View Full Version : RPI Women's Hockey
I agree necdad, St. Anselm has made tremendous strides as a first year team. They are far ahead of the learning curve at this point. However, Holy Cross is an established program that has traditionally been pretty competitive at the D3 level. The loss to St. Anselm shows that the HC program is going nowhere fast.
Red Cloud
12-05-2004, 03:55 PM
RPI finishes the 2004 part of the schedule with two solid victories in Rochester over the Tigers, 3-1 and 4-1.
Now the Engineers have a little over a month to prepare for the showdown in Rye against the Valiants. Looks like the bottom line is that whichever team can take the lion's share of the points will win the ECAC East.
I think RPI should be happy with how they are coming along, at the Christmas break. They are undefeated against D3 teams and probably should be higher in the polls than they are. I hope to see about half of the team's remaining games, but only saw them once so far, so the comments below are based on discussions with a few people who were at the games, listening to 3 games on the internet, and a review of the stats. My impressions, for what they're worth:
1. Shaky start: The team looked awful in a pre-season scrimmage against Willowdale, but that can be chalked up to first game sloppiness against a team that had several games under their belt. Mid-season, they should beat a team like that easily. I didn't see the Union game, but heard from someone who did that the game was quite even despite the 4-1 loss, and the SOGs seem to reflect that.
2. Soft schedule: As I noted in a pre-season post, their biggest challenge in the first half of the season was going to be how to get ready for games against Williams and RIT, after a string of soft games. As it turned out, one of the 'softies' wasn't that soft. St. Anselm, in their only loss so far this season, lost to RPI 4-2, and managed to do something that no other D3 team has done so far (including Williams and RIT)...score more than one goal against RPI.
3. Strong performance against Williams, RIT: After a poor first period against Williams, RPI came out strong in the second, and seemed to handle Williams and RIT very well the rest of the way.
4. Grit. Like last year, this seems to be a team that does best when it keeps the score low, plays tough defensively, and gets strong goaltending. It makes them capable of winning those 1-0 or 2-1 games against top teams.
5. Balanced attack: I was initially skeptical about Burke's strategy of spreading his offensive talent across three lines, given that this isn't a high-scoring team in the first place, but I think that it is proving to be a wise move. He now has three lines capable of putting the puck in the net and he is challenging all of his forwards to pick up their game. It avoids that complacency that sets in with some teams that wait for their one big line to put points on the board, and it also makes it difficult for the opposition to focus on shutting down just one line.
6. Lots of excitement ahead The remainder of their schedule should be much better hockey, with average to very strong teams all the way, starting with the two big games against Manhattanville. I hope to take in those two games as well as games against NEC, Southern Maine, Elmira and Utica.
Looking forward to this important series when the season gets back into full swing. RPI's biggest challenges in the second half are all on the road (Manhattanville, Elmira, Plattsburgh, Utica), so they will have to learn how to become road warriors. I hope to see all of those games except Plattsburgh.
Does anyone know of any hotel recommendations near Manhattanville's rink, or in the general area?
purple_and_gold10
12-27-2004, 04:30 PM
Looking forward to this important series when the season gets back into full swing. RPI's biggest challenges in the second half are all on the road (Manhattanville, Elmira, Plattsburgh, Utica), so they will have to learn how to become road warriors. I hope to see all of those games except Plattsburgh.
Does anyone know of any hotel recommendations near Manhattanville's rink, or in the general area?
let me know if u decide to come down for the Elmira game...Im pretty sure that i will be there and its always nice to put a face to a name :)
stetem
12-27-2004, 06:32 PM
Looking forward to this important series when the season gets back into full swing. RPI's biggest challenges in the second half are all on the road (Manhattanville, Elmira, Plattsburgh, Utica), so they will have to learn how to become road warriors. I hope to see all of those games except Plattsburgh.
Does anyone know of any hotel recommendations near Manhattanville's rink, or in the general area?
this one is about 5 minutes away
http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/hpnry?WT_Ref=mi_left
about 15 minutes for this one
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/index.jhtml;jsessionid=12A542QUCHYRMCSGBIX2VCQKIYF CXUUC?ctyhocn=RYEHIHH
about 15 minutes
http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/hotels/index.jhtml;jsessionid=3EGMVHKSJZO3ACSGBIX2VCQKIYF CXUUC?ctyhocn=BDRSMHX
i enjoyed the hampton the most , the courtyard was ok and i have'nt stayed at the other one
Thanks Stetem, for the hotel recommendations in Rye. Are you going to be able to make it to the games? It will be interesting to see if RPI can lift their game up a notch, which they will have to do if they want a shot at taking the series, or even a split. I saw the series between these two teams last year in Troy, and both games were great. Manhattanville was a much better skating team, but last year RPI came up with their best games of the year against top D3 teams and D1 teams: sort of a deceptive "rope-a-dope" style of hockey where they play tough defensively and then get a few big goals at key times. If they win, it will be by one goal, but they could just as easily lose by a half dozen.
P&G, I'm definately going to the RPI/Elmira game and I'll get in touch ahead of time so that we can arrange to meet, if you are going to be at the game. Should be another great one. Is this the first ever meeting beween these two teams?
mr_itty
12-28-2004, 11:18 AM
huh. Almost unexpectedly, Priceline accepted my offer for a hotel in Rye for that weekend, so it looks like I too will be at the games Friday and Saturday. Should be interesting to watch!
