Know Your Enemy: Yale

It's been over 20 years since an ECAC team even played for a national championship - that would be Colgate in 1990. This week's profiled team, for much of last season, seemed as though they would potentially make a run at snapping that run. In fact, this team probably brought more national attention to the ECAC than it's had in at least a decade, but they faltered down the stretch.

Yale
Nickname: Bulldogs
Location: New Haven, CT
Founded: 1701
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2011
Last Frozen Four: 1952
Coach: Keith Allain (6th season)
2010-11 Record: 28-7-1 (17-4-1 ECAC, 2nd place)
Series: RPI leads, 52-39-6
First Game: January 22, 1909 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: January 29, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Last YU win: December 3, 2010 (New Haven, CT)

2011-12 games: November 11, 2011 (Troy, NY); January 21, 2012 (New Haven, CT)

Key players: F Brian O'Neill, sr.; F Kevin Limbert, sr.; F Chad Ziegler, sr.; D Kevin Peel, sr.; D Nick Jaskowiak, sr.; F Andrew Miller, jr.; D Colin Dueck, jr.; F Kenny Agostino, so.; F Trent Ruffolo, fr.; D Bennett Carroccio, fr.; F Matt Killian, fr.; D Alan Thompson, fr.

Key losses: F Broc Little; F Chris Cahill; F Denny Kearney; F Brendan Mason; D Jimmy Martin; D Mike Matczak; D Ken Trentowski; G Ryan Rondeau

Previous KYE installment:

• 2010-11

Yale's long tenure as the #1 ranked team in the weekly USCHO.com poll was the subject of much consternation in the Internet discussion circles last season. We made our opinion known very firmly at the time - they most certainly were for real and in the middle of the season had a legitimate claim to be the best team in the nation. Literally every single part of their game succeeded at a high level for much of the year, including their goaltending, which was the major question mark coming into the season. Ryan Rondeau had a tremendous year in net, propelling the Bulldogs to the cusp of their first Frozen Four in almost 60 years.

Champions are not made in December and January, however. They may be bred then, but they're made in February and March, and that's when Yale struggled last season. Well... struggled might be too strong of a word - the Bulldogs were actually 11-3-1 in the last stretch, but they did drop some games at inopportune times, and began to look a little more human. It started with a rough trip to the Capital District, losing back-to-back games for the only time all year against Union and in the Freakout! against RPI. The Eli defense started to look a little more human following that weekend.

Yale did, however, put away their second ECAC title in three years with a solid run in the league tournament. After being upset by St. Lawrence (for the second time in four weeks) in Game 1 of the quarterfinals, the Bulldogs whipped off four wins in a row to claim the championship, including three straight shutouts and a 6-0 pasting of Cornell in Atlantic City.

The nominal home team in the East Regional in Bridgeport, Yale was the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, but played poorly on the big stage, requiring overtime to get past Atlantic Hockey champions Air Force before spotting three goals to Minnesota-Duluth, the eventual national champions, in the regional final.

Overall, still a roundly successful year for Yale all things considered, but they certainly do take a pretty solid hit talentwise. Little, Cahill, and Kearney were all key elements of Yale's ruthless offense throughout their careers, Martin and Matczak were excellent at moving the puck, and Rondeau of course took the team's lone weakness last season and turned it into a strength.

On any other team, those losses would easily mean a rebuilding season, but Yale was beastly enough last year that they should still be a solid contender, perhaps even one of the early favorites to lead the league as they have been for the last several campaigns under Keith Allain. O'Neill and Miller were the top scorers on the team last season, and Agostino is a star in the making after an outstanding freshman season that was a little overshadowed by the team's successes. There are also plenty of other names that could step in and have an impact, including freshman Ruffolo.

At the end of the day, Yale is still going to be a dangerous team offensively. The question here is with defense. The Bulldogs lose three of their regular starters, and it will be incumbent upon names like sophomore Gus Young (who made only five appearances last year), Carroccio, and Thompson to pick up the slack - though Peel and Jaskowiak do provide senior leadership. The bigger question is once again in net - like last year, Yale will come in with three goaltenders and no firm top choice. Juniors Jeff Malcolm and Nick Maricic both had rough freshman campaigns and limited action as sophomores behind Rondeau - Malcolm played in two games and had a GAA of about four, and Maricic came on in relief on three occasions. They are joined by freshman Connor Wilson, out of Chicago of the USHL.

The bottom line is that at the end of the day, Yale's outlook is very similar to where it was at this time last year - perhaps not quite as strong if only because of the youth factor (nine freshmen), but if they get some good goaltending, they could be a very, very difficult team to take down. RPI has met the Bulldogs blow for blow over the past two seasons (going 3-1-0 and outscoring them 16-8), though they may be hard pressed to do it again without Allen York and Chase Polacek in the lineup, both of whom were frequently huge against the Elis. Ultimately, given the similar uptempo styles of the Engineers and Bulldogs, the games between the two sides will be contests you almost certainly will not want to miss, because they're going to be fun no matter how they turn out - they're much different than your average everyday ECAC matchup.

