RPI 2025 Off-Season: HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DavidNardolillo]

I thought I was being clever when I called Savory our best goalie of the last dozen years. I was trying to exclude Kasdorf (and by extension York), but I should have gone back and looked up Jason's actual dates as an Engineer.

How I'd rate them depends on the standard used. If it was best peak season, I'd rate them Kasdorf > Savory > York. If, however, I had to rate them for their entire RPI careers, I might swap the order completely - York > Savory > Kasdorf. Kasdorg was awesome as a freshman and senior, but was robbed of his sophomore year with a serious injury and I think still wasn't 100% as a junior. Savory was excellent for us as for two years before having a poor Covid season at UM-L and then putting it back together as a senior. I may be overrating York's career, particularly since he only had one peak season compared to the other guys' two, but he just got better every year. I had tremendous hopes for him (and us) had he stayed for his senior season.

York was definitely a plus for RPI. I recall that he was pretty clearly playing through an injury during the second half 2010-11, but that wasn't disclosed, for obvious reasons. His value was underscored by the goaltending issues in the first few seasons after he left. York had the best pro career out of the three, if you measure by NHL games played.

 

[vicious]

I think every coach in the league knows chauvette`s weak spots. No thanks from me. I agree with your sentiments on the two that we at least think are coming in.

His stats in league play were solid: 21 GP, 11-8-2, 2.51 GAA, .905. He was very close to the league medians of 2.545 and .9025. We could certainly do worse. Giesbrecht also played in 21 games and finished with a 3.36 GAA, .901 sv pct.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Today is 26 April 2025. There are 161 days (23 weeks) until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 4 October 2025 for the start of next season.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

His stats in league play were solid: 21 GP, 11-8-2, 2.51 GAA, .905. He was very close to the league medians of 2.545 and .9025. We could certainly do worse. Giesbrecht also played in 21 games and finished with a 3.36 GAA, .901 sv pct.

Giesbrecht played with the worst defensive team I have seen in years. He spent most of his games in a penalty killing situation.
I just don' think that we saw the best of him due to his situation.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he was a great goalie, but he was much better than his statistics. JMO

 

[DrDemento]

Giesbrecht played with the worst defensive team I have seen in years. He spent most of his games in a penalty killing situation.
I just don' think that we saw the best of him due to his situation.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he was a great goalie, but he was much better than his statistics. JMO

I am of the opinion that much of what we see as a goalie's 'statistics' can better be read as a representation of the team's play and statistics in front of him. Having watched hockey at all levels for over 70 years I have seen some rather mediocre goalies made to look spectacular by having 2 or 3 sets of fabulously talented defensemen in front of him.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

I am of the opinion that much of what we see as a goalie's 'statistics' can better be read as a representation of the team's play and statistics in front of him. Having watched hockey at all levels for over 70 years I have seen some rather mediocre goalies made to look spectacular by having 2 or 3 sets of fabulously talented defensemen in front of him.

That reminds me of Gump Worsley.
A good goalie in NY, but a great goalie in Montreal.
And all it took was a hall of fame defense.

 

[DrDemento]

That reminds me of Gump Worsley.
A good goalie in NY, but a great goalie in Montreal.
And all it took was a hall of fame defense.

I can think of several exactly like that. In the NHL and virtually every place else including the NCAA.

 

[vicious]

I think every coach in the league knows chauvette`s weak spots. No thanks from me. I agree with your sentiments on the two that we at least think are coming in.

His stats in league play were solid: 21 GP, 11-8-2, 2.51 GAA, .905. His GAA was just below the league median of 2.545 and just above median save percentage of .9025. We could certainly do worse. Giesbrecht also played in 21 games and finished with a 3.36 GAA, .901.

Giesbrecht played with the worst defensive team I have seen in years. He spent most of his games in a penalty killing situation.
I just don' think that we saw the best of him due to his situation.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he was a great goalie, but he was much better than his statistics. JMO

There's no question the D corps offered him little protection. Giesbrecht faced 33.28 shots per game, far and away the highest in the league. Second was Andrew Tackacs (Colgate G), who played 20 minutes more than Giesbrecht and faced 103 fewer shots, or just under 28 per game. Five shots per game may not look like much, but over the course of the season it added up. Interestingly we also led the league in blocked shots (336). On top of that, we were the second most penalized team in the league.

My take-away here (without hunting down time of possession stats) is the puck spent a LOT of time in our D zone and even with all the blocked shots, Giesbrecht still saw a LOT of rubber. The stats don't tell us about the quality of these shots or high-scoring opportunities but we certainly saw opposing offenses pick apart our D pretty easily and get guys open in the slot or near the post pretty easily. Without doing a much deeper dive into the stats, I'd say that one characteristic of Smith's teams the last several seasons was heavy, heavy reliance on the G to keep them in the game. All of this says to me that our D style of play, intentional or not, placed incredible mental and physical demands on our goalies, both Giesbrecht and Watson (when he played) as well. In the face of all this the .905 save percentage is impressive (and was better than Ian Shane's .889) (edit to add last sentence).

 

[Engineers]

Giesbrecht played with the worst defensive team I have seen in years. He spent most of his games in a penalty killing situation.
I just don' think that we saw the best of him due to his situation.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he was a great goalie, but he was much better than his statistics. JMO

Playing goalie for a Dave smith team is signing up for failure. Reminds me of my high school lacrosse coach during the first practice freshman year he said ok who’s the dumbest guy here raise your hand. One guy raised his hand ok your the goalie

 

[troyboy]

Regarding Tyler Wallace not just good on Face offs (54.7%) but he also took 875 of them last year.

Imo the most important aspect in special teams both PK and PP is winning face offs your doomed both in the offensive and defensive if you can't so this is a bigger piece to the puzzle than some realize !

 

[Engineers]

His stats in league play were solid: 21 GP, 11-8-2, 2.51 GAA, .905. His GAA was just below the league median of 2.545 and just above median save percentage of .9025. We could certainly do worse. Giesbrecht also played in 21 games and finished with a 3.36 GAA, .901.

There's no question the D corps offered him little protection. Giesbrecht faced 33.28 shots per game, far and away the highest in the league. Second was Andrew Tackacs (Colgate G), who played 20 minutes more than Giesbrecht and faced 103 fewer shots, or just under 28 per game. Five shots per game may not look like much, but over the course of the season it added up. Interestingly we also led the league in blocked shots (336). On top of that, we were the second most penalized team in the league.

My take-away here (without hunting down time of possession stats) is the puck spent a LOT of time in our D zone and even with all the blocked shots, Giesbrecht still saw a LOT of rubber. The stats don't tell us about the quality of these shots or high-scoring opportunities but we certainly saw opposing offenses pick apart our D pretty easily and get guys open in the slot or near the post pretty easily. Without doing a much deeper dive into the stats, I'd say that one characteristic of Smith's teams the last several seasons was heavy, heavy reliance on the G to keep them in the game. All of this says to me that our D style of play, intentional or not, placed incredible mental and physical demands on our goalies, both Giesbrecht and Watson (when he played) as well. In the face of all this the .905 save percentage is impressive (and was better than Ian Shane's .889) (edit to add last sentence).

For some reason Dave smith thought he had Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy in net past 2 seasons. Dude just left his goalies on an island. You still have to play defense Dave

 

[DrDemento]

Imo the most important aspect in special teams both PK and PP is winning face offs your doomed both in the offensive and defensive if you can't so this is a bigger piece to the puzzle than some realize !

Exactly what I have saying in posts for about 20 years. We have had a tradition of losing possession immediately. Especially in the defensive zone and even more so, during special teams play.