Men's Hockey - Niagara/RIT (21/22 Oct)

After a couple of weekends on the road to start the season, the Engineers began a rather long homestand (9 in 10, with the odd game out in Schenectady) with a pair of non-conference tilts against Niagara and RIT - the only non-conference weekend on the schedule featuring two different squads. A strong performance on Friday night ended in a very dissatisfying 3-3 draw with Niagara (the proverbial "bad tie"), but sticking with the same themes on Saturday led to the Engineers' first victory of the season, scoring a 6-3 victory over the Tigers.

Niagara
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Melanson
Nanne-Hayhurst-Ohrvall
Wood-DeVito-Liljegren
Marrello-Polino-Rodriguez

Prapavessis-Reilly
Wilson-Grant
Bell-Reno

Perry

Jake Marrello made his RPI debut on Friday night as the Engineers returned to a standard 12x6 lineup to take on the Purple Eagles, still searching for their first positive result of the season after starting off with three losses in as many games.

Early returns were not positive for the Engineers, although game remained scoreless for well over 30 minutes. Nine penalties were called before the game's first goal, and all of them were of the "obstruction" type that the NCAA is cracking down on this year (interference, slashing, hooking, tripping, holding, and the sort). The first eight - four per team - were killed off without great incidence, and the RPI penalty kill reached a rather impressive 21-for-21 to start the season while the power play reached a miserable 1-for-23.

RPI's perfect penalty kill was ended by the goal that put Niagara up 1-0 a little over halfway through regulation. A one-timer from the left faceoff circle by Derian Plouffe evaded Chase Perry to put the Purple Eagles ahead - but they would not hold the lead for long. Just 38 seconds later, Evan Tironese one-touched a pass from Riley Bourbonnais to the back of the cage from the middle of the slot to even the game back up.

After 21 straight successful penalty kills, RPI made it two power play goals in a row given up just 57 seconds after that, as Johnny Curran scored 10 seconds into a Parker Reno penalty on a floater that beat Perry top shelf to put Niagara back in front, 2-1.

1:44 into the third period, the Engineers tied the game for the second time, with Lou Nanne scoring his first goal of the season doing what he typically does to score goals - redirecting shots from the perimeter. A slapper by Tommy Grant was tipped in front by the RPI junior and past Niagara's Jackson Teichroeb to knot the score once again.

The biggest pivot of the game came in the denouement of regulation, as on their 7th power play opportunity of the night, the Engineers finally scored their second power play goal of the year, coming off a big shot from the blue line by Jared Wilson for his second goal of the year (both of RPI's power play goals for the season), giving the Engineers their first lead of the game late in the contest at 3-2.

About a minute later, a dustup between Plouffe and Viktor Liljegren ended with both in the box, but Plouffe with an extra two minutes for holding, putting the Engineers back on the power play with 4:15 left in regulation. Seconds later, Wilson appeared to give the Engineers a two-goal cushion with a goal that was practically a mirror image of the one he'd just scored a minute-and-a-half earlier, but it was immediately wiped out, as the officials called a slashing penalty against Jimmy DeVito, essentially for making a solid stick-check that allowed Wilson to take the loose puck in the first place.

Before an outraged Field House crowd, Niagara won the ensuing faceoff in the RPI end at four-on-four, and an ill-advised no-look pass by Tironese was picked off by Curran, who one-timed it past Perry to tie the game back up at 3-3, only further enraging the RPI partisans.

A Niagara penalty for cross-checking in the final minute of regulation carried over into the overtime period, but the Engineers were unable to get anything done on the man advantage, finishing the night 1-for-9 on the power play. Meanwhile, both teams put up four shots in the extra period, but neither were able to find the game winning goal, and the contest ended with a very unsettling 3-3 tie.

Other than the continued struggles on the power play and the seemingly botched ending late in the third period, the game did display an RPI team that looked like they were ready to compete. They unleashed 41 shots on the evening, and full credit has to be given to Teichroeb, who simply didn't let up a great many rebounds.

RIT
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Melanson
Nanne-Hayhurst-Ohrvall
Wood-DeVito-Liljegren
Reisinger-Polino-Rodriguez

Prapavessis-Reilly
Wilson-Reno
Manley-Grant

Hackett

Max Reisinger made his RPI debut against RIT on Saturday night, replacing Marrello in the lineup, and Charlie Manley returned as well, replacing Bradley Bell. Finally, Cam Hackett got his first start of the season in net for the Engineers.

A fortunate angle got RIT on the board first midway through the first period. A pass by Abbott Girduckis to Caleb Cameron on a two-on-one break didn't result in a shot, but as Cameron passed by Hackett, he tried to blindly backhand the puck back into the slot. It didn't get there - instead it hit off the back of Hackett's leg and into the back of the net, a goal certainly created by the two-on-one that the Tigers earned but certainly one that falls into the category of "good puck luck" in the end.

The Engineers got their stroke of luck about four minutes later as Riley Bourbonnais sniped a shot that RIT netminder Christian Short probably should have nabbed with his glove - instead it flew into the cage over that glove as Bourbonnais scored his second shorthanded goal of the season (perhaps only technically a shorthanded goal, as it came exactly as a 4x4 ended) to tie the score.

On the power play to start the second period, Mike Prapavessis gave Houston Field House a glimpse of the potential that RPI has on the man advantage, scoring with a snap shot from the point just over a minute into the second period to put the Engineers ahead 2-1 - Prapavessis being part of a potentially potent 1-2 punch with fellow power play QB Jared Wilson. Then, just 33 seconds later, Evan Tironese notched his third goal in as many games on a nifty wraparound to make it 3-1 and ending Short's night, as the RIT sophomore made just 7 saves on 10 shots in 21:41 of work. He was replaced by RIT's usual netminder, Mike Rotolo.

RIT clawed one back about two minutes later on one of the many four-on-four situations that would arise over the course of the game, as a disorganized RPI defense left Gabe Valenzuela open to roof one and cut the RPI lead in half. 10 minutes later, late in the second period, the Tigers got things square once more with a goal by Erik Brown, again taking advantage of a disjointed RPI defense.

But the Engineers would regain the lead for good with about two minutes left in the second period as Jared Wilson scored his third goal of the year - and third power play goal of the season - this time with a slapper from the top of the left faceoff circle, giving the Engineers a 4-3 lead heading into the final period.

The Tigers worked hard in the third period trying to find the tying goal, but the Engineer defense did a good job of bending without breaking. Hackett secured 13 saves in the last 20 minutes to help bolster the victory, and the Engineers ultimately got an insurance goal from Bourbonnais on a perfectly executed give-and-go while behind the defense with Tironese during a 4x4, and Jake Wood added his second goal of the season on an empty netter with just over a minute to play to seal the game up for a 6-3 victory.

Tironese ended the night with a goal and four assists, having been a part of the scoring combination on every RPI goal against the Tigers with the exception of Prapavessis' power play blast early in the second period. His career night was a first in several years for the Engineers in a pair of categories - it was the first four assist performance for RPI since Chase Polacek against Brown in December 2010, and the first five point night for an Engineer since Kevin Croxton (3 goals, 2 assists) against RIT in December 2005. Those are a pair of names that put Tironese in some very exclusive company in relatively recent RPI history. With nine points in five games, he is now 7th in the nation in scoring, averaging 1.80 points per game.

RPI's offense does look a bit more improved, with a goals per game now at 2.80, closing in on that coveted 3.00 GPG that they've been missing for some time. Tironese, Bourbonnais, Wilson, and Prapavessis all look fairly dangerous in their various scoring roles, just as we'd hoped to start the season.

The problem is that they've also given up three goals in all five games they've played this season, calling into question a defense that was supposed to be one of the team's brightest points.

Continued improvement on both of those aspects is needed in a hurry, as the ECAC schedule opens this coming weekend against Union in the annual home-and-home set, of which the Engineers have won four contests in a row against the Dutchmen (and six of seven overall when including the Mayor's Cup). They'll be keen on the need to stop Union senior Mike Vecchione, who won ECAC Player of the Week plaudits over Tironese by scoring six goals on the weekend against the same two teams that RPI did battle with, including four against Niagara.

Niagara at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/21/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Niagara 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Full game (RPI TV)
Highlights (RPI TV)

RECORD: 0-3-1

RIT at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/22/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 6, RIT 3

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Albany Times Union
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

VIDEO
Full game (RPI TV)

RECORD: 1-3-1

Upcoming games
28 Oct - Union
29 Oct - at Union
04 Nov - Brown
05 Nov - #17 Yale
11 Nov - Clarkson

Dial It Back

The Engineers (0-3-0) open their home schedule with a doozy of a homestand - nine in 10 within the friendly confines of Houston Field House, with the oddball being the short journey to Houston Field House West just up Route 7 next weekend. That's more than half of the entire home schedule taking place within the next five weekends - only seven games remain on the regular season tableau after a weekend series with Ohio State on the 18th and 19th of November. It would be prudent for the team to produce some results in the next five weeks.

