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RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

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  • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

    Originally posted by Ralph Baer View Post
    Hopefully, we won't need it for a while, but any suggestions for a title for an off-season thread?

    "Nordic Combined" doesn't make sense until next season.
    How about "Think happy thoughts"
    Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
    Benjamin Franklin
    The harder I practice, the luckier I get.
    Gary Player

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    • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

      Originally posted by DavidNardolillo View Post
      Hayhurst is RPI's best player by some distance. Even though he is not back to full strength you can see that he has something extra that most of the others don't. Burgess has been a disappointment; he may never have gotten over that knee injury from a psychological perspective, although there was a bit of an uptick for him after being pared with Zieky and Hayhurst. It would have been a big plus for his confidence if he could have buried that late chance at Colgate last week. Wiffen works hard, but the team needed more production out of him, especially as a senior.

      I like Will Reilly, but his game is streaky. At least he tries to create some offense when he is out there; that still needs to be encouraged I don't know whether he has early graduation transfer opportunities, or will be told to develop his game in the minors. Hayhurst may also be a transfer possibility. If RPI can get them both back, they could have a much better season next year.

      I get that we are comparing Seth and Dave's recruiting because those were two really poor performances this weekend (especially after a solid performance against Dartmouth just a few weeks ago), but I don't think it is a fruitful conversation. The bigger continuing problem for RPI, one they have had for some time, is recruiting players below the first line. Depth has been a issue for a while: too many borderline Division I players, and the results/performances bear that out. Smith has found a few freshmen who can hold their own, and the transfers have all been pluses, to one degree or another. The vibe around the team is better, but there is still a lot of work to do.
      I am not an expert at the recruiting aspect of things. RB does an excellent job of providing the necessary information. I have looked in to this a bit and a few things stick out for me. RPI's current roster has 8, I think, SA recruits remaining. If all 9 recruits come in, who sits or leaves? And once the dust settles, the only people to "cut" are Smith's own recruits. I don't know how much of that goes on in the NCAA. But is the number of impacted players like RPI's this past year and , likely, next year, high or typical? Secondly. All the current recruits are no higher than 3.75. Are they that much better than those that came before? I am not being critical of my fellow contributors. Just wondering how does the non expert compare recruits and current players (particularly when a few current players had higher ratings and may now be expendable). Lastly. the season did look better and promising to me. But at the end of the day (and in particular the end of the season) the performance for the two most important games of the season did not impress me as headed in the right direction. Blame SA's recruits for that all you want. In reality the team is mostly made up of DS players. Next year we will see if this year was the next step or the top one.

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      • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

        Originally posted by 25+years View Post
        I am not an expert at the recruiting aspect of things. RB does an excellent job of providing the necessary information. I have looked in to this a bit and a few things stick out for me. RPI's current roster has 8, I think, SA recruits remaining. If all 9 recruits come in, who sits or leaves? And once the dust settles, the only people to "cut" are Smith's own recruits. I don't know how much of that goes on in the NCAA. But is the number of impacted players like RPI's this past year and , likely, next year, high or typical? Secondly. All the current recruits are no higher than 3.75. Are they that much better than those that came before? I am not being critical of my fellow contributors. Just wondering how does the non expert compare recruits and current players (particularly when a few current players had higher ratings and may now be expendable). Lastly. the season did look better and promising to me. But at the end of the day (and in particular the end of the season) the performance for the two most important games of the season did not impress me as headed in the right direction. Blame SA's recruits for that all you want. In reality the team is mostly made up of DS players. Next year we will see if this year was the next step or the top one.
        Could the higher level recruits have been hurting us? Coaches shouldn't be looking for the best players, but rather the right ones. How does Coach Smith extract the best from 21 players in a game situation? When a player has the puck, are they moving to gain position, or just watching to see what "the magic hand" will do?

        A player is ranked based on the individual talent they give. But how does that translate to the needs of the team?

