It's Freakout! weekend again. We hardly need to elaborate.
But for the men, there's an important point that needs to be made. After this weekend, the next three games are Harvard on the road, Dartmouth on the road, Quinnipiac at home (as in #1 Quinnipiac). That's a tough slog for anyone. And here's RPI. 1 point out of 2nd (Harvard), 1 point ahead of 4th (Yale). Points are going to be hard to come by in the next three games after this weekend - not that they're impossible or anything, just that they're not going to be quite as forthcoming as they should be at home on Freakout! weekend against a St. Lawrence team that's winless in 6 of their last 7 on the road and a Clarkson team that was 2-6 in the eight games before their current 5-game unbeaten streak (four of which were at home, three of those against Brown, Colgate and a free-falling Cornell).
No points are easy. It's just... RPI could probably use a bit of a cushion, and now, if they're going to be a serious player for a bye.
The women have a war on their hands for a playoff spot, and if they don't have one by season's end, they'll have to stare at being swept on the season by Yale as the culprit. And the North Country is never a picnic. But they've nabbed a win over Clarkson this season and St. Lawrence is but a point ahead in the standings. We've seen results from longer odds before.
February's always a time to be a mean team to play against. Let's get mean.
By the way... Tom is currently (as of this afternoon) doing an Ask Me Anything on the college hockey Reddit. Drop by and ask him, er, anything.
Showing posts with label freakout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freakout. Show all posts
Friday, February 5, 2016
Friday, February 13, 2015
Statistic of the Year
Here's your statistic of the year for the RPI men.
When allowing two or fewer goals, the Engineers are 9-0-1.
When allowing three or more goals, the Engineers are 0-20-0.
It's that amazingly stark. You'd think that, even with the Engineers' well documented goal struggles, they'd have found a way to at least pick up a tie in one of those games where they've allowed three. You'd perhaps especially think that maybe they'd have dropped one or two even when they didn't.
Nope. It's been a hard and fast rule through 30 games. Give up three, lose. Don't give up three, don't lose.
Now, most teams are going to have a strong record in games where they allow two or fewer, and a weaker one when they give up three or more. It's just a fact of life. But this is pretty telling about what matters for this team.
The three-goal mark is always bandied about in college hockey as the goal for any team to score in any game. "First to three" is a pretty common remark, especially out west.
Interestingly enough, RPI has managed 3 goals themselves in six of nine wins - the difference being three 2-1 victories over Union, Dartmouth, and New Hampshire. They've scored three in a loss only once - in the Mayor's Cup game, a game they lead 3-2 heading into the 3rd period.
What's going on here? Wasn't the defense supposed to be a point of strength?
Freakout! weekend is here, and it's none too soon. The Engineers have slid into 9th, a road playoff spot, just as we feared would happen after the game at Dartmouth. They're back home for the first time in a month, and they've done some awesome things at home in league play this season. With four of the last six games being played in the friendly confines of Houston Field House and the Tute still just four points out of 3rd place, it's another key weekend. Friday's game against Brown is a required two points - almost nobody is giving up points to the Bears this season, and RPI's already dropped two of them. Yale presents a bigger challenge on Saturday, but perhaps Freakout! could be the great equalizer. The last time Yale came to the Freakout! they were the #1 team in the nation. They weren't anymore afterwards.
Meantime, the women get set to wrap up their season next weekend at home, but first they go through their final road trip of the year to Yale and Brown. The Bulldogs are almost certainly off to the playoffs, but they at least represent some lower hanging fruit that the Engineers should hope to grab points from. Brown is a team RPI needs to beat, the first of two straight Saturday games in which the Engineers can pick up points to conclude their season on an upbeat note.
We've had a pretty good year here at WaP, and we're hoping it continues for at least another month. We've been accused at times by different people of going far too easy on the teams for their struggles or being far too hard on them. Sounds like we're getting it right.
But for those who think we're too hard... this pumpup is for you.
When allowing two or fewer goals, the Engineers are 9-0-1.
When allowing three or more goals, the Engineers are 0-20-0.
It's that amazingly stark. You'd think that, even with the Engineers' well documented goal struggles, they'd have found a way to at least pick up a tie in one of those games where they've allowed three. You'd perhaps especially think that maybe they'd have dropped one or two even when they didn't.
Nope. It's been a hard and fast rule through 30 games. Give up three, lose. Don't give up three, don't lose.
Now, most teams are going to have a strong record in games where they allow two or fewer, and a weaker one when they give up three or more. It's just a fact of life. But this is pretty telling about what matters for this team.
The three-goal mark is always bandied about in college hockey as the goal for any team to score in any game. "First to three" is a pretty common remark, especially out west.
Interestingly enough, RPI has managed 3 goals themselves in six of nine wins - the difference being three 2-1 victories over Union, Dartmouth, and New Hampshire. They've scored three in a loss only once - in the Mayor's Cup game, a game they lead 3-2 heading into the 3rd period.
What's going on here? Wasn't the defense supposed to be a point of strength?
Freakout! weekend is here, and it's none too soon. The Engineers have slid into 9th, a road playoff spot, just as we feared would happen after the game at Dartmouth. They're back home for the first time in a month, and they've done some awesome things at home in league play this season. With four of the last six games being played in the friendly confines of Houston Field House and the Tute still just four points out of 3rd place, it's another key weekend. Friday's game against Brown is a required two points - almost nobody is giving up points to the Bears this season, and RPI's already dropped two of them. Yale presents a bigger challenge on Saturday, but perhaps Freakout! could be the great equalizer. The last time Yale came to the Freakout! they were the #1 team in the nation. They weren't anymore afterwards.
Meantime, the women get set to wrap up their season next weekend at home, but first they go through their final road trip of the year to Yale and Brown. The Bulldogs are almost certainly off to the playoffs, but they at least represent some lower hanging fruit that the Engineers should hope to grab points from. Brown is a team RPI needs to beat, the first of two straight Saturday games in which the Engineers can pick up points to conclude their season on an upbeat note.
We've had a pretty good year here at WaP, and we're hoping it continues for at least another month. We've been accused at times by different people of going far too easy on the teams for their struggles or being far too hard on them. Sounds like we're getting it right.
But for those who think we're too hard... this pumpup is for you.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Men's Hockey - Harvard/Dartmouth (1/2 Feb)
February is about the right time for teams to start making their moves, especially if they're near the bottom and looking to move up, and RPI put forward exactly the right signals on that front, pitching back-to-back shutouts in a home league weekend. They took care of Harvard and Dartmouth by twin 3-0 scores to earn four more big ECAC points as the stretch run begins.
Harvard
Lee-Rogic-Haggerty
Zalewski-Higgs-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Tinordi
Burgdoerfer-Miller-Commers
Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan
Lee-Rogic-Haggerty
Zalewski-Higgs-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Tinordi
Burgdoerfer-Miller-Commers
Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan
Kasdorf
Originally, Jacob Laliberte was slated to play against the Crimson, but he was a last minute scratch due to illness. Johnny Rogic was moved up to the top line to replace him, and Andrew Commers got the start on the fourth line instead, making his home-ice debut.
Rogic's time as the top line center was short and came to a very abrupt end just 10:37 into the game, when he was called for checking from behind thanks to a reckless hit at the Harvard bench on Alex Fallstrom. That ended his night early and put Harvard on a five-minute power play that had the potential to put the Crimson into a game they had been floundering in to that point. However, what transpired following the penalty was five solid minutes of the Engineers playing fetch with Harvard, as the penalty kill threw the puck down ice repeatedly. Only once, for a short time, were the Crimson able to even set up in the RPI zone during the long power play, and they were unable to put a single shot on goal while the Engineers managed two of their own.
Late in the first period, RPI put the first goal on the board as Mark Miller redirected a shot from the point by Luke Curadi into the back of the net, giving the Engineers a 1-0 edge heading into the locker room.
Shortly after another fairly easy penalty kill by RPI in the early part of the second period, the Engineers converted on their second power play opportunity of the game thanks to a highlight-reel goal by Mike Zalewski. The freshman skated with the puck from behind the net to the left of the goaltender, waiting so long to find his opening that he eventually went down to his knees and shot from the backhand to score and put RPI up 2-0.
Harvard put the majority of their shots on goal up in the second period, but even that wasn't much of a feat, as Jason Kasdorf stopped just six shots in the second to preserve the shutout going forward. The third was even quieter for him, with Kasdorf stopping only two shots in the third period for a total of 11 in the entire game in his first collegiate shutout.
Meanwhile, Miller scored his second goal of the game to put it away a little under three minutes into the third, shooting from the slot and beating the goaltender top shelf to make it 3-0, which would stand as the final score. The RPI penalty kill ended up 3-for-3 on the evening, including the five-minute major.
Dartmouth
Lee-Laliberte-Haggerty
Zalewski-Higgs-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Tinordi
Burgdoerfer-Miller-Commers
Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan
Originally, Jacob Laliberte was slated to play against the Crimson, but he was a last minute scratch due to illness. Johnny Rogic was moved up to the top line to replace him, and Andrew Commers got the start on the fourth line instead, making his home-ice debut.
