View Full Version : RPI Women's Hockey
Ralph Baer
02-05-2005, 02:55 PM
I received partial schedule information for next season from someone who is not at liberty to post it himself. :eek: He said that I was free to post it. This is tstill only partial information.
RPI will be playing a home-and-home (not necessarily on the same weekend, but during the course of the season) against Union, Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac, and Robert Morris. There might be a home-and-home also against Colgate, but that's not certain. We do play them at least once.
We play Clarkson at Cheel Arena, Cornell at Lynah, and BU at Houston Field House. One game against Vermont is on the ledger, possibly at the Field House. Northeastern might be on the list too. BC is not on the list.
St. Lawrence offered to give us a game, but RPI does not want the team playing games where they're going to get destroyed while it can still be avoided - we want to build a recruiting base first. It won't be easy once the 2006-7 season begins, the ECAC schedule kicks off that year with the Dartmouth-Harvard road trip. OUCH. :)
We are indeed taking a Western road trip, and we initially tried to get North Dakota, but the team will be playing two games at Wayne State instead, which is probably better considering the hotbed of women's hockey in Michigan - plus Julie Aho and Ellen McNamara specifically played hockey in that area prior to RPI.
As far as D-III is concerned, there are definitely games on tap against Elmira and Plattsburgh at the Field House, and possibly one against Middlebury and Williams. Manhattanville is NOT on the schedule at all.
Very convincing 6-0 win over Utica today for the Engineers. Coming off the disappointment of the 2-1 loss to Elmira, a game that they let get away on them, RPI completely controlled today's game, and stayed disciplined against a Utica team that tends to become very chippy when they get behind. With the way that the team has been playing of late, I would rate them as even odds against Plattsburgh in their final game of the regular season, and also even odds to knock off Manhattanville in the ECAC East final.
The lack of consistency in referrees in this league continues to amaze me. In most games, the refs call far too many penalties for minor body contact. But today's ref put his whistle away and called only 3 penalties, when there must have been at least a dozen blatant elbows to the head. Not sure what the league is doing about training officials, but it can't be a lot.
[QUOTE=Ralph Baer]I received partial schedule information for next season from someone who is not at liberty to post it himself. :eek: He said that I was free to post it. This is tstill only partial information.
QUOTE]
Thanks for the info Ralph. It is largely consistent with the rumours I had been hearing. Generally the schedule info makes sense for a first year Independent D1 team, but there are a few surprises. Based on the computer ranking system produced by LakerFan (see Division 1 Computer rankings thread), there are currently 29 D1 teams, 30 if you add Sacred Heart to the bottom. Next year, add RPI, BU, and Robert Morris to make 33. RPI is going to need to play as many teams as possible in the bottom half, but of course won't be able to play as many in the west. Of those you mention Colgate is highest ranked at 17, then Clarkson at 21. The most surprising omission is Boston College (#25) who has been on RPI's schedule in past years. There are still a lot of games yet to be scheduled to fill out the numbers and I'm hoping they will find a few more quality D1 games. I wouldn't want them to do a Sacred Heart, who has so many D3 games on their schedule that nobody takes them seriously as a D1 program. By the way, one of the rumours I had heard is that RPI has scheduled Sacred Heart for 4 games...hope that's not correct. In the end if they don't have a full schedule I would rather see them line up some games against top Canadian universities than to have more than 4 or 5 D3 games on the schedule. Of course, all this assumes that we succeed in attracting a half dozen high quality recruits for next year. Right now, the team could be reasonably competitive with the bottom 4 or 5 D1 teams, but almost all of those teams have announced some good recruits to upgrade their teams.
EXCELLENT weekend from the RPI women. We took Elmira (which is one of a handful of teams vying for the #1 national ranking) to the brink and put a bit of a pasting on Utica, a solid team. This team seems to be getting stronger and stronger as the season moves along. The game versus Plattsburgh should be an excellent game!
Now if only we could find out how Coach Burke is doing on the recruiting trail...
Ralph Baer
02-07-2005, 02:27 PM
hab,
I agree that it would be better to play some Canadian teams rather than play anyone more than twice. Then again, as you noted, there aren't that many teams to choose from. I would have played SLU. There is nothing wrong about playing a few games against better teams, even we lose about 10-0.
I agree Ralph, it really doesn't matter whether we start playing the top teams next year or even 5 years from now because the top teams will dominate either way. RPI might as well get a taste of top notch D1 hockey from the get-go and face some growing pains. It ain't gonna be pretty, just ask Union.