They get that mission underway tonight against Niagara (0-2-1) and tomorrow night against RIT (1-1-1). No offense to the Purps or the Tigers, but they're not quite Maine (who are off to a surprisingly strong start) and they're not quite North Dakota (enough said). Look at the last two weekends as a resistance run. Back when I ran cross-country in high school N years ago, we'd take a couple of practices and run down to the beach, where we'd do wind sprints while knee-deep in Lake George. It helped make running down a nature trail seem a whole lot easier.

If RPI can take a three really tough road games and play the same way at home against teams less likely to burn mistakes, less likely to simply outclass, and less likely to make life in general super difficult, it could be a strong bounce in the correct direction - and perhaps prove that losing your first three games isn't necessarily a season killer, especially if it prepares you for games that will ultimately matter more... games which start next weekend.

Continuing our selection of Tragically Hip pumpups, here's "Fifty Mission Cap," a song that relates the true story of hockey player Bill Barilko. If you don't know it, learn it. Certainly one that will help get the blood flowing as the Engineers return home after a couple thousand miles of road trip to start the year.

Know Your Enemy: Niagara

This week's KYE entry is an odd bird to say the least - and not just because there's no such thing in nature as a purple eagle. Niagara seems to either be pretty decent or pretty bad - and lately, they've been pretty bad. RPI does seem to get them, for the most part, when they're pretty good, so perhaps they're in for a little bit of a reversal of fortune as NU comes to Troy for the first time in six years with the Engineers looking to draw the all-time series just a little bit closer to equilibrium.

Niagara
Nickname: Purple Eagles
Location: Lewiston, NY
Founded: 1856
Conference: Atlantic Hockey
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2013
Last Frozen Four: None
Coach: Dave Burkholder (16th season)
2015-16 Record: 6-25-6 (5-18-5 AHA, 10th place)
Series: Niagara leads, 4-2-0
First Game: November 15, 1997 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: October 23, 2010 (Troy, NY)
Last NU win: November 18, 2009 (Lewiston, NY)

2016-17 game: October 21, 2016 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Vinny Muto, sr.; D Kevin Patterson, sr.; F Stephen Pietrobon, sr.; F TJ Sarcona, sr.; G Jackson Teichroeb, sr.; F Derian Plouffe, jr.; F Stanislav Dzakhov, jr.; F Nick Farmer, so.; D Niko Kovachis, so.; F Tanner Lomsnes, so.; F Sam Rennaker, so.; G Guillaume Thérien, so.; F Derek Brown, fr.; D Noah Delmas, fr.

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11

Since last RPI saw the Purps, there's really only been one season worth writing home about: in 2013, Niagara became the first Atlantic Hockey team to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. NU more or less dominated the conference all year long, and despite a non-conference record below .500, they appeared heading into the AHA tournament to be in a position to earn a bid even if they did not win the league championship. And that's exactly what happened after suffering a 5-3 upset loss to Canisius in the semifinals.

It was the second at-large bid ever for Niagara, which was also the first at-large bid from outside the "Big Four" conferences when they nabbed a slot in the 12-team tournament in 2000 in the pre-autobid CHA. But unlike their previous at-large bid experience in which they shocked the college hockey world by upsetting New Hampshire, a second upset was not in the cards - although they gave it a good shot. The Purple Eagles took a 1-0 lead into the third period against North Dakota, but the team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux put an end to those hopes early in the third with two goals in the first three minutes to take a lead they would not give back.

That NCAA appearance certainly represents a local peak for the program, as it's been mostly downhill since then. Niagara struggled to a 15-20-5 record the following year, tying the school record for losses, before shattering that record in 2015 with a 7-28-4 record, falling short of the previous benchmark for fewest wins by five. They actually finished behind American International in Atlantic Hockey, finishing dead last just two seasons after they won the AHA regular season by seven points.

Last season was either just as bad or worse, depending on your perception. Just six wins was again the lowest mark in school history, although the overall win percentage was up slightly thanks to fewer losses and a couple more ties. But make no mistake, the last two years have been absolutely miserable. It can't be fun winning just 13 games in two seasons.

Niagara's last non-conference victory was actually early in their last NCAA tournament season - a 2-0 win at Clarkson on October 26, 2012. Since then, they are 0-20-2 against teams from outside of Atlantic Hockey.

Last season, only Lake Superior State and Arizona State were worse at putting the puck in the net, and they ranked in the bottom 10 in the nation at keeping the puck out of the net. The power play was dead last in the nation at an abysmal 9.1% - the only PP unit in the country that did not convert at least 10% of the time - and the penalty kill was just below the ersatz Mendoza-line for playing shorthanded, killing penalties at only a 79.9% rate (usually 80% is considered a bare minimum).

In net, Teichroeb had numbers that weren't exactly the pits, but they weren't special either. He did maintain a 2.60 GAA, which isn't horrid, but his save percentage was .909 and that is something that usually needs to be better. Both are slightly ahead of his career figures, but the man who has been Niagara's top starter for the last three years is going to need a serious improvement if he's going to lead the team to better results than they've seen over the course of his career. Thérien got 12 starts in net and is still looking for his first collegiate win.

On offense, three of Niagara's top four goal scorers return, including Plouffe (11), Sarcona (7), and Rennaker (7), but outside of them (and one graduating senior who had 7), no one else on last year's roster managed more than 4 goals on the year. The goal scoring was spread out well, but it was too thin all around, really. The top four goal scorers netted 45% of the team's goal production, and that's a bit too top heavy.

This is just a team that has an awful lot about it that needs fixing and there's no obvious answer as to how they're going to be able to get it all fixed for this season. Perhaps the freshman class can come on board and provide some answers, but all in all this is a team that lacks cohesion to produce victories, especially outside of Atlantic Hockey. With RPI's game against Niagara not just being at home, but the overall home opener, this is absolutely a game that the Engineers should be favored in, especially after opening the year with three games on two long road trips against usually tough opponents. After taking on North Dakota the previous week, Niagara should be a bit easier to manage. Anything less than a win in this game would be a disappointment for RPI.

Women's Hockey - at Niagara (14/15 Oct)

A great start to the season took a turn for the worse this weekend, as the RPI Engineers found themselves on the losing side of a pair of games against the Niagara Purple Eagles. RPI fell 5-4 on a penalty shot goal in overtime of a high-flying, back-and-forth affair on Friday, before getting edged 3-2 the following afternoon. In total, the Engineers squandered two-goal leads three times en route to the final results on the weekend.

Friday

Smelker/Harrison/Horton

Mahoney/Vandegrift/Svoboda

Cox/Guillemette/Mankey

Sanders/Letuligasenoa/Walsh

Castignetti/Schilter

Le Donne/Vadner

Marzario

Piper

An unusual event in college hockey broke a 4-4 deadlock in overtime when RPI's Andie Le Donne was called for hooking Niagara's Kristen Richards on a breakaway, leading to a penalty shot. With just 52 seconds remaining in overtime, Niagara elected the penalty shot over the optional minor, and Richards lifted the puck past RPI netminder Brianna Piper for the game-winning goal.

The game had started in the Engineers' favor, however, with RPI jumping out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Taylor Horton at 6:49 of the first, and Jill Vandegrift at exactly 1:00 of the second.

The momentum that carried the Engineers through the first period, and led to a 7-5 advantage in shots, evaporated in a hurry after Vandegrift's goal, when Jordan Smelker and Kathryn Schilter took back-to-back penalties to put the Engineers down 5-on-3. Kelsey Gunn got Niagara on the board during the 5-on-3 to make it a 2-1 game, and Kristen Richards tied it shortly after the second penalty expired.

Despite a heavy shot disparity in favor of Niagara, RPI regained the lead before the end of the frame, with Smelker beating goalie Sarah Moses for a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.

Another quick goal to start the period gave RPI its two goal lead back, as Toni Sanders put a quick shot past Moses 1:34 into the third period. That would end the Engineers' scoring and Niagara would spend much of the remainder of the third period on the power play, racking up 15 shots to RPI's 5.

Jessica Hitchcock cut the Engineer lead to 4-3 at 11:12 of the third, with Sierra Vadner off for slashing, and Jenna Hendrikx again tied the game just over two minutes later after Amanda Castignetti took a body checking call.

Overtime saw just three shots on goal before the penalty shot game-winner for Niagara. In total, the Engineers were outshot 32-18 on the evening. Kristen Richards was named first star for her penalty shot game-winner, while Jessica Hitchcock picked up second star with a goal and an assist. RPI's Madison Marzario earned the third star, finishing the evening with two assists and a +2 rating.

