in the building, after being in a small group of schools to cancel an entire season? Smith had a hot pipeline, a balanced and strong roster and a good goaltender before Covid hit and the program was trending way up. Early this season has been ugly without a doubt, but the fact is he’s put out a competitive Ecac team after the shutdown. RPI is not the same job as it used to be, and Ben Barr spends an awful lot of time in everyone's head for someone who hasn't been involved with the program in 7 years, and has a job at Maine with a better arena, better conference, and a ton of tradition. I don't know where the sense that he has "lost the locker room" is coming from, and feeling "sorry for the goalies" when that has been the biggest achilles heel does not make any sense. The fact is, Dave had elevated our program significantly by year 3, but had the rug pulled out from under him by past administration. It is short sighted to not see the big picture of where the program is, and instead throw around claims that Coach Smith has "lost the locker room".
 
7 years into the McElroy/Smith Era if we are being honest with ourselves it hasn't worked. With the players we have and what's in the recruit bucket someone needs to make the case to me that help is on the way and it's going to get better because impericaly it's getting worse. This program used to be important coming to a game and the parking lots were full,cops at the foot of the hill directing traffic. Getting inside and standing 5 deep at the west end to get a glimpse at D'Amigo-Pirri-Laliberte-Haggerry-Zelewski-Kassdorf not to mention Oates-Servinis and Juno. This program needs to get back to relevance it can be done with the right guy who understands what this program was and can be again a guy kids want to play for, a guy kids think can get them to the show, that guy is out there for the taking we lost one(BB) lets not lose another. This team is more than the school it also belongs to the community . We don't need a.new rink or locker rooms we need someone leadng the program that cares. Pres. Schmidt were begging you please get this fixed !
 
CMcGarvey said:
Do you guys realize we were the only team in Division 1 to not allow fans in the building, after being in a small group of schools to cancel an entire season? Smith had a hot pipeline, a balanced and strong roster and a good goaltender before Covid hit and the program was trending way up. Early this season has been ugly without a doubt, but the fact is he’s put out a competitive Ecac team after the shutdown. RPI is not the same job as it used to be, and Ben Barr spends an awful lot of time in everyone's head for someone who hasn't been involved with the program in 7 years, and has a job at Maine with a better arena, better conference, and a ton of tradition. I don't know where the sense that he has "lost the locker room" is coming from, and feeling "sorry for the goalies" when that has been the biggest achilles heel does not make any sense. The fact is, Dave had elevated our program significantly by year 3, but had the rug pulled out from under him by past administration. It is short sighted to not see the big picture of where the program is, and instead throw around claims that Coach Smith has "lost the locker room".
Click to expand...

The COVID excuse is getting old. Dan Jewell brought in Savory and the other good players were Reilly, Burgess that Nolan and Seth brought in. There is no empirical evidence that the program was trending up. We had made the NCAAs under the previous coach and were ranked at various times. With regard to Barr, it is a bitter pill because he wanted this job but we turned to an Atlantic Hockey coach who had a poor record. This program is at its lowest possible point since maybe the 60s when the great Garry Kearns saved it.
 
AspyDad said:
The COVID excuse is getting old. Dan Jewell brought in Savory and the other good players were Reilly, Burgess that Nolan and Seth brought in. There is no empirical evidence that the program was trending up. We had made the NCAAs under the previous coach and were ranked at various times. With regard to Barr, it is a bitter pill because he wanted this job but we turned to an Atlantic Hockey coach who had a poor record. This program is at its lowest possible point since maybe the 60s when the great Garry Kearns saved it.
Click to expand...

Dan Jewell worked under Dave... How does Seth get credit for Reilly and Burgess but Dave doesn't get credit for Savory? There absolutely was evidence we were trending up, he recruited Ture Linden, Lacka, Babichuk, Leppanen, Johnson, Ashbrook, Mahshie, Gornall, Zieky, Kjellberg, Dubinsky, etc. All of those guys that left because of the choices made by RPI administration had success other places. Look at the video of those guys yelling in the locker room after clinching the bye in 2020 and tell me the program wasn't trending up and that Dave "loses locker rooms". COVID isn't an excuse, they were the only team in the country to not allow fans in the building, if you can't see how that would get us smoked on the recruiting trails then I don't know how else to explain it.
 
troyboy said:
7 years into the McElroy/Smith Era if we are being honest with ourselves it hasn't worked. With the players we have and what's in the recruit bucket someone needs to make the case to me that help is on the way and it's going to get better because impericaly it's getting worse. This program used to be important coming to a game and the parking lots were full,cops at the foot of the hill directing traffic. Getting inside and standing 5 deep at the west end to get a glimpse at D'Amigo-Pirri-Laliberte-Haggerry-Zelewski-Kassdorf not to mention Oates-Servinis and Juno. This program needs to get back to relevance it can be done with the right guy who understands what this program was and can be again a guy kids want to play for, a guy kids think can get them to the show, that guy is out there for the taking we lost one(BB) lets not lose another. This team is more than the school it also belongs to the community . We don't need a.new rink or locker rooms we need someone leadng the program that cares. Pres. Schmidt were begging you please get this fixed !
Click to expand...

