RPI Hockey 2019 - 2020: Nordic Combined

[Ralph Baer]

RPI Hockey Weekend Roundup: Home opening weekend split, some good, some bad | News | https://t.co/17DEOlhQEG https://t.co/Zpr8ShgQPs

— Coach Dave Smith (@RPI_HockeyCoach) October 21, 2019

[sezenack]

Patrick Polino of @RPI_Hockey Honored by @ecachockey https://t.co/XvrsTFNTqR#RPIHockey #ECACHockey pic.twitter.com/pS4zeC8v3j

— RPI Athletics (@RPIAthletics) October 21, 2019

I had a feeling this would happen. 2 weeks in a row with a player receiving weekly honors! Let's make it 3, maybe Savory?

[sezenack]

To comment on Smith, he absolutely should not be fired as we are seeing consistent improvement. Also, he has no chance of being fired before his contract expires; the school cannot afford to eat that contract. Got 3 seasons including this one before that is a possibility.

[Ralph Baer]

Why was Hockey East reffing Saturday's game?

I wondered about that too. Perhaps it was so that neither an ECAC team nor an AHA team would have would have an apparent advantage. We should watch if HEA refs are also the return visit at CC. Of course, no HEA officials are probably near Buffalo.

[Ralph Baer]

I had a feeling this would happen. 2 weeks in a row with a player receiving weekly honors! Let's make it 3, maybe Savory?

We have to get the honors in before the Ivy schools start.

[Ralph Baer]

To comment on Smith, he absolutely should not be fired as we are seeing consistent improvement. Also, he has no chance of being fired before his contract expires; the school cannot afford to eat that contract. Got 3 seasons including this one before that is a possibility.

Completely agree. My concern is how far we can improve without getting better players. We have to keep recruits like Beaton and Brown. Fontaine and Sarlo were two big losses, but Smith is showing that he can recruit. We should not be recruits' Plan B -- accept an offer from us, and then decommit if one perceived to be better comes along.

[puckit717]

Completely agree. My concern is how far we can improve without getting better players. We have to keep recruits like Beaton and Brown. Fontaine and Sarlo were two big losses, but Smith is showing that he can recruit. We should not be recruits' Plan B -- accept an offer from us, and then decommit if one perceived to be better comes along.

2018-19 Dave Smith ECAC I 10 23 3 .319
2017-18 Dave Smith ECAC I 6 27 4 .216

[rpi82]

seth had all fridgens bad players smith basically wiped everyone out only a few seniors are seths recruits

Are you trying to leave the impression Seth left behind a goldmine that Smith wiped out but Fridgen just handed Seth a bunch of bad players that he tolerated? Are you Mrs. Appert? As I remember it neither coach inherited much talent. Fridgen's final season winning percentage was .459 but with a number of the better players graduating. Seth's final season winning percentage was a truly horrid .230 but with relatively low graduation losses. Furthermore, both new coaches ended up having players recruited by the previous staff leave the roster. I hesitate to call anyone that put on the cherry-and-white "bad" or characterize their departures as having been "wiped out", but Seth had a similar situation when he dismissed Reed Kipp and Jordan Cyr from the roster. Kipp, as I remember it, stayed on to graduate but Cyr transferred to Holy Cross where he became a two year leading scorer.

[NPC19850330]

To comment on Smith, he absolutely should not be fired as we are seeing consistent improvement. Also, he has no chance of being fired before his contract expires; the school cannot afford to eat that contract. Got 3 seasons including this one before that is a possibility.

I wouldn't worry about that. We heard the same cries in 2008-09 when it came to Appert (despite having an extra year added on account of high profile recruits), and then after winning some playoff games, it was like we won the lottery getting him as a coach.

[Ralph Baer]

Men's Hockey vs. Canisius Highlights https://t.co/41buTQYpzn

— Coach Dave Smith (@RPI_HockeyCoach) October 21, 2019

It's a good game when highlights don't include all of our goals.

[25+years]

We have to get the honors in before the Ivy schools start.

The first 4 games are now in the record books. I think there is both cause for optimism and concern. It is great to see them score goals and I do see they are playing a full 60 minutes. No roller coaster to the effort. But I think Canisius is picked last in their league and I think Canisius could have easily made it a far closer game if not for Savory. The 2 games with Union should be fun, but Union is a team hungry for a win and we will see how RPI responds. Then 5 games against very good teams. We will know what we have by the end of November. As to Smith....He should be given the same opportunity,no matter how hungry we are for a better performance, as Appert and Fridgen had.