Saturday

Cox/Harrison/Horton

Smelker/Vandegrift/Svoboda

Mahoney/Guillemette/Sanders

Letuligasenoa/Sanders

Marzario/Vadner

Le Donne/Schilter

Castignetti

O'Brien

As has become the pattern over the early season, Coach Burke again switched goalies for Saturday's game, opting to play Kelly O'Brien over Brianna Piper. With Piper stopping the first seven shots she saw, the Engineers took the opportunity to capitalize against Niagara's new goalie for the afternoon affair, freshman Abby Ryplanski.

Toni Sanders scored unassisted at 5:32 of the game when she lobbed a weak shot on net from the right point which snuck over Ryplanski's shoulder for a 1-0 lead. Laura Guillemette doubled the lead to 2-0 at 9:07, when Sanders fed a beautiful pass from behind the net for an easy one-timer in the slot.

Niagara put a damper on RPI's otherwise good first period when Jenna Hendrikx capitalized on a failed breakaway by Jessica Hitchcock, beating O'Brien to cut the lead to 2-1 with just 47 seconds left in the first.

It was Niagara's turn for an early-period goal in the second, as May Wilkerson put home a Kaleigh Chippy rebound to tie it at two at the 2:26 mark.

Unlike Friday, the Engineers could not find the punch to retake the lead, and it was Niagara's Kelsey Welch put the Purple Eagles ahead with just over five minutes left in regulation. A few last-minute chances missed their mark and the 3-2 score would hold up to give Niagara the weekend sweep. The weekend would mark the first win and first sweep for Niagara's coach Josh Sciba, as well as the first career wins for both Moses and Ryplanski.

Kelsey Welch's game winner netted her first star on Saturday, with Toni Sanders' goal and assist good for second star. Ryplanski picked up the third star in her winning effort for the Purple Eagles.

RPI returns home next weekend for a pair against the Colonials of Robert Morris University. The games on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (4pm) are not expected to be covered by WRPI, but will be available for pay-per-view video streaming and live stats at http://www.rpiathletics.com. Live tweets will also be available, follow @without_a_peer for updates.

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RPI at Niagara

Non-Conference Game – Dwyer Arena (Lewiston, NY)

10/14/11 – 7:00pm

Niagara 5, RPI 4 (OT)

BOX SCORES:

USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2011/10/14/rensselaer-vs-niagara/

College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wniaren1.o14

RECAPS:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2011/10/14/WICE_1014112729.aspx

Niagara: http://www.purpleeagles.com/news/2011/10/14/WHOCKEY_1014115603.aspx

RECORD: 2-1-2 (0-0 ECAC)

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RPI at Niagara

Non-Conference Game – Dwyer Arena (Lewiston, NY)

10/15/11 – 2:00pm

Niagara 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:

USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2011/10/15/rensselaer-vs-niagara/

College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wniaren1.o15

RECAPS:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2011/10/15/WICE_1015115444.aspx

Niagara: http://www.purpleeagles.com/news/2011/10/15/WHOCKEY_1015115302.aspx

RECORD: 2-2-2 (0-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Games

Oct. 21 - Robert Morris (7pm)

Oct. 22 - Robert Morris (4pm)

Oct. 28 - Quinnipiac (3pm)

Oct. 29 - Princeton (3pm)

Nov. 4 - St. Lawrence (7pm)

Nov. 5 - Clarkson (4pm)

Save Ferris

You knew this was coming.

No, this is not original. Just ask anyone from Ferris State - which, by amazing coincidence, is where the Engineers will be playing this weekend as Seth Appert returns to his alma mater.

The Bulldogs are very popular. The sportos, the motorheads, the geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads, they all adore them. They think they're righteous dudes.

Alright, enough of that.

Also this weekend, the women try to stay hot, taking a four-game road unbeaten streak in to Dwyer Arena for a weekend series with Niagara. It's the fourth straight year that the Engineers have a series with the Purps, and they're 3-0-3 against them in the last three seasons (though two of the ties were last year in Troy). Can the fab frosh continue their outstanding play?

2011-12 Women's Hockey Schedule

The women's schedule was released yesterday. Here it is in all its glory.

Of note, the national champions from Wisconsin will be coming into Troy in mid-November. There's not much reason to suspect that the games will be anything terribly different than they were in Madison last season, but... you never know, maybe we'll use some home cooking to get a goal or two, or shock the world. Regardless it should be a pretty good weekend to catch a game at the Field House.

The "series" with Syracuse, it appears, will continue for a third consecutive season, which is pretty nifty. A weekend with Niagara also appears on the schedule for a fourth straight year, while the Engineers head to Burlington this season in return for the Catamounts' appearance in Troy last year.

Friday games are at 7 p.m., Saturday games at 4 p.m. unless otherwise noted. ECAC league games have the little star next to them.

September

Fri. 23 - Toronto Aeros (Exhibition, Skate With The Engineers to follow)

Fri. 30 - at UConn

October

Sat. 1 - at UConn

Fri. 7 - at Vermont

Sat. 8 - at Vermont

Fri. 14 - at Niagara

Sat. 15 - at Niagara, 2 p.m.

Fri. 21 - Robert Morris (Homecoming)

Sat. 22 - Robert Morris (Homecoming)

Fri. 28 - Quinnipiac*, 3 p.m.

Sat. 29 - Princeton*, 3 p.m.

November

Fri. 4 - St. Lawrence*

Sat. 5 - Clarkson*

Fri. 11 - at Brown*

Sat. 12 - at Yale*

Fri. 18 - Wisconsin

Sat. 19 - Wisconsin

Fri. 25 - Syracuse

Sat. 26 - Syracuse

December

Fri. 2 - at Clarkson*

Sat. 3 - at St. Lawrence*

January

Fri. 6 - Colgate*, 3 p.m.

Sat. 7 - Cornell*, 3 p.m.

Fri. 13 - at Dartmouth*

Sat. 14 - at Harvard*

Fri. 20 - Yale*

Sat. 21 - Brown*

Fri. 27 - at Union*, 3 p.m.

Sat. 28 - Union, 3 p.m.

February

Fri. 3 - at Cornell*

Sat. 4 - at Colgate*

Fri. 10 - Harvard*

Sat. 11 - Dartmouth* (Senior Night)

Fri. 17 - at Princeton*

Sat. 18 - at Quinnipiac*

Fri. 24 - Sun. 26 - ECAC Quarterfinals (at higher seed, best of three)

March

Thu. 1 - ECAC Semifinals (at two highest remaining seeds)

Sat. 3 - ECAC Championship (at highest remaining seed)

Sat. 10 - NCAA Quarterfinals (at seeded teams)

Fri. 16 - NCAA Frozen Four (Duluth, MN)

Sun. 18 - NCAA Championship (Duluth, MN)

Women's Hockey - Niagara (19/20 Nov)

The Engineers played their first of two consecutive weekends of non-conference hockey at Houston Field House on Friday and Saturday with a back-to-back pair against the Niagara Purple Eagles of the CHA. Despite Niagara’s 3-8-1 record entering the weekend, they had defeated one of the top teams in women’s hockey – Mercyhurst, and gave RPI fits in a pair of 1-1 ties that were each marked by sloppy play by both teams andlate goals to decide the outcome.

Friday

Smelker/Horton/Harrison

Sanders/Vandegrift/Dunlop

Padmore/O’Keefe/Jakubowski

Guillemette/Stapleton/Mankey/Letuligasenoa

Le Donne/Vadner

Castignetti/Marzario

Daniels

Van der Bliek

The first period saw RPI come out strong, controlling play through most of the frame and piling 12 shots on Niagara netminder Sarah Moses while the Purple Eagles were unable to get a single shot on goal for more than five minutes to start the game. The Engineers scoring woes continued throughout the period, however, as they continued to search for their first goal since the early third period against Yale last Friday. A power play for RPI gave the Engineers a taste of what they were in for on the weekend as sloppy passing led to an inability to hold the Niagara zone and an easy penalty kill on the only penalty of the first.

The second period saw more turnovers than any in recent memory, and another Niagara penalty was easily killed thanks to poor puck control in the attacking zone. With Niagara holding the momentum through much of the second, the scoring deadlock was broken at 7:35 when Sonja van der Bliek sprawled to cover a puck loose in front of the crease but missed it. While players battled for the puck, Nona Letuligasenoa took a delayed call for cross-checking a Niagara player from behind, and with the referee’s arm up, Jenna Hendrikx buried the loose puck to take a 1-0 lead. On the ensuing Niagara power play (as a rule change this season causes goals on delayed penalties to not wave off the penalty) the Engineers stood strong despite some heavy pressure from Niagara.

