RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

I went back to the 2010-11 season and only once was it above 3,000. 2013-14 vs St. Mary 3,123. Last year was not available but most, in the last 8yrs. has been around 2,600. BTW, I sat in the student Sect. by the Band & that was very void of students. It is what it is I guess. There has not been much the last couple of years to expect anywhere near 3,000 people for an exhibition game. Win & they will come, simple as that.

2600 is fair. I'm not too worried about student involvement yet, given this was a 3-day weekend, and the kids have a tendency to head out of town on those (I know I did). If you see the same lack of involvement next week, then I'd start to get concerned.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

Someone on the score thread commented that the rink seemed empty. Official attendance was 2014. Pathetic.

Looked more like 1014. I wonder how players feel to skate out onto home ice and see a virtually empty arena?

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

I went back to the 2010-11 season and only once was it above 3,000. 2013-14 vs St. Mary 3,123. Last year was not available but most, in the last 8yrs. has been around 2,600. BTW, I sat in the student Sect. by the Band & that was very void of students. It is what it is I guess. There has not been much the last couple of years to expect anywhere near 3,000 people for an exhibition game. Win & they will come, simple as that.

For certain the make up of the student body has changed drastically from what I remember in the days I was there. i am not sure though that most of that change has occurred in the past 10 years than in all the years before. Having attended virtually every home game from 1963 through 2001 one constant over all those 38 years was the students attending and the spirit from that side of the rink. not being there in person makes it impossible to judge but from all the TV broadcasts it appears to be so vastly different.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

Looked more like 1014. I wonder how players feel to skate out onto home ice and see a virtually empty arena?

Remember that we don't see the student section side of things. As for the players, I'm sure they're appreciative of any of us that come out, especially when we make our presence known at away games. I seem to recall a stick salute after Cornell last year.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

For certain the make up of the student body has changed drastically from what I remember in the days I was there. i am not sure though that most of that change has occurred in the past 10 years than in all the years before. Having attended virtually every home game from 1963 through 2001 one constant over all those 38 years was the students attending and the spirit from that side of the rink. not being there in person makes it impossible to judge but from all the TV broadcasts it appears to be so vastly different.

My biggest worry is current student apathy. For quite a while, WRPI has been trying to advertise during games for student involvement. We hardly see any of them post here (Mr. and Mrs. lugnut being some of the last as of late). As much as we enjoy these things to happen, unless those currently involved are willing to keep it going, the things we found as good will just die out.

 

[rpi82]

For certain the make up of the student body has changed drastically from what I remember in the days I was there. i am not sure though that most of that change has occurred in the past 10 years than in all the years before. Having attended virtually every home game from 1963 through 2001 one constant over all those 38 years was the students attending and the spirit from that side of the rink. not being there in person makes it impossible to judge but from all the TV broadcasts it appears to be so vastly different.

As I told someone yesterday, I haven't seen the HFH that empty for a game since we were playing in the D League (AKA the fall and crawl league) championships back in 1982. That's not technically true as I've gone to a few women's games, but it's not a good sign - even on a Sunday at 5:00. Clearly a lot of people just had better things to do, and many were willing to eat the cost of tickets. I also noticed that they've completely blocked off sections 12-16 and 22-44 on the web site even though there were many empty seats. I'm guessing that's a new policy that hopes to encourage the sale of those seats to students only.

 

[rpi82]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

As for the game, did any of the newcomers stand out to you? I thought Lacka, Leppanen, Bowman and DiGrande looked solid up front but not to a level where I'd get overly excited about their prospects for a big freshman season. Lee had a couple of good hits for a little guy. On defense Ferner and Johnson played fairly well, although the latter had one potentially disastrous give-away on the PP but had enough speed to prevent a possible break-away. Wiffen and Hallbauer didn't play and I also heard that one of the transfers was denied eligibility for this fall, which I presume to be Gornall since Bear and Zieky played last fall for their respective teams. It was nice to see Burgess pick up a PP goal. If we are to improve significantly on the front line he will have to have a breakout season.

Canadian colleges have vastly different eligibility requirements. To give you an idea of who we played last night, 22 out of 26 players on the roster have major junior (most several years) experience. Two players had minor professional experience with one reaching as high as the AHL. Two of the 4 non-major junior players had interesting backgrounds. One, Nick Shumlanski, is a Humboldt Bronco survivor. The other, the goalie Hofley, played for Coach Smith at Cansisius. That explains the extra time they spoke together at the end of the handshake line.