Ralph Baer
02-07-2005, 05:57 PM
I agree Ralph, it really doesn't matter whether we start playing the top teams next year or even 5 years from now because the top teams will dominate either way. RPI might as well get a taste of top notch D1 hockey from the get-go and face some growing pains. It ain't gonna be pretty, just ask Union. Also RPI is in much better shape than Union to start in D-I.
mr_itty
02-14-2005, 10:14 AM
A nice way to close out the conference schedule this weekend, destroying the opponents by a combined score of 17-0. The women got quite the cheer when the PA announcer gave Saturday's score during the men's Big Red Freakout game.
The final homegame of the regular season is this Saturday at 3pm, against D1's Sacred Heart. Now, someone correct my reasoning below if I'm wrong....
Unless Holy Cross manages to take at least 3 points from Manahattanville this coming weekend, RPI will finish second in the ECAC. That means the tournament will again be down in Rye. And from what I've heard, RPI is not eligable for the NCAA tournament, so even if they manage to win the ECAC tournament, this Saturday will be the final homegame of the 04/05 season.
Is that all correct?
As a related aside, can someone please tell me the logic of disallowing RPI from entering the D3 NCAA tournament, just because they're going D1 next year? FWIW, the NCAA themselves seem a bit confused, as they currently list RPI as being D3 but playing in the D1 ECACHL (http://web1.ncaa.org/ssLists/orgInfo.do?orgID=570)
Also, what happens to the ECAC's automatic bid if RPI does actually win the tournament. Does it fall back to the 2nd place team, or does the automatic qualifier get scrapped in favor of an additional Pool C bid?
Pilgram Fan
02-14-2005, 10:25 AM
There is no question that RPI is a very good team, but my comment and question is that they should not be allowed to play in the ECAC East tournament. As a team that is Div 1, and who declared themseleves Div 1 last year and did not wait til this year. If the league lets them play it is going to be trouble becuase all the div 2 teams are then going to want to play in the East tournament, and before you know it we are going to be sending Castleton to the NCAA tournament and be the laughing stalk of Div 3 women's ice hockey.
Ralph Baer
02-14-2005, 10:33 AM
A nice way to close out the conference schedule this weekend, destroying the opponents by a combined score of 17-0. The women got quite the cheer when the PA announcer gave Saturday's score during the men's Big Red Freakout game.
The final homegame of the regular season is this Saturday at 3pm, against D1's Sacred Heart. Now, someone correct my reasoning below if I'm wrong....
Unless Holy Cross manages to take at least 3 points from Manahattanville this coming weekend, RPI will finish second in the ECAC. That means the tournament will again be down in Rye. And from what I've heard, RPI is not eligable for the NCAA tournament, so even if they manage to win the ECAC tournament, this Saturday will be the final homegame of the 04/05 season.
Is that all correct?
As a related aside, can someone please tell me the logic of disallowing RPI from entering the D3 NCAA tournament, just because they're going D1 next year? FWIW, the NCAA themselves seem a bit confused, as they currently list RPI as being D3 but playing in the D1 ECACHL (http://web1.ncaa.org/ssLists/orgInfo.do?orgID=570)
Also, what happens to the ECAC's automatic bid if RPI does actually win the tournament. Does it fall back to the 2nd place team, or does the automatic qualifier get scrapped in favor of an additional Pool C bid? i think that is all correct. The NCAA rule is that once a school announces their intenetion to go to D-I, the next season becomes the transiton season, and we anounced the intention late last season.
The ECAC East will lose its automatic bid if we win the ECAC-E Tourney, but Manhattanville still has an excellent chance of making the NCAA Tourney.
There is no question that RPI is a very good team, but my comment and question is that they should not be allowed to play in the ECAC East tournament. As a team that is Div 1, and who declared themseleves Div 1 last year and did not wait til this year. If the league lets them play it is going to be trouble becuase all the div 2 teams are then going to want to play in the East tournament, and before you know it we are going to be sending Castleton to the NCAA tournament and be the laughing stalk of Div 3 women's ice hockey.
What you are missing here, Pilgrim Fan, is that the ECAC got it right: RPI is clearly a Div 3 team this year by any reasonable criterion. The NCAA got it wrong because they (as usual) got hung up on a narrow reading of their rules, rather than looking at the facts of the situation.
In answer to Mr. Itty's note, I understand that there is some uncertainty as to whether the finals will be held in Rye, because of a possible conflict with the Div 3 mens finals. Not sure that Manhattanville would ever consent to Troy as alternative site though. No matter the venue, my money's on RPI.