Late in the second period, Niagara’s Caitlin Jenkins found herself on a breakaway with Sierra Vadner close behind. Unable to catch up, Vadner slashed Jenkins to stop the shot, and the official immediately signaled for a penalty shot. Jenkins lost the handle on the puck while skating in from center ice, and van der Bliek wasn’t even forced to make a save on the play. Just seconds before the whistle, the officials botched an icing call where Niagara was clearly ahead of the RPI skaters chasing down the puck, and rather than take the faceoff to center ice as the rules require when a mistake is made on an icing call, the officials gave the Purple Eagles an offensive zone draw. Obviously this drew the ire of coach Burke as it gave Niagara one last opportunity in the period, but RPI was able to win the draw and run out the clock. Perhaps some level of vindication was achieved after the period when an ECAC official pulled aside the referees on their way to the locker room and explained why their handling of the call was incorrect.

The third period saw the scales and momentum tip back in RPI’s favor, but only slightly as both teams continued to have trouble with puck control and passing. Toni Sanders had a point-blank chance near the midpoint of the period, but fired the puck directly into Moses’ chest. It was looking like RPI might be shutout for the second straight game when some last minute heroics saved the day for the Engineers. With van der Bliek on the bench in favor of the extra attacker and 43.5 seconds left on the clock, Clare Padmore picked up a rebound off a scrum in front of the Niagara net and put it past Moses to tie the game at one.

Neither team looked to be playing for the win in overtime, with Niagara falling on the puck and tying it up along the boards multiple times, and the game went in the books as a 1-1 draw. The Engineers probably counted themselves lucky to salvage a tie from the game, in which they had little rhythm or flow to their play. The most noticeable concern was an inability to score, which would continue to plague RPI through the rest of the weekend.

Saturday

Smelker/Harrison/Horton

Sanders/Vandefgrift/Dunlop

Padmore/O’Keefe/Jakubowski

Guillemette/Stapleton/Mankey/Letuligasenoa

Le Donne/Vadner

Castignetti/Marzario

Daniels

Ramelot

Saturday’s game started out in almost the exact same fashion as Friday’s – after a few chances by Niagara in the very early going, RPI controlled the ice for most of the first period but couldn’t get many quality shots. Just past the midpoint of the period, the weekend’s second penalty shot was awarded – this time to RPI as Niagara’s Chelsea Witwicke closed her hand on the puck inside her own goal crease during a prolonged scrum where goalie Jenni Bauer couldn’t find the puck. Alisa Harrison took the shot for the Engineers but just like Jenkins the night before, Harrison couldn’t keep a handle on the puck and only got off a weak shot which went into Bauer’s pads.

The first period ended with no score and so did the second – although the Engineers were playing better than Friday night, it was still by no means an excellent showing by either team. RPI put shot after shot across the Niagara crease through the second period, but never had a player crashing the net to put any of them home. With better positioning, the Engineers could have been up by several goals as Bauer had a hard time sliding across the crease to keep up with the feeds.

RPI had a bit of a scare late in the second as Katie Daniels tried to corral the puck near the Engineer net and slide it to Ramelot for a whistle. Ramelot wasn’t expecting the puck and Daniels nearly put it in the Engineer net, but after a moment of confusion Ramelot covered the puck for the whistle. Niagara’s Jessica Hitchcock had the opportunity of the game just after, as Ramelot was caught out of position leaving a wide open net to shoot at. Hitchcock shot clear over the crossbar, even throwing her arms up in celebration for a moment on what should have been a guaranteed goal. As the call on WRPI put it – “that shot was easier to make than to miss”.

Finally, at 13:13 of the third period, the Engineers got the bounce they needed as Sydney O’Keefe lobbed a shot in from the blue line which deflected off Kristen Jakubowski in front of the Niagara net and past Bauer for a 1-0 lead. The Engineer lead didn’t last for long as just over a minute and a half later, a terrible turnover by RPI in the Niagara zone led to the Purple Eagles skating the puck down ice and scoring with what seemed to be no effort whatsoever to tie the game at 1. As was the case the day before, with the game tied Niagara looked to be playing for the tie, wrapping the puck up along the boards and falling on it to run time off the clock. RPI had a few chances in the rest of regulation, including a shot by Jordan Smelker which rang off the pipe, but the game would head to overtime and end as a 1-1 tie.

Perhaps most frustrating for the Engineers in coming away with a tie on Saturday was the fact that they played better than on Friday and had the ice tilted decidedly more in their favor, but still couldn’t pull out the win. As RPI faces Syracuse next weekend before entering the grueling remainder of the ECAC schedule, the Engineers are going to need to start finding offense and scoring some goals, as one a game is not going to do it against most of the ECAC.

Next weekend’s games against Syracuse are at 7pm (Friday) and 2pm (Saturday). WRPI will not carry either game, nor will Syracuse have video available. It’s questionable whether Syracuse will have live stats either, so fans looking to follow the games live from home may not have the opportunity.

-----

RPI vs. Niagara

Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)

11/19/10 – 7:00pm

RPI 1, NU 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES:

USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2010/11/19/niagara-vs-rensselaer/

College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/wniaren1.n19

RECAPS:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2010/11/19/WICE_1119100241.aspx

Niagara: http://www.purpleeagles.com/sports/whockey/release.asp?release_id=12593

RECORD: 4-7-3 (3-3-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Niagara

Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)

11/20/10 – 2:00pm

RPI 1, NU 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES:

USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2010/11/20/niagara-vs-rensselaer/

College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/wniaren1.n20

RECAPS:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2010/11/20/WICE_1120104723.aspx

Niagara: http://www.purpleeagles.com/sports/whockey/release.asp?release_id=12600

RECORD: 4-7-4 (3-3-0 ECAC)

-----

ECAC Standings Points ECAC All

Cornell                 12              6-0             8-1
Dartmouth               10              5-3             6-3
Harvard                 10              4-2-2           4-2-2
Quinnipiac              8               4-5             9-6-1
Clarkson                7               3-1-1           5-8-2
Princeton               7               3-5-1           3-7-1
St. Lawrence            6               3-2             6-6-2
Rensselaer              6               3-3             4-8-3
Yale                    5               2-3-1           2-6-2
Brown                   4               1-3-2           2-4-2
Colgate                 4               2-4             5-9
Union                   1               0-5-1           1-10-1

-----

Upcoming Games

Nov. 26 – at Syracuse (7pm)

Nov. 27 – at Syracuse (2pm)

Dec. 3 – at Union (7pm)

Dec. 4 – Union (4pm)

Jan. 7 – Dartmouth (3pm)

Jan. 8 – Harvard (3pm)

Ladies Night

The women take center stage this week with their home weekend against Niagara - the last non-conference games at Houston Field House this season.

We're not just here to get you pumped up for the men's games... it's time to get pumped up for the women this week! After a big win at a Yale and a big letdown at Brown, the Engineers have four games over the next two weekends to refuel and takeoff again. Hopefully by December, they'll be flying... like a G6.

Men's Hockey - RIT and Niagara (22/23 Oct)

We mentioned last week that the first full home weekend of the season was a "must-win" for the Engineers if they were going to have a shot at presenting themselves as being legitimate contenders in the ECAC. Mission accomplished. RPI played a sound, physical game in taking down RIT 4-1 on Friday before jumping out against Niagara and refusing to fold despite playing a poor third, getting the game winner in overtime, 4-3.

RIT
Lee/Polacek/Helfrich
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Brutlag
Rabbani/Higgs/O'Grady
Tinordi/Rogic/Halpern

Bergin/Foss
Kennedy/Dolan
Leboeuf/Bailen

York

RIT is still trying to figure out what they're doing in net - for the RPI game, they decided to go with senior Jan Ropponen, a Finn who has seen minimal action between the pipes in his previous three seasons in Rochester.

RPI came out flying against the Tigers, who played in the Frozen Four last season. From the opening puck drop, the Engineers played aggressively, especially when it came to the forecheck and the physical aspects of the game, with John Kennedy and Matt Tinordi especially dishing out the big hits all over the ice.

Brock Higgs got the scoring started on the power play about 13 minutes into the game, notching the first goal of his college career to put RPI up 1-0. That lead would be short-lived, however. With Jeff Foss in the box for interference, RIT's Cameron Burt fooled Allen York into moving to defend a pass near the net, when actually, Burt had sort of just let the puck continue toward the net off the back of his stick without much of a shot. The puck slipped through York's pads and in to make it 1-1.

The Engineers kept the pressure up in the second period, continuing to work hard physically and on the forecheck. When Tyler Helfrich was called on a questionable tripping call to negate an RPI power play, the hard work paid off on the ensuing 4-on-4. Higgs scored his second of the night four minutes into the 2nd period, giving the Engineers a 2-1 lead. Later in the period, Helfrich would earn his 3rd of the season to give RPI a two-goal cushion. Ropponen faced a blitz of shots in the second period from the aggressive Engineers, making 16 saves on 18 shots.

