RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

You can still spot the females though.

Always could.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Our great coach's tweet reU game

Seth Appert ‏@SethAppert
Tough loss at PU last night only giving up 11 shots on goal. Need to learn quickly how lack of urgency in any part of game is difference

Coach knows-this is one we could have and should have put away in the W column. Hard to take when you do so much right.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

So please explain to me when a coach gives a game plan which is not executed, what next? Coaches do not wear sweaters, so do you think there is a disconnect???

If the plan itself is crud, you can blame the coach. Trying to do an umbrella PP in a league where blocking shots is second nature is crud, so it's good that the staff has fixed that. If the kids can't execute, there's not much the coach can do. Sure, the coach could try something else that fits the players, but that only goes so far. If the problem is inconsistency, there isn't much the coach can do about that.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Missed you there for sure. Jenny and i were looking all over for you. Hope you are feeling better. The refs did not steal this one. They actually called a very decent game. We just thought there were a few curiously fast whistles and 'perhaps' one goal that should have counted (second period) but definitely not the one at the buzzer. I think Dumas was more inadequate than Kotyra (who surprised me by just not callng his usual 16 minutes+ against us)

Although most of us remember Hicks from the BU game a couple years ago that was good for the fans who think the most important part of hockey is fighting, the other ref was Dumas(s).

 

[RPI fan 4 life]

Thanks my friend for standing up for the truth and allowing me to yell at the refs in section 9 and make an utter jerk of myself.

And when they get down to the other end, I yell at them in Section 6.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Ed Weaver's weekend recap: RPI not finding ways to win. IMO a great title, but then:

Eight of Rensselaer’s 12 remaining league games are at home. And eight of them are against four of the league’s weaker defensive teams -- St. Lawrence (2), Clarkson (2), Colgate (2), Brown and Harvard.

I guess that no one told Ed that "There Will Be Math Involved".

The good news:

Kasdorf is expected to be ready to return on Friday night against Colgate but Appert may consider staying with Merriam.

I would be surprised if SA would not consider staying with Merriam.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Ed Weaver's weekend recap: RPI not finding ways to win. IMO a great title, but then:
I guess that no one told Ed that "There Will Be Math Involved".

The good news:

I would be surprised if SA would not consider staying with Merriam.

Not really too difficult a decision. Goaltending is not the problem for us at all. SA has recruited a group of 3 that can all play NCAA Division I. I am comfortable with all of these kids-as long as the team in front of them plays for 60 minutes and can keep a team like Princeton to 11 shots-darn, i could probably play goal. (Of course i would have to snazz up the mask a bit to look a bit distinctive)

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Alot of talk about the team play this weekend. And systems and coaches responsibilities.
Lets look at the facts. We gave up 3 goals ( with a goalie in the net) for the weekend. We played even with the team ranked fifth in the nation on Friday.
We scored two goals for the weekend and still came away with a point.
It is not the system, it is the inablility to put the puck in the net. We are giving up quality shots to try to make the perfect play.
None of the forwards on this team are confident that they can take a shot and put it in the net.
We need to shoot more and go to the net for the rebounds. The one goal we scored against Princeton was a player throwing up a "hail mary". He was off balance and falling away from the net, but had no other play than to shoot, and low and behold, the puck went in. Shoot Shoot Shoot.
Don't interpret this for the PP. I am talking about 5 on 5 and on the rush. Take the shot and let your teammates go after the rebounds.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Alot of talk about the team play this weekend. And systems and coaches responsibilities.
Lets look at the facts. We gave up 3 goals ( with a goalie in the net) for the weekend. We played even with the team ranked fifth in the nation on Friday.
We scored two goals for the weekend and still came away with a point.
It is not the system, it is the inablility to put the puck in the net. We are giving up quality shots to try to make the perfect play.
None of the forwards on this team are confident that they can take a shot and put it in the net.
We need to shoot more and go to the net for the rebounds. The one goal we scored against Princeton was a player throwing up a "hail mary". He was off balance and falling away from the net, but had no other play than to shoot, and low and behold, the puck went in. Shoot Shoot Shoot.
Don't interpret this for the PP. I am talking about 5 on 5 and on the rush. Take the shot and let your teammates go after the rebounds.

You have to be careful with this. As much as "shoot shoot shoot" can be typed until you're blue in the fingers (or said until you're blue in the face), there were quite a few times in the Princeton game where we went to take shots and they were blocked, especially on the power play. Thankfully we didn't play the umbrella, so we were able to regroup. It's tough that we have to look for back-door passes, but so long as we are playing these defence minded teams, we have to account for it.

