RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

DrD will be happy because Mike Lysyj is from NJ http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=49502.

[turk181]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Looks like RPI won’t be the only Team with a massive turnover...... http://www.niagara-gazette.com/sport...dcafae811.html

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Today is 20 April 2018. There are 169 days until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 6 October 2018 for the start of next season.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Somehow they got 5 minutes out of it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1FuJIPSvU0

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Somehow they got 5 minutes out of it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1FuJIPSvU0

RPI-TV had to work hard.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

RPI-TV had to work hard.

Remember the first time they did this? Hardly any commentary, just about nothing but goal horn. Lots more commentary in these.

[rvd5star69]

.@RPI_Hockey Adds Lysyj As Volunteer Assistant #RPIHockey #ECACHockey https://t.co/nXMtxeEy9k

— RPI Athletics (@RPIAthletics) April 19, 2018

Can I buy a vowel?

Are we getting a temp coach till graham is better ?

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Are we getting a temp coach till graham is better ?

A school is allowed to have a VAC besides for a head coach and two assistants. Conceivably ML will have more than the usual duties.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Great to spend the afternoon with @RPI_Hockey alum Lloyd Bauer. Class of ‘55. @RPIAlumni pic.twitter.com/sM3SOnr9Wo

— Coach Dave Smith (@RPI_HockeyCoach) April 21, 2018

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Today is 21 April 2018. There are 168 days (24 weeks) until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 6 October 2018 for the start of next season.

[DrDemento]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

DrD will be happy because Mike Lysyj is from NJ http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=49502.

Know little about him but Jenny remembers him as a big tall kid playing for the NJ Rockets about 10 or more years ago. I only remember the name since it was an unusual spelling. Back then we went to as many games as we could find at all levels.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Know little about him but Jenny remembers him as a big tall kid playing for the NJ Rockets about 10 or more years ago. I only remember the name since it was an unusual spelling. Back then we went to as many games as we could find at all levels.

I did notice that he is 6'4". Since he has height, he must not skate well or fast or have some other deficiency since he played D-III. None of that precludes his ability to coach of course.

[cmmarkham]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Okay, here's the second installment of this year's hockey banquet report. Thanks for all the kind words about the first one! This one is about the speeches Dr. McElroy and Dr. Jackson made at the hockey banquet. I'll follow this directly with a much longer post about the speech Coach Smith made, and then I'll cover the senior speeches in yet another post sometime soon. Phew!

Dr. McElroy spoke first. He spoke of the exit interview he did with the departing seniors, as required by the NCAA, and said he was fascinated with their talk about hockey, academics, relationships, and being prepared to be successful in life. That, he said, is what this is all about.

He also said there are four core values that the administrative team works toward with their student athletes - personal accountability, integrity, respect and trust. With those, he said, we know we'll continue to be successful. (My thought, not his: if we're talking about continuing to be successful rather than becoming successful, I guess we're talking about off the ice, not on it.)

He said this past year was "a fascinating year" because he saw how the team began, and saw how they finished at Colgate - "playing hard, playing smart, playing for the right reasons; at times playing hurt, at times playing shorthanded, but also playing with passion and alertness and intelligence." For these reasons, he said, he's excited for the the players returning for the 18-19 season.

Dr. Jackson spoke next and I didn't record her remarks, thinking she wouldn't be speaking directly of the team's performance. I was wrong in this, because she was the one who alluded to some specific moments in the season, including what she referred to as the "highlights of the season." She only had two - I'll let you guess what they were and give you the answers soon. She talked about the team's academic performance as well - that seemed to be a recurring theme, as if it had been a problem in the past that was rectified, which I don't believe is the case. The awards and senior speeches came next, followed by Coach Smith's remarks - coming right up.

[cmmarkham]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

More hockey banquet: Coach Smith spoke to close the festivities. He spoke about the Humboldt Broncos tragedy (Father Ed Kacerguis had also asked for a moment of silence for them earlier) and then thanked individually everyone he could think of associated with the program - some of them were people I've never heard of! He also thanked the players - the 16 remaining - saying their effort, determination, and pride in the program is phenomenal. Everybody, he said, wants success. He then congratulated the seniors on a job well done, saying everything they had control of, they did well.

For the rest of this, I'm going to quote a fair amount of Coach Smith's remarks directly because there seems to be little point in trying to paraphrase something that would only lose something in the process. Here we go:

"The program is on the right path, we're doing the right things. Hard decisions have to be made and they've been made. I share with the guys - it's always program first. Coaches have been changed, players have been changed, administrators have been changed. Not only at RPI, but lots of places. When a place as special as RPI puts the program first, great things can happen. We're on that path."

"Today is about congratulating the award winners, congratulating the seniors, and saying thank you. It's also a little bit about the future and about the journey that we're on. RPI has the values that (Dr. McElroy) shared, we have our own. We have a little slogan: every day a champion. We also have our four pillars: family, integrity, commitment and discipline. That's what we're building our program on. And our journey involved many things."

"We have to remember that excellence is not a destination - it's a journey. One of the seniors mentioned grit. I want to define grit - because it's where we are, what were fighting through right now. We've had a lot of adversity ... and as a group we bond together, it makes us stronger to go through that. It takes grit. What is grit? Grit is developed through perseverance and effort after enduring failure and disappointment. It's the process of trying, failing, learning and trying again. How gritty you become depends on how strong that little voice is between your ears that either pushes you forward or holds you back. Gritty people have a certain stubbornness and determination - they will keep trying till they get it right. RPI has gone through some of those failures and disappointments. We look at the process and we're gritty, we're determined and we're going to succeed. We will keep going until we get it right. It doesn't mean we're done with adversity, but we're together to battle that. RPI hockey has grit - that voice will drive us to success."

"That voice comes from the community - pressure from Dr. Jackson, pressure from Dr. McElroy in our every-other-week meetings, pressure from fans. But it's good pressure - pressure can create diamonds. That voice between our ears is pushing us forward. That voice says RPI is special, you're entitled to a lot of great things that come with it if you treat it right and do your best. The price of success is paid in advance and we've been paying it. Early workouts, hard work that didn't result in victories. Success is coming. The price is paid in advance. We're developing leaders - 16 guys who will lead the charge next year, and three leaders who are going out the door. All will carry the flag of RPI."

"For me as a head coach I'm very proud to be able to stand up here to thank everybody, to congratulate everybody, and to encourage you that the community raises the child, the community sets the standard, and together we will celebrate. We'll celebrate these little victories, but still our true north - these guys know what it is - is an ECAC championship. That's the path, that's the journey that we're on. Even though we're not playing now, we're doing everything we can now to pay the price of success in advance. Trust these guys - they're A+ human beings. Trust our own community. Hold it together strong. I appreciate everyone for coming today, coming all year, for all the support. Thank you."

I'll reserve most of my thoughts for a later time, but I do have to say that, honestly, this isn't a whole lot different than the stuff we've been hearing for years now. Success is always coming but somehow never actually gets here. But maybe next year is the year - we'll see.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI 2018 Off-Season: The Hunt for Red October

Today is 22 April 2018. There are 167 days until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 6 October 2018 for the start of next season.