Seth Appert was less impressed with RPI's play in the third period, but the Engineers still managed to find success. Bryan Brutlag made it 4-1 early in the period for his 2nd goal of the year, but it was one of only 4 shots on the period as RPI started to coast. The defense held up, killing a pair of penalties in the third to finish the night 5-for-6 on the kill, but the team didn't seem overly interested in keeping the pedal down. It didn't much matter, as Allen York stood tall, stopping 9 shots in the period to drop his GAA even farther as RPI won, 4-1.

Niagara
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Brutlag
Lee/Polacek/Helfrich
Rabbani/Higgs/O'Grady
Tinordi/Rogic/Halpern

Bergin/Foss
Kennedy/Dolan
Koudys/Bailen

York

A night after getting throttled by Union, Niagara came out and decided to take shots at Allen York early and often. The Engineers didn't play especially well in the first period, in sharp contrast to the previous night's opening frame. Where York made 24 saves all night against RIT, he was forced to make 16 saves in the first period alone to keep the Purple Eagles off the board.

Despite the slow start, RPI still managed the first goal. 12 minutes into the game, the Engineers crashed the net, and Alex Angers-Goulet scored his first of the season, banging away at the puck until it went in to put RPI up 1-0. Josh Rabbani joined the scoring near the end of the period, scoring his first of the year putting back a rebound into an open net to give the Engineers a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission, despite a generally poor period otherwise.

The RPI power play had three opportunities to break the game open in the second period, but Niagara's Carsen Chubak took his turn to stand on his head, making 17 saves in the period to keep it a 2-0 game.

A roughing penalty to Angers-Goulet gave Niagara the power play early in the 3rd period, and the Purps converted for a goal just a few seconds after Goulet left the box, cutting the RPI lead in half. The goal sparked the Engineers in the immediate aftermath, and Chase Polacek scored about two minutes later to bring the lead back to two at 3-1. In previous years, we'd seen two goal leads evaporate quickly after giving up goals in the 3rd period, and after Polacek's goal, it appeared that had been mitigated to some degree.

But then, discipline became a problem for the Engineers, and the penalty kill, which hadn't been as sharp as usual all night long, started to break down. Foss was in the box when Marc Zanette scored to make it 3-2, and then Rabbani took a penalty shortly after the ensuing faceoff, eventually leading to a Marc Zanette goal that came just two minutes after his brother's, tying the game at three.

In other years, that might have been about it for the Engineers - they would have completely packed it in and either settled for a tie or lost the game late or in overtime. When Matt Tinordi took yet another penalty shortly after the Purps tied the game, it appeared they were doomed for a bad result. But the penalty kill finally came through again, and the Engineers came out aggressive for the overtime. Captain John Kennedy took an opportunistic shot from the top of the faceoff circle that came free to Marty O'Grady in front. O'Grady dished it off to Brock Higgs, who was wide open on the left side of the net, and Higgs shoveled it in for his third goal of the weekend to give RPI a 4-3 overtime victory - their third win in a row to extend their overall unbeaten streak to five games.

Veteran teams find ways to win games when they don't have their best stuff, and they did that on Saturday. At various times this weekend, RPI played with a suffocating forecheck, with brutal force physically, with impressive finishing touch, and with tough defense emanating from both the goal and the blueline. If they find a way to put all of that together regularly, the sky is the limit.

Other junk - On the heels of the 2nd longest active unbeaten streak in the nation, the Engineers are now nationally ranked. Barely. RPI received 57 votes in this week's USCHO.com poll, tying them with Minnesota for 20th in the nation. The Engineers become the 4th team in the ECAC to be nationally ranked, also ranked are #5 Yale (no change, idle), #14 Cornell (down one, won a pair of exhibition games), and #16 Union (up two, beat Niagara and RIT). Also ranked are #6 Boston University (up two, 2 first place votes), and #19 Colorado College (no change). Also receiving votes were Quinnipiac (10) and Northeastern (3).

Patrick Cullen and Greg Burgdoerfer have not played in three consecutive games, and they could be facing extended periods of time in the stands if the lines, as presently constituted, continue to click as well as they have. The fourth line of Tinordi/Rogic/Halpern were impressive as a checking line all night on Friday, especially Tinordi and Halpern. The Polacek line has been impressive all year, and the Malchuk line is seeing good results as well. The revelation this week was with the Higgs line, especially Higgs himself, although Rabbani and O'Grady had outstanding offensive showings this weekend as well. C.J. Lee was the only top-three line forward without a point this weekend, but he was dangerous as well.

The RIT goal ended 22 consecutive penalty kills for the Engineers, but the PK unit is still among the best in the nation. They have converted 37 of 42 penalty kill opportunities (RPI is tops in the nation in penalty kill chances). The difficult third period against Niagara pushed the Engineers below 90%, but they are still 9th in the nation on the penalty kill.

Allen York has keyed a big defensive front. The Engineers currently have the 2nd best defense in the nation, trailing only Boston College, having given up only 10 goals in six games, a rate of 1.67 GAA. York has a personal GAA of 1.62 (with the difference coming in times when he was off for a sixth skater), 5th in the nation. His 370:38 between the pipes remains tops in the nation. He has 166 saves on 176 shots, for a save percentage of .943, which is 4th best in the nation.

The next test for RPI is big - local rivals Union on the big sheet in Lake Placid. Both teams have played two games on Olympic sized ice this year (RPI in Colorado, Union in Alaska), and both teams boast one of the best goaltenders in the nation, and likely the top two goaltenders in the league. Union has displayed that its offense has the potential to be potent, as they have beaten up on a slew of marginal teams. This matchup will come down to York vs. Kinkaid, and may the best team win.

RIT at RPI
Nonconference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/22/10 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, RIT 1

BOX SCORES

• College Hockey Stats
• USCHO

RECAPS

• RPI
• RIT
• Troy Record
• Albany Times-Union

VIDEO

• Full game (RPI TV)
• Post-game press conference

RECORD: 2-1-2 (0-0-0 ECAC)

Reale Deals
1. F Brock Higgs, 2 G
2. G Allen York, 24 saves
3. F Marty O'Grady, 2 A

Niagara at RPI
Nonconference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/23/10 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, Niagara 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES

• College Hockey Stats
• USCHO

RECAPS

• Niagara
• Troy Record
• Albany Times Union

VIDEO

• Post-game press conference

RECORD: 3-1-2 (0-0-0 ECAC)

Reale Deals
1. F Brock Higgs, 1 G, 1 A
2. D John Kennedy, 2 A
3. F Chase Polacek, 1 G

Upcoming games
30 Oct - vs. #16 Union (Lake Placid, NY)
05 Nov - at Dartmouth
06 Nov - at Harvard
12 Nov - at #16 Union
13 Nov - #16 Union (Black Saturday)

Tough Weekend, We Can't Deny

Think these Atlantic Hockey weekends are a joke? Think again. Atlantic Hockey is improving yearly. Tonight's opponent, RIT, beat Denver and New Hampshire last year in the NCAA tournament, not in some throwaway game. Niagara, the Saturday night opponent? RPI hasn't beaten them in the last four tries, going back to 1997, the first time the two teams met. Still, this is a weekend the Engineers need to sweep - or at the very least, continue to have consistently decent outings - if they're going to be contenders in the ECAC.

The women continue their grueling opening schedule, still in search of their first win. They start off against 5-1-0 Providence tonight - the Friars have already shredded Clarkson 5-0 this season, so... yeah, another tough one. Sunday afternoon brings 3-1-1 Northeastern, but the Huskies did need overtime to beat Union... time will tell.

In the meantime, it's time to get psyched up for another weekend of great hockey. Here's a cover version of the best song ever released on an album of the same name by a band of the same name. The covering band is metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch, who toured Iraq earlier this year, so this pumpup doubles as a salute to our armed forces as we get ready to exercise one of our fundamental rights in a week or so. But for now... it's three days of what should be some great, great hockey.

Upcoming Podcast: Chris Lerch

Well, less than a week after saying we were going to settle into having podcasts every week on Wednesdays at 8pm... yeah, about that...

Wednesday at 8 will be the usual time for our broadcasts, but occasionally, things will come up in life (and sometimes, with our guests) that will require a little flexibility. So this week, we'll be broadcasting at 8pm on Thursday, October 21st instead.

Our guest this week is long-time RIT radio man Chris Lerch. For 15 years, Lerch has been broadcasting Tigers hockey on WITR-FM (89.7, Henrietta) and is an RIT alum himself, so he knows his stuff when it comes to talking about the Tigers. With RIT riding a wave of excitement following their Frozen Four appearance and a big night in front of a huge crowd at Blue Cross Arena last weekend, we'll ask him about their outlook and what to expect from the Tigers on Friday. Chris also covers Atlantic Hockey as a whole for USCHO.com, so we'll touch on issues in the conference, including Niagara (our opponent on Saturday) and Robert Morris entering the league and the early season expectations.