Can you imagine if RPI did get to host and there was an RPI - Manhattanville final? I remember last year when M'ville came to town for two games. The crowds were AMAZING, easily 500-600 per game. If the scenario played out like I described above, well, that would be a game you wouldn't want to miss. It'd be like a little mini Freakout!! for the women.
stetem
02-14-2005, 11:46 AM
The ECAC East will lose its automatic bid if we win the ECAC-E Tourney, but Manhattanville still has an excellent chance of making the NCAA Tourney.
If RPI should win the ECAC Finals the autobid goes to the 2nd place finisher
The ECAC does not lose thier autobid
mr_itty
02-14-2005, 11:53 AM
Can you imagine if RPI did get to host and there was an RPI - Manhattanville final? I remember last year when M'ville came to town for two games. The crowds were AMAZING, easily 500-600 per game. If the scenario played out like I described above, well, that would be a game you wouldn't want to miss. It'd be like a little mini Freakout!! for the women.
Heh, I'd volunteer to help publicize that one with a massive postering campaign throughout the campus. :-)
Assuming I have no conflicts, I'm most likely going to go to the tournament either way. But it would sure be nice if it were to be moved up to Troy....
Ralph Baer
02-14-2005, 12:14 PM
If RPI should win the ECAC Finals the autobid goes to the 2nd place finisher
The ECAC does not lose thier autobid
Granted that The Poly isn't always correct, but this article states that the bid would be lost: http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_view.php3?view=3683&part=1 (last sentence)
The Swarm
02-14-2005, 12:36 PM
Granted that The Poly isn't always correct, but this article states that the bid would be lost: http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_view.php3?view=3683&part=1 (last sentence)
I guarantee that if Manhattanville is the 1 seed, they would never give up that advantage. And it won't be moved. They've fought too long and hard to give up their ability to screw other teams at their home rink.
The Poly is wrong. The autobid goes to the championship game loser should RPI win the championship game.
As for SLU offering a game to RPI, whomever told you that was making stuff up. Those teams (i.e., Harvard, Dartmouth, Minnesota, etc.) would not, and did not, make offers to play RPI because that would kill their RPI's (the percentage).
And also that schedule, not entirely correct. Some of the games you have are wrong and we are not playing some of the teams you mention.
Gotta lay off those rumors :D
Swarm - I agree, the first place team after the regular season should have hosting rights no matter what, unless truly extraordinary circumstances occur.
Would you care to enlighten us as to the actual schedule (or partial schedule)? We understand if you're sworn to secrecy. ;)
Story Time - I went to the game versus St. Michael's yesterday if for no other reason than to watch RPI hold skating drills around an inferior opponent. There was a girl a few rows down from me sitting with her mother. During the first intermission Sarah Youlen (one of RPI's Assistant Coaches) came up to chat with this girl. Sarah was telling her about the Capital District and blah blah. I couldn't hear too much with the zamboni running. Then Ken Ralph (Athletic Director) came up to talk to the girl during the third period. He was talking about the different academic programs RPI offers. She said she was interested in Psychology, etc., etc. I don't think she was wearing a team jacket but maybe she had a coat on over it. Either way, very exciting seeing potential recruits around the Field House.
Cozmo Timothy
02-14-2005, 01:55 PM
Granted that The Poly isn't always correct, but this article states that the bid would be lost: http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_vie...iew=3683&part=1
The Poly is wrong. The autobid goes to the championship game loser should RPI win the championship game.
Does anyone know the NCAA regulation or any other authoritative or definitive source that would clarify this issue once and for all?
The Swarm
02-14-2005, 03:06 PM
Does anyone know the NCAA regulation or any other authoritative or definitive source that would clarify this issue once and for all?
The NCAA does not regulate this. The decision is up to the ECAC, and that's what the ECAC has decided. The NCAA only says "here's your autobid, let us know who gets it."
Would you care to enlighten us as to the actual schedule (or partial schedule)? We understand if you're sworn to secrecy.
Sorry, can't do it, schedule is not complete.
Pilgram Fan
02-14-2005, 03:07 PM
I still disagree with it, while yes RPI has played in the ECAC East this season, I still do not think that they should be allowed to play in tournament. They declared themselves D-1 last year and started to give out athletic scholarships which should make them uneligible to play in tournament. Both NCAA and ECAC. If we allow them to play why should we not allow all the D-2 teams to play in the ECAC's? Like I said RPI is a great team and have done awesome this year, but is it fair that they get to play but other teams who are in the East and play the whole year schedule do not, St.A's is a good of example of a team who next year is going to play a full season in the East but will never get to play in the East tournament, so why should RPI?
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