RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

You are absolutely right. I hope AspyDad and his crowd don't negrep you too bad.


Whoever sent this, I could care less about the negative rep. I know alot more about this program than these two ********s will ever forget. And believe me I wish only the best for Appert and the team but enough with all the stroking with no results! RPI should never, and I mean never have an 9 year hiatus from the top 4 in the ECAC. Period. And as long as were talking about thhe last 5 years, if anyone out there doesn't think that there is a higher "commitment" towards hockey from the admin than there was for past regimes, they are mistaken!

I believe that I have only given one neg rep my whole time on the board and I sign all my reps that I give out. Shirley could have given a **** about hockey till Seth showed up. The asst. coach under Fridge I belive was part time and did not even play college hockey. Seth has sold his program not only to recruits but to the admin. Johnk self annointed expert. I know more than you do... I think I pulled that last time in grade school. You don't know crap about this program or you would recognize the contribution of our great leader (Coach Appert)

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

I'm a Steelers fan and I prefer the attitude of that team where anything less than a Super Bowl win is considered a bad season. I think that for RPI anything less than a trip to the ECAC championship weekend should be considered a bad season.

We have to put ourselves in position for that, and we almost have. Almost isn't enough for some people, and next year's prospects just don't seem to ever exist.

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

I know alot more about this program than these two ********s will ever forget. And believe me I wish only the best for Appert and the team but enough with all the stroking with no results!

I have yet to see any indication of either. Your problem is that you can't stand people finding the good in anything when you're in a pissy mood.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

Someday if you choose to like women maybe you can get one! Or move to Vermont and you will be all set!

Way to keep it classy Johnk.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

Well, most teams want to be winning in February, March and April. That is why. I'm not an RPI fan so I apologize for my intrusion. I've been to RPI twice when my team (Merrimack) played in the holiday tournament. I've always rooted for the little guys (like Merrimack is) such as RPI, Union, St. Lawrence, Duluth, Ferris State, etc. I liked the Houston Field House a lot. Great place to watch a game and cool set up.

I try to be as positive as possible about my program as it is a way to enjoy good college hockey. Obviously, I would rather see my team win than lose, but at the end of the day, one must realize that the game is over and move on. However, for a program to succeed, it must have expectations and the fan base must want to win and expect to win. Why? Fundraising and ticket sales are much better when the team is winning.

And, I'll tell you one other thing. I'd bet the house Coach Appert privately could care less about the good start if it doesn't mean post season success. Publicly, he'll say we still won 20 games, great senior class, etc, but that's all for PR.

Hey, we're always happy to have other people join in on the conversations here, so long as you're willing to discuss RPI hockey (or whatever it is we are discussing at the time). To be OK with the season ending early is like saying the sky is green (and rainbows don't count). However, given my sports allegiances in other leagues, I've learned to look at what good happened in the season.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

I think johnk has a good point about how we should realistically finish in the top 4 more often than not. There are either 4 or 5 (not sure if Colgate does athletic scholarships for hockey or not) schools that can technically give "athletic" scholarships, and we have better hockey facilities than at least 3 of those (Colgate, SLU, and Clarkson). I'm a Steelers fan and I prefer the attitude of that team where anything less than a Super Bowl win is considered a bad season. I think that for RPI anything less than a trip to the ECAC championship weekend should be considered a bad season.

And FlagDude the reason that people get irritated about losses in Feb versus the beginning of the season is that wins down the stretch generally setup teams for a playoff run. These last 2 years RPI has coasted/been on a slide into the playoffs and run into hot teams that smacked RPI around and sent them home.

That's pro-sports. College is different because of ebb and flow of graduating players. Let's get real here. This was SA's first recruiting class. The Merth class was put together the summer SA got job. This is a work in progress. Seth is not perfect but he is working his tail off and getting results.

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

Hey, we're always happy to have other people join in on the conversations here, so long as you're willing to discuss RPI hockey (or whatever it is we are discussing at the time). To be OK with the season ending early is like saying the sky is green (and rainbows don't count). However, given my sports allegiances in other leagues, I've learned to look at what good happened in the season.

A good FlagDUDE post here. No one's OK with the season ending early, for sure. Appert no doubt is looking at what worked this season and what didn't work this season, and will make adjustments down the road.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

You want to pick on AspyDad for having opinions, you'd better come strong, and you haven't got jack.