As always, we'll run down the highlights and lowlights of the past weekend for the Engineers and take a look around the nation as well.

Last week, we talked to WRPI's Tim Heiman and newly inducted RPI Athletic Hall of Fame member Cindy Acropolis. Check it out below.

Listen to internet radio with Without a Peer on Blog Talk Radio

Know Your Enemy: Niagara

Part five of our "Know Your Enemy" series touches upon a program that, under the radar, has given the Engineers fits for no immediately obvious reason since the first meeting 13 years ago - but a look at their short history will reveal why the Purple Eagles have never been considered an easy win.

Niagara
Nickname: Purple Eagles
Location: Lewiston, NY
Founded: 1856
Conference: Atlantic Hockey
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2008
Last Frozen Four: None
Coach: Dave Burkholder (10th season)
2009-10 Record: 12-20-4 (6-10-2 CHA, 3rd place)
Series: Niagara leads, 4-1-0
First Game: November 15, 1997 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: November 15, 1997 (Troy, NY)
Last NU win: November 18, 2009 (Lewiston, NY)

2010-11 game: October 23, 2010 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Bryan Haczyk, sr.; F Paul Zanette, sr.; F Marc Zanette, so.; F Ryan Murphy, fr.; D C.J. Chartrain, so.; D Jason Beattie, so.

No, you aren't reading that incorrectly - since the Engineers triumphed over the Purps in their first meeting in 1997, Niagara has won four consecutive matchups against the Engineers. That includes last season's game in Lewiston, an odd affair in which a rash of injuries, a pair of key benchings, and a midweek road trip against a non-league opponent combined to create probably the worst game of the season for RPI.

Niagara is far better known in the Capital District as one of Siena basketball's bigger rivals within the MAAC, but their hockey prowess, especially considering that they are one of the newest D-I varsity programs in the country, is something most people are less aware of.

The lone RPI victory over the Purple Eagles came in Niagara's second season of varsity hockey, their final probationary year before their official entry into Division I as an inaugural member of College Hockey America. In those first two seasons, the Purps filled gaps in their independent schedule with Division III programs, but they impressed in turning in a pair of winning seasons. NU chose to be part of the CHA after declining to join the nascent MAAC hockey conference despite the school's MAAC membership in its other sports - they did not want to be constrained by the MAAC's restrictions on scholarships which still exist in Atlantic Hockey today.

Niagara's best season to date by far was only their fourth as a varsity program. In 1999-2000, under the tutelage of Blaise MacDonald, the program's first head coach, the Purple Eagles dominated the CHA and racked up plenty of eye opening non-conference wins as well, including a win in Lewiston against an Engineers squad that was ranked fifth in the nation at the time. The team swept the CHA regular season and tournament titles on their way to a 29-7-4 record which saw them becoming the first - and to date, only the second - team from a conference outside of the WCHA, CCHA, ECAC, and Hockey East to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, a feat all the more impressive when you consider the fact that the tournament only included 12 teams at that time.

But the impressive Purple Eagles didn't stop there. They famously won their very first NCAA tournament game, dropping a heavily favored New Hampshire team, 4-1, in what was at the time considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.

Niagara would drop back the next year, suffering their first losing season as a varsity program, and MacDonald would depart for UMass-Lowell at the conclusion of the year. Since then, under Burkholder, NU has never truly been out of the mix in the CHA, but they've never been the world-beaters that they were in 2000. 20-win seasons in 2004 and 2008 brought with them their second and third CHA tournament titles and trips to the NCAA tournament, and the Purple Eagles claimed the CHA regular season crowns in 2006 and 2007, but as the CHA endured hardships and struggles to maintain membership, those accomplishments were viewed with a decreasing amount of respect in the hockey world.

Last year, Niagara endured perhaps the worst season of their D-I existence, limping to only 12 wins and losing 20 games for the first time. It was, however, nearly resurrected at the last moment when NU shocked the college hockey world by shooting down high flying Bemidji State, who would have to settle for the CHA's second at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Despite the rough season, the Purple Eagles ended up just an overtime goal away from the four-team CHA's final automatic tournament bid, losing to Alabama-Huntsville in overtime to end their season.

This season, Niagara takes the reluctant step of entering the league they spurned 12 years ago. With the CHA's long expected demise now a reality, the need for the safety of playing within a structured league with an automatic NCAA bid trumped NU's desire to offer a full complement of athletic scholarships. It's too early to tell what this will mean for Niagara's earned pedigree as a minor conference wildcard team - NU has won at least one game against a ranked opponent in every season since 2004, and only four seasons in their history where they didn't - but one thing is for sure: the Purple Eagles have declined in total wins in consecutive seasons for the first time in their history. Either they're on the decline, or they are due for a better season.

Unfortunately for Niagara, they will have a lot of holes to plug after an already difficult season. Their top three scorers last season were all seniors, including Chris Moran, easily the team's best passer with 33 assists, which by itself would have tied him as the team's leading scorer. Senior Paul Zanette returns with 11 goals and 10 assists last season, Haczyk and Paul's younger brother Marc are the returning forwards with the best numbers last year. A glance at NU's incoming freshmen shows a profile similar to RIT's - a lot of older recruits, perhaps the most impressive being Murphy, who put up 31 goals and 41 assists in 48 games for Oakville of the OJHL last season. He will be 21 by the time the season opens.

Defensively, the Purps were rough last year. Each of their three goaltenders got some significant playing time last season, and all ended the year with GAAs over three and save percentages hovering around just 90%. As a team, NU posted a GAA of 3.28.

The Engineers are going to need to take full advantage of their offensive and defensive advantages when the Purple Eagles come into town on the back end of a pseudo-travel partner weekend, as RIT and Niagara will swap between the Capital District pairing in late October. On both sides of the puck, RPI will undoubtedly be boasting better individual talent than Niagara, and playing well as a team will be the key to snapping the program's 4-game losing stream against NU. Perhaps even a reminder of the embarrassing loss suffered at Dwyer Arena last season might spark the Engineers to a Saturday night win - a win that could have the makings to be decisive if they play to potential.

At any rate, unless injuries and benchings are the story of the night for a second straight season, this is a game RPI should be winning and the difference in the team's play between last year's loss and this year's game will, to a small degree, be illustrative of the differences between the two RPI teams.

The Severe Fisking of Bucky Gleason

I hate to do this, because this guy seems to be on the right track in discussing what he wants to discuss, but he trips and falls over himself so many times along the way that it practically requires a fisking.

First, for those that are unaware, the definition of "fisking."

fisking. n. A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic, and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form.

OK. So now that that's out of the way, let me introduce you to one Bucky Gleason. Seems like a decent guy. Covers the Sabres for The Buffalo News. Enthusiastic. Highly supportive of growth for college hockey in the Buffalo area. Sounds sweet, right? Well, let's make sure we've got our ducks in a row before we start making requests here.

If it's obvious to Paul Kelly all the way from his office in Newton, Mass., how can it remain largely overlooked here? Buffalo is one of the premier hockey hotbeds in the country. Check the television ratings. Check the youth leagues. Check the number of ex-NHL players who stick around.

News flash: Hockey is huge in Buffalo no matter how many years sail past without the Sabres winning the Stanley Cup. Thing is, this region could celebrate a major hockey title if college administrators opened their eyes and understood the opportunity before them.

Aaand stop. Gleason starts off on a roll with a number of really good points about why Buffalo is a top hockey hotbed. Having experienced a Sabres game at HSBC Arena this past season, I get that very much. And truth be told, I think there's definitely a room for growth in the region for college hockey. Yes, I agree with the main premise of his argument.

But any college hockey fan will tell you that it takes a lot more than administrators opening their eyes, or having opportunity, to celebrate a major hockey title in college hockey, what the layman would refer to as "the national championship." Ask the University of Michigan how their long streak of NCAA Tournament appearances has translated into "major hockey titles." Their rivals in East Lansing won one a couple of years ago, but they're almost as successful at taking the taco lately. Ask New Hampshire. Ask Colorado College. Ask St. Cloud State. They're all in hockey hotbeds too, and they focus a LOT of attention on their teams, and yet... nothing.

Kelly, the former NHL players' association chief, is now executive director of College Hockey Inc. Basically, his group offers guidance for colleges looking to build bigger, better programs. And what he sees here is a geographic gold mine begging for a major Division I college program that could compete with the best teams in the country.

"Buffalo is a natural," Kelly said. "You're in the center of hockey up there. You're right on the Ontario border. Yes, it would make a great deal of sense, definitely."

OK, OK. Fair points. I'll let him slide on referring to College Hockey Inc. only as an outfit offering guidance to colleges, though to be completely honest, CHI is also focusing big time on lobbying junior A players to maintain their NCAA eligibility and choose college over major juniors. They're going to be a major player in the brewing talent war.

