RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

[25+years]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Only saw parts of last night’s game but it did seem like so many others this season - pretty good play followed by periods of passivity that lead to extended possession and scoring chances for the opposition. You can feel goals coming because we just stop skating (competing?) for a few minutes. We think we’re on the right track because we play an opponent well for 80+% of the game, but good teams will take advantage of that other 20%.

I can’t call myself a Smith backer (still can’t figure out how he got the job), but I have been in favor of giving him time because I saw some season over season improvement and in-game adjustments. However, this season is critical. With all of the top scorers, such as they are in our goal-starved lineup, being seniors, he’s really got to get us to home ice this season or start thinking of his escape route. Tonight’s game is critical for that to happen.


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RPI played a decent game last night. Bottom line is they simply cannot put the puck in the net. They did not bury their chances. Against a team below them in the standings they absolutely needed to beat. But what struck me more than anything else last night was they looked like a team following the script but with little passion for what they were doing. They looked like they were playing the first game of the season not a game at the half way point. Absolutely no sense of urgency. Smith pointed out how he wouldn't change a thing. He stated they played a good game and out shot and out chanced Yale. That all may be true on paper but they didn't look like a team that needed wins. They needed to look like a desperate Union team that went out and took it to Brown. Now pathetic Union is ahead of RPI in the standings and we sit here and wonder who the recruits will be the next couple of years. And hope that a similar effort will produce wins. When all the evidence says otherwise.

 

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

You don't have to post Hayhurst's contribution to RPI. What you posted, by the way, was under Smith's tutelage.

1) With all due respect ;I can post what I want. This is why ppl leave this thread bx of the thought police.
2) Do you think the kid would have left if he loved "Smith's tutelage"?

 

[NPC19850330]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Smith recruits haven't help us from being a poor team either. B10 much better league. Hayhurst was leading scorer for two years in Troy.

"Despite missing seven games due to injury, junior Jacob Hayhurst was once again RPI's top point-getter, collecting 23 on three goals 20 assists."

Source - https://rpiathletics.com/news/2019/4/5/mens-hockey-2018-19-season-review.aspx

And we're supposed to be excited over three goals?

These kids need to learn how to finish, and last night proved that.

 

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

And we're supposed to be excited over three goals?

These kids need to learn how to finish, and last night proved that.

He was like Wayne Gretzky compared to what we have now.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

1) With all due respect ;I can post what I want. This is why ppl leave this thread bx of the thought police.
2) Do you think the kid would have left if he loved "Smith's tutelage"?

Of course you can post what you want. I just meant that I knew what he did at RPI.

 

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Of course you can post what you want. I just meant that I knew what he did at RPI.

Ok, thank you.

 

[RPI67]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Merry Christmas. Nice present tonight.

 

[johnk]

I see where you're defending a coach; been there done that. This program is in absolute freefall. The losses that we suffered from players that left are devastating. Are you trying to tell me the loss of Hayhurst is nothing? The kid plays on the 2nd line for Michigan. Correct me if I'm wrong but he was the leading scorer for RPI last year? Emil is better than anything we have on our second, third and fourth lines. The loss of recruits is beyond words; it proves there is a problem. For sure, let's see what Dave does but beating Cansius twice, SLU (new coach and in the midst of a major rebuild), a bad Union team and UCONN does not knock my socks off. In fact 3 out of the 5 wins are against last place teams in their respective leagues.

No other stat than 3800 shows what a freefall this program is in. That used to be mediocre attendance for a home game. That was the total attendance this weekend. Pathetic!!!

 

[rpi82]

No other stat than 3800 shows what a freefall this program is in. That used to be mediocre attendance for a home game. That was the total attendance this weekend. Pathetic!!!

With finals for students and so much football and the upcoming holidays for everyone else, it’s a tough weekend for attendance. Adding in what seems like a downward trend in college sports overall and our program in particular, means 3800 is probably as much as we should expect. I checked out the other ECAC games on ESPN+ and, with the exception of SLU-Clarkson, there were major blocks of empty seats. Harvard, in particular, couldn’t have had much over 1500 and, if their student section is still under the press box, only a double digit number of students. Even BU only drew 3,600 tonight for cross-town rival Northeastern.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

No other stat than 3800 shows what a freefall this program is in. That used to be mediocre attendance for a home game. That was the total attendance this weekend. Pathetic!!!