(I'll be the guy with a goatee, shaved head, and red RPI hooded sweatshirt :) )
purple_and_gold10
12-28-2004, 11:31 AM
P&G, I'm definately going to the RPI/Elmira game and I'll get in touch ahead of time so that we can arrange to meet, if you are going to be at the game. Should be another great one. Is this the first ever meeting beween these two teams?
yes, long overdue first ever meeting between these two clubs...its too bad it will probably be the last too as RPI moves up to D1 next year.
Im looking forward to a great game...cant wait to see Aho and Schiff finally play. :cool:
I'll look for you Mr. Itty. By the way, the games are Saturday and Sunday, not Friday/Saturday. P&G, I'm hoping this won't be the last RPI/Elmira game, as I expect that in their first few years of D1 RPI will be looking for a few games on their schedule against top D3 teams.
broomball52
12-28-2004, 12:34 PM
I've heard that since RPI is going D-1 next year, they are not eligdible for the NCAA D-3 tourney. Can anyone confirm this?
Also, P&G: Aho is awesome, but the three freshmen (Brooke Thompson, Ellen McNamera, and Kelly Barbera) are all worth watching as well.
mr_itty
12-28-2004, 12:41 PM
I'll look for you Mr. Itty. By the way, the games are Saturday and Sunday, not Friday/Saturday.
Whoops. I knew that. Fortunately, I got it right when I got the hotel. :-) See you there!
uvmcats
12-28-2004, 01:18 PM
yes, long overdue first ever meeting between these two clubs...its too bad it will probably be the last too as RPI moves up to D1 next year.
Im looking forward to a great game...cant wait to see Aho and Schiff finally play. :cool:
I wouldn't let my anticipation get the better of me. IMHO, from the 3 times I've seen her play, Aho is a solid player but is not in the same group as Clarke, Gibson and Taylor at PSU, Gifis or Quizon at Midd, or Stewart, Zimmerman, Grasby or Temesy at Manhattanville or some others that I've seen play D3 hockey. I think RPI is successful not because of gamebreaking players but because of a solid group of players and an above average goalie. Last year they did not have the speed that I saw on other teams and I was truly surprised M-ville didn't thump them. But in retrospect M-ville is not a very disciplined team in their systems and I can see them getting frustrated when their freewheeling attack runs into a hot goaltender.
necdad - I can't say whether Aho is as good as some of the players you mentioned because I haven't seen all of them play. I was, however, in attendance for both games last year when RPI hosted Manhattanville. Julie was just as good as any of M'ville's top players. She wasn't worse and wasn't better, she just belonged in that group in terms of skill and ability. She certainly doesn't put up the same gaudy stats (although her's are impressive) as those other players. I don't want to get into why this is or isn't the case but I really believe that Aho would fit right in on a line with a Cherie Stewart or a Jessica Temesy (just as examples).
uvmcats
12-28-2004, 04:02 PM
Hey Leeb - First, I want to make it clear that I think Aho is a solid upper echelon D3 player. I was pointing out to P&G that she isn't superior to many of the players he has already observed. I am making my statements based on the 3 games with NEC that I watched last year and maybe she doesn't show as well when playing them as other teams. Welte, Rabatin and Langille caused more problems for NEC than Aho last year, although Welte was less of a force once NEC stopped being intimidated by the size and realized they could skate with her.
She may fit with Stewart and Temesy but I think Stewart is as quick with better hands and Temesy is a lot like Laura Hurd on Elmira, you don't really notice them initially because they are not the quickest skaters on the ice but they have great hands, they know where to be all the time, you can't push them around and they have a great knack in putting the puck in the net.
necdad - I completely agree. Different players match up better against different teams, lines, players, etc. I'll have to see how Julie matches up against NEC when your team is in town.
One interesting thing is that Aho was paired with Welte and Langille last year whereas she is paired with Thompson (a very good Freshman player) and, I think, Rabatin this year. Rabatin has been converted to a Forward. She played D last year. I think Thompson matches up better with Aho than either Welte or Langille. As good as Welte is, she's slow and doesn't have that extra gear to play with Aho in the transition game. Thompson has that gear and then some and is a good passer. She and Aho are good at finding each other on the ice. So bottom line is I think Aho is on a line more suited to her skill set.
Good talking hockey with you necdad!
stetem
12-28-2004, 05:08 PM
Thanks Stetem, for the hotel recommendations in Rye. Are you going to be able to make it to the games?
Your Welcome
Yes .. i will be there.. think i'm booked at the Courtyard in Rye.
I'll be wearing a black jacket and a black hat with a red M
mr_itty
01-04-2005, 07:20 PM
The RPI athletics page is reporting that a live broadcast of the Saturday game will be available at http://govaliants.com/fanforum/broadcast/ for those of you who can't make it to Rye for the weekend.
Hope to see you at the game Mr. Itty, if Mother Nature doesn't interfere with my travel plans.
mr_itty
01-08-2005, 10:23 AM
I'm taking off for Rye in about an hour or so. I was out driving just now. All I can say is if you're heading out from Troy-ish, be careful. Lots of slipping and sliding are to be had.
In any event, I'll see anyone else coming down at the Playland Parkway Arena. Good luck, RPI!
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