[Ralph Baer]

The first 4 games are now in the record books. I think there is both cause for optimism and concern. It is great to see them score goals and I do see they are playing a full 60 minutes. No roller coaster to the effort. But I think Canisius is picked last in their league and I think Canisius could have easily made it a far closer game if not for Savory. The 2 games with Union should be fun, but Union is a team hungry for a win and we will see how RPI responds. Then 5 games against very good teams. We will know what we have by the end of November. As to Smith....He should be given the same opportunity,no matter how hungry we are for a better performance, as Appert and Fridgen had.

Personally, I feel we kept both Fridgen and Appert a couple of years longer than we should have.

[25+years]

Personally, I feel we kept both Fridgen and Appert a couple of years longer than we should have.

The real question though is had we not would it have made any difference? I suspect not.

[engineerhockeyfan]

I can't believe I missed one day of posts and we are talking about firing the coach?
What is wrong with this picture?
Our game is so much better on the ice than the previous coach. The players are responding to the system and getting better every year.
We finally seem to have the potential to score some goals this year and even though we allowed too many goals the past two weekends, the defense is young and will come on as the season progresses.
We will not go from where we were the past few seasons to the top of the league in one year, but we continue to improve and lets just give it a chance to see how far we can take this.
And one last thing, just who will replace Smith if he were fired?
LGR

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Completely agree. My concern is how far we can improve without getting better players. We have to keep recruits like Beaton and Brown. Fontaine and Sarlo were two big losses, but Smith is showing that he can recruit. We should not be recruits' Plan B -- accept an offer from us, and then decommit if one perceived to be better comes along.

All true, but this is not an issue for RPI alone ...any schools outside of the "blue chip" realm are subject to poaching by the biggies. For sure, winning breeds confidence and recruits will be less likely to jump ship if RPI can manage to string together competitive seasons a la Clarkson, Quinnipiac, etc. It is admittedly a bit of a cart/horse scenario, but building on win totals over time should help.

[rsfs04]

I can't believe I missed one day of posts and we are talking about firing the coach?
What is wrong with this picture?
Our game is so much better on the ice than the previous coach. The players are responding to the system and getting better every year.
We finally seem to have the potential to score some goals this year and even though we allowed too many goals the past two weekends, the defense is young and will come on as the season progresses.
We will not go from where we were the past few seasons to the top of the league in one year, but we continue to improve and lets just give it a chance to see how far we can take this.
And one last thing, just who will replace Smith if he were fired?
LGR

I think on a related note, this team has real depth which we haven’t had in a long time. We have point producing players being healthy scratches, this hadn’t been the case for many seasons. We are getting offensive contributions up and down the lineup.

[puckit717]

smith has a 4 year deal correct? hes 2 down. if I was ben barr I wouldn't even interview again at rpi ever.

[troyboy]

Are you trying to leave the impression Seth left behind a goldmine that Smith wiped out but Fridgen just handed Seth a bunch of bad players that he tolerated? Are you Mrs. Appert? As I remember it neither coach inherited much talent. Fridgen's final season winning percentage was .459 but with a number of the better players graduating. Seth's final season winning percentage was a truly horrid .230 but with relatively low graduation losses. Furthermore, both new coaches ended up having players recruited by the previous staff leave the roster. I hesitate to call anyone that put on the cherry-and-white "bad" or characterize their departures as having been "wiped out", but Seth had a similar situation when he dismissed Reed Kipp and Jordan Cyr from the roster. Kipp, as I remember it, stayed on to graduate but Cyr transferred to Holy Cross where he became a two year leading scorer.

FWIW Burgess,Reiley,Polino,Marshal and Babichuck are all players left over so I wouldn't say bare closet.

[rpi82]

FWIW Burgess,Reiley,Polino,Marshal and Babichuck are all players left over so I wouldn't say bare closet.

Given the length of recruiting cycles that’s really not a lot. However, the seniors on that list have all shown potential and appear poised for breakout seasons. It’s apparent that Burgess, in particular, is finally healthy and ready to be the player that Seth recruited and Ottawa thought worthy of a relatively high draft pick.

The advent of the graduate transfer certainly cut into the talent Seth left. Melanson, the elder Ohrvall (although he might not have gotten much ice time anyway) and Hayhurst may well have played out their senior years had they not had the option to transfer with immediate eligibility.



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[Ralph Baer]

smith has a 4 year deal correct? hes 2 down. if I was ben barr I wouldn't even interview again at rpi ever.

I understand your logic, but it he has gotten any other offers, he has not taken them.