One thing I saw when watching some older games (mostly the 2010-11 season) is that we'd run something akin to a "motion" play. Not only is the puck moving, but the players are as well. This is really necessary if we're looking for a single person to take the shot, whether it's Nick, Guy, Curtis, Jacob, whomever it may be. If there's one thing I haven't seen much of in the power play the past couple of years, or even on even strength, is motion. I'm not saying we need something that goes onto the highlight reel, but if we're going to bring an up-tempo game, let's use it to our advantage and create those openings.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

You have to be careful with this. As much as "shoot shoot shoot" can be typed until you're blue in the fingers (or said until you're blue in the face), there were quite a few times in the Princeton game where we went to take shots and they were blocked, especially on the power play. Thankfully we didn't play the umbrella, so we were able to regroup. It's tough that we have to look for back-door passes, but so long as we are playing these defence minded teams, we have to account for it.

One thing I saw when watching some older games (mostly the 2010-11 season) is that we'd run something akin to a "motion" play. Not only is the puck moving, but the players are as well. This is really necessary if we're looking for a single person to take the shot, whether it's Nick, Guy, Curtis, Jacob, whomever it may be. If there's one thing I haven't seen much of in the power play the past couple of years, or even on even strength, is motion. I'm not saying we need something that goes onto the highlight reel, but if we're going to bring an up-tempo game, let's use it to our advantage and create those openings.

Incredibly to the point. We just need to take advantage of what we have-we have the speed and mobility. We just have to figure out how to use it-especially oon the power play. I came away from Princeton thinking simply that this team has so much good about it. Very good goaltending, tough solid defense(usually) and fast relentless forwards. But at times-especially on the PP-we seem to be standing still in position and waiting for the puck to come to us rather than moving. And don ot get me started on how we look once we pull the goalie. Teams just out hustle us 5 agianst 6 and even as we saw, 4 agianst 6. This team has a lot and if we can get to show it, a lot of teams are going to wish they were playing someone else. Maybe others saw something different-but i did not see anyone on Saturday play a poor game for us (just a few little lapses in the first period-but from then on this was a tremendous effort). Just my 2¢

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

....

One thing I saw when watching some older games (mostly the 2010-11 season) is that we'd run something akin to a "motion" play. Not only is the puck moving, but the players are as well. This is really necessary if we're looking for a single person to take the shot, whether it's Nick, Guy, Curtis, Jacob, whomever it may be. If there's one thing I haven't seen much of in the power play the past couple of years, or even on even strength, is motion. I'm not saying we need something that goes onto the highlight reel, but if we're going to bring an up-tempo game, let's use it to our advantage and create those openings.

Motion / movement is an integral part of any power play. If you're not moving the puck , your feet, or both, then all you are doing is making the PK's life very easy, that simple. I watched the DU - UNO game this weekend on NBC. (Great offensive game - 6-5 DU win IIRC) Aside from the outstanding up and down action, I noted that DU uses a D-man - Markowski - down low on the PP. He had a pretty back door PP goal on sweet feed through the slot . No reason why RPI couldn't utilize Bailen in that way anyway. Many of us here think he should be playing forward anyway... Put a true D-man on the blueline for the PP and let Nickey create his magic down low.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Motion / movement is an integral part of any power play. If you're not moving the puck , your feet, or both, then all you are doing is making the PK's life very easy, that simple. I watched the DU - UNO game this weekend on NBC. (Great offensive game - 6-5 DU win IIRC) Aside from the outstanding up and down action, I noted that DU uses a D-man - Markowski - down low on the PP. He had a pretty back door PP goal on sweet feed through the slot . No reason why RPI couldn't utilize Bailen in that way anyway. Many of us here think he should be playing forward anyway...

This past weekend, I did see Bailen low on the PP, while Bokenfohr or Dolan were still home along with another forward, I want to say it was Laliberté. Bradley and Leonard still play on the line on that unit, but given the forwards for that unit, I'm perfectly fine with that. Obviously Brutlag low worked quite well when he played (I seem to remember suggesting that), but he also had someone on the point that could practically read his mind.

 

[sk8tronthepond]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Motion / movement is an integral part of any power play. If you're not moving the puck , your feet, or both, then all you are doing is making the PK's life very easy, that simple. I watched the DU - UNO game this weekend on NBC. (Great offensive game - 6-5 DU win IIRC) Aside from the outstanding up and down action, I noted that DU uses a D-man - Markowski - down low on the PP. He had a pretty back door PP goal on sweet feed through the slot . No reason why RPI couldn't utilize Bailen in that way anyway. Many of us here think he should be playing forward anyway... Put a true D-man on the blueline for the PP and let Nickey create his magic down low.

