RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Little known trivia - RPI just finished the regular season by winning (convincingly) all four of their final games. Now let us just see when was the last time we did that??? OH, yes, the last time was a bit back in time. How about 1985 on the way to a final record of 35-2-1 and winning the National Championship!!! Been a long time baby!!! let's Go Red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Seems like everything's been different since those last 38 seconds of the Brown game...

Anyone getting excited yet?
This was so unexpected. Who would have thought that we even had a chance to get this far in December. Quite the turn around.
I was a little surprised after the first period last night. The boys looked like they were not ready for a game of that importance. They looked nervous and out of sync.
I hope that winning that game will give them the confidence they will need in the next series.
If it is Harvard, remember that we had to play an almost perfect game to beat them by a goal. We need to be ready from the drop of the puck.
Doc, if I am still upright, I will start the scores thread for the next game. But the pressure is getting to me.

 

[rsfs04]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

A few general observations:
- We achieved our highest league point total since the ‘12-‘13 season, where we also finished with 27. That team also had 27 points, via a 12-7-3 record. This team managed one more win than that.
- Six of our top seven point producers are seniors. The exception: Ture Linden. Of all the things I wouldn’t have guessed this season, Ture having 21 regular season points might be at the top. He was our leading conference scorer with 20 league points! He obviously benefitted from playing with Burgess most of the year, but he deserves a lot of credit in his own right. Not a flashy player, but does a lot of the little things well. Has a good set of hands. Him stepping up was a real key to our overall success this season.
- Very curious what the 4th line looks like assuming Dubinsky and Leppanen return. I’d go Herrman/Jerry/DiGrande, think they play fast. Lacka and Mashie will be very important for us next season, but don’t feel they are best suited for a bottom line roll.
- Lets get to LP!

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Anyone getting excited yet?
This was so unexpected. Who would have thought that we even had a chance to get this far in December. Quite the turn around.
I was a little surprised after the first period last night. The boys looked like they were not ready for a game of that importance. They looked nervous and out of sync.
I hope that winning that game will give them the confidence they will need in the next series.
If it is Harvard, remember that we had to play an almost perfect game to beat them by a goal. We need to be ready from the drop of the puck.
Doc, if I am still upright, I will start the scores thread for the next game. But the pressure is getting to me.

If you are one of those who believes the glass is half full - we beat a very decent Dartmouth team on a night when admittedly we started slow and we did not play at the level that we had in the previous 3 games. But we were still able to win, on the road, in a place we have not won all that often lately. What at noticed at the end of the game when the boys skated over to congratulate Owen, they were not all that excited. it was more like, well, we took care of business and let's move on.
BTW, all of us have noted that Savory pitched 5 shutouts this year and that is one shy of Joel Laing. But OS played in 24 games (out of the total of 34). Wonder if he could have reached 6 or more if he had played in those 10 games?

 

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

A few general observations:
- We achieved our highest league point total since the ‘12-‘13 season, where we also finished with 27. That team also had 27 points, via a 12-7-3 record. This team managed one more win than that.
- Six of our top seven point producers are seniors. The exception: Ture Linden. Of all the things I wouldn’t have guessed this season, Ture having 21 regular season points might be at the top. He was our leading conference scorer with 20 league points! He obviously benefitted from playing with Burgess most of the year, but he deserves a lot of credit in his own right. Not a flashy player, but does a lot of the little things well. Has a good set of hands. Him stepping up was a real key to our overall success this season.
- Very curious what the 4th line looks like assuming Dubinsky and Leppanen return. I’d go Herrman/Jerry/DiGrande, think they play fast. Lacka and Mashie will be very important for us next season, but don’t feel they are best suited for a bottom line roll.
- Lets get to LP!

