RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

Thank you to those who attended and I'm happy to hear you had a good time. Special thanks to those who provided both items and food/drink (TB...Dear God man! You never cease to amaze me! WS...the next time you think of bringing what you brough, just stick it in the back of my car and don't tell anyone!). Special thanks to those who policed the area and helped clean up...great group and great fun!

The game. My most noted and appreciated moment was the group hug after the win...it wasn't a whooped up celebration; it was a group of young men coming together, moving the net out of the way, and genuinely becoming a team. I was moved by it. I've seen that type of of camaraderie before (when the Dubuque Fighting Saints built up to a championship)...not making any predictions nor trying to jinx the team so early on...but I got a feeling that this was the start of of fun season.

Great job QB'ing the tailgate D ! It was a great party -- even if Ralph was robbing all of the attention doing keg stands.... I really enjoyed meeting and visiting with USCHO peeps, and especially enjoyed seeing the parents of some of the freshman meet the other parents...that was pretty cool and made the event that much more special.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

Engineers off to solid start

"Seth Apart" . It's good to see that Ed Weaver uses his spell checker.

According to that article, Laliberte has three goals on three shots. We have to get him to shoot more.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

According to that article, Laliberte has three goals on three shots. We have to get him to shoot more.

Somehow I just don't think that percentage of success can continue for too long. But if he stays healthy and we can get him the puck in his favorite locations-this is going to be a lot of fun. i have always felt that hockey is all about matching up-and although Ferris is a very good team, we seemed to match up with them very well. Not sure if this will be the case with the bulk of the teams in the schedule. This is where coaching and adapting makes the difference. If this team (and our coaching staff) can do it well-then these threads are going to be a very happy place to hang out.

 

[knsmith]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

RPI still not ranked, but received 40 vote-points, which would have them tied for 23rd. Ferris State drops only five spots, down to #16.

This week's opponent, Minnesota State, picked up 3 vote-points (matching Yale's tally).

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

RPI still not ranked, but received 40 vote-points, which would have them tied for 23rd. Ferris State drops only five spots, down to #16.

This week's opponent, Minnesota State, picked up 3 vote-points (matching Yale's tally).

I would have thought we would get a few more votes but can't complain-it is about where we deserve to be so early. I always find it odd that teams who do not play can move up several spots-I guess some times less is more.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

For the football fans-RPI picked up 7 votes in the latest D III poll and that puts us about 36th in the rankings. Probably means very little as our 3 toughest games are ahead of us and Hobart is ranked deservedly #11. I took a quick look at the hobart roster and they are just HUGE. When I was a kid the NFL teams were not even close to being this big. These must be the guys who are buying all those 16+ ounce soda drinks in NY that Bloomberg is so worried about.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

RPI still not ranked, but received 40 vote-points, which would have them tied for 23rd. Ferris State drops only five spots, down to #16.

This week's opponent, Minnesota State, picked up 3 vote-points (matching Yale's tally).

Going from 5 to 40 points seems to me a significant improvement, especially percentagewise. I'd be overjoyed with 320 after next weekend.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

Somehow I just don't think that percentage of success can continue for too long. But if he stays healthy and we can get him the puck in his favorite locations-this is going to be a lot of fun. i have always felt that hockey is all about matching up-and although Ferris is a very good team, we seemed to match up with them very well. Not sure if this will be the case with the bulk of the teams in the schedule. This is where coaching and adapting makes the difference. If this team (and our coaching staff) can do it well-then these threads are going to be a very happy place to hang out.

It seemed to me that we got into trouble when FSU picked up the pace, starting in the third period on Friday and continued through the game on Saturday. It would be good to get some more opportunities to play up tempo teams as that could be our achilles heal.
Since we didn't panic under those circumstances I think all we need is more practice against that system.
I think we will be very good against big lumbering teams. JMO

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

Hey mackek2, what were the ratings on the Ferris series?

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

We used the same lineup for both games agaisnt FSU except for in goal. Does anyone expect any tinkering for next week? I do, as I expect to see Bokenfohr at a minimum. although I am still debating who will sit. I did notice that Bubela and Neal changed lines for a couple of shifts but it then reverted to what was on the charts.

 

[jmhusker]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

Going from 5 to 40 points seems to me a significant improvement, especially percentagewise. I'd be overjoyed with 320 after next weekend.