You are so right! https://www.uscho.com/stats/attendance/division-i-men/ And i believe this chart is not including this past weekend's games. Bad enough that we were 31st in total attendance, worse is our standing if we list these by percentage of capacity. i am sure the reasons are multi factorial but I doubt that we are all that different from other schools listed well above us.

 

[fishcore12]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

And I quote a older person who was sitting behind me in the Section 9 last night: "This isn't the Field House I knew." Says it all about where the program is. I have missed maybe 3 home games in the past 10-15 years and I can say without a doubt, that the past few weekends have been deader than a doornail. Only thing that saves it from a full on funeral type feel is the pep band which is shrinking week by week it seems as well. Glad to see some of the students trying to be more active in coming to games (Red Army or whatever it is called) but to see them sitting on their hands all night last night only to come "alive" for the taco minute and when RPI pulled the goalie is kinda sad. Do some research on how the bigger fan bases keep involved in the entire game and try to implement some of that. I get it that winning brings fans in but even during the lean years with AspyDads hero OGC Seth Appert, the place was filled above the 1500-2000 range.

Ok rant over, glad to see a comeback win last night after 59:58 of some pretty rough hockey to watch.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

And I quote a older person who was sitting behind me in the Section 9 last night: "This isn't the Field House I knew." Says it all about where the program is. I have missed maybe 3 home games in the past 10-15 years and I can say without a doubt, that the past few weekends have been deader than a doornail. Only thing that saves it from a full on funeral type feel is the pep band which is shrinking week by week it seems as well. Glad to see some of the students trying to be more active in coming to games (Red Army or whatever it is called) but to see them sitting on their hands all night last night only to come "alive" for the taco minute and when RPI pulled the goalie is kinda sad. Do some research on how the bigger fan bases keep involved in the entire game and try to implement some of that. I get it that winning brings fans in but even during the lean years with AspyDads hero OGC Seth Appert, the place was filled above the 1500-2000 range.

Ok rant over, glad to see a comeback win last night after 59:58 of some pretty rough hockey to watch.

There has been a decline in interest in hockey and college sports in general by students and apparently also the general public just about everywhere. It probably is more the case in places like RPI where the team is not performing well. I have also been reading similar thoughts over at eLynah. I know that when I have been in Troy the last few years. I have wondered why I bother going. The SLU game which I attended seemed dead. It was better against CCT, but that was probably due to there being a large contingent of their fans.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

And I quote a older person who was sitting behind me in the Section 9 last night: "This isn't the Field House I knew." Says it all about where the program is. I have missed maybe 3 home games in the past 10-15 years and I can say without a doubt, that the past few weekends have been deader than a doornail. Only thing that saves it from a full on funeral type feel is the pep band which is shrinking week by week it seems as well. Glad to see some of the students trying to be more active in coming to games (Red Army or whatever it is called) but to see them sitting on their hands all night last night only to come "alive" for the taco minute and when RPI pulled the goalie is kinda sad. Do some research on how the bigger fan bases keep involved in the entire game and try to implement some of that. I get it that winning brings fans in but even during the lean years with AspyDads hero OGC Seth Appert, the place was filled above the 1500-2000 range.

Ok rant over, glad to see a comeback win last night after 59:58 of some pretty rough hockey to watch.

There are three things that has affected the attendance at HFH.
1. The product on the ice for the last 20 years.
2 The age of the fan base. I used to go to at least 5 games a year, now because I can't drive at night, I won't be going to a single game this year.
3. RPItv Even if I could go to a game, why would I leave the comfort of my living room to drive 2 hours to watch my team lose.

I am sure that the students would show up if we started winning, but I fear that the town folk may be lost forever.

As for last night, it was a very exciting finish. And I love a win going into the holidays, but the rest of the game was nothing to write home about.
We played two teams this weekend that we should have put away, and it took us to the very end of regulation to salvage the weekend.
The team needs to show some consistency and win on a more regular basis if they want to bring the fans in.
I love this team and this school and will be a fan for life, but I sure wish they would win more games than they lose. It has been a long time.