Yes we all notice that 6 of the top scorers are seniors. But we have 12 players with double digit points this year and 6 are not seniors!! We will lose a lot of our offense at the end of the season (which I hope goes on for several weeks more) but I am not sure when the last time we RETURNED a total of at least 6 double digit point scorers for the following season??) And of course we are winning with defense (Savory now has an overall GAA of just a shade over 2.06) and he is only a sophomore and we have much of the defense that has helped him achieve these numbers (save percentage .932) all as underclassmen. I think this year is turning out just so much better than almost any of us expected but looking at the group we have returning, and the way this coach handles this team. I suspect we are going to be more of the beast of the east and less of the least of the east for a few years to come. Just my 2¢

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

If you are one of those who believes the glass is half full - we beat a very decent Dartmouth team on a night when admittedly we started slow and we did not play at the level that we had in the previous 3 games. But we were still able to win, on the road, in a place we have not won all that often lately. What at noticed at the end of the game when the boys skated over to congratulate Owen, they were not all that excited. it was more like, well, we took care of business and let's move on.
BTW, all of us have noted that Savory pitched 5 shutouts this year and that is one shy of Joel Laing. But OS played in 24 games (out of the total of 34). Wonder if he could have reached 6 or more if he had played in those 10 games?

At this point, I believe that the glass is overflowing. We did what we had to do last night, and that is something that we have not done in years.
I look forward to our series with "whoever". I am glad that they got that big game feeling out of the way and can now go back to the play that got them here.
LGR

 

[NPC19850330]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

BTW, all of us have noted that Savory pitched 5 shutouts this year and that is one shy of Joel Laing. But OS played in 24 games (out of the total of 34). Wonder if he could have reached 6 or more if he had played in those 10 games?

Laing's record of 6 was in the 1999-00 season. If you take a look at http://www.collegehockeystats.net/9900/schedules/renm (switching https to http), you'll notice he split shifts with Scott Prekaski for part of the season. So the same could be said of him. But I don't think anyone looking at Savory's future, including Owen himself, is too worried about him having a few nights off here and there. I'd be more worried if the skaters weren't stepping up when he isn't between pipes, or the other goalies aren't as tough in their position, similar to what happened with the women's team depending way too much on Selander and then hit bottom after she graduates.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Yes we all notice that 6 of the top scorers are seniors. But we have 12 players with double digit points this year and 6 are not seniors!! We will lose a lot of our offense at the end of the season (which I hope goes on for several weeks more) but I am not sure when the last time we RETURNED a total of at least 6 double digit point scorers for the following season??) And of course we are winning with defense (Savory now has an overall GAA of just a shade over 2.06) and he is only a sophomore and we have much of the defense that has helped him achieve these numbers (save percentage .932) all as underclassmen. I think this year is turning out just so much better than almost any of us expected but looking at the group we have returning, and the way this coach handles this team. I suspect we are going to be more of the beast of the east and less of the least of the east for a few years to come. Just my 2¢

This year, we returned 7 double digit point scorers from last year: Leppanen 19, Reilly 18, Burgess 16, Zieky 14, Polino 11, Hallbauer 11, Lacka 10.

 

[CLKHockey]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Congrats to RPI on the 4th place and next weekend off. Would love to see them in Placid.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Looking at both the Coaches & Media Pre-season Polls the top teams (exception Harvard) finished where predicted. Looking where RPI was predicted by both Polls I nominate Dave Smith ECAC Coach of the Year...... Coaches Poll........ 1. Cornell (8) - 118

2. Quinnipiac (3) - 109

3. Clarkson (1) - 100

4. Harvard - 93

5. Yale - 74

6. Dartmouth - 68

7. Brown - 61

8. Union - 57

9. RPI - 31

9. Princeton - 31

11. Colgate - 29

12. St. Lawrence - 21
Media Poll..... 1) Cornell (13) 185 points
2) Clarkson, 163 points
3) Quinnipiac (1) 162 points
4) Harvard (1) 150 points
5) Dartmouth (1) 123 points
6) Yale 108 points
7) Brown 96 points
8) Union 86 points
9) Colgate 54 points
10) RPI 52 points
11) Princeton 50 points
12) St. Lawrence 19 points

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yes, improved scoring, good D and a shutdown goalie has fueled this <a href="https://twitter.com/RPI_Hockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RPI_Hockey</a> run. that part is obvious.<br><br>however, being this group each week for 2 years <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ECACHockey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ECACHockey</a> Coach of the Year should be an easy choice .... <a href="https://twitter.com/RPI_HockeyCoach?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RPI_HockeyCoach</a></p>— Sean Martin (@Sean_Martin77) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sean_Martin77/status/1234106428060848131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[NPC19850330]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

You know what the funny thing is with that Media poll? Take out RPI and Colgate, shift them to their appropriate positions, and everyone else is in the proper order. Was this year that predictable?