Markowski - 6' 1" 205
Bailen - 5' 9" 185

Big difference with regards to utilization. Bailen size and strength a deterrent for down low play!!

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

You have to be careful with this. As much as "shoot shoot shoot" can be typed until you're blue in the fingers (or said until you're blue in the face), there were quite a few times in the Princeton game where we went to take shots and they were blocked, especially on the power play. Thankfully we didn't play the umbrella, so we were able to regroup. It's tough that we have to look for back-door passes, but so long as we are playing these defence minded teams, we have to account for it.

One thing I saw when watching some older games (mostly the 2010-11 season) is that we'd run something akin to a "motion" play. Not only is the puck moving, but the players are as well. This is really necessary if we're looking for a single person to take the shot, whether it's Nick, Guy, Curtis, Jacob, whomever it may be. If there's one thing I haven't seen much of in the power play the past couple of years, or even on even strength, is motion. I'm not saying we need something that goes onto the highlight reel, but if we're going to bring an up-tempo game, let's use it to our advantage and create those openings.

I specifically noted that this was not a suggestion for the PP. It is mostly for rushes. We come down the ice 3 on 2 with a wide open shot on the wing and we try to pass it through the defenseman for a shot from the slot.
I would like to see us take that shot from the wing with the other forwards on the rush going to the net. We are not scoring, something has to change. Again, I believe that it is a confidence issue. So we continue to look for the perfect play and pass up good scoring opportunities.
Changing the lines this weekend was an indication that the coaches know that we have to change something.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Markowski - 6' 1" 205
Bailen - 5' 9" 185

Big difference with regards to utilization. Bailen size and strength a deterrent for down low play!!

Brutlag wasn't any bigger than Bailen, yet that seemed to work. When you're established down low, it's not so much about strength as it is about leverage.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

I specifically noted that this was not a suggestion for the PP. It is mostly for rushes. We come down the ice 3 on 2 with a wide open shot on the wing and we try to pass it through the defenseman for a shot from the slot.
I would like to see us take that shot from the wing with the other forwards on the rush going to the net. We are not scoring, something has to change. Again, I believe that it is a confidence issue. So we continue to look for the perfect play and pass up good scoring opportunities.
Changing the lines this weekend was an indication that the coaches know that we have to change something.

I'm not so sure about shooting on rushes being a confidence issue. I have heard that coaches will actually recommend that in the case of a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2, you pass the puck in order to get the goaltender moving. In the case of rushes, rule #1 should be that if you don't have the puck, crash the net for a rebound. I seem to remember reading someone on one of the score threads make a post about one of our players' unwillingness to do just that. That may be attributed to confidence, but I don't know about the shot. Brock went for it in the Princeton game because the D-man had the back-door fairly well covered; the goalie just happened to stop it. That's going to happen now and again.

 

[sk8tronthepond]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Brutlag wasn't any bigger than Bailen, yet that seemed to work. When you're established down low, it's not so much about strength as it is about leverage.

You are correct that Brutlag wasn't any bigger, but Brutlag had more grit, was stronger, quicker and was tougher. As far as leverage goes, leverage is directly related to strength!!

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

You are correct that Brutlag wasn't any bigger, but Brutlag had more grit, was stronger, quicker and was tougher. As far as leverage goes, leverage is directly related to strength!!

There's no question that there is a correlation with strength, but there's also a correlation, and I think a much more important one, with body positioning, and also the velocity and positioning brought by the opposition. Even a large guy like LeBoeuf can get man-handled early in the first period of the Princeton game, and although I don't remember the guy skating up well enough to know if he was charging, it just goes to show that size and strength isn't everything.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

Markowski - 6' 1" 205
Bailen - 5' 9" 185

Big difference with regards to utilization. Bailen size and strength a deterrent for down low play!!

Not on a fluid power play, IMO. This was pass-pass score play with movement away from the puck. Nobody laid a hand on Markowski.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2012-2013 Part III: There Will Be Math Involved

There's no question that there is a correlation with strength, but there's also a correlation, and I think a much more important one, with body positioning, and also the velocity and positioning brought by the opposition. Even a large guy like LeBoeuf can get man-handled early in the first period of the Princeton game, and although I don't remember the guy skating up well enough to know if he was charging, it just goes to show that size and strength isn't everything.

It isn't everything but it helps.