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        • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

          Originally posted by 25+years View Post
          I am not an expert at the recruiting aspect of things. RB does an excellent job of providing the necessary information. I have looked in to this a bit and a few things stick out for me. RPI's current roster has 8, I think, SA recruits remaining. If all 9 recruits come in, who sits or leaves? And once the dust settles, the only people to "cut" are Smith's own recruits. I don't know how much of that goes on in the NCAA. But is the number of impacted players like RPI's this past year and , likely, next year, high or typical? Secondly. All the current recruits are no higher than 3.75. Are they that much better than those that came before? I am not being critical of my fellow contributors. Just wondering how does the non expert compare recruits and current players (particularly when a few current players had higher ratings and may now be expendable). Lastly. the season did look better and promising to me. But at the end of the day (and in particular the end of the season) the performance for the two most important games of the season did not impress me as headed in the right direction. Blame SA's recruits for that all you want. In reality the team is mostly made up of DS players. Next year we will see if this year was the next step or the top one.
          While interesting, the NZ ratings are not always accurate. Although there is, no doubt, a positive correlation between a recruit's ability and his rating, I am sure that it is far from a perfect correlation of 1. BTW, our highest rating is Burgess at a 4.25. His class is the first one that was evaluated. I suspect that his injuries have hindered his performance. Reilly, the same year, was a 4.00 and on the other end Reisinger was a 2.75. Michael Cameron, whom we lost recently, is a 4.25.

          Appert recruits on the team: Wiffen, Moore, Grant, Perry, Hayhurst, Marrello, Burgess, Polino, Reily, Samec, Harris, and Marshall. Babichuk is still to come and possibly Matt Cameron, but I doubt it.
          sigpic

          Let's Go 'Tute!

          Maxed out at 2,147,483,647 at 10:00 AM EDT 9/17/07.

          2012 Poser Of The Year

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          • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

            I was wondering if the men's team was going to do this sort of thing again this year because the women's team is.\\
            sigpic

            Let's Go 'Tute!

            Maxed out at 2,147,483,647 at 10:00 AM EDT 9/17/07.

            2012 Poser Of The Year

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            • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

              I tuned in to Saturday's game just in time to see RPI's starting lineup introduced.

              I assumed that, as was the case last year, the seniors would be honored following the game. But when the game ended, RPI-TV signed off without any hint that any ceremony might be forthcoming. Did they honor the seniors before the game this year?

              I can remember going to a Senior Night game in 2004. RPI honored the seniors before the start of the game. Then the game started and BOOM! BOOM! Colgate had a 2-0 lead before RPI knew what had hit them. It was pretty significant, since Colgate wound up winning the game, 3-2. As it turned out, a tie would have allowed RPI to finish fourth instead of fifth, which would have allowed them, later in the playoffs, to face Dartmouth at home, rather than in Hanover.

              I always felt that it was a bad idea to have our team start the game basking in warm, fuzzy feelings while the other team is all ready to get down to business. At least it didn't seem to have too much of a bad effect this past Saturday night.

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              • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                Yes, they honored the seniors prior to the game this year. I remember SA would never do that, but honoring them after the game while most of the fans filing out was never a good idea IMHO. Especially when Dartmouth pulled away in the final few minutes leaving most of fans heading for the exits early.

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                • Originally posted by RPI fan 4 life View Post
                  Yes, they honored the seniors prior to the game this year. I remember SA would never do that, but honoring them after the game while most of the fans filing out was never a good idea IMHO. Especially when Dartmouth pulled away in the final few minutes leaving most of fans heading for the exits early.
                  The seniors vote on that each season
                  I bleed CHERRY AND WHITE

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                  • Originally posted by Ralph Baer View Post
                    While interesting, the NZ ratings are not always accurate. Although there is, no doubt, a positive correlation between a recruit's ability and his rating, I am sure that it is far from a perfect correlation of 1. BTW, our highest rating is Burgess at a 4.25. His class is the first one that was evaluated. I suspect that his injuries have hindered his performance. Reilly, the same year, was a 4.00 and on the other end Reisinger was a 2.75. Michael Cameron, whom we lost recently, is a 4.25.