 

[RPI fan 4 life]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Congrats to RPI on the 4th place and next weekend off. Would love to see them in Placid.

Thank you and we would love to be there, too!
If the teams that have the bye next weekend make it to Placid, this could be a very well-attended event. RPI and Cornell fans travel well and of course there will be plenty of Clarkson fans there regardless of whether they make it there or not. Not so sure about QU fans.

 

[RPI fan 4 life]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

BTW, last night we had an empty net goal. It was their 4th in their last 6 games and the sixth ENG of the season. Cannot remember the last time we had that many in a season. Not that long ago we had problems just getting the puck out of our own end. And we gave up 4 ENG’s (Yale, Cornell and 2 by UMASS).

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

You know what the funny thing is with that Media poll? Take out RPI and Colgate, shift them to their appropriate positions, and everyone else is in the proper order. Was this year that predictable?

See the thread where posters here predicted the ECAC final standings. Through last week we have been doing as a group much better than usual.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Will we hear rumors over the summer that Coach Smith is leaving for a vacancy at a higher profile school?

 

[engineerhockeyfan]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Will we hear rumors over the summer that Coach Smith is leaving for a vacancy at a higher profile school?

A couple of more seasons like this with a little improvement, and he will have made his own high profile school.

 

[NPC19850330]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Will we hear rumors over the summer that Coach Smith is leaving for a vacancy at a higher profile school?

I don't see that happening, at least not yet. Sure, he's been good at rebuilding a couple of programs, but I don't know if that translates to steady powerhouse. If you recall, that's one of the question marks that was brought up when he first was offered the job, how his team, albeit in Atlantic, only had a couple winning seasons. However, one thing he has done is exposed some administrative flaws. Look at how Canisius has been doing since he left. Add to this what we've seen from our administration. So it's possible he could be a good powerhouse coach if he has unalloyed support, even if it takes a couple years to get rolling. Let's also remember that he would have to choose to apply, and I don't see him thinking about doing that until, at the very least, his first contract is up for renewal. He's shown good progress in his time here, so he'll stick around at least that long.

 

[GRussinko]

Couple thoughts from last night's game:

RPI looked decidedly mediocre except for the 4v4 where they scored twice, which was basically a clinic - but still won handily. In years past we probably lose that game 3-1 or 4-1 instead of winning it.

Dartmouth was significantly better along the boards and there were very few board battles where RPI came away with the puck. They totally squandered the 5v3 chance they had, quickly taking a penalty and eventually giving up Dartmouth's only goal.

Savory looked great again - the only goal he gave up was on a high quality chance off an odd man rush. Being the first time I've seen him live this season, I was super impressed by how calm and in control he appears even when the puck is loose and there's a scramble in front of him.

Great RPI fan presence at the game including the band which outnumbered Dartmouth's at least 2:1. RPI fans in general were pretty spread out so it was hard to gague their total number but I would estimate maybe 15% of folks there were RPI fans (more than that toward the end when many of the Dartmouth fans had elected to beat the traffic).

RPI needs to step up its promotions. It was senior night and fan appreciation night and they had free raffles through the entire game for all kinds of prizes, including but not limited to a $250 Amazon gift card, pairs of season tickets for basketball, football, and M/W hockey, round trip flights for two on Cape Air, and a ton of free pizzas.

I forgot how cheap concessions are at Thompson. A large soda and a big homemade cookie cost less than a regular soda at HFH.

Overall a fun night, and I'm glad to have decided to make the trip out. Reminded me why I have a habit of hopping in the car and driving out when we play there on a Sat night.

 

[Dutchman]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

Congrats on a great year and hoping you make it to Lake Placid and beyond !!!

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020 Part II: Moving on with 2020 Vision!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Twelve (12) teams in program history have won 13 or more<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ECACHockey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ECACHockey</a> games in a season:<br><br>1984-85 20-1-0<br>1992-93 15-6-1<br>1976-77 14-10-0<br>1979-80 14-8-0<br>1989-90 14-8-0<br>1990-91 14-8-0<br>1977-78 13-8-0<br>1982-83 13-7-0<br>1985-86 13-7-1<br>1998-99 13-7-2<br>2003-04 13-8-1<br>2019-20 13-8-1</p>— RPI Men's Hockey (@RPI_Hockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/RPI_Hockey/status/1234156781376614401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

1983-84 17-3-0.