Kelly's absolutely right. Given their geography and their high level of support for the game, Buffalo's a natural location for college hockey to grow. He's also investigating California, which is both intriguing and logical, given their massive population and an ever growing supply of players who hail from the Golden State.

All it takes to tap into our natural resources is vision and commitment, which have been lacking at Canisius, Niagara and the University at Buffalo. The first two have at least made the attempt. UB has no valid excuse for not putting together a program that has the potential to become a national powerhouse quickly.

Heck, it should be an arms race.

(headdesk)

I don't know where to begin here. It's true Canisius and Niagara have "made the attempt." Niagara's even made some strides. But to say UB has "no valid excuse" is laughable, and to say that they have "the potential to become a national powerhouse quickly' is even worse.

No one becomes a national powerhouse quickly. Ask Rico Blasi at Miami. He's been there for 11 seasons, and they weren't all 1st place finishes and Frozen Four appearances. It took him the better part of a decade to build his program into one of the newly dominant programs in the nation - and he wasn't starting from scratch, and he wasn't in a minor conference like Canisius and Niagara are.

Constantly, people are saying that such and such a school has no excuse for not playing varsity hockey. Syracuse and Penn State are usually the most commonly cited schools in the East. Whenever someone says this, they betray the fact that they don't know what goes into starting up a varsity hockey program. It's very expensive - more expensive to start-up than most sports, given the costs of a rink and the machinery necessary to maintain an ice surface, or the generally high cost of renting ice time.

Rochester Institute of Technology became a national contender in five years. RIT last season emerged from Atlantic Hockey, which included Canisius, and reached the Frozen Four. It was a great story, one that could easily be repeated if administrators in our region get their heads out of the sand. This is a no-brainer, a belt-high fastball down the middle.

(facepalm)

A history lesson, Mr. Gleason. Back in 2006, George Mason University shocked the sporting world when they advanced to the Final Four in men's basketball. They were the feel good, Cinderella story of the decade. Did anyone call them "national contenders?" No, and for good reason. They'd done very well in overachieving in a single-elimination tournament, but that's where it ended. They've played in precisely one more NCAA tournament GAME since then, losing to Notre Dame.

Same goes for RIT. They were easily the feel good, Cinderella story of the year in advancing to the Frozen Four. I don't even like them, and I can make that assertion. But if you're putting your money down on them making a repeat appearance in St. Paul next season, I suggest you prepare to lose your bet. It WAS a great story, but the only way it's likely to happen is if coaches and administrators KEEP their heads in the sand when it comes to minor conference teams like RIT this year and Bemidji State last year (although they're no longer minor conference). They're no slouch, but they aren't often going to be world beaters. They did very well in overachieving, but their Frozen Four game with Wisconsin was... less than memorable to say the least. (Personally, I'd rather not have my team there than watch them get systematically torn apart by a vastly superior team, but hey, that's just me.)

Canisius coach Dave Smith has done a terrific job, but he's tangled in an unfair fight despite the pretty campus, excellent academics and rich tradition. Recruiting hits a wall when he's forced to admit the home rink rests — where? — on Buffalo State's campus.

Rumblings had Sabres owner Tom Golisano willing to donate some $10 million toward an on- campus events center, which would house graduation ceremonies, basketball and hockey, if Canisius approached him. School officials are waiting for him to come to them.

Good heavens, people, make it work. Canisius hockey with a 4,000-seat rink could become Miami of Ohio hockey, which spent most of last season as the top-ranked team in the country.

Oh. My. God.

Canisius just needs a 4,000 seat rink in order to become the best team in the country? Hells bells! We've got way more than that at RPI. Where are all of our 1st place votes in the USCHO.com poll? Does it have to be brand new? Well shoot, Quinnipiac should have been at least to the Frozen Four by now if Miami is the model.

Canisius has come a long way from where they were before Dave Smith took over. Cory Conacher wouldn't have even sniffed Canisius before Smith took charge there. They do need an arena of their own if they're going to continue to grow. But let's not get carried away here. They still play in Atlantic Hockey. Their prospects for getting access to a Big Three conference is lower than a lot of their peers in Atlantic Hockey. They won't be in the ECAC anytime soon, either.

Oh, and that "rich tradition" at Canisius? It pales in comparison to other far more established programs. But I'm sure Tom Golisano can just sprinkle his magical fairy dust and fix that.

Niagara was going in the right direction before pulling back when it should have pushed. The Purple Eagles had 18 scholarships and planned to expand Dwyer Arena; then its conference folded. It joined Atlantic Hockey, which allows only 12 scholarships. The concrete had been poured, but why expand the arena after contracting the program?

Contracting the program? Have you been paying attention, Bucky? I know you are, because you referenced this in the passage above. If Niagara hadn't joined Atlantic Hockey, they'd be in a conference with precisely ONE other school, that other school being in ALABAMA. This wasn't something they decided to do in the middle of the night as some kind of cost-saving measure. Niagara's a MAAC school. Atlantic Hockey was once operated by the MAAC, as the MAAC. So why was Niagara never part of the MAAC, Bucky? They didn't want to play with six less scholarships. But when the rest of the teams in your conference up and leave, what are you supposed to do? Dangle in the wind, or accept the shelter of another conference when they come calling? It was a no-brainer decision. Now they've got to figure out how to operate with six fewer scholarships. Does that mean they're "contracting the program?" Of course not! Strangely enough, Niagara can't just show up on the CCHA or the ECAC's doorstep and demand entrance just because they want a full complement of scholarships. It doesn't work that way.

And then there's UB, which could build a major D-I contender in no time. The backward thinking common in state government suggests a lack of funding is the problem. Top officials haven't caught on to the idea that strong hockey programs often turn a profit. Just ask Michigan.

OK, sure. Ask Michigan. Then ask, oh, I don't know, practically anyone else. There are a lot of strong hockey programs that are nowhere near turning a profit. What makes you think that UB, which would be starting off with no hockey pedigree whatsoever other than that of their region, and zero college hockey credibility, would turn a profit at any time in the next 50 years? Look at RPI. It's true, Albany's not a major hockey hotbed. It's not even where it was 15 years ago. But RPI's at least got its college hockey pedigree to play with, and we're not even close to turning a profit, even when we were winning national championships. UB doesn't even have that. So how exactly are they supposed to be a "major D-I contender in no time?"

My fantasy: Canisius and Niagara leave Atlantic Hockey, which has 12 teams but only one automatic bid. Ivy League schools band together, as they do in other sports. Toss Canisius, Niagara, RIT, UB, Mercyhurst, St. Lawrence, Clarkson and perhaps Syracuse, if it also wakes up, into a new conference.

It seems like a natural.

(headdesk) (headdesk) (headdesk)

First things first. "Atlantic Hockey has 12 teams but only one automatic bid?" NO WAY! So does the ECAC! So did the CCHA for the last 10 years! So will the WCHA (by the numbers, the best top-to-bottom league in the nation) next season when they expand to 12 teams! Hockey East's only got 10 teams but hey, they've only got one automatic bid, TOO!

People playing "create your own conference" is such a pet peeve of mine, especially when its done haphazardly and especially when you toss in teams without existing programs, like you could point your finger and say, "hey, you. Start a program, NOW." We've already gone over why that's silly. It's something of a running joke on the USCHO.com message board that uninformed newbies start trying to split Harvard off from the rest of the Ivies and put them into Hockey East, or put both Alaska schools in the same conference (they're split for a reason), or... you know, create other mash-up conferences that revolve around nothing but geography and disregard everything else, including traditional rivalries and associations. Clarkson and RPI were rumored back in the 1980s to be part of the Hockey East split, but they stayed put to maintain their associations with the Ivies. Why would Clarkson leave Cornell and Harvard behind for... Canisius, Buffalo, and Mercyhurst?

By the way, Syracuse "if it wakes up" isn't starting a men's program any time soon. They got a generous donation with a mandate to start a hockey team, and they cut a bunch of programs in order to start... a women's team. And where's Robert Morris, while you're at it? They've got a rink on campus, they've got an association with a professional team, and they fit geographically. I'd think they'd be the kings of that league, right?

Bucky, is this new league of yours going to get more than one automatic bid? If so, I'd like to know why. I mean, is it purely on the awesome factor? Help me out here.

Here's the long and the short of it. Bucky's right about Buffalo having all kinds of potential for college hockey, but the enthusiasm needs to be a little more muted, because none of the reasons he gave for the potential or the speed with which that potential can be reached are in any way reasonable.

And come on, Bucky! Where's the mention that the Frozen Four was in Buffalo in 2003. Where's the mention that Buffalo had an unsuccessful bid for the 2013/2014 Frozen Fours? The many Division III programs in Western New York? Come on!