Rogic's time as the top line center was short and came to a very abrupt end just 10:37 into the game, when he was called for checking from behind thanks to a reckless hit at the Harvard bench on Alex Fallstrom. That ended his night early and put Harvard on a five-minute power play that had the potential to put the Crimson into a game they had been floundering in to that point. However, what transpired following the penalty was five solid minutes of the Engineers playing fetch with Harvard, as the penalty kill threw the puck down ice repeatedly. Only once, for a short time, were the Crimson able to even set up in the RPI zone during the long power play, and they were unable to put a single shot on goal while the Engineers managed two of their own.
Late in the first period, RPI put the first goal on the board as Mark Miller redirected a shot from the point by Luke Curadi into the back of the net, giving the Engineers a 1-0 edge heading into the locker room.
Shortly after another fairly easy penalty kill by RPI in the early part of the second period, the Engineers converted on their second power play opportunity of the game thanks to a highlight-reel goal by Mike Zalewski. The freshman skated with the puck from behind the net to the left of the goaltender, waiting so long to find his opening that he eventually went down to his knees and shot from the backhand to score and put RPI up 2-0.
Harvard put the majority of their shots on goal up in the second period, but even that wasn't much of a feat, as Jason Kasdorf stopped just six shots in the second to preserve the shutout going forward. The third was even quieter for him, with Kasdorf stopping only two shots in the third period for a total of 11 in the entire game in his first collegiate shutout.
Meanwhile, Miller scored his second goal of the game to put it away a little under three minutes into the third, shooting from the slot and beating the goaltender top shelf to make it 3-0, which would stand as the final score. The RPI penalty kill ended up 3-for-3 on the evening, including the five-minute major.
Dartmouth
Lee-Laliberte-Haggerty
Zalewski-Higgs-Bubela
Neal-McGowan-Tinordi
Burgdoerfer-Miller-Commers
Leonard-Bailen
Leboeuf-Bradley
Curadi-Dolan
Kasdorf
Laliberte, still feeling ill but well enough to give it a go, returned to the lineup on Saturday night for the Freakout!, arguably replacing Johnny Rogic, who was given a one-game suspension by the league thanks to his check from behind during the first period against Harvard. Functionally, it was Andrew Commers getting a second consecutive start due to the Rogic suspension.
A very physical first period was put together by both teams on Saturday night, but you'd never know it by looking at the box score, which shows no penalties whatsoever being called in the first 20 minutes. That set the tone for the rest of the evening, as both teams were called just three times over the course of the game, the second straight night that five-on-five action was the name of the game.
Dartmouth arguably had the best chance of breaking the deadlock early in the game as an initial shot was saved by Kasdorf, but the rebound dropped to a position that left him out of line for the followup save. Fortunately, Guy Leboeuf was standing in the crease at the right time and made a save of his own to keep the Big Green off the board.
Just as it appeared that Dartmouth and RPI were destined to hit the first intermission without scoring, RPI landed a confidence crusher with just 11 seconds remaining in the first period. Leboeuf didn't get all of a one-timer attempt to the goaltender's left off a pass from Matt Neal, but the momentum of the puck carried to Matt Tinordi, situated just a little farther back, and the junior one-timed the puck himself to the back of the net to make it 1-0 at the death of the first.
RPI got enough jump out of the gate early in the second period as well to make it 2-0 just 1:52 of game-time after the Tinordi goal. Brock Higgs found Mike Zalewski sitting alone at point blank range in the slot, and Zalewski one-timed the pass in for his second goal of the weekend.
With about five minutes left in the second, Mark Miller scored his third goal of the weekend on one of the most amazing moves you'll see. Leboeuf found him with a long up-ice pass, and the freshman darted in alone on the Dartmouth net. Despite being tripped up from behind (and no call on the play), Miller stayed with the play, firing the puck while stretched out in mid-air and beating the netminder for a 3-0 RPI edge.
Dartmouth regularly got the puck on Kasdorf, and Saturday night was nothing like Friday for the freshman goalie. He turned away as many shots in the second period - 11 - as he had the entire previous night, and was forced to step up for 12 saves in the third period, but despite the Big Green's fevered attempts in the final period to crawl back into things, Kasdorf and the defenders around him played shutdown hockey. C.J. Lee even chipped in early in the third by slashing apart the stick of a Dartmouth forward who had been in good position to score on a rebound - it resulted in a penalty, but RPI successfully killed it off.
Kasdorf ultimately stopped 28 shots on the night and 39 for the weekend in picking up back-to-back saves for the first time since Nathan Marsters accomplished the feat in 2004 against Cornell and Sacred Heart. More importantly for the Engineers, it was their fourth consecutive win in as many ECAC games, running their record in the last eight league outings to 5-1-2.
Laliberte, still feeling ill but well enough to give it a go, returned to the lineup on Saturday night for the Freakout!, arguably replacing Johnny Rogic, who was given a one-game suspension by the league thanks to his check from behind during the first period against Harvard. Functionally, it was Andrew Commers getting a second consecutive start due to the Rogic suspension.
A very physical first period was put together by both teams on Saturday night, but you'd never know it by looking at the box score, which shows no penalties whatsoever being called in the first 20 minutes. That set the tone for the rest of the evening, as both teams were called just three times over the course of the game, the second straight night that five-on-five action was the name of the game.
Dartmouth arguably had the best chance of breaking the deadlock early in the game as an initial shot was saved by Kasdorf, but the rebound dropped to a position that left him out of line for the followup save. Fortunately, Guy Leboeuf was standing in the crease at the right time and made a save of his own to keep the Big Green off the board.
Just as it appeared that Dartmouth and RPI were destined to hit the first intermission without scoring, RPI landed a confidence crusher with just 11 seconds remaining in the first period. Leboeuf didn't get all of a one-timer attempt to the goaltender's left off a pass from Matt Neal, but the momentum of the puck carried to Matt Tinordi, situated just a little farther back, and the junior one-timed the puck himself to the back of the net to make it 1-0 at the death of the first.
RPI got enough jump out of the gate early in the second period as well to make it 2-0 just 1:52 of game-time after the Tinordi goal. Brock Higgs found Mike Zalewski sitting alone at point blank range in the slot, and Zalewski one-timed the pass in for his second goal of the weekend.
With about five minutes left in the second, Mark Miller scored his third goal of the weekend on one of the most amazing moves you'll see. Leboeuf found him with a long up-ice pass, and the freshman darted in alone on the Dartmouth net. Despite being tripped up from behind (and no call on the play), Miller stayed with the play, firing the puck while stretched out in mid-air and beating the netminder for a 3-0 RPI edge.
Dartmouth regularly got the puck on Kasdorf, and Saturday night was nothing like Friday for the freshman goalie. He turned away as many shots in the second period - 11 - as he had the entire previous night, and was forced to step up for 12 saves in the third period, but despite the Big Green's fevered attempts in the final period to crawl back into things, Kasdorf and the defenders around him played shutdown hockey. C.J. Lee even chipped in early in the third by slashing apart the stick of a Dartmouth forward who had been in good position to score on a rebound - it resulted in a penalty, but RPI successfully killed it off.
Kasdorf ultimately stopped 28 shots on the night and 39 for the weekend in picking up back-to-back saves for the first time since Nathan Marsters accomplished the feat in 2004 against Cornell and Sacred Heart. More importantly for the Engineers, it was their fourth consecutive win in as many ECAC games, running their record in the last eight league outings to 5-1-2.
Other junk - Quinnipiac again just missed the #1 ranking in the nation this week, dropping two first place votes but still coming in at #2 with 20 first place votes after tying Brown and beating Yale. Also ranked this week are #10 Yale (beat Princeton and lost to Quinnipiac, down two), #17 Dartmouth (tied Union and lost to RPI, down one), and #18 Union (beat Harvard and tied Dartmouth, no change). Colgate (46) and St. Lawrence (2) also received votes. Other ranked teams on RPI's schedule this season are #4 New Hampshire (down one), #8 St. Cloud State (up four), #11 Minnesota State (up four), and #13 Boston University (down two). Ferris State (17) also received votes.
Jason Kasdorf holds the second best goals against average in the nation with a 1.44 GAA in 667:27 of game time. That trails only Miami freshman Ryan McKay, who has a 1.08 GAA in 612:33. His .944 save percentage is good enough for fifth in the nation, second only to McKay's nation-leading .960 among freshman. Interestingly, both McKay and Kasdorf are 6-2-2 on the season.
Next weekend, RPI takes their ECAC streak up to the North Country, where on Friday they face one of the hottest teams in the nation outside of Quinnipiac - St. Lawrence is 4-0-2 in their last six games and as a by-product of that, are now sitting alone in fifth place in the ECAC. That's a spot that the Engineers covet, and they can pass the Saints with a win on Friday, where a loss puts them three points behind, making that a big game indeed. The Saturday game in Potsdam will be just as important for RPI, as they are currently tied with the Golden Knights in the ECAC standings.
If everything goes perfectly for RPI next weekend, they could be sitting in as high as 3rd (alone) at the end of Saturday. If everything goes badly, they could end up back in 11th. More likely, they should end up somewhere in between. That's the ECAC for you - but make no mistake every point is precious now, and the Engineers are undoubtedly playing their best hockey of the year.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 26 points (12-0-2)
2. Yale - 19 points (9-5-1)
3. Dartmouth - 16 points (7-6-2)
4. Union - 16 points (6-4-4)
5. St. Lawrence - 14 points (5-5-4)
6. Princeton - 13 points (5-6-3)
7. Colgate - 13 points (5-6-3)
8. Clarkson - 13 points (5-6-3)
9. RPI - 13 points (5-6-3)
10. Brown - 13 points (4-6-5)
11. Cornell - 10 points (4-8-2)
12. Harvard - 6 points (3-12-0)
Jason Kasdorf holds the second best goals against average in the nation with a 1.44 GAA in 667:27 of game time. That trails only Miami freshman Ryan McKay, who has a 1.08 GAA in 612:33. His .944 save percentage is good enough for fifth in the nation, second only to McKay's nation-leading .960 among freshman. Interestingly, both McKay and Kasdorf are 6-2-2 on the season.