Kirk McDonald
 
CMcGarvey said:
Dan Jewell worked under Dave... How does Seth get credit for Reilly and Burgess but Dave doesn't get credit for Savory? There absolutely was evidence we were trending up, he recruited Ture Linden, Lacka, Babichuk, Leppanen, Johnson, Ashbrook, Mahshie, Gornall, Zieky, Kjellberg, Dubinsky, etc. All of those guys that left because of the choices made by RPI administration had success other places. Look at the video of those guys yelling in the locker room after clinching the bye in 2020 and tell me the program wasn't trending up and that Dave "loses locker rooms". COVID isn't an excuse, they were the only team in the country to not allow fans in the building, if you can't see how that would get us smoked on the recruiting trails then I don't know how else to explain it.
Click to expand...

I believe Babichuk was a SA guy (fwiw). Union operated under the same COVID rules we did ie: No Fans and in the 5 games since COVID U has outscored us 24-11 evidently they quarantined better than us. That was with a new Coach (fwiw)
 
CMcGarvey said:
Do you guys realize we were the only team in Division 1 to not allow fans in the building, after being in a small group of schools to cancel an entire season? Smith had a hot pipeline, a balanced and strong roster and a good goaltender before Covid hit and the program was trending way up. Early this season has been ugly without a doubt, but the fact is he’s put out a competitive Ecac team after the shutdown. RPI is not the same job as it used to be, and Ben Barr spends an awful lot of time in everyone's head for someone who hasn't been involved with the program in 7 years, and has a job at Maine with a better arena, better conference, and a ton of tradition. I don't know where the sense that he has "lost the locker room" is coming from, and feeling "sorry for the goalies" when that has been the biggest achilles heel does not make any sense. The fact is, Dave had elevated our program significantly by year 3, but had the rug pulled out from under him by past administration. It is short sighted to not see the big picture of where the program is, and instead throw around claims that Coach Smith has "lost the locker room".
Click to expand...

If we’re going to play the kick the can down the road game when does the clock reset then for Dave smith and his staff? Just for the sake of a fair shake when does the clock get reset. Is it last year… is it this year…. The facts are the facts his record in Troy is almost identical to his record in Buffalo.actually his record in Troy might be worse but You are who you are my dude. Enough with the nonsense he’s a mediocre coach he might be a great guy but that doesn’t mean much when you’re playing to win. So reset the clock to this year then he has 2 years left everyone is watching… including Marty and the new ad. Lol good luck
 
troyboy said:
Well its gonna be a long 2 yrs because we have more of the same in the pipeline and if any player that vaguely resembles a D1 hockey player doesn't either leave or decommit they are getting bad advice!
Click to expand...

The pipeline looks average at best. Nothing to make a difference. It’s more of the same
 
AspyDad said:
It's called quitting on the Coach
Click to expand...

Its called quitting on themselves.
Don't get me wrong. the coach has a lot to do with this, but it is the players on the ice. And they show no self respect. No leadership no love for each other.
It hurts me to say this, but it is what I see on the ice. No teamwork and nobody seems to care.
 
So putting the players, coaches, and rink aside for a second….got an email from Dave Smith today encouraging me to buy some team gear. So….i could use a new t shirt and a new sweatshirt. So I open the shop to pick out some stuff. Until I see a short sleeved t shirt is $38.99. And a sweatshirt is up near $70. Just for fun, I figured a pro team’s stuff would be that or more. Nope. Far less in fact for Bruins gear. It’s bad enough the team isn’t good. But to try and sell gear for that much money is insult to injury.
 
engineerhockeyfan said:
Its called quitting on themselves.
Don't get me wrong. the coach has a lot to do with this, but it is the players on the ice. And they show no self respect. No leadership no love for each other.
It hurts me to say this, but it is what I see on the ice. No teamwork and nobody seems to care.
Click to expand...

If I recall, we spent a lot of time at the start of the season talking about goaltending and if Watson played really well, some of the pieces might fall into place. This weekend, Watson was in street clothes and the third-string goalie played two periods against a team with 8 NHL draft picks. The team's confidence is really fragile right now. It sagged when they tried to kill the 5-minute major in the 2nd. In the third, they actually played with more energy and confidence.

Right now, this team is 2-2 in the league, although they will be seriously tested this coming weekend. As I've said before, I'm going to reserve judgment until the season is over. By then, we should know more about the future of the Field House (assuming the Institute's HFH committee has wrapped up work by then) and that might start a bigger discussion about the overall future of the program.
 
CMcGarvey said:
They did allow fans in 21-22
Click to expand...

As far as the general public, only for the games against Dartmouth in the first round of the ECAC. One of the Dartmouth mom's that was sitting near me was from Canada. These were the first games she saw in person that year.

The issue was that the very important part the the general public that was banned from the stands were the scouts. Many of the potential returnees left RPI because they weren't sure if "The Queen" was going to let fans in during the 22-23 season. The effects of this on the roster were devastating last year. I am sure this has been explained here before. Only allowing students and Covid tested staff into the rink in 21-22 ruined the program for 22-23.
 
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