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RPI Engineers 24-25
- Thread starter hab
- Start date
Difficult game to evaluate this morning. RPI fell behind 2-0 very early as they continue to suffer from giving the puck away and not being able to clear the defensive zone. Within the first 10 minutes they were down 2 goals. But they came back to score one in the latter part of the first period and then added one early in the third to tie up the score at 2-2. They had to defend 2 penalties late in the third to keep the score tied but took the game into OT. Chances went both ways but Union got the winner in OT with a little over a minute left. Worse news was a key defensive player for RPI went down in OT with what looked like a severe right knee injury.
The girls play again Sunday evening and hopefully the injury to #13 will turn out to be less severe than it looked.
The girls play again Sunday evening and hopefully the injury to #13 will turn out to be less severe than it looked.
I try to stay optimistic about this team but it is getting increasingly difficult. We seem destined to be in the bottom 4 of the ECAC. I am so impressed with how Union has built their program over the last few years from ECAC doormat to a tough mid-level competitor. Brown...same thing. What is standing in the way of RPI doing a similar rebuilding?
So what is the root of the problem here? If it is a case of the Tute not having the resources to support serious Div 1 athletics then we should just acknowledge that and strive to be strong D3 teams, as in our other sports. But if we have the resources to support D1 in these key historically important sports teams on campus and are just not following through, then what needs to be done to shake things up and at least strive to be better than Union, Dartmouth, Brown etc??? We have been accepting mediocrity for too long.
Although I do not know all the answers, it seems to me quite obvious that the last 20+ years has seen much of the damage done to the programs. This coincides with what leadership or lack thereof we had from the top down. There have been a number of posts on the boys thread with articles linked showing some of the issues that occurred with SAJ at the helm. Only recently have many of these become public knowledge but i suspect there is so much more that may eventually surface (or that we may never be made aware of). Not only the hockey programs but the management of the entire Institute comes into question.
So what can be done and where are we heading now? I think changes have been made and more are coming. I would like to think we are heading in the right direction. Unfortunately for the hockey programs so much has not been changed in Division I hockey (recruiting and otherwise), that it might make it more difficult to get back to being a mid to top tier program. But I remain hopeful. Watching both the boys and girls this year has shown me that we have still been able to get some truly talented students who are doing everything they can on the ice for us to become very competitive. I would like to see an improving trend as the season moves forward and would not be too surprised if we see just that!
You are, of course, totally correct in that we had been forced to accept mediocrity for too long - in the hockey program and for the school in general. But after 20+ years I believe we have turned the corner and it is shameful that it took so long to begin to remedy.
An injury plagued short handed team last night gave Brown as much as they could handle and came away with a 4-1 victory. The last goal was into an empty net. The girls played one of their better games of the season with everyone contributing even if they never made the score sheet. All the lines kept Brown from mounting sustained pressure and negated the efforts of some really top notch players. Brown's top line as as good as any I've seen this year but were stymied most of the game. Our girls will have to be in top form for this afternoon against Yale who seems to be one of the top contenders in the league. We continue to struggle a bit with getting the puck out of our end needed several efforts at times to clear the zone. Key will be avoiding penalties today and avoiding those costly turn overs in our own zone. If we can accomplish that, we just might squeak by in a low scoring affair and get a home sweep for the weekend that could give us a move up in the league standings and the national rankings. Fingers crossed!!
This post of mine did not age well.
Hope you got to see both games this weekend. The ladies won today against a big, fast talented Yale team 3-1. We played extremely well but truthfully, a little luck can help as I counted at least 5 posts hit by Yale and we were grossly outshot and lost about 65% of the face offs. Yale is a very good team and i certainly did not expect this result especially when Yale scored early short handed and looked to control the puck in our zone for long periods of time. Keating was in a word - fabulous (and fortunate). Our defense played one of their best games and we showed considerably more speed today than we have in most games. Still some problems with defensive zone turnovers and difficulty in clearing the puck from our zone. But Yale is an aggressive team that brings 2 forwards deep into offensive zone faster than most teams are prepared for and their defense simple stops everything trying to get out at the blue line. Our girls now are on break for a month but have a 4-4-1 in conference record and have already won 11 games overall. More important, they are fun and exciting to watch and the empty field house is a disservice to a team that deserves much more support.
The female Engineers are always fast and exciting and I agree, it pains me to see so many empty seats. Their schedule in the new year is quite strange. Four home games, and then a stretch of 10 games where they only see the HFH twice.
Not sure if this break will allow for some of the injured to return. Specifically #13 looked like she was seriously injured and could not put any weight on her leg. Her loss is going to be felt as the season moves on with the other girls having to see much more ice time. Not totally sure that others are not playing with some nagging injuries but we are seeing contributions across the board from 4 lines and 3 sets of defense.
#13 is Taylor Larsen, one of my favourite players. Very solid on defense and moves the puck up the ice well. Hopefully she will get back on the ice.
