RPI 2025–26: Off the Critical List and In Recovery

[RPI fan 4 life]

RPI last weekend was fighting for every inch. They sent the message that Union isn't the only team you have to worry about when coming to the Capital Region, a message that has not been sent since the 22-23 season. It was like watching a totally different team then we have seen all season long. Cornell came in looking to coast by with an easy win, and RPI made Cornell fight for a shootout win. Likewise, Colgate came in, and looked in shock after the first period, and never recovered. It wasn't because RPI was the better team, because they weren't. And sure, play on the ice wasn't always the cleanest. The different was they brought a level of intensity to the game that hasn't been seen at the Field House in years. I just hope they can keep it up, and it was not a fluke. If they can, it should be a fun end of the season. If they can't, then I hope Coach Lang can get it back for next season.

There was indeed a spark out there last weekend that I haven’t seen in years. With Dartmouth and Harvard coming in this weekend with both of these teams fighting for a Top 4 spot in the upcoming playoffs, victory in either game will not come easy. But with the students back in school and being Freakout weekend, if they can play the way they did against Cornell and Colgate, this should be one of the most exciting weekends at HFH in years.
Also, RPI is only 4 points behind Yale and Clarkson for 8th place. They’ve already swept Clarkson and hopefully will play a lot better at Yale than they did at the Field House to close out the regular season. Anything is possible at this point. All I can say is: LET’S GO RED!

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

RPI is slowly getting into the merch game. Wish I could've attended the games this weekend to try and win a jersey but at least they offering Mayors Cup clothes with the logo.

RPI Fan Shop

I know this isn't hockey-related per se, but it has always been a pet peeve of mine that RPI doesn't push cool merch more for their...checks notes...only D1 sport which is arguably the face of the school. I am going to put my money where my mouth is on this one and buy some schwag.

You are absolutely spot on !! I've griped for years about this and the dearth of merch available that actually says RPI....AND Hockey together !! LOL

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

I’m optimistic but I always pause when reading claims about improved recruiting. I’ve heard similar claims about great recruits too many times over the past 20 years that mostly didn’t pan out.

Agree that performance of the team on the ice is improving.

I agree with all of this. Also bears repeating that we will likely lose a player or three to NIL and we also don't know who Lang will target to bring in as transfers. There will likely be a nice crop out there, given the influx of CHL skaters. I'm in the minority here, but I'm not convinced that we have our answer in the net and would not be surprised if Lang brings in another to compete. But I am usually wrong on these things, and our defensive personnel certainly need a boost, which of course will only help your keepers.

More than anything, what I've noticed over the last few weeks is the effort and attitude all over the ice ...200 feet of competing for pucks, This is at the core of Lang's coaching mantra...and the results of that work are showing on the ice. Save for the SLU game - which has become their house of horrors - the last few weeks have been really fun to watch. Here's hoping we can continue being a thorn to our opponents down the stretch !

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Notes from Lang's weekly appearance on Wyland's radio show:

-Continued buy-in , commitment and improvement from the squad
-Out worked both teams ...2 GA, 2 penalties total, limiting odd man rushes and getting 5 back on defense
-Trending toward playoff hockey -- effort and intensity
-Credited the team for being very receptive, disciplined and committed. They are seeing the results on ice
-RPI is currently "5th or 6th" in the country in fewest penalties committed
-Credited team approach to offense and scoring ...mentioned Ruellers, Sitar, Scherzer, Buckley, Wallace as leaders.
-Of Ruellers: He has an NHL-sized body and skating and is responding the ascertive hard nosed style they are asking of him

 

[DavidNardolillo]

You are absolutely spot on !! I've griped for years about this and the dearth of merch available that actually says RPI....AND Hockey together !! LOL

I've been finding the merch situation pretty underwhelming at many colleges, RPI included. Ugly fonts used for "Rensselaer" and "Engineers" on apparel (examples here). Poor graphic design: the diagonal "RPI" is not bad, but doesn't really work proportionally on apparel other than game sweaters or as a small logo over the heart on polo shirts, etc. And the pricing is out of line with quality, i.e. I am not paying 60 bucks for screen-printed crewneck sweatshirts.

The designs on merch don't have to be complicated; simple sweatshirts with tackle-twill stitched block letters seem to sell pretty well at the schools that offer them.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

Notes from Lang's weekly appearance on Wyland's radio show:

-Continued buy-in , commitment and improvement from the squad
-Out worked both teams ...2 GA, 2 penalties total, limiting odd man rushes and getting 5 back on defense
-Trending toward playoff hockey -- effort and intensity
-Credited the team for being very receptive, disciplined and committed. They are seeing the results on ice
-RPI is currently "5th or 6th" in the country in fewest penalties committed
-Credited team approach to offense and scoring ...mentioned Ruellers, Sitar, Scherzer, Buckley, Wallace as leaders.
-Of Ruellers: He has an NHL-sized body and skating and is responding the ascertive hard nosed style they are asking of him

Shot totals from the last couple of games are encouraging as well.

 

[MikeMidd]

This was always going to be a tough season - and it has been. But we're also seeing the green shoots of what Eric Lang wants to do, with a hard-working team that fights for every puck, is opportunistic, plays smart hockey with few penalties. It's a long road back to competing to win an ECAC title, but you can start to see how it could be possible.

It will be really interesting to see the incoming and outcoming players this summer. Lang's comments earlier in the season about having DI hockey players but not having winning DI hockey players (if I've remembered it properly) sends a message that just being here isn't enough.

But in the meantime, still plenty to play for.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Filip Sitar is our nomination for ECAC Scholar Athlete of the Year.