                    Appert recruits on the team: Wiffen, Moore, Grant, Perry, Hayhurst, Marrello, Burgess, Polino, Reily, Samec, Harris, and Marshall. Babichuk is still to come and possibly Matt Cameron, but I doubt it.
                    Unfortunately, we won't really know whether Smith can recruit competitive talent and keep them committed for another couple of years. The competition is to identify the best 15 and 16 year olds and project them forward about 4 years. Any players that Smith brought in over the last 18 months (at least from the U.S. and Canada) that are on our current roster or enrolling this fall are, almost by definition, the best of the leftovers because the better talent in those classes committed 3 or 4 years ago. Hopefully there are a few late bloomers because the early bloomers were long gone before Smith was even hired. Seth was very slow to adapt to this new world. Whether that was his preference or because of limitations put on him by the school I don't know, but for years we saw our Ivy and HE friends have lists of recruits 15-20+ deep and extending out 3 or 4 years while we had 6-8 with most being for the coming season. Smith has taken a much longer term view but only time will tell whether he has the eye for the right talent and the ability to keep them.

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                    • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                      Originally posted by rvd5star69 View Post
                      The seniors vote on that each season
                      I didn't know that. At the beginning of the season, one RPI season ticket holder I know asked an athletic department employee why it was done after the game, and he was told that it was a coach's decision as to when to hold the ceremony. Perhaps the players noticed that nobody stuck around last year and voted for a change. I think it is better done before the game, rather than having the crowd leave early.

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                      • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                        Originally posted by 25+years View Post
                        RPI's current roster has 8, I think, SA recruits remaining. If all 9 recruits come in, who sits or leaves? And once the dust settles, the only people to "cut" are Smith's own recruits.
                        Time will tell. Usually the guys who are struggling to get game time are at risk, but we won't know for sure until you see the list of transfers coming in, as that adds an extra dynamic to the decision-making. The scholarships of rising seniors have been pulled in the past, and that can happen again, although I am not a supporter of that concept in general.

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                        • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                          Originally posted by DavidNardolillo View Post
                          I didn't know that. At the beginning of the season, one RPI season ticket holder I know asked an athletic department employee why it was done after the game, and he was told that it was a coach's decision as to when to hold the ceremony. Perhaps the players noticed that nobody stuck around last year and voted for a change. I think it is better done before the game, rather than having the crowd leave early.
                          Or that after the game was Appert's choice, and Smith decided to give them the option.

                          Comment


                          • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                            Originally posted by DavidNardolillo View Post
                            Time will tell. Usually the guys who are struggling to get game time are at risk, but we won't know for sure until you see the list of transfers coming in, as that adds an extra dynamic to the decision-making. The scholarships of rising seniors have been pulled in the past, and that can happen again, although I am not a supporter of that concept in general.
                            I don't think that we will be going after transfers again.
                            sigpic

                            Let's Go 'Tute!

                            Maxed out at 2,147,483,647 at 10:00 AM EDT 9/17/07.

                            2012 Poser Of The Year

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                            • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                              Originally posted by Ralph Baer View Post
                              I don't think that we will be going after transfers again.
                              Why not? We have a couple loaded classes in terms of quantity, so why not balance it out a little bit?

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                              • Re: RPI Hockey 2018 - 2019 Part II: We're Just Gonna Complain, Don't Bother Reading

                                Wow, this thread blew up since I've been gone, so I'm going to comment on everything I've seen said here.

                                Everyone was very optimistic recently when the team was competitive pretty much in every game since the start of 2019 and was looking solid. Yes, they laid a stinker this entire weekend in pretty much identical games, but that does not erase an entire season's work. This team showed many flashes and was markedly an improvement in all areas over last season's team. This was a positive step forward for the program. Being competitive with top teams was what I liked most this season and that gives me hope for next season.

                                Now onto some other things. I don't understand the thrashing of Hayhurst, Reilly and Burgess.
                                Hayhurst is by far our best player and looks a step above everyone else on the ice. This season he was a hobey baker nominee, and next season, I think there's a good chance he makes the jump from nominee to actual contender.
                                Reilly is by far our best defenseman. He has wonderful offensive skills and is pretty reliable defensively. He can be streaky and inconsistent, but he's our best defenseman and that's just a fact. Hopefully, next season he develops that consistency. As for the Penguins, I don't see them trying to sign him honestly. I don't think he is consistent enough to make the immediate jump to the NHL, and they likely know that.
                                As for Burgess, this is essentially his sophomore season, and he has looked pretty good this season. Last season, I was confused about how he was drafted, but this season has been a great improvement. He has a great release and shot (see a couple of his absolute snipes for goals this season), his hands are way better and look like the most upgraded part of his game, and with his size, he plays physical and wins a good amount of puck battles. Next season, he should also be better like the 2 above, and if Burgess doesn't want to use his medical redshirt, I wouldn't be surprised if those 3 are the captains.