The strongest part of this team is defense and goal tending. #89 #3 and #13 form a very solid group and are of considerable help getting the puck out of the zone and allowing the goaltender to see shots coming. The loss of any one of those is felt. I saw the injury to #13 and fingers crossed that it looked worse than it was. I am not sure #89 is playing injury free since it appears for a few games that her stick handling might be slightly affected by a hit to her wrist taken a few games ago. #3 has simply been rock solid defensively in our own zone and has made some excellent set up passes. The front lines are seeming to come together a bit better recently and we are skating 4 lines that have been able to keep the puck moving up ice and into scoring locations. There is still considerable work to be done but their record so far (ranked #17 in the nation overall) shows how far they have come.
Attended both games this weekend. Have been to as many as I can. Their wins this weekend were impressive. Very much a team effort. Starting with Keating in goal on out. Yes they have a few outstanding players, but every person on this team gives their all and support each other. Just watch them on the bench. Clearly they love playing with each other. And the women not dressed also are enthusiastic toward the team. I saw Larsen limping. I was at the game she was injured in and I hope she is able to get back on the ice especially with the time off ahead. She is fun to watch.
I went home and watched the men play as I do when they are on the road. It was not an impressive performance. The difference is the women have a goalie(s) that can keep them in the game to let the rest of the team capitalize on their chances. The men are not showing that at all. I don’t care where either team ends up standings wise, the women are more fun to watch. As a men’s season ticket holder, I have to ask how many of the other season ticket holders attend the women’s games. Especially when the tickets are free.
I went home and watched the men play as I do when they are on the road. It was not an impressive performance. The difference is the women have a goalie(s) that can keep them in the game to let the rest of the team capitalize on their chances. The men are not showing that at all. I don’t care where either team ends up standings wise, the women are more fun to watch. As a men’s season ticket holder, I have to ask how many of the other season ticket holders attend the women’s games. Especially when the tickets are free.
You echo my thoughts and postings. These girls have been fun to watch and a bit surprising. Their enthusiasm is contagious. They need Larsen back for sure. i saw her get injured and thought for sure the season was over for her. if you saw her limping instead of on crutches, well, perhaps we can get her back in the line up in January.
As you mention, they really seem to enjoy playing with each other and have team spirit. Wonder why we have not seen a team picture posted on the roster page??
Correct. Having watched her play over the past 2 years, I do detect a little tentativeness but only since her return from what I thought might be an injury to her wrist. But you are correct in that she seems to have held back a bit of her aggressive play (but is still tied for the national lead in penalty minutes). I hope not much has changed since she provides us with so many weapons both offensively and defensively.
Attended both games this weekend. Tough weekend. Even though RPI lost vs Qpac 4-0, I thought Keating bounced back from a pretty lousy half game against Princeton.
But what was glaringly apparent is Andrea Trnkova. There is little question she was not 100%. She appeared injured or ill. And she looked defeated on the bench with head down and seemed out of breath. I imagine the decision was made that there is no one to put in for her (with Taylor Larsen still out. For how long is ???) so her less than 100% is better than not having enough D.
Finally not sure how effective having the season ticket appreciation event at the women’s game was. It didn’t appear overall attendance was better as a result. I don’t know how many season ticket holders there are, but later in tgthey gave away the pizza to everyone. BTW. The ‘gift’ was a winter hat with the 200 RPI logo on it.
But what was glaringly apparent is Andrea Trnkova. There is little question she was not 100%. She appeared injured or ill. And she looked defeated on the bench with head down and seemed out of breath. I imagine the decision was made that there is no one to put in for her (with Taylor Larsen still out. For how long is ???) so her less than 100% is better than not having enough D.
Finally not sure how effective having the season ticket appreciation event at the women’s game was. It didn’t appear overall attendance was better as a result. I don’t know how many season ticket holders there are, but later in tgthey gave away the pizza to everyone. BTW. The ‘gift’ was a winter hat with the 200 RPI logo on it.
Definitely seemed #89 was feeling the after shock of taking that hit to the head at the end of the first period. She took quite a bit of time to rise from the ice and needed assistance getting to the bench and then the locker room.Pretty sure if we had anyone who could replace her it would have been done. You saw it as I did Saturday - she was not 100%. With Larsen out (and Erbinova for Saturday's game) we are defensively challenged. perhaps what was the strength of this team has now become a worry. Obviously we were offensively challenged before this weekend and if we now add defen sive injuries, next weekend may be a big uphill battle for us.
I agree about the head injury, but even before that what I noticed is , defensively, she just basically stood in front of the net. The other team skating around and Trnkova just standing there not covering anyone. Then when she came to the bench for a change her head was down, she looked out of breath, and not at all engaged with her teammates like the other players are. Something is definitely wrong.
I thought the best defensive player all weekend was Helgeson. Too bad she is a grad student and is only here this year. She is fun to watch.