I'll settle for 100 and then 320 after the Union weekend! Based on what I've seen and what the FS coach said, I do see us entering the top 20 and staying there.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

It seemed to me that we got into trouble when FSU picked up the pace, starting in the third period on Friday and continued through the game on Saturday. It would be good to get some more opportunities to play up tempo teams as that could be our achilles heal.
Since we didn't panic under those circumstances I think all we need is more practice against that system.
I think we will be very good against big lumbering teams. JMO

Could be-but I think our problem may well be dealing with the clutch and grab trap playing ECAC teams. We have to devise ways to do it-we have so much trouble at times in the past. This is a coaching job and hopefully our staff will be up to it. And hopefully they will have some ideas of how to change things that are either not working or being taken away from us during the games. I think we have enough of all the elements-goaltending, speed, size, toughness, and although we are young-maturity. The pieces of the puzzle are all laid out on the table and it is now time to begin putting it all together. i don't think we can stick to any set formula-we will have to adapt and change for each game and perhaps even each period. If we cannot do it with this group-I am beginning to wonder if we could ever do it. i suspect a lot of this season will be dependent on and decided by the effectiveness of our special teams. We have a decent power play and defend well shorthanded (as we did this weekend) and we are going to give everyone a lot of trouble.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

We used the same lineup for both games agaisnt FSU except for in goal. Does anyone expect any tinkering for next week? I do, as I expect to see Bokenfohr at a minimum. although I am still debating who will sit. I did notice that Bubela and Neal changed lines for a couple of shifts but it then reverted to what was on the charts.

You can bet SA will tinker around a bit-these are the games he can do it-changing some faces and moving lines around. Of interest to me is the goaltending situation which we all discussed in the off season. Who do you play? And how long to you stick with a guy? it is a tough decision when you have 2 goalies-but compounded when you have 3.

 

[NYhockeyguy]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

I would hope we get to see Kasdorf atleast once. We've seen the other 2, who both played well, but this is the time to test them out and Kasdorf played his period against Acadia well,albeit with few high quality shots

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

I would hope we get to see Kasdorf atleast once. We've seen the other 2, who both played well, but this is the time to test them out and Kasdorf played his period against Acadia well,albeit with few high quality shots

We have 6 periods of hockey out there-I would not be horribly upset (although i would never expect it) for each of the boys to see 2 periods of action. Other than some national rankin gstuff-these games mean little and they are a great chance to give everyone some time against another good team before we head into the grind part of the schedule. It is also our first road games and although all 3 have played-nobody has played on the road with a hostile crowd yet. i probably would also advocate that every defenseman and every forward see some time on the ice. If not now, then when?

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

I would hope we get to see Kasdorf atleast once. We've seen the other 2, who both played well, but this is the time to test them out and Kasdorf played his period against Acadia well,albeit with few high quality shots

I think that we will see Kasdorf in Mankato. As to the four forwards and two defensemen who didn't play last weekend, we certainly won't see O'Grady. We could see all the rest.

 

[jmhusker]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

I think that we will see Kasdorf in Mankato. As to the four forwards and two defensemen who didn't play last weekend, we certainly won't see O'Grady. We could see all the rest.

If I were the coach.... I would put a rotation in place where the keeper that plays better on a given weekend gets a start the next weekend. The keeper that didn't play the previous week gets the other one. The 3rd is the primary backup. Therefore, I'd go with Kasdorf with Merriam as the back-up in game one. Then Diebold with Merriam as the backup in game two.

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

I do, as I expect to see Bokenfohr at a minimum.

Why?

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

We have 6 periods of hockey out there-I would not be horribly upset (although i would never expect it) for each of the boys to see 2 periods of action. Other than some national rankin gstuff-these games mean little and they are a great chance to give everyone some time against another good team before we head into the grind part of the schedule. It is also our first road games and although all 3 have played-nobody has played on the road with a hostile crowd yet. i probably would also advocate that every defenseman and every forward see some time on the ice. If not now, then when?

Normally I would agree with this completely, but I think Seth has every intention of winning these games and will play whomever he feels gives him the best chance. Also, do we think Seth will travel with the entire roster? I'd think that airfare and hotels might be an issue...but others here will have the answer to this.

I thought SA contradicted himself a bit in one of the recent articles -- he started out by stating the guys who work and compete the hardest in practice hard will play....and stated Diebold had done just that -- outplayed Merriam a bit in fall practice. But then couched the whole argument by reasoning why he started merriam on Sat. night after Diebold stood on his head on Friday night. Again, I'm not really worried about it, but SA could simplify things and just state he was gonna play all of the keepers in the early going of the season...and not try to lay out some elaborate scenario as to his decision making re: keepers.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part 1: Pocket Protectors and Hockey Sticks

If I were the coach.... I would put a rotation in place where the keeper that plays better on a given weekend gets a start the next weekend. The keeper that didn't play the previous week gets the other one. The 3rd is the primary backup. Therefore, I'd go with Kasdorf with Merriam as the back-up in game one. Then Diebold with Merriam as the backup in game two.

The only trouble with this in the long term is that the ECAC limits the number of people that are allowed to travel during league games. To get as many skaters as possible, schools will only bring 2 goaltenders. There's no limit on the non-cons (aside from budget), though.