                                Now, as for our future, there are a lot of pieces to this team that are really promising. First off, we have an outstanding goaltender who was one of the best in all of college hockey this season, AND he's only a freshman. That is a major building block. In addition, Ottoville Leppanen looked really, really good this season. He has a knack for finding the open man, wins puck battles with strength and skill and is just all-around a very solid and good player. Our freshmen defensemen also all look pretty promising. Jake Johnson is a solid all-around defenseman who has great talent and skills on both sides. He had the occasional mental lapse which would lead to a goal or an odd-man rush, but he's only a freshman and as he cuts down on those, he will be a really good player for the rest of his career (he already is a good player I'd say). Kyle Hallbauer has excellent offensive skills and is a long-term Reilly replacement in that regard. He also needs to cut down on mental mistakes and play more disciplined defensively, but his offensive skills are much needed. Brady Ferner hasn't really impressed me with exceptional skills, but he has seemed solid all-around and does not make many mental mistakes. He already seems very disciplined and mature and routinely makes good defensive plays even if he does not contribute much offensively. Other freshmen to look at are Jakub Lacka (good shot and release and offensive skills but needs to get much stronger and play better defense), Nick Bowman (great release and shot, needs more consistency and less mental lapses, but has the size and strength too), Tommy Lee (almost looks like Hayhurst but needs to play stronger and more consistent; very fast and has great pucks skills) and Ture Linden (solid all-around, not an outstanding skills in one area, but no major weaknesses and does not have mental lapses or make too many mistakes). I think they provide a solid foundation.

                                The transfers were also pretty good. Zieky has been our top goal scorer despite playing half the season, and his shot is outstanding. Gornall is aggressive, physical and great defensively. Bear hasn't really impressed but he's a solid piece.

                                Looking to next season, I expect Mat Harris for sure to be cut. He has looked absolutely horrendous this season and like a liability every time he's been on the ice. Jaren Burke already left, so that is already set. Ott sometimes has looked good and sometimes not good at all, so he will be one to watch as he hasn't played much in the 2nd half but has been good at times. Billy Jerry hasn't really done much this season and has rode the bench most of the second half but had a promising freshman year. Those would be the main cut candidates.

                                The recruits look pretty decent too, but I'm mostly excited for Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (forward) as he's been excellent in the USHL this season (plus how can't you be excited by his name and his flow!) and Simon Kjellberg, a defenseman from Sweden who is a Rangers draft pick. In summary, I think we've got some talent and will be good next season.

                                As for the "who even cares about this team?" question, I ********** care. I'm the treasurer of Red Army and will be transitioning to president at the end of the semester. Sure, we haven't had good attendance, but we had 90 students buy season tickets this year (a lot considering the disaster of the past 2 seasons). Hopefully, that number will go up. The lack of attendance this week was because this weekend was the start of our spring break. In general, I will admit that the student body does not care about the team. The general mentality from talking to other students is "why should I go to the games; we suck and we'll lose". However, I have some plans and ideas to try to improve the outlook from the students and the publicity (PR), media and general atmosphere surrounding the team. I am looking forward to when I can discuss that at length with the athletics department once I am president. Unfortunately, that will still only do so much as winning (or lack thereof) is what will change things, but that won't stop me from trying to do what I can. All we can do is hope that they finish the year strong and next year make some noise.

                                I have hope for the future of this team, and after seeing positivity for all of the second half of the season (until now), it's annoying that everyone seems to be turning against the team and Smith after one bad weekend when overall the team has been competitive this season. I think this season can be seen as a stepping stone to better things to come, and I hope I'm not the only one

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