 

[fishcore12]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

There has been a decline in interest in hockey and college sports in general by students and apparently also the general public just about everywhere. It probably is more the case in places like RPI where the team is not performing well. I have also been reading similar thoughts over at eLynah. I know that when I have been in Troy the last few years. I have wondered why I bother going. The SLU game which I attended seemed dead. It was better against CCT, but that was probably due to there being a large contingent of their fans.

There is no marketing of the games on TV/Radio that I have saw or heard in years other than the Tuesday segment Coach Smith does on 104.5 the Team ESPN Radio. And even that just feels like a hey lets throw them a bone type deal.

 

[fishcore12]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

There are three things that has affected the attendance at HFH.
1. The product on the ice for the last 20 years.
2 The age of the fan base. I used to go to at least 5 games a year, now because I can't drive at night, I won't be going to a single game this year.
3. RPItv Even if I could go to a game, why would I leave the comfort of my living room to drive 2 hours to watch my team lose.

I am sure that the students would show up if we started winning, but I fear that the town folk may be lost forever.

As for last night, it was a very exciting finish. And I love a win going into the holidays, but the rest of the game was nothing to write home about.
We played two teams this weekend that we should have put away, and it took us to the very end of regulation to salvage the weekend.
The team needs to show some consistency and win on a more regular basis if they want to bring the fans in.
I love this team and this school and will be a fan for life, but I sure wish they would win more games than they lose. It has been a long time.

RPITV is great for fans like yourself who are 2+ hours away and have conditions that don't allow you to make the trek up. I'm in full agreement that more winning would be nice.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

RPITV is great for fans like yourself who are 2+ hours away and have conditions that don't allow you to make the trek up. I'm in full agreement that more winning would be nice.

Speaking just for Jenny and myself, the trip is over 3 hours. We used to commute up for every weekend series and all Christmas Tournament games. We even drove up for the rare mid week game. But that stopped almost 20 years ago. Had nothing to do with the team, winning or the product on the ice. had to do mostly with the drive up itself. The Thruway and Troy was no big deal and has not changed all that much. But the 90 minute trek up the Garden State Parkway is truly a nightmare. It is the Indianapolis 500 on steroids with drivers trying to pass by you on both sides and cutting you off so dangerously that each and every trip had so many close calls. We have been able to get to see virtually all the games at Princeton (which is a 1+ hour trip for us) but even that cross Jersey trip on Interstate 195 has become as bad.
Sure RPI TV has made a difference but truthfully we feel that nothing compares to seeing the boys live. I fully understand those of us who have to commute a distance to HFH having to give that up, but that is not an excuse for the locals and especially the students who can walk to the games.

 

[capswon]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

Want a game day experience go to Utica. 3,000 to 3,500 consistently community and school support. Oh and did I mention they are a D3 school. First game I ever attended was completely impressed. Made HFH feel like the empty plane hangar it is.

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

First, I agree with Doc, that there is nothing like watching hockey in person. I truly miss it.
I have done some digging into RPI's record since the 04/-5 season (that's as far back as I could find)
Since 04/05, our record is 196-310-63. Not pretty.
Since then, we have had 4 winning seasons.
09/10 18-17-4
10/11 20-13-5 we followed that season with 12-24-3
12/13 18-14-5
15/16 18-15-7 we followed that with 8-21-1

That is not going to bring the fans rushing to see the games. Just sayin'

 

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

. AspyDads hero OGC Seth Appert, .

Man, I love that dude!

 

[troyboy]

First, I agree with Doc, that there is nothing like watching hockey in person. I truly miss it.
I have done some digging into RPI's record since the 04/-5 season (that's as far back as I could find)
Since 04/05, our record is 196-310-63. Not pretty.
Since then, we have had 4 winning seasons.
09/10 18-17-4
10/11 20-13-5 we followed that season with 12-24-3
12/13 18-14-5
15/16 18-15-7 we followed that with 8-21-1

That is not going to bring the fans rushing to see the games. Just sayin'

Agreed we are according to USCHO RPI rankings #50 of 60 and our 6 wins are #35 UConn/#60 Caniaus x2/#56 St.Lawrance/#55 Brown/#58 Union and throw in a tie w/#57 Princeton not sure that's the pond we want to be swimming in. If Ralph or anyone feels we have the horses on the ground or In the que to move the needle 25 spots to maybe a top 25 team I'm all ears but at this point check me off in the skeptic column JMO