Excellence, Leadership, and Community

You know what today is? It's Monday. Yes, it's the first of the mooooooooonth. First day of August. Last full month without college hockey since the women get underway with an exhibition game in late September. Freshmen will begin arriving on campus this month, with captain's practices and then classes shortly to follow.

There's one other thing going on today that should be considered, however - the lifting of the NCAA's four-year moratorium on Division I membership. For the last four years, no school has been allowed to move their athletic program from D-II or D-III (or the NAIA) into the nation's top level.

With all that's going on in this offseason, it does beg the question - is this something RPI should consider?

During the Prop 65 debates in late 2003, the Institute began investigating contingency options for the proposal's passage. Having been a minor party to some of the discussions at the time, the option to move the entire athletic program to Division I was certainly explored. One of the more popular rumors had RPI and Johns Hopkins (which was similarly fighting for its lacrosse scholarships) joining the Patriot League, a D-I conference which consists of American University, Army, Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, and Navy as full members, with Fordham and Georgetown included for football (replacing Army and Navy, which play as independents at the highest D-I level).

A couple of weeks back, we discussed the possibility of RPI having the opportunity and the option to move to Hockey East. We discussed some of the pros and cons from both RPI and Hockey East's vantage point. BC Interruption, an all-BC blog, examined those pros and cons a few days later, coming to the conclusion that the con of RPI's Division III status might be a hurdle that would keep them from being considered, which was one of the things we expected Hockey East might not be too thrilled with.

But even if we lay Hockey East aside for a moment, is Division I a good fit for RPI? It's not outside the realm of possibility, especially if we're still talking about the Patriot League, which in many ways is Division I's answer to Atlantic Hockey. It started out as a cost-containment league without any athletic scholarships to speak of whatsoever, but that changed a little over a decade ago when American University was added to the conference's numbers. Today, athletic aid is available in every sport but the usually scholarship-heavy sport of football, which is limited to need-based aid, just as with all aid in Division III.

In 2003, when the idea was approached, it was obvious that the Institute's facilities were a huge stumbling block moving forward. The East Campus Athletic Village only existed on paper - but now that it is a reality, it is far less of a concern. ECAV Stadium and ECAV Arena are admittedly small by Division I standards, but neither would be the smallest and both have room for growth. Houston Field House, too, is just yards away if a much bigger capacity is needed for basketball games - they have been held there in the past, and the renovated Field House has been called a centerpiece of the ECAV.

RPI's position as a "small school" in the grander scheme of things, is largely linked to their Division III status. Yet, in the Patriot League, by enrollment, the Institute would be outpaced only by Lehigh and American. By selectivity, if that's an important metric, RPI actually fits better in the Patriot League than it does in the Liberty League, its current home.

There are a number of positives that could be gained from a move to Division I. Remember that Ivy League connection we said the school cherished about its ECAC membership? Well, basically every Patriot League program has at least one or two non-conference games against the Ivy League on a yearly basis.

Locally, there's really not much of a college football scene outside of RPI and Union - though UAlbany's clearly trying to grab the brass ring with their new stadium proposal. A Division I (FCS) program, even one without scholarships, would be an instant attraction.

Division I would also potentially grant RPI access to the biggest sport scene of all in the Capital District - college basketball. It's owned by Siena, but UAlbany has their own following, and a third team could make for some very interesting local rivalries indeed.

The impetus for ECAV is found in the pages of the Rensselaer Plan, a set of operational guidelines the school has followed for over a decade which has as its stated goal, "[t]o achieve greater prominence in the 21st century as a top-tier world-class technological research university with global reach and global impact." Now, athletics doesn't directly make us that world-class technological research university. But at its core, the Rensselaer Plan is about striving to be the best in everything that we do as a school, as students, faculty, and alumni alike. It could be argued that Division I athletics would be a part of that aim. As the plan says, "three fundamental markers will drive our actions: excellence, leadership, and community."

Of course, there are plenty of downsides to the idea, too. Those traditional rivalries we talked about in the Hockey East discussion wouldn't just be compromised, they'd be gone. No more Dutchmen's Shoes. No more baseball and basketball rivalries with Union and Clarkson. Those would definitely be a thing of the past, and that definitely wouldn't be easy to say goodbye to.

Hockey's special status would potentially be in jeopardy as well. Hockey is part of the school's identity in part because its Division I separation from the rest of the athletic program sets it apart. If the school were to change that, it would potentially be threatened by the two sports much more followed nationally - football and basketball.

There's also the scholarship question. Does the school want to commit to scholarships for its athletes in other sports? Would some sports get the shaft - to include a potential ax? If so, which ones?

This is all just food for thought as the possibility becomes real again. We don't have an opinion on whether RPI should try to make this move, because the negatives are very difficult to tangle with, and the positives are far from assured. What do you think?