Next weekend, RPI takes their ECAC streak up to the North Country, where on Friday they face one of the hottest teams in the nation outside of Quinnipiac - St. Lawrence is 4-0-2 in their last six games and as a by-product of that, are now sitting alone in fifth place in the ECAC. That's a spot that the Engineers covet, and they can pass the Saints with a win on Friday, where a loss puts them three points behind, making that a big game indeed. The Saturday game in Potsdam will be just as important for RPI, as they are currently tied with the Golden Knights in the ECAC standings.
If everything goes perfectly for RPI next weekend, they could be sitting in as high as 3rd (alone) at the end of Saturday. If everything goes badly, they could end up back in 11th. More likely, they should end up somewhere in between. That's the ECAC for you - but make no mistake every point is precious now, and the Engineers are undoubtedly playing their best hockey of the year.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 26 points (12-0-2)
2. Yale - 19 points (9-5-1)
3. Dartmouth - 16 points (7-6-2)
4. Union - 16 points (6-4-4)
5. St. Lawrence - 14 points (5-5-4)
6. Princeton - 13 points (5-6-3)
7. Colgate - 13 points (5-6-3)
8. Clarkson - 13 points (5-6-3)
9. RPI - 13 points (5-6-3)
10. Brown - 13 points (4-6-5)
11. Cornell - 10 points (4-8-2)
12. Harvard - 6 points (3-12-0)
Harvard at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/1/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 3, Harvard 0
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/1/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 3, Harvard 0
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
RECORD: 9-11-5 (4-6-3 ECAC, 11 points)
#16 Dartmouth at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/2/13 - 7:05pm
RESULT: RPI 3, Dartmouth 0
BOX SCORES
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/2/13 - 7:05pm
RESULT: RPI 3, Dartmouth 0
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 10-11-5 (5-6-3 ECAC, 13 points)
Upcoming games
08 Feb - at St. Lawrence
09 Feb - at Clarkson
15 Feb - Brown
16 Feb - #10 Yale
22 Feb - at Cornell
08 Feb - at St. Lawrence
09 Feb - at Clarkson
15 Feb - Brown
16 Feb - #10 Yale
22 Feb - at Cornell
Friday, February 1, 2013
Sprint to the End
It's February, and you know what that means - crunch time.
The men have played 12 ECAC games - they have 10 to go. If they can go on a tear now, anything is possible. It starts tonight against a team that's in a very bad way right now in Harvard, and continues tomorrow in the biggest fan game of the year, the Big Red Freakout! against Dartmouth, a team that has turned in a few performances that makes one think they could be vulnerable right now.
The women are riding as high as they can expect right now, but there's room to improve. Six points up on eighth place and three behind sixth place Dartmouth with a game in hand, they don't have to fear falling off the playoff pace right now, but if they want to have a shot at catching Dartmouth and the ability to make their playoff bid more firm, points are going to be a must at Colgate tonight, preferably two. Then tomorrow in Ithaca, whatever happens, happens.
The bottom line... it's time.
God that segue was so cheesy.
The men have played 12 ECAC games - they have 10 to go. If they can go on a tear now, anything is possible. It starts tonight against a team that's in a very bad way right now in Harvard, and continues tomorrow in the biggest fan game of the year, the Big Red Freakout! against Dartmouth, a team that has turned in a few performances that makes one think they could be vulnerable right now.
The women are riding as high as they can expect right now, but there's room to improve. Six points up on eighth place and three behind sixth place Dartmouth with a game in hand, they don't have to fear falling off the playoff pace right now, but if they want to have a shot at catching Dartmouth and the ability to make their playoff bid more firm, points are going to be a must at Colgate tonight, preferably two. Then tomorrow in Ithaca, whatever happens, happens.
The bottom line... it's time.
God that segue was so cheesy.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Getting Up For the Big Game
Before I start with this venting of frustration, let me get this out of the way: this is not an attack on Seth Appert. It is, however, a critique of the program under Coach Appert. Take from it what you will.
I got to thinking while sitting through the latest demolition of the Engineers, this time at the hands of Union (again). When was the last time we got to celebrate a blowout victory? It's something I thought of when I tried to find the last time RPI gave up six goals in a single period (I couldn't find it).
If we define a blowout as a four-goal-or-more separation in the final score, here are the blowouts of the Appert era.
October 21, 2006: Denver 5, RPI 1
December 9, 2006: Princeton 6, RPI 2
December 30, 2006: Union 5, RPI 1
January 5, 2007: Harvard 5, RPI 1
January 6, 2007: Dartmouth 6, RPI 2
January 12, 2007: Union 5, RPI 0
February 10, 2007: Cornell 6, RPI 1
December 15, 2007: Miami 7, RPI 3
December 16, 2007: Miami 5, RPI 1
January 12, 2008: Colgate 4, RPI 0
February 2, 2008: Princeton 4, RPI 0*
February 15, 2008: Colgate 4, RPI 0
February 16, 2008: Cornell 7, RPI 1
October 21, 2008: UMass 6, RPI 0
November 15, 2008: Quinnipiac 5, RPI 1
November 29, 2008: Northeastern 5, RPI 1
December 5, 2008: Yale 7, RPI 3
December 6, 2008: RPI 7, Brown 2
December 14, 2008: Miami 7, RPI 1
January 2, 2009: Boston University 6, RPI 2
January 10, 2009: RPI 5, Princeton 1
March 14, 2009: Cornell 4, RPI 0
December 30, 2009: Michigan State 6, RPI 1
February 20, 2010: Princeton 7, RPI 0*$
December 4, 2010: RPI 6, Brown 2
January 14, 2011: Cornell 5, RPI 1
January 22, 2011: RPI 5, Dartmouth 1
February 19, 2011: RPI 5, Clarkson 1
March 26, 2011: North Dakota 6, RPI 0
October 14, 2011: Ferris State 4, RPI 0
November 15, 2011: Union 5, RPI 1
December 29, 2011: UMass-Lowell 7, RPI 2
January 14, 2012: Union 5, RPI 1
January 27, 2012: RPI 4, St. Lawrence 0
February 4, 2012: Colgate 8, RPI 3*
February 18, 2012: Princeton 6, RPI 2$
March 2, 2012: RPI 5, Clarkson 1
November 3, 2012: Union 7, RPI 3
* - Big Red Freakout!
$ - Senior Night
That's a record of 7-31 in blowout games. By the definition of Saturday's game, we did win a pair of blowout contests last season, against the North Country teams (and one in the playoffs, no less). But by and large, they're fairly hard to come by. The NCAA tournament team of 2010-11 only posted three themselves. Up the requirement to five goals, and the record diminishes to 1-10. No matter how you slice it, the team's blowout to blownout ratio... sucks.
Then it struck me that a lot of the blowout losses were in "big" games. The NCAA tournament game, of course, but, like many (but not all) of the other non-conference games on that list, RPI was simply matched up against a far superior team (especially early in Appert's tenure - the 3 games against Miami, for instance).
So what constitutes a "big game?" Well, Freakout! would seem to qualify. Union has become our biggest rival, a team we play three times a year (at least), so that's one. Senior Night is usually supposed to be added incentive to win. Of course, the playoffs.
Freakout! record: 1-4-1 (12 GF, 28 GA)
Senior night record: 0-5-1 (8 GF, 24 GA)
Union record: 4-16-3 (46 GF, 81 GA)
ECAC playoff record: 7-13-0 (2-6 in series)
Three of the blowout losses were at Big Red Freakout! Two were on Senior Night (although to be fair, in 2010 Freakout! was held on Senior Night). Five were against Union, which tallies to more blowout losses against the Dutchmen than we have wins, period (and again, to be fair, Union has gotten very good).
The saving grace, really, is Black Friday, where the team can boast a 4-2-1 record under Appert - though both losses are in the last two years. And if you're still holding onto Clarkson as the main rival, that record is 5-9-1 with both teams scoring 43 goals in the 15 games - somewhat better than against Union, but again, Union has been better than Clarkson in the last six years.
What else is there? Well, why not throw in tournament play? Although the titles they confer are mostly a matter of bragging rights, the usual ambiguity as to the second night's opponent and the opportunity to play for some hardware makes a tournament a little bigger than your average non-conference fare.