Thanks RC.

[pensfan08]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

That's pro-sports. College is different because of ebb and flow of graduating players. Let's get real here. This was SA's first recruiting class. The Merth class was put together the summer SA got job. This is a work in progress. Seth is not perfect but he is working his tail off and getting results.

That is true, but I wouldn't lay the problems from this year's finish at the players not being talented enough. I'd say this year's finish is more due to either being fatigued or not being as motivated as the other teams at the end. I don't disagree that he is getting results. I almost wonder if winning Freakout against #1 (at the time) Yale did more harm than good.

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

I'd say this year's finish is more due to either being fatigued or not being as motivated as the other teams at the end.

Trust me when I say that motivation had nothing to do with it.

I almost wonder if winning Freakout against #1 (at the time) Yale did more harm than good.

Careful now, you're starting to sound like johnk - except that he forgot all about that game.

I would like to encourage you to say that sentence out loud and then ask yourself whether it makes any sense. Should we have lost that game instead?

[pensfan08]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

[QUOTE=Red Cloud;5069687
Pensfan08, I think, has done the right analysis of the situation. He/she sees that there are two areas of coaching in which Mr. Appert very obviously excels, and one that he clearly is growing at. You are willing to ignore the first two because they haven't resulted in championships to date (in spite of the items I discussed at the top, of course). He is the youngest coach in the ECAC. He spent years learning from one of the best in the business. His trendline on being a bench coach has been one of improvement, but that's not nearly fast enough for you. He has to shoulder the burden of those years before him when the team was struggling as well, doesn't he? Those years made him responsible for giving YOU a trophy NOW.
[/QUOTE]


I'd say realistically we can ignore his first 2 seasons as he was dealing with more getting a system in place than anything else. So we have had 3 seasons of him learning as a bench coach. I'm going to preface the next part by saying I don't think we should get rid of Appert or anything but I was wondering how many years of early exits do you feel would happen before there needs to be a discussion about it.

Also a suggestion from my wife: maybe Appert needs a more experienced asisstant or more of a drill sargent type to help balance him out and motivate the team.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

That is true, but I wouldn't lay the problems from this year's finish at the players not being talented enough. I'd say this year's finish is more due to either being fatigued or not being as motivated as the other teams at the end. I don't disagree that he is getting results. I almost wonder if winning Freakout against #1 (at the time) Yale did more harm than good.

If we want to go with the Freakout argument, I think it would be less about who we beat and more about the magnitude that was brought across because of the situation. You take away one of those situations, and would we still have won? Probably, because our style of play works very well against Yale (given the last 4 meetings), and we seem to have their number. It all comes down to that "hot head" that Coach was talking about when we got to the top 10 the first time (before we played CCT at home). Now, I'm not going to cast a blanket and point the finger at Mr. Weaver, Mr. Schott, or anyone else in the media because let's face it, they're just trying to do their jobs. That's another big thing that has changed in the past 1-2 decades that we can add to Red Cloud's extensive list earlier in this page: media attention, and national media attention at that. Having that sort of following and creation of reputation puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders.

[pensfan08]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

Trust me when I say that motivation had nothing to do with it.



Careful now, you're starting to sound like johnk - except that he forgot all about that game.

I would like to encourage you to say that sentence out loud and then ask yourself whether it makes any sense. Should we have lost that game instead?

I'm saying that beating the #1 team at the time may have went to the teams head and caused them to let up some. We went as high as #8 before losing to Clarkson, we beat Yale get back to #8 and go back on the February slide. I also think the York concussion had something to do with it. I almost wonder if it would have been better for him to sit out the North Country trip as well.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

That is true, but I wouldn't lay the problems from this year's finish at the players not being talented enough. I'd say this year's finish is more due to either being fatigued or not being as motivated as the other teams at the end. I don't disagree that he is getting results. I almost wonder if winning Freakout against #1 (at the time) Yale did more harm than good.

I respectfully disagree. We had trouble scoring beside the Polacek line. Nice players all of them but not finishers per se. Imagine if SA loss the Chrsitmas tourney and Freakout. Johnk and his ilk would be calling for lethal injection.

[AspyDad]

Re: RPI 2010-2011 V: The "Chase" to AC & Beyond

Where did Johnk go?