 

[ServinisScores]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

Looked more like 1014. I wonder how players feel to skate out onto home ice and see a virtually empty arena?

a) "What did I get myself into?"
b) "We have a lot of work as a program to re-establish credibility"
c) "It's an exhibition against some no-name Canadian school. No big deal."
d) "The Giants must be on."
e) "It's still full compared to Dartmouth or Brown"

This result of apathetic support has been a long time coming Doc. Can't blame anyone, quite frankly. History shows the student body and quickly thereafter, the local fans get behind a winning program. They gotta perform and win though.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

As for the game, did any of the newcomers stand out to you? I thought Lacka, Leppanen, Bowman and DiGrande looked solid up front but not to a level where I'd get overly excited about their prospects for a big freshman season. Lee had a couple of good hits for a little guy. On defense Ferner and Johnson played fairly well, although the latter had one potentially disastrous give-away on the PP but had enough speed to prevent a possible break-away. Wiffen and Hallbauer didn't play and I also heard that one of the transfers was denied eligibility for this fall, which I presume to be Gornall since Bear and Zieky played last fall for their respective teams. It was nice to see Burgess pick up a PP goal. If we are to improve significantly on the front line he will have to have a breakout season.

Canadian colleges have vastly different eligibility requirements. To give you an idea of who we played last night, 22 out of 26 players on the roster have major junior (most several years) experience. Two players had minor professional experience with one reaching as high as the AHL. Two of the 4 non-major junior players had interesting backgrounds. One, Nick Shumlanski, is a Humboldt Bronco survivor. The other, the goalie Hofley, played for Coach Smith at Cansisius. That explains the extra time they spoke together at the end of the handshake line.

Interesting that UPEI has a Humboldt survivor on their roster.

I agree that if a transfer was denied eligibility it must be Gornall. I wonder what his problem is.

 

[turk181]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

I see Flaggy brought up (in the Score Thread) the extra TOs during the game. I never considered the ESPN+ aspect. They also did it in the women’s game. What a drag on play to be doing this. Call the "Officials TO" when the clock hits below the 14min & 8min.....call the TO for the ridiculous "snow shovel” when the clock drops under the 10min mark (excluding icing). If I wanted all the breaks I could’ve stayed home on my sofa.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

I see Flaggy brought up (in the Score Thread) the extra TOs during the game. I never considered the ESPN+ aspect. They also did it in the women’s game. What a drag on play to be doing this. Call the "Officials TO" when the clock hits below the 14min & 8min.....call the TO for the ridiculous "snow shovel” when the clock drops under the 10min mark (excluding icing). If I wanted all the breaks I could’ve stayed home on my sofa.

Or watched the last minutes of any NBA game

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

a) "What did I get myself into?"
b) "We have a lot of work as a program to re-establish credibility"
c) "It's an exhibition against some no-name Canadian school. No big deal."
d) "The Giants must be on."
e) "It's still full compared to Dartmouth or Brown"

This result of apathetic support has been a long time coming Doc. Can't blame anyone, quite frankly. History shows the student body and quickly thereafter, the local fans get behind a winning program. They gotta perform and win though.

My gut is telling me that if this team started winning, a percentage of local fans would of course start showing up. My real question is the students. I have seen this a lot of places. Jenny and i spend some time at Baker Rink each year at Princeton and we see the same thing happening there. It will be interesting to watch this year as from what we have seen, Princeton looks like an honest contender and a top tier ECAC team. BTW today was the first day that tickets went on sale for the RPI Princeton game. Currently having quite a disagreement with their ticket office as they have seen fit to take away our season tickets (we had great red line seats for 40+ years). Now get this - the reason given was that those seats were claimed by someone with more seniority than we have. My suspicion is that the seats were simply grabbed by a Princeton Alum. Not sure how we shall handle this as we used to give the seats away for most of the games and only attend the few that were of interest to us.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

I see Flaggy brought up (in the Score Thread) the extra TOs during the game. I never considered the ESPN+ aspect. They also did it in the women’s game. What a drag on play to be doing this. Call the "Officials TO" when the clock hits below the 14min & 8min.....call the TO for the ridiculous "snow shovel” when the clock drops under the 10min mark (excluding icing). If I wanted all the breaks I could’ve stayed home on my sofa.

15, 10, and 5 actually. And does not happen after goals (hopefully HFH actually adheres to this), icing, during a penalty, or any non-change situation. They skipped one because they didn't get a sufficient break in the final minutes of the 1st. It's unfortunately something we have to live with. I noticed even WRPI was fitting in some PSAs during the breaks. One thing that could be good out of this, though, is that if we have any issues with conditioning, this will give the kids that slight breather they may need.

 

[rpi82]

Interesting that UPEI has a Humboldt survivor on their roster.

I agree that if a transfer was denied eligibility it must be Gornall. I wonder what his problem is.