2006 Governor's Cup: Champions
2006 RPI Tournament: 3rd Place
2006 Catamount Cup: 4th Place
2007 Icebreaker: 4th Place
2007 Governor's Cup: Champions
2007 RPI Tournament: 2nd Place
2007 Lightning Classic: 4th Place
2008 Governor's Cup: 3rd Place
2008 RPI Tournament: 4th Place
2009 Denver Cup: 4th Place
2009 Alaska Goal Rush: 4th Place
2009 RPI Tournament: 2nd Place
2009 Great Lakes Invitational: 2nd Place
2010 RPI Tournament: Champions
2011 UConn Hockey Classic: 4th Place
Overall record: 8-17-5
Now, it's hardly fair to fault some of these poor results, especially the 2007 Icebreaker (Minnesota, BC, and Michigan) and the Lightning Classic (Notre Dame, Colorado College, and UMass), and the big win against Michigan came at the '09 GLI, but some of these tournaments, especially the last one, were simply putrid. Losses to Niagara, Mercyhurst, Army, and Holy Cross, and a tie with American International are strewn throughout.
What am I trying to say here? I'm not really sure I'm saying anything other than trying to quantify frustration. Some of the early teams Appert coached were just rough squads that were low on talent. But as the talent level has picked up, these trends of underperforming in key games hasn't really changed much. Possibly, the disparity in blowouts to being blown out could point to an inadequate strategy when playing from behind. I have no clue.
I do know one thing, though. Appert likes to say that every game is equally important. On some level that's true. All games factor into the Pairwise Rankings, and every ECAC game is worth two points. But on an emotional level, for both players and fans, certain games hold more meaning to them. Union, even when they were a joke on the ice, always managed to get up for RPI. Today, even with a team that will be written into their (new) history books as an all-time great lineup, they still manage to get a little something extra for RPI, a team that, by recent history, they should have every right to overlook. Those big wins develop momentum, and although that can change from shift to shift and period to period, the game to game momentum is just as important, and nothing kills spirit like a big loss in a big game.
I got to thinking while sitting through the latest demolition of the Engineers, this time at the hands of Union (again). When was the last time we got to celebrate a blowout victory? It's something I thought of when I tried to find the last time RPI gave up six goals in a single period (I couldn't find it).
If we define a blowout as a four-goal-or-more separation in the final score, here are the blowouts of the Appert era.
October 21, 2006: Denver 5, RPI 1
December 9, 2006: Princeton 6, RPI 2
December 30, 2006: Union 5, RPI 1
January 5, 2007: Harvard 5, RPI 1
January 6, 2007: Dartmouth 6, RPI 2
January 12, 2007: Union 5, RPI 0
February 10, 2007: Cornell 6, RPI 1
December 15, 2007: Miami 7, RPI 3
December 16, 2007: Miami 5, RPI 1
January 12, 2008: Colgate 4, RPI 0
February 2, 2008: Princeton 4, RPI 0*
February 15, 2008: Colgate 4, RPI 0
February 16, 2008: Cornell 7, RPI 1
October 21, 2008: UMass 6, RPI 0
November 15, 2008: Quinnipiac 5, RPI 1
November 29, 2008: Northeastern 5, RPI 1
December 5, 2008: Yale 7, RPI 3
December 6, 2008: RPI 7, Brown 2
December 14, 2008: Miami 7, RPI 1
January 2, 2009: Boston University 6, RPI 2
January 10, 2009: RPI 5, Princeton 1
March 14, 2009: Cornell 4, RPI 0
December 30, 2009: Michigan State 6, RPI 1
February 20, 2010: Princeton 7, RPI 0*$
December 4, 2010: RPI 6, Brown 2
January 14, 2011: Cornell 5, RPI 1
January 22, 2011: RPI 5, Dartmouth 1
February 19, 2011: RPI 5, Clarkson 1
March 26, 2011: North Dakota 6, RPI 0
October 14, 2011: Ferris State 4, RPI 0
November 15, 2011: Union 5, RPI 1
December 29, 2011: UMass-Lowell 7, RPI 2
January 14, 2012: Union 5, RPI 1
January 27, 2012: RPI 4, St. Lawrence 0
February 4, 2012: Colgate 8, RPI 3*
February 18, 2012: Princeton 6, RPI 2$
March 2, 2012: RPI 5, Clarkson 1
November 3, 2012: Union 7, RPI 3
* - Big Red Freakout!
$ - Senior Night
That's a record of 7-31 in blowout games. By the definition of Saturday's game, we did win a pair of blowout contests last season, against the North Country teams (and one in the playoffs, no less). But by and large, they're fairly hard to come by. The NCAA tournament team of 2010-11 only posted three themselves. Up the requirement to five goals, and the record diminishes to 1-10. No matter how you slice it, the team's blowout to blownout ratio... sucks.
Then it struck me that a lot of the blowout losses were in "big" games. The NCAA tournament game, of course, but, like many (but not all) of the other non-conference games on that list, RPI was simply matched up against a far superior team (especially early in Appert's tenure - the 3 games against Miami, for instance).
So what constitutes a "big game?" Well, Freakout! would seem to qualify. Union has become our biggest rival, a team we play three times a year (at least), so that's one. Senior Night is usually supposed to be added incentive to win. Of course, the playoffs.
Freakout! record: 1-4-1 (12 GF, 28 GA)
Senior night record: 0-5-1 (8 GF, 24 GA)
Union record: 4-16-3 (46 GF, 81 GA)
ECAC playoff record: 7-13-0 (2-6 in series)
Three of the blowout losses were at Big Red Freakout! Two were on Senior Night (although to be fair, in 2010 Freakout! was held on Senior Night). Five were against Union, which tallies to more blowout losses against the Dutchmen than we have wins, period (and again, to be fair, Union has gotten very good).
The saving grace, really, is Black Friday, where the team can boast a 4-2-1 record under Appert - though both losses are in the last two years. And if you're still holding onto Clarkson as the main rival, that record is 5-9-1 with both teams scoring 43 goals in the 15 games - somewhat better than against Union, but again, Union has been better than Clarkson in the last six years.
What else is there? Well, why not throw in tournament play? Although the titles they confer are mostly a matter of bragging rights, the usual ambiguity as to the second night's opponent and the opportunity to play for some hardware makes a tournament a little bigger than your average non-conference fare.
2006 Governor's Cup: Champions
2006 RPI Tournament: 3rd Place
2006 Catamount Cup: 4th Place
2007 Icebreaker: 4th Place
2007 Governor's Cup: Champions
2007 RPI Tournament: 2nd Place
2007 Lightning Classic: 4th Place
2008 Governor's Cup: 3rd Place
2008 RPI Tournament: 4th Place
2009 Denver Cup: 4th Place
2009 Alaska Goal Rush: 4th Place
2009 RPI Tournament: 2nd Place
2009 Great Lakes Invitational: 2nd Place
2010 RPI Tournament: Champions
2011 UConn Hockey Classic: 4th Place
Overall record: 8-17-5
Now, it's hardly fair to fault some of these poor results, especially the 2007 Icebreaker (Minnesota, BC, and Michigan) and the Lightning Classic (Notre Dame, Colorado College, and UMass), and the big win against Michigan came at the '09 GLI, but some of these tournaments, especially the last one, were simply putrid. Losses to Niagara, Mercyhurst, Army, and Holy Cross, and a tie with American International are strewn throughout.
What am I trying to say here? I'm not really sure I'm saying anything other than trying to quantify frustration. Some of the early teams Appert coached were just rough squads that were low on talent. But as the talent level has picked up, these trends of underperforming in key games hasn't really changed much. Possibly, the disparity in blowouts to being blown out could point to an inadequate strategy when playing from behind. I have no clue.
I do know one thing, though. Appert likes to say that every game is equally important. On some level that's true. All games factor into the Pairwise Rankings, and every ECAC game is worth two points. But on an emotional level, for both players and fans, certain games hold more meaning to them. Union, even when they were a joke on the ice, always managed to get up for RPI. Today, even with a team that will be written into their (new) history books as an all-time great lineup, they still manage to get a little something extra for RPI, a team that, by recent history, they should have every right to overlook. Those big wins develop momentum, and although that can change from shift to shift and period to period, the game to game momentum is just as important, and nothing kills spirit like a big loss in a big game.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Big Game
Something was striking about Seth Appert's pre-weekend chat with the media last week:
"We don't put emphasis on one game over the other. We've tried to flush that mentality out of our team. That was the mentality when we got here, that it was important to get up for some games and others weren't as important. You will never win at the highest levels like that... Winning programs treat every game like it's the most important game of the season, and that's why I make that statement that it's so important that we treat all the games with that urgency. Not just Black Friday, or Freakout, or Clarkson, or Cornell, or whatever it is."
That was in response to a question about the 8-3 loss to Colgate in the Freakout, which is the fourth loss by three or more goals in that game in the last five years. That immediately followed a 17-year unbeaten streak during which it was pretty much standard procedure for ECAC teams to hope their visit to Troy didn't coincide with the game. Before this stretch, RPI had only lost by three in the Freakout three times (1981, 1982, 1986). It might be safe to say that if RPI isn't getting up for the Freakout, the opponents certainly seem to be.
With a 17-year stretch of no losses in the Freakout, maybe it's safe to agree with Appert that under Buddy Powers and Dan Fridgen, Freakout was considered an important game. But even if you try to claim it's the same as all the others, there are plenty of things that set it apart. The building is full and louder than usual. The team wears the road jerseys instead of the home jerseys. There are plenty of events surrounding the game, including a post-game appearance at the Alumni House with tons of alums. Frequently, it's on TV.
Yes, every ECAC game, at the end of the day, is worth two points. From a holistic standpoint, the game in November at home against Union is worth the same as the game in early January against Dartmouth is worth the same on the last day of the season at Cornell. But from a realistic standpoint, are all of these games really of the same value? Probably not. For one, we know more about positioning late in the season than we do early in the season. The games might be worth the same number of points, and of course we want to take as many points as possible - we want 44 when the season starts.