Homework. Please, writers, do your homework before you start talking about something on this kind of scale.

at Niagara (11/18)

Conventional wisdom had it that this was a classic "trap game" for the Engineers to have to contend with just a few days after a decent showing in the North Country and starting off the ECAC schedule with a 3-1-0 record. Conventional wisdom turned out to be right, but not nearly in the way anyone had expected as RPI was drubbed 4-1 by a then-winless Niagara team last Wednesday night.

Niagara
Kerins/Polacek/Halpern
D'Amigo/Pirri/O'Grady
Watts/Malchuk/Rabbani
Vassel/Beauregard/Smith

Kennedy/Merth
Brutlag/Burgdoerfer
Zarbo/Foss

York

Take a good look at that lineup. Yeah, what a mess. Let's run down the list. Tyler Helfrich missed his 7th straight game with an ankle injury, C.J. Lee his third straight with a still unknown malady, and Mike Bergin his second in a row after suffering a Grade I concussion in Potsdam. Furthermore, offensive sparks Patrick Cullen and Alex Angers-Goulet were left behind in Troy as healthy scratches for the game as Seth Appert attempted to provide both sophomores, and really, the rest of the team, with a wake-up call. Cullen and Angers-Goulet have been mired in what some would call a sophomore jinx, but Appert is also of the opinion that they simply were not playing hard enough - “Healthy scratch for their wildly inconsistent play," he told the Troy Record. "Nothing to do with discipline, they’re just not playing hard." He described Angers-Goulet as "soft as puppy poop" in the North Country and said Cullen was too consumed with scoring goals and being on the power play.

All of the scratches led to a very short-handed Engineers squad - "The People's Line" of Jerry D'Amigo, Brandon Pirri, and Marty O'Grady was the only usual line heading out intact on Wednesday. Additionally, juniors Mark Zarbo and Kevin Beauregard each saw their first action of the season, for Beauregard, it was only his second career game.

With the hodge-podge lineup, expectations were significantly lowered from the get-go and even those were not met. After a less than stellar first half of the first period, Niagara got on the board first with a goal from freshman Brent Vandenberg, but neither team played particularly well in the first 20 minutes. Shots were 6-6 after one.

After Vandenberg was sent off for a dangerous hit on D'Amigo, the Engineers went on their third power play of the game, and it didn't take long for Paul Kerins to net his third goal of the season, from Chase Polacek and Bryan Brutlag, to tie the game at one. For a moment, it appeared as though the Engineers might turn the tide in their favor and start rolling.

That's when the penalty kill decided to start laying a giant egg. Kerins went off for hooking six minutes after scoring, and just seconds later, Jeff Foss took a delayed penalty for boarding that gave Niagara an extra attacker. Vandenberg scored for the second time to make it 2-1. Kerins came out of the box, and Foss went in to begin his penalty. A minute later, another Niagara power play goal made it 3-1 Purple Eagles.

The penalty killing problem carried over into the third period. During an RPI power play, Justin Smith was called for tripping, and after the 4-on-4 ran out, the Purple Eagles scored on their 3rd consecutive power play, making it 4-1 and pretty much putting a seal on things the way the Engineers had been playing at even strength since the back-to-back Kerins and Foss penalties in the 2nd. By that point Niagara was 3-for-5 on the power play, while RPI was 1-for-4. Both teams would get another power play chance before the end of the game, but no more scoring was in store as the Engineers had one of their worst played games of the season - though it was not terribly surprising given the personnel that they had available and playing.

Some of the "bedwetters" have crawled out from under the rocks where they were hiding following back-to-back losses to St. Lawrence and Niagara over the course of five days. One person on the RPISPORT-L list even brought up the tired line of questioning Coach Appert's ability.

Needless to say, I'm not terribly concerned about the Niagara game, and in two weeks, it'll scarcely be remembered at all. If there was a game to use for an "attention grabber" for guys who needed a healthy scratch to remind them that playing time isn't an absolute right, this was it: on the road, non-league, in the middle of the week. This was an expendable game. In two weeks, Cornell and Colgate are coming to town - that promises to be the most difficult home weekend yet. When do we want these lessons to be learned? In a throwaway road game in the middle of the week, or in crucial ECAC games at home?

Bear in mind that the Engineers should mostly be back to full strength by their next game this Friday. Helfrich is fully expected to be back in the lineup, Bergin will more than likely be back, and Cullen and Angers-Goulet have served their penance and will be back in the lineup. Lee is still a question mark, but having four of the five back in the lineup will be a huge boost compared to the last two games that RPI has played.

Other junk - RPI, much to my surprise, lost only half of its votes in the USCHO.com poll this week, falling to 8 from 16 last week. Ranked ECAC teams are #7 Cornell (down two after beating Princeton and losing to Quinnipiac), #9 Quinnipiac (up four after sweeping Colgate/Cornell), #11 Yale (down two after losing to UMass and beating Brown in OT), and #20 Colgate, ranked for the first time this season. Princeton (fell out from #19 after being swept by Cornell/Colgate, 18 votes) Union (idle, 16 votes) and St. Lawrence (beat Harvard and lost to Dartmouth, 2 votes) also received votes.

Individual Engineers fell in the national statistics following the one goal effort. Polacek's lone assist gives him 17 points, but he fell from 5th to 11th in that category. His 9 goals are now 7th in the nation. Brandon Pirri's 12 points is now 6th in the nation in points by a freshman, down from 2nd.

Next up is the 59th annual RPI Holiday Tournament, still the longest running in-season tournament in college hockey (a year longer than the Beanpot). On Friday, they face Bentley (1st appearance) and on Saturday will take on either Union (6th appearance, 2-8 all time) or Lake Superior State (3rd appearance, 3-1 all time, 1997 champs). RPI will play at 7 pm on Saturday regardless of whether they beat Bentley or not, meaning that, like last year, the championship game may actually be played before the consolation game. Realistically, the Engineers would probably like a shot at Lake State on Saturday night - they face Union at the Field House a week and a half later anyway, and beating a CCHA team is always helpful when it comes time to jockey for position in the computer rankings later in the season.

Hopefully, the Engineers have a chip on their shoulder from last year, when Bentley embarrassed them at home, 4-3 in overtime. The Falcons are doing fairly decent in Atlantic Hockey this season, but this is still a game RPI needs to be winning, especially at or almost at 100% health for the first time in a month.

ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 12 pts
2. Colgate - 9 pts
3. Cornell - 8 pts
4. RPI - 6 pts (4 games, 3 wins)
5. Union - 6 pts (4 games, 2 wins)
6. Yale - 6 pts (5 games)
7. St. Lawrence - 6 pts (6 games)
8. Princeton - 5 pts
9. Harvard - 4 pts
10. Clarkson - 3 pts
11. Dartmouth - 2 pts
12. Brown - 1 pt

By Winning Pct.
1. Quinnipiac 1.000
T-2 Colgate, RPI, and Union .750
5. Cornell .667
6. Yale .600
7. St. Lawrence .500
8. Princeton .417
9. Harvard .286
10. Clarkson .250
11. Dartmouth .143
12. Brown .100


RPI at Niagara
Non-Conference Game - Dwyer Arena (Lewiston, NY)
11/18/09 - 7:00 pm
RESULT: Niagara 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats: http://www.collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/mniaren1.n18
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/?date=20091118&vis=rpi&home=niag&gender=m
RECAPS
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2009/11/18/MHOCK_1118092750.aspx
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20092010/m/11/18/rpi-niag.php
Troy Record: http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2009/11/18/sports/doc4b04c8e0853c8829737154.txt
Albany Times-Union: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=867886&category=SPORTS
Niagara Gazette: http://www.niagara-gazette.com/sports/gnnsports_story_322230721.html
RECORD: 7-5-1 (3-1-0 ECAC, 6 pts)

Reale Deals
1. F Paul Kerins, 1 G, 7 shots
2. F Chase Polacek, 1 A, 2 shots
3. D Bryan Brutlag, 1 A, 1 shot

Upcoming Games
27 Nov - Bentley (RPI Holiday Hockey Tournament)
28 Nov - Union/Lake Superior State (RPI Holiday Hockey Tournament)
04 Dec - #7 Cornell
05 Dec - #20 Colgate
09 Dec - Union

--
MEN’S HOCKEY

Rensselaer went 0-1-0 last week, dropping a non-league contest at Niagara (4-1) on Wednesday. Senior Paul Kerins (Weston, ON) notched the lone goal for the Engineers.

RPI is back on the ice this weekend, when it hosts the 59th Annual RPI Holiday Tournament at the Houston Field House. The Engineers open against Bentley on Friday (7pm) and will face either Lake Superior State or Union on Saturday (7pm). Live stats for all four tournament games will be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/mhockey/index.htm and can also be seen live on a pay-per-view basis with B2 Networks at http://www.b2livetv.com/. The game will also be broadcast courtesy of WRPI radio on 91.5 FM or log on to www.wrpi.org and click on sports.