Does hockey have an "in residence rule?" I know basketball has (or at least had a few years ago) a rule that direct transfers had to spend a school year in residence at their new school before being eligible (so January enrollees become eligible after final exams the following December). My source mentioned that the player in question was enrolled in the spring. Even though he didn't play in the fall was Gornall enrolled at UND for that semester - or at least not at RPI? I seem to remember that his transfer wasn't announced until sometime mid-fall so I presume that he wasn't in Troy until January. Alternatively, even if there is no residence requirement, did Gornall practice with UND before leaving the team last fall? If so, he might be considered a team member for purposes of last fall even if he never dressed for a game.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

Does hockey have an "in residence rule?" I know basketball has (or at least had a few years ago) a rule that direct transfers had to spend a school year in residence at their new school before being eligible (so January enrollees become eligible after final exams the following December). My source mentioned that the player in question was enrolled in the spring. Even though he didn't play in the fall was Gornall enrolled at UND for that semester - or at least not at RPI? I seem to remember that his transfer wasn't announced until sometime mid-fall so I presume that he wasn't in Troy until January. Alternatively, even if there is no residence requirement, did Gornall practice with UND before leaving the team last fall? If so, he might be considered a team member for purposes of last fall even if he never dressed for a game.

Residence requirement, no, given Nick Bailen was in the USHL during his redshirt year, as well as a number of players who went in the other direction. However, if he was in for another semester of classes at his original institution, that could have something to do with it.

 

[jericho]

15, 10, and 5 actually. And does not happen after goals (hopefully HFH actually adheres to this), icing, during a penalty, or any non-change situation. They skipped one because they didn't get a sufficient break in the final minutes of the 1st. It's unfortunately something we have to live with. I noticed even WRPI was fitting in some PSAs during the breaks. One thing that could be good out of this, though, is that if we have any issues with conditioning, this will give the kids that slight breather they may need.

This is one of the few things you seem to know about so I'll ask. Is this a new league-wide rule? I'm wondering that since RPI isn't participating in the ESPN thing do games at the Field House have to have the break?

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019: 28 Guys Skate onto a Rink ...

This is one of the few things you seem to know about so I'll ask. Is this a new league-wide rule? I'm wondering that since RPI isn't participating in the ESPN thing do games at the Field House have to have the break?

I don't know for sure, but that would indeed be my hypothesis. We've seen other leagues do this, like Atlantic, and it's the only thing that makes sense for why they'd only start now. There's nothing in the national rule book that mandates this. I'm sure someone could always e-mail Hagwell and ask.

 

[fr. joe]

Lively Snively Arena. Had to be the coldest rink I’ve ever been in.
And 2014 fans was still more fans then they had for a regular season game at the salt shed last night.

Absolutely true. On a Sunday afternoon with a 5 om start.
PS. Shout out to friends who had a tailgate party in parkinbg lot before the game. I made the party but not the game... I had Mass for UA students at 6:30.

 

[fr. joe]

My gut is telling me that if this team started winning, a percentage of local fans would of course start showing up. My real question is the students. I have seen this a lot of places. Jenny and i spend some time at Baker Rink each year at Princeton and we see the same thing happening there. It will be interesting to watch this year as from what we have seen, Princeton looks like an honest contender and a top tier ECAC team. BTW today was the first day that tickets went on sale for the RPI Princeton game. Currently having quite a disagreement with their ticket office as they have seen fit to take away our season tickets (we had great red line seats for 40+ years). Now get this - the reason given was that those seats were claimed by someone with more seniority than we have. My suspicion is that the seats were simply grabbed by a Princeton Alum. Not sure how we shall handle this as we used to give the seats away for most of the games and only attend the few that were of interest to us.

The only people with more seniority than you and Jenny are the workers who built Baker Rink.

 

[ServinisScores]

My gut is telling me that if this team started winning, a percentage of local fans would of course start showing up. My real question is the students. I have seen this a lot of places. Jenny and i spend some time at Baker Rink each year at Princeton and we see the same thing happening there. It will be interesting to watch this year as from what we have seen, Princeton looks like an honest contender and a top tier ECAC team. BTW today was the first day that tickets went on sale for the RPI Princeton game. Currently having quite a disagreement with their ticket office as they have seen fit to take away our season tickets (we had great red line seats for 40+ years). Now get this - the reason given was that those seats were claimed by someone with more seniority than we have. My suspicion is that the seats were simply grabbed by a Princeton Alum. Not sure how we shall handle this as we used to give the seats away for most of the games and only attend the few that were of interest to us.

Hi Doc - I think the student body returns quickly when the winning does. Everyone loves a winner. Look at your interesting experience at Baker. Team gets good and they hand over tickets from a 40-year loyal customer/spy to likely some visiting prof or alum who has just returned to the area and wants in on the action.

LGR!