But just as all teams have ebbs and flows, so does the schedule. Appert points to last year's games in Alabama as reasons why the Engineers went to the national tournament, and one could make an argument along those lines. One could make an argument that since we were the last ones in and Dartmouth the first ones out, the season sweep of Dartmouth was more important. An objective observer could say that Alabama-Huntsville's win over Nebraska-Omaha put us in over Dartmouth, which brings us back to the importance of the UAH victories, of course, but nonetheless, those weren't exactly the best games RPI played last year.
Union gets up for RPI, there's no question. You can see if in the interviews done with their players before and after games. Beating RPI is the most important thing in the world, and it doesn't compare with beating, say, Princeton. But those games are worth the same number of points. There's even a third game that's worth no points, which this year, if you asked them, marked a major turning point of the year.
There's no game that can be taken easy, but unless you've already got a championship caliber team, there will naturally be some games that just are not as important as others. That's not to say that you don't want to see teams give 100% in every game, far from it. It's just psychologically difficult to make every single game the most important game of the year - especially this season. How could that midweek game against AIC possibly be as important as, for instance, a game against Cornell on national television?
So why not set yourself some benchmarks? When you're standing on that goal line before the Freakout trying to convince yourself that this game is no more important than the next, or the last, aren't you psyching yourself down a bit from a natural lift?
In years past, it was not unusual to hear players speaking with pride about the importance of certain games, and it wasn't uncommon to see big wins in big games provide boosts for future contests. Ask the 2001-02 Engineers what that big Freakout win did for them going forward - or if you like, just look at the schedule.
It's rare to see us disagree with Seth Appert, but for me, this is what it boils down to: when no game is more important than another, no game is really that important.
"We don't put emphasis on one game over the other. We've tried to flush that mentality out of our team. That was the mentality when we got here, that it was important to get up for some games and others weren't as important. You will never win at the highest levels like that... Winning programs treat every game like it's the most important game of the season, and that's why I make that statement that it's so important that we treat all the games with that urgency. Not just Black Friday, or Freakout, or Clarkson, or Cornell, or whatever it is."
That was in response to a question about the 8-3 loss to Colgate in the Freakout, which is the fourth loss by three or more goals in that game in the last five years. That immediately followed a 17-year unbeaten streak during which it was pretty much standard procedure for ECAC teams to hope their visit to Troy didn't coincide with the game. Before this stretch, RPI had only lost by three in the Freakout three times (1981, 1982, 1986). It might be safe to say that if RPI isn't getting up for the Freakout, the opponents certainly seem to be.
With a 17-year stretch of no losses in the Freakout, maybe it's safe to agree with Appert that under Buddy Powers and Dan Fridgen, Freakout was considered an important game. But even if you try to claim it's the same as all the others, there are plenty of things that set it apart. The building is full and louder than usual. The team wears the road jerseys instead of the home jerseys. There are plenty of events surrounding the game, including a post-game appearance at the Alumni House with tons of alums. Frequently, it's on TV.
Yes, every ECAC game, at the end of the day, is worth two points. From a holistic standpoint, the game in November at home against Union is worth the same as the game in early January against Dartmouth is worth the same on the last day of the season at Cornell. But from a realistic standpoint, are all of these games really of the same value? Probably not. For one, we know more about positioning late in the season than we do early in the season. The games might be worth the same number of points, and of course we want to take as many points as possible - we want 44 when the season starts.
But just as all teams have ebbs and flows, so does the schedule. Appert points to last year's games in Alabama as reasons why the Engineers went to the national tournament, and one could make an argument along those lines. One could make an argument that since we were the last ones in and Dartmouth the first ones out, the season sweep of Dartmouth was more important. An objective observer could say that Alabama-Huntsville's win over Nebraska-Omaha put us in over Dartmouth, which brings us back to the importance of the UAH victories, of course, but nonetheless, those weren't exactly the best games RPI played last year.
Union gets up for RPI, there's no question. You can see if in the interviews done with their players before and after games. Beating RPI is the most important thing in the world, and it doesn't compare with beating, say, Princeton. But those games are worth the same number of points. There's even a third game that's worth no points, which this year, if you asked them, marked a major turning point of the year.
There's no game that can be taken easy, but unless you've already got a championship caliber team, there will naturally be some games that just are not as important as others. That's not to say that you don't want to see teams give 100% in every game, far from it. It's just psychologically difficult to make every single game the most important game of the year - especially this season. How could that midweek game against AIC possibly be as important as, for instance, a game against Cornell on national television?
So why not set yourself some benchmarks? When you're standing on that goal line before the Freakout trying to convince yourself that this game is no more important than the next, or the last, aren't you psyching yourself down a bit from a natural lift?
In years past, it was not unusual to hear players speaking with pride about the importance of certain games, and it wasn't uncommon to see big wins in big games provide boosts for future contests. Ask the 2001-02 Engineers what that big Freakout win did for them going forward - or if you like, just look at the schedule.
It's rare to see us disagree with Seth Appert, but for me, this is what it boils down to: when no game is more important than another, no game is really that important.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Men's Hockey - Cornell & Colgate (3/4 Feb)
It only takes one game sometimes for progress to be washed away, and for the second time in three years, the Big Red Freakout game certainly fit that mold. Just one night after RPI produced a gutsy performance against a typically stingy Cornell squad, coming from behind to nab a 2-2 tie (and almost producing an overtime winner), the Engineers fell to a complete collapse at Freakout against Colgate, falling by an embarassing 8-3 score.
Cornell
Lee/McGowan/O'Grady
Rogic/Malchuk/Angers-Goulet
Cullen/Neal/Haggerty
Tinordi/Higgs/Burgdoerfer
Leonard/Bergin
Leboeuf/Bailen
Leboeuf/Bailen
Koudys/Dolan
Merriam
Not too many changes from the previous home weekend into Friday, as the only changes were Matt Neal returning in place of Jacob Laliberte, who missed the weekend's games due to a death in the family, and Greg Burgdoerfer replacing Zach Schroeder, who missed his first game as an Engineer.
Cornell took the early lead late in their first power play of the game six-and-a-half minutes after the opening puck drop. With Patrick Cullen off on a tripping call, the Big Red scored on a scrum in front with less than 10 seconds left in the man advantage to go up 1-0. RPI would pick up a subsequent two power plays in the first period, but could not get anything going, mustering only four shots in the first period.
The Big Red controlled the puck well for much of the first two periods, which limited RPI's opportunities significantly. The Engineers' power play certainly didn't do any favors either, going 0-for-4 in the first four periods. Cornell took advantage of another power play late in the second period, scoring with five minutes left in middle frame to take a 2-0 lead.
If there's one thing Cornell has had a problem with lately, however, it's keeping a lead in the third period, and RPI pounced early to turn things around. About three minutes into the third period, C.J. Lee scored on a wraparound attempt for his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-1, and a minute and a half later, Ryan Haggerty notched his first even-strength goal of the year on a rebound. His sixth of the season tied the game up at two.
From there, the Engineers dominated the third period in search of the go ahead goal, but couldn't find a third one despite a total of 12 shots on goal in the final stanza, the most of any team in one period on the night. They continued to come close in the overtime period, ringing one off the post on one shot and missing the net by inches on another, but ultimately had to settle for the tie.
Bryce Merriam picked up 23 saves in his first tie of the season, just the second tie of his career.
Colgate
Lee/McGowan/O'Grady
Cullen/Higgs/Haggerty
Tinordi/Rogic/Schroeder
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Burgdoerfer
Leonard/Bergin
Leboeuf/Bailen
Leboeuf/Bailen
Koudys/Dolan
Merriam
Schroeder returned to the lineup on Saturday, replacing Matt Neal and requiring a bit of shuffling to the lines since Schroeder isn't a center.
The 35th annual Big Red Freakout got off to a promising start as the Engineers generally traded blows fairly well with the Raiders in the first meeting with Colgate since last year's playoff upset at the Field House.
RPI picked up the game's first penalty seven minutes into the contest, a hit from behind against Johnny Rogic that the Engineers successfully killed off, but as the Engineers returned to full strength, C.J. Lee was called for slashing essentially because he was playing to the whistle while the teams waited for the referee to signal a stoppage after a cover by Bryce Merriam. Ten seconds later, Hobey Baker candidate Austin Smith put Colgate on top 1-0.
The game's turning point likely came with about three minutes left to play in the first period as the Engineers, whose play in their own zone became much sloppier after falling behind, gave the Raiders a freebie. Curtis Leonard tried to sweep away a puck in front of the net following a neutral-zone transition, but the deflection instead went on net and past Merriam, essentially what would be called a "own goal" in soccer, putting Colgate up 2-0.
Marty O'Grady was called for a hit from behind almost immediately to begin the second period, but a successful kill and a goal by Guy Leboeuf (his third of the year) on a shot from the point cut Colgate's lead in half and appeared to be the start of yet another comeback by the Engineers.
The comeback was squelched just about a minute and a half later on an oddly developing play. What appeared to be an icing call against Colgate was waved off at absolutely the last moment by the referees, and then a pass to the slot facilitated by a high hit was put home by Smith for his second of the game, making it 3-1.