ECAC Hockey | Setting the standard for excellence in every aspect of the game, here are your nominees for the 2025-26 Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year!... | Instagram

145 likes, 2 comments - ecachockey on February 19, 2026: "Setting the standard for excellence in every aspect of the game, here are your nominees for the 2025-26 Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year! 🙌📚...

www.instagram.com

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

How would everyone here assess year 1 under Lang? Real chance for 10 wins, recruiting at a level we haven't seen in a decade, close calls in Mayors Cup, Cornell, etc.

Hard not to be really excited about where the program is going. I only hope the HFH renovations really take off and aren't just something that is "in the works" forever

I think that he has done a very good job with the players he has.
The team has improved as the season progressed. The goalie situation has been real good the last few games.
It is haard t o predict the future with NIL and the portal, we just don't know what next years team in going to look like.
Having said all that, I think that we have a really good coach. I don't envy him.

 

[DrDemento]

Very much in agreement. We still have some ups and downs but the trend looks fairly good. At least we have a team that is usually a lot of fun to watch.

 

[rpi82]

Looks like a big crowd tonight with just a few tickets in the corners (not counting the "seats" beyond the curtain, some of which have also been sold). Due an injury in our group I have a couple of spares in Section 7 a few rows from the top (my preferred view). If anyone wants them DM me.

 

[DrDemento]

Section 7 ??? Golly - I remember a time way back when you had to inherited those seats!! if you had those seats and a parking pass to the main lot you were Troy Royalty!!! Best we could ever manage after season rickets from 1975-2001 was Section 6. Before 1975 we took whatever we could get for individual games with several sold out

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

With 20 new players, it took half a season for Lang to get them to play as a team. Not an easy task.
Team defense is a strong suit. Offense, not so much.
I don't know how many of these guys will be back next season, but I hope that Krawchuk will be back. His improvement from the first half of the season is just incredible.
I think that we are headed in the right direction.

 

[Ralph Baer]

With 20 new players, it took half a season for Lang to get them to play as a team. Not an easy task.
Team defense is a strong suit. Offense, not so much.
I don't know how many of these guys will be back next season, but I hope that Krawchuk will be back. His improvement from the first half of the season is just incredible.
I think that we are headed in the right direction.

Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I think that our losses of players who played regularly will be minimal.

 

[DrDemento]

After the Freakout broadcast they had a ceremony for 4 players leaving - We are losing players who did indeed contribute but from the list you posted of recruits, life moves on and we should be fine. I could not conceive of how coach Lang could bring this program up to speed in less than a 5 year time span at the minimum but it is starting to look like that period of time is going to be considerably shorter! Impossible to predict in any way and very dependent on what our schedule for net year looks like for the first 10 games, but if the team gels through that early part of the schedule we might be looking at a very competitive ECAC league schedule. The nucleus from this year returning will be there and the recruits could make that difference. Go Red!!!

 

[25+years]

Question about the game last night: I understand a coaches challenge to a made call on the ice. But that challenge for a five minute penalty on Harvard that was successful. There wasn’t a penalty called on Harvard, much less a 5 minute penalty. Didn’t know that was allowed. So if a coach sees an uncalled tripping call, can they challenge that?

 

[25+years]

As to the game last night: it wasn’t looking good after the first, but RPI made the adjustments needed and then we had a hockey game. And what a game it was. The best I have seen in a long time . I look forward to what is coming down the road.

 

[Ralph Baer]

After the Freakout broadcast they had a ceremony for 4 players leaving - We are losing players who did indeed contribute but from the list you posted of recruits, life moves on and we should be fine. I could not conceive of how coach Lang could bring this program up to speed in less than a 5 year time span at the minimum but it is starting to look like that period of time is going to be considerably shorter! Impossible to predict in any way and very dependent on what our schedule for net year looks like for the first 10 games, but if the team gels through that early part of the schedule we might be looking at a very competitive ECAC league schedule. The nucleus from this year returning will be there and the recruits could make that difference. Go Red!!!

Looking at the list of recruits on Neutral Zone for the fall, we have as good a set of incoming players as any ECAC team. A problem is that there are players listed for us, and I assume for everyone else, who are not recruits anymore. Also some who are missing and others who won't be showing up until 2027 or later.

For RPI there are 12 players currently listed (Shaw was just removed.) Hadland, Burzynski, Lodewyk, Guo, and Michael are correctly included. Oakenfold, Lariviere, Ziliotto, and Hansom are no longer our recruits. I don't expect Matthews, Chemrouk, and Dwyer to arrive in the fall. Evaschesen is incorrectly listed as arriving in 2027, and Gavin is missing entirely. Our average rating will increase with the adjustments.

 

[NYhockeyguy]

Question about the game last night: I understand a coaches challenge to a made call on the ice. But that challenge for a five minute penalty on Harvard that was successful. There wasn’t a penalty called on Harvard, much less a 5 minute penalty. Didn’t know that was allowed. So if a coach sees an uncalled tripping call, can they challenge that?

Coaches can challenge only for missed major penalties or to upgrade a called minor penalty to a major. They cannot challenge for a missed minor (ex. tripping) call

 

[jericho]

Coaches can challenge only for missed major penalties or to upgrade a called minor penalty to a major. They cannot challenge for a missed minor (ex. tripping) call

Just coming here to post this. Really the only minor penalty they can dispute is goaltender interference, but that’s because it usually results in a goal. I was talking to Lang at the alumni house afterward and the hit happened right in front of the RPI bench, so he kinda knew he was going to win that challenge. It would have been a five anyway, so it was reviewable. What I don’t understand (and I admittedly should) is why Wilson’s penalty still stood since they put the time back on the clock, I thought since they put the time back on, the penalty should have been wiped out. I said on the air yesterday that it was a phenomenal piece of coaching by Lang and his staff, when was the last time RPI had both reviews go in their favor? Also, the were game changing reviews, and not just reviews for the sake of getting a stoppage