Two power play opportunities for RPI fell by the wayside during the middle of the second period, and then a very soft Colgate goal made it 4-1 and chased Merriam from the net in favor of Scott Diebold. The change in net certainly didn't change the Engineers' luck to any great degree, as Diebold's first play on the puck two minutes later took an odd carom off the zamboni door, leaving a wide open net for Smith to score his third goal of the game into, making it 5-1.
The problems continued into the third period as the Raiders picked up two more goals 1:29 apart early in the period - the second of which was Smith's fourth of the game, and 30th of the season (as opposed to the 47 that RPI had as an entire team at that point), making it 7-1. That goal also chased Diebold from the net, and Bryce Merriam returned to the pipes.
By this point, it was essentially garbage time, with both teams playing out the remainder of the contest. Colgate picked up another one with about six minutes left to make it 8-1, and RPI picked up a pair of goals late - Zach Schroeder scoring unassisted on a 2-on-1 for his fifth of the season a minute and a half after the last Colgate goal, and Patrick Cullen picking up his third of the year on a two-man advantage with a minute left.
The loss left the Engineers with just one win in the Freakout in the last five (last year), following a 17-year unbeaten streak in the event.
Other junk - Ranked teams on the RPI schedule include #6 Ferris State (no change), #7 UMass-Lowell (up two with one first place vote), #9 Notre Dame (down one), #10 Colorado College (up one), #11 Union (no change), and #13 Cornell (up one). Falling from the rankings this week despite the lopsided victory is Colgate, falling just six votes short of #20 with 87. Also receiving votes were Quinnipiac (12) and Harvard (4).
The Freakout debacle marked the first time the Engineers have allowed 8 goals in a game since a 9-1 drubbing at home against Dartmouth on January 7, 2005. The 8 goals was the most ever given up by the Engineers in the Freakout (breaking the record of 7 from 1979, 1982, and 2010), but RPI has scored 8 or more themselves on seven different occasions in the game, last in 1999.
With Schroeder out on Friday night, only Nick Bailen, C.J. Lee, Mike Bergin, and Curtis Leonard have appeared in every RPI game this season.
Bryce Merriam made his second Freakout start, but his number in both starts are not good. Between this year and the 7-0 loss to Princeton in 2010, Merriam's Freakout numbers are 42 saves on 52 shots, giving him an .808 save percentage and 5.89 GAA in the game. That's a better figure, however, than Joe Harkenrider and Scott Diebold, who combined to make 8 saves on 13 shots for a .615 save percentage and a 20.13 GAA in his relief.
Only six games remain in the regular season, and the Engineers are back in last place, sitting five points out - and really, six points out - of a home ice position. That makes quite long odds that RPI's home schedule will extend past senior night in two weeks.
ECAC Standings
1. Union - 24 pts (10-3-4)
2. Cornell - 21 pts (8-3-5)
3. Colgate - 19 pts (9-6-1)
4. Harvard - 19 pts (6-4-7)
5. Clarkson - 17 pts (7-6-3)
2. Cornell - 21 pts (8-3-5)
3. Colgate - 19 pts (9-6-1)
4. Harvard - 19 pts (6-4-7)
5. Clarkson - 17 pts (7-6-3)
6. Quinnipiac - 16 pts (6-6-4)
7. Yale - 15 pts (7-8-1)
8. Dartmouth - 15 pts (6-7-3)
9. St. Lawrence - 13 pts (6-9-1)
10. Princeton - 13 pts (5-8-3)
11. Brown - 12 pts (5-9-2)
12. RPI - 10 pts (4-10-2)
12. RPI - 10 pts (4-10-2)
#14 Cornell at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/3/12- 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 2, Cornell 2 (OT)
BOX SCORES
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/3/12- 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 2, Cornell 2 (OT)
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 7-18-2 (4-9-2 ECAC, 10 pts)
#20 Colgate at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/4/12 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Colgate 8, RPI 3
BOX SCORES
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/4/12 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Colgate 8, RPI 3
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 7-19-2 (4-10-2 ECAC, 10 pts)
Upcoming games
09 Feb - at Harvard
10 Feb - at Dartmouth
16 Feb - Quinnipiac
10 Feb - at Dartmouth
16 Feb - Quinnipiac
17 Feb - Princeton (Senior Night)
24 Feb - at Colgate
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, February 22, 2010
Men's Hockey - Quinnipiac and Princeton (19/20 Feb)
It's maddening trying to figure out this team. They've come up big against top competition. They've laid big eggs against weak competition. The madness continued for Freakout weekend, as the Engineers got the job done with a solid showing against Quinnipiac, 5-3, before coming out and failing to win the Freakout for the fourth consecutive season, suffering the worst loss in the history of the game, 7-0 to 10th place Princeton.
Quinnipiac
Watts/Malchuk/Brutlag
Kerins/Pirri/O'Grady
D'Amigo/Polacek/Helfrich
Cullen/Angers-Goulet/Lee
Kennedy/Merth
Bergin/Foss
Jensen/Burgdoerfer
Merriam
Allen York's ankle reportedly made great strides over the course of the week, but he wasn't back to 100% by Friday and Bryce Merriam got the call. York did skate in the pre-game warmups, dressed, and sat on the bench, but would not see the ice all weekend.
Meanwhile, Tyler Helfrich was moved back to the top line with Jerry D'Amigo and Chase Polacek, and Bryan Brutlag was paired with Joel Malchuk, who has centered the fourth line all season long.
The first period was a wide open affair, as the referees allowed both teams to play, calling no penalties. This was equal parts enjoyable and frustrating, as they literally let quite a bit go.
Brandon Pirri got things going about 4 minutes in with his 10th goal of the season, from Marty O'Grady and Paul Kerins. About three minutes later, Quinnipiac got it back on a somewhat controversial goal as Scott Zurevinski put it past Merriam on what looked to be a high stick. The goal was allowed to stand, and it was 1-1.
10 minutes later, Chase Polacek got the fans pumped big time with an amazing putback of a Jerry D'Amigo shot taken from his knees. The "Hobey Baker" chant started ringing loud and clear throughout the Field House.
The 2-1 score held past the midway point of the 2nd period, when Brandon Pirri responded to a high stick in the face from Mike Dalhuisen with a slash. The referees called both players for penalties, ignoring Dalhuisen as he flailed around on the ice feigning injury. The matching minors created a long 4-on-4 opportunity, and the Engineers were the sole beneficiaries. D'Amigo would notch his 10th goal of the season 35 seconds later, and just under a minute after that, Alex Angers-Goulet would put in his 5th goal of the year, making it 4-1 RPI.
Merriam was strong for most of the game, but he allowed a goal on the power play late in the 2nd that was pretty soft as Quinnipiac captain Jean-Marc Beaudoin put one in from basically behind the net to make it 4-2 at the 2nd intermission.
Consecutive penalties to Dalhuisen - his second and third minors of the game - could not be capitalized on by the Engineers, but Zurevinski would get his second of the game with Pirri in the box on a poorly advised cross-check, making it 4-3 and instilling doubt in the RPI faithful still smarting from a lost lead in the previous game against Dartmouth.
The RPI D held firm, killing a penalty to Bryan Brutlag before getting a reprieve with Dalhuisen's fourth penalty of the night (his second slash), but the RPI power play could not convert.
A questionable cross-checking call against Polacek with just under 3 minutes to play gave Quinnipiac a key power play chance. The Bobcats pulled their goaltender immediately for a 6-on-4 situation. They held the zone for a significant part of the penalty, but could not get any decent shots at Merriam - a key hold for an RPI defense much maligned for its inability to defend a two-man disadvantage.
With the goalie still out of the net, RPI got the puck down in the Quinnipiac zone and killed a little bit of time before Polacek was able to throw the puck to junior captain John Kennedy at the point, and Kennedy ripped a shot that beat a defenseman five-hole and into the empty net for Kennedy's first career goal. Polacek dutifully retrieved the puck as the Engineers celebrated as though Kennedy had just scored a game winner in overtime - certainly one of the most wild celebrations for an empty netter you'll ever see.
The win, coupled with a SLU loss and a Colgate tie, put RPI alone in 4th place for the night. With Freakout and senior night on the horizon, it was looking like the bye could well be right within reach.
Princeton
D'Amigo/Polacek/Helfrich
Kerins/Pirri/O'Grady
Vassel/Malchuk/Watts
Cullen/Angers-Goulet/Lee
Kennedy/Merth
Bergin/Foss
Jensen/Burgdoerfer
Merriam
There's really not much to say about this game. I really don't want to say anything about it too substantial. No, I'm not just mailing it in on this one, the game was that depressing to be at. Yes, I am ending that sentence with a preposition.
RPI had a pair of short 5x3 opportunities in the 1st period but never got anything going. Merriam got plowed on the first Princeton goal (on the power play) and the Tigers led 1-0 at the first intermission.
Things got ridiculous in the 2nd period as Princeton scored three more times, each at even strength and the last two by a couple of guys who probably wouldn't be getting much playing time if not for the fact that Princeton has been decimated by injury.
It was 5-0 early in the third period when RPI got three power plays in relative succession and still couldn't find the net. Zane Kalemba, last year's Dryden Award winner who has been beyond horrendous this season, stopped 41 shots, in total, but most of them were not good shots. It was quantity over quality all night long. The power play going 0-for-8 didn't help matters.
The 50/50 raffle was called early in the 3rd, and immediately afterwards it was a mad dash to the exits with over 10 minutes left to go. The kind of thing that makes you embarrassed to be a fan.
With 4 minutes left and the team essentially no longer trying, Appert pulled Merriam in favor of sophomore Joey Harkenrider, who got the first real game action of his career. Unfortunately, this move only caused Princeton to lick their lips in anticipation - they scored on their first two shots against him about 30 seconds apart to make it 7-0, and they continued to push for another goal. Harkenrider would make a save on their final shot, but Princeton missed a wide open net in the dying seconds.
That sent Jerry D'Amigo - who'd already had to deal with his daily regimen of getting run two or three times - over the edge, and he laid an elbow into Taylor Fedun at the final whistle, precipitating a scrum right next to the RPI bench which saw 28 penalty minutes doled out, including 7 for Mike Bergin, who went after Rob Kleebaum. Not much else to say other than that it was good to see the team showing a little bit of pride considering they'd played the last 40 minutes as a beaten team. No game DQs were dished out and hopefully the league doesn't get involved and all the players involved will be available on Friday.
It was the worst loss in Freakout history, and gave Princeton a total goal edge of 12-0 in their last two Freakouts. The senior class, which was honored after the game, sadly, in front of a mostly empty Houston Field House, became the first group of seniors to never win a Freakout (they tied one), as the four-game winless streak is the longest in the history of the game and three consecutive losses ties for the longest in Freakout history, as the Engineers also dropped the 1980-82 Freakouts and the 1988-90 Freakouts. Those three streaks comprise 9 of the 10 all-time Freakout losses. Not good all around.
Fortunately, St. Lawrence bailed out the Engineers by tying Brown, but Colgate's victory moved them into a tie for 4th. They do still control their own destiny for the bye, but they absolutely must win on Friday in Hamilton or it's pretty much over. They can even clinch the bye on Friday if they win and Dartmouth beats SLU.
Colgate has all of 2 victories this season against teams with a better than .500 - RIT, who got there by beating up on their weak little league, and RPI, who in that game played their worst game of the season prior to Saturday. They win the tiebreaker with RPI in the event of a loss (which is why RPI would be eliminated for the bye if they lose), or a tie (which would necessitate points against Cornell the next night and hope for a Union win). RPI wins the tiebreaker if they win (which would eliminate Colgate for the bye, and would cause the Engineers to be worried only about SLU on Saturday).
There's a good chance that Cornell won't have anything to play for on Saturday (other than for positioning in the national tournament), so that's good. But we can't count on it. The Friday game is of paramount importance now. To be able to bounce back from such a horrible game with a big win would put this team right where they want to be.
Other junk - Who knew that getting blown out by Princeton at home would be looked down upon by the voters? Well... yeah. No votes for the Engineers this week. Ranked ECAC teams are #5 Yale (no change after sweeping SLU/Clarkson), #9 Cornell (up one after beating Harvard and losing to Dartmouth... yeah, I don't know either), and #15 Union (up one after sweeping QU/Princeton). Colgate got 2 votes after tying Dartmouth and beating Harvard, and SLU somehow still got 1 vote despite their third consecutive 1-point weekend.
Ranked non-conference opponents: #11 New Hampshire (up two), #12 Michigan State (no change), #17 Alaska (up three), and #20 Boston University (down one). Michigan and UMass dropped out of the rankings and got 10 and 7 votes respectively, while Sacred Heart took 7 votes.
The power play seems to have gone missing again. RPI was 0-for-12 on the weekend and is 0-for their last 16.
Chase Polacek still leads the nation in scoring with 49 points, but after getting shutout on Saturday shares the lead with Maine's Gustav Nyquist. He was passed by Sacred Heart's Nick Johnson for the goal scoring lead, is tied for 2nd with 24 along with UNH's Bobby Butler and Yale's Broc Little.
Brandon Pirri is the first freshman in the nation to reach 40 points, he leads Merrimack's Stephane Da Costa by two for the national lead.
Allen York is, at present, expected to play this weekend. He may have been healthy enough to play on Saturday, but if he was, Appert didn't want to risk his health with a huge weekend and the playoffs forthcoming.
Friday's gigantic game at Colgate will be airing live on the NHL Network. If you don't have it, demand it. The stakes are pretty high, you'll want to be watching.
ECAC Standings
1. Yale - 30 pts
2. Cornell - 28 pts (wins tiebreaker with Union)
3. Union - 28 pts
4. Colgate - 22 pts (wins tiebreaker with RPI)
5. RPI - 22 pts
6. St. Lawrence - 21 pts
7. Quinnipiac - 18 pts
8. Harvard - 17 pts
9. Princeton - 16 pts (wins tiebreaker with Brown)
10. Brown - 16 pts
11. Dartmouth - 14 pts
12. Clarkson - 8 pts
Quinnipiac at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/19/10 - 7:00 pm
RESULT: RPI 5, Quinnipiac 3
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
VIDEO
RECORD: 17-13-3 (10-7-2 ECAC, 22 pts)
Reale Deals
1. F Chase Polacek, 1 G, 2 A
2. F Jerry D'Amigo, 1 G, 2 A
3. D John Kennedy, 1 G
Princeton at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/20/10 - 7:00 pm
RESULT: Princeton 7, RPI 0
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 17-14-3 (10-8-2 ECAC, 22 pts)
Reale Deals
1. F Jerry D'Amigo
2. D Mike Bergin
3. G Joey Harkenrider
Upcoming Games
26 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - at #9 Cornell
05 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 1
06 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 2
07 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 3 (if necessary)
--
Rensselaer went 1-1-0 last week, topping Quinnipiac (5-3) on Friday night, before dropping the 33rd Annual Bank of America Big Red Freakout! to Princeton (7-0) on Saturday. Two players recorded three-point games against the Bobcats, including junior Chase Polacek (Edina, MN), who notched a goal and two assists. RPI (17-14-3; 10-8-2 ECAC Hockey) concludes its regular season schedule this weekend, when they visit Colgate (7pm) and 10th-ranked Cornell (7pm) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Friday's match-up with Colgate will be televised locally on Time Warner Cable (Channel 3) as well as nationally on the NHL Network. Live stats for Friday’s contest will be available at http://sidearmstats.com/colgate/mhockey/index.htm. Live stats for Saturday’s contest will be available at http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/mhockey/index.htm and live video will be available at http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/#liveevents. As is the case will all RPI men’s hockey games, both contests will be broadcast on the air courtesy of WRPI radio on 91.5 FM or log on to www.wrpi.org and click on sports.
Quinnipiac
Watts/Malchuk/Brutlag
Kerins/Pirri/O'Grady
D'Amigo/Polacek/Helfrich
Cullen/Angers-Goulet/Lee
Kennedy/Merth
Bergin/Foss
Jensen/Burgdoerfer
Merriam
Allen York's ankle reportedly made great strides over the course of the week, but he wasn't back to 100% by Friday and Bryce Merriam got the call. York did skate in the pre-game warmups, dressed, and sat on the bench, but would not see the ice all weekend.
Meanwhile, Tyler Helfrich was moved back to the top line with Jerry D'Amigo and Chase Polacek, and Bryan Brutlag was paired with Joel Malchuk, who has centered the fourth line all season long.
The first period was a wide open affair, as the referees allowed both teams to play, calling no penalties. This was equal parts enjoyable and frustrating, as they literally let quite a bit go.
Brandon Pirri got things going about 4 minutes in with his 10th goal of the season, from Marty O'Grady and Paul Kerins. About three minutes later, Quinnipiac got it back on a somewhat controversial goal as Scott Zurevinski put it past Merriam on what looked to be a high stick. The goal was allowed to stand, and it was 1-1.
10 minutes later, Chase Polacek got the fans pumped big time with an amazing putback of a Jerry D'Amigo shot taken from his knees. The "Hobey Baker" chant started ringing loud and clear throughout the Field House.
The 2-1 score held past the midway point of the 2nd period, when Brandon Pirri responded to a high stick in the face from Mike Dalhuisen with a slash. The referees called both players for penalties, ignoring Dalhuisen as he flailed around on the ice feigning injury. The matching minors created a long 4-on-4 opportunity, and the Engineers were the sole beneficiaries. D'Amigo would notch his 10th goal of the season 35 seconds later, and just under a minute after that, Alex Angers-Goulet would put in his 5th goal of the year, making it 4-1 RPI.
Merriam was strong for most of the game, but he allowed a goal on the power play late in the 2nd that was pretty soft as Quinnipiac captain Jean-Marc Beaudoin put one in from basically behind the net to make it 4-2 at the 2nd intermission.
Consecutive penalties to Dalhuisen - his second and third minors of the game - could not be capitalized on by the Engineers, but Zurevinski would get his second of the game with Pirri in the box on a poorly advised cross-check, making it 4-3 and instilling doubt in the RPI faithful still smarting from a lost lead in the previous game against Dartmouth.
The RPI D held firm, killing a penalty to Bryan Brutlag before getting a reprieve with Dalhuisen's fourth penalty of the night (his second slash), but the RPI power play could not convert.
A questionable cross-checking call against Polacek with just under 3 minutes to play gave Quinnipiac a key power play chance. The Bobcats pulled their goaltender immediately for a 6-on-4 situation. They held the zone for a significant part of the penalty, but could not get any decent shots at Merriam - a key hold for an RPI defense much maligned for its inability to defend a two-man disadvantage.
With the goalie still out of the net, RPI got the puck down in the Quinnipiac zone and killed a little bit of time before Polacek was able to throw the puck to junior captain John Kennedy at the point, and Kennedy ripped a shot that beat a defenseman five-hole and into the empty net for Kennedy's first career goal. Polacek dutifully retrieved the puck as the Engineers celebrated as though Kennedy had just scored a game winner in overtime - certainly one of the most wild celebrations for an empty netter you'll ever see.
The win, coupled with a SLU loss and a Colgate tie, put RPI alone in 4th place for the night. With Freakout and senior night on the horizon, it was looking like the bye could well be right within reach.
Princeton
D'Amigo/Polacek/Helfrich
Kerins/Pirri/O'Grady
Vassel/Malchuk/Watts
Cullen/Angers-Goulet/Lee
Kennedy/Merth
Bergin/Foss
Jensen/Burgdoerfer
Merriam
There's really not much to say about this game. I really don't want to say anything about it too substantial. No, I'm not just mailing it in on this one, the game was that depressing to be at. Yes, I am ending that sentence with a preposition.
RPI had a pair of short 5x3 opportunities in the 1st period but never got anything going. Merriam got plowed on the first Princeton goal (on the power play) and the Tigers led 1-0 at the first intermission.
Things got ridiculous in the 2nd period as Princeton scored three more times, each at even strength and the last two by a couple of guys who probably wouldn't be getting much playing time if not for the fact that Princeton has been decimated by injury.
It was 5-0 early in the third period when RPI got three power plays in relative succession and still couldn't find the net. Zane Kalemba, last year's Dryden Award winner who has been beyond horrendous this season, stopped 41 shots, in total, but most of them were not good shots. It was quantity over quality all night long. The power play going 0-for-8 didn't help matters.
The 50/50 raffle was called early in the 3rd, and immediately afterwards it was a mad dash to the exits with over 10 minutes left to go. The kind of thing that makes you embarrassed to be a fan.
With 4 minutes left and the team essentially no longer trying, Appert pulled Merriam in favor of sophomore Joey Harkenrider, who got the first real game action of his career. Unfortunately, this move only caused Princeton to lick their lips in anticipation - they scored on their first two shots against him about 30 seconds apart to make it 7-0, and they continued to push for another goal. Harkenrider would make a save on their final shot, but Princeton missed a wide open net in the dying seconds.
That sent Jerry D'Amigo - who'd already had to deal with his daily regimen of getting run two or three times - over the edge, and he laid an elbow into Taylor Fedun at the final whistle, precipitating a scrum right next to the RPI bench which saw 28 penalty minutes doled out, including 7 for Mike Bergin, who went after Rob Kleebaum. Not much else to say other than that it was good to see the team showing a little bit of pride considering they'd played the last 40 minutes as a beaten team. No game DQs were dished out and hopefully the league doesn't get involved and all the players involved will be available on Friday.
It was the worst loss in Freakout history, and gave Princeton a total goal edge of 12-0 in their last two Freakouts. The senior class, which was honored after the game, sadly, in front of a mostly empty Houston Field House, became the first group of seniors to never win a Freakout (they tied one), as the four-game winless streak is the longest in the history of the game and three consecutive losses ties for the longest in Freakout history, as the Engineers also dropped the 1980-82 Freakouts and the 1988-90 Freakouts. Those three streaks comprise 9 of the 10 all-time Freakout losses. Not good all around.
Fortunately, St. Lawrence bailed out the Engineers by tying Brown, but Colgate's victory moved them into a tie for 4th. They do still control their own destiny for the bye, but they absolutely must win on Friday in Hamilton or it's pretty much over. They can even clinch the bye on Friday if they win and Dartmouth beats SLU.
Colgate has all of 2 victories this season against teams with a better than .500 - RIT, who got there by beating up on their weak little league, and RPI, who in that game played their worst game of the season prior to Saturday. They win the tiebreaker with RPI in the event of a loss (which is why RPI would be eliminated for the bye if they lose), or a tie (which would necessitate points against Cornell the next night and hope for a Union win). RPI wins the tiebreaker if they win (which would eliminate Colgate for the bye, and would cause the Engineers to be worried only about SLU on Saturday).
There's a good chance that Cornell won't have anything to play for on Saturday (other than for positioning in the national tournament), so that's good. But we can't count on it. The Friday game is of paramount importance now. To be able to bounce back from such a horrible game with a big win would put this team right where they want to be.
Other junk - Who knew that getting blown out by Princeton at home would be looked down upon by the voters? Well... yeah. No votes for the Engineers this week. Ranked ECAC teams are #5 Yale (no change after sweeping SLU/Clarkson), #9 Cornell (up one after beating Harvard and losing to Dartmouth... yeah, I don't know either), and #15 Union (up one after sweeping QU/Princeton). Colgate got 2 votes after tying Dartmouth and beating Harvard, and SLU somehow still got 1 vote despite their third consecutive 1-point weekend.
Ranked non-conference opponents: #11 New Hampshire (up two), #12 Michigan State (no change), #17 Alaska (up three), and #20 Boston University (down one). Michigan and UMass dropped out of the rankings and got 10 and 7 votes respectively, while Sacred Heart took 7 votes.
The power play seems to have gone missing again. RPI was 0-for-12 on the weekend and is 0-for their last 16.
Chase Polacek still leads the nation in scoring with 49 points, but after getting shutout on Saturday shares the lead with Maine's Gustav Nyquist. He was passed by Sacred Heart's Nick Johnson for the goal scoring lead, is tied for 2nd with 24 along with UNH's Bobby Butler and Yale's Broc Little.
Brandon Pirri is the first freshman in the nation to reach 40 points, he leads Merrimack's Stephane Da Costa by two for the national lead.
Allen York is, at present, expected to play this weekend. He may have been healthy enough to play on Saturday, but if he was, Appert didn't want to risk his health with a huge weekend and the playoffs forthcoming.
Friday's gigantic game at Colgate will be airing live on the NHL Network. If you don't have it, demand it. The stakes are pretty high, you'll want to be watching.
ECAC Standings
1. Yale - 30 pts
2. Cornell - 28 pts (wins tiebreaker with Union)
3. Union - 28 pts
4. Colgate - 22 pts (wins tiebreaker with RPI)
5. RPI - 22 pts
6. St. Lawrence - 21 pts
7. Quinnipiac - 18 pts
8. Harvard - 17 pts
9. Princeton - 16 pts (wins tiebreaker with Brown)
10. Brown - 16 pts
11. Dartmouth - 14 pts
12. Clarkson - 8 pts
Quinnipiac at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/19/10 - 7:00 pm
RESULT: RPI 5, Quinnipiac 3
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
VIDEO
RECORD: 17-13-3 (10-7-2 ECAC, 22 pts)
Reale Deals
1. F Chase Polacek, 1 G, 2 A
2. F Jerry D'Amigo, 1 G, 2 A
3. D John Kennedy, 1 G
Princeton at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/20/10 - 7:00 pm
RESULT: Princeton 7, RPI 0
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 17-14-3 (10-8-2 ECAC, 22 pts)
Reale Deals
1. F Jerry D'Amigo
2. D Mike Bergin
3. G Joey Harkenrider
Upcoming Games
26 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - at #9 Cornell
05 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 1
06 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 2
07 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 3 (if necessary)
--
Rensselaer went 1-1-0 last week, topping Quinnipiac (5-3) on Friday night, before dropping the 33rd Annual Bank of America Big Red Freakout! to Princeton (7-0) on Saturday. Two players recorded three-point games against the Bobcats, including junior Chase Polacek (Edina, MN), who notched a goal and two assists. RPI (17-14-3; 10-8-2 ECAC Hockey) concludes its regular season schedule this weekend, when they visit Colgate (7pm) and 10th-ranked Cornell (7pm) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Friday's match-up with Colgate will be televised locally on Time Warner Cable (Channel 3) as well as nationally on the NHL Network. Live stats for Friday’s contest will be available at http://sidearmstats.com/colgate/mhockey/index.htm. Live stats for Saturday’s contest will be available at http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/mhockey/index.htm and live video will be available at http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/#liveevents. As is the case will all RPI men’s hockey games, both contests will be broadcast on the air courtesy of WRPI radio on 91.5 FM or log on to www.wrpi.org and click on sports.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Time to Fly Now
You know what? I could have been hokey and gone with Rick James or Chic for Freakout weekend. The Olympics are on, maybe some John Williams would be in order. But homie don't roll like that.
Yes, it's Freakout weekend, and it's senior weekend, but I'm looking for something just a little more inspiring and a little less thematic.
The ladies are out in central New York this weekend looking to finish strong and hopefully be back in Troy next weekend. The men will know by the end of the weekend whether they're still in the hunt for the bye or not.
So let's go to an old standby - perhaps the original pump-up song.
Yes, it's Freakout weekend, and it's senior weekend, but I'm looking for something just a little more inspiring and a little less thematic.
The ladies are out in central New York this weekend looking to finish strong and hopefully be back in Troy next weekend. The men will know by the end of the weekend whether they're still in the hunt for the bye or not.
So let's go to an old standby - perhaps the original pump-up song.
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