Social Media - Helping RPI Students and Alumni Have A Social Life Since 2004

Just a quick and friendly reminder... if you're only following us here at the blog, you really aren't getting the full Without a Peer experience - social media plays a big role. Our Twitter and Facebook presence isn't just superfluous, but rather, it enhances our ability to get news out to you, our loyal readers, on a timely basis.

We try to update three times a week (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) during the offseason, at least, after the hangover from the previous season wears off sometime in June. We try to update at least once a day during the season.

However, when news breaks, we aren't going to quickly blog about it unless it's something worth going into detail about. That's why we've got Twitter and Facebook as integral parts of WaP.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest, most up-to-date news on RPI, the ECAC, and the college hockey world. If it's news and you're reading it here on the blog, chances are pretty good we may have mentioned it on the Twitter feed already. Tweets occur on an as-needed basis. During the offseason (if it ever starts), there could be weeks without tweets. During games, there will be regular updates on what's happening on the ice as we live tweet the action. Got a comment? Tweet to us! If it's something we can answer or is more than just snark or trash-talk, we'll probably tweet back.

Like us on Facebook (which you can do by clicking the "like" button over there on the right side of the page), and get updates when WaP has a new blog posting worth checking out, get (mostly) exclusive multimedia like video and pictures, and participate in poll questions about RPI hockey.

Then of course, there are the podcasts. We tried to bring on guests we thought you'd like to hear from once a week throughout the season. We'd hoped to be able to continue them through the summer on a monthly basis, but unfortunately the time required to put into them hasn't been readily available over what's been a very busy summer.

What are your feelings on the podcasts? Did you get anything out of them last year? Would you like them to continue or would you not miss them if you went away? They are a bit time consuming to put together, so if there's not much demand for continuing them, it might be a case where we could put our time to better use improving other parts of the site. Please, comment below.

Thanks again for your loyal readership through the summer and into the 2011-12 season... let's go Red!

Know Your Enemy: St. Lawrence

The North Country teams don't finish at the bottom of the table very frequently, so when it happens, it's a bit of a shocking experience. Clarkson did it in the 2009-10 season, and this week's team very nearly did it last year, narrowly avoiding the basement, which they haven't seen since 1980, but enduring a difficult season nonetheless.

St. Lawrence
Nickname: Saints
Location: Canton, NY
Founded: 1856
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2007
Last Frozen Four: 2000
Coach: Joe Marsh (27th season)
2010-11 Record: 13-22-5 (6-15-1 ECAC, 11th place)
Series: SLU leads, 75-51-6
First Game: January 3, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: January 8, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Last SLU win: February 18, 2011 (Canton, NY)

2011-12 games: November 5, 2011 (Canton, NY); January 27, 2012 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Peter Child, sr.; F Jacob Drewiske, sr.; D Jordan Dewey, jr.; F Kyle Flanagan, jr.; D George Hughes, jr.; D Justin Baker, so.; F Greg Carey, so.; F Kyle Essery, so.; D Pat Raley, so.; G Matt Weninger, so.; F Alex Hagen, fr.; F Gunnar Hughes, fr.

Key losses: F Aaron Bogosian, F Nick Pitsikoulis, F Sean Flanagan, F Jared Keller, D Matt Raley

Previous KYE installment:

• 2010-11

Last year we predicted that St. Lawrence might have a rough year, and even the great Joe Marsh was unable to keep that from becoming the reality in Canton. With a freshman goaltender and a relatively young defensive corps, the Saints went winless in October while giving up a ton of goals. After a shocking sweep of Colgate and Cornell - shocking at the time, though Cornell got off to a very slow start themselves and Colgate ultimately kept SLU out of the cellar - the Saints struggled through the rest of the year, taking no more than two points on any given league weekend.

There were flashes of potential from the Saints late in the season, however, especially a game in Canton that the Engineers got to witness firsthand in February. RPI made a few mistakes against St. Lawrence in that tilt, but by and large, it was a game that was more won by St. Lawrence than lost by the Tute. Most notable in that contest was a pair of goals scored by rookie forward Greg Carey, who led the Saints in scoring with 23 goals and 40 points (and was WaP's choice for rookie of the year).

Weninger had some serious growing pains in net, but he did pick up three of his seven wins in March, helping backstop the Saints to a first-round upset of Princeton and a game one victory over the eventual ECAC champions, Yale. But for a St. Lawrence team that regularly gave up three or more goals - an eye-popping 26 times last year - the defense needs to be stronger. Matt Raley's departure won't make that easy, and Child is the only senior defenseman on the squad, which will have largely the same defensive corps as last year, just a year older.

Offensively, Carey does have some assistance with Kyle Flanagan and Drewiske, though they're going to be needed to pick up the slack left by the departure of Bogosian and Pitsikoulis, who combined for 25 goals last year. Essery may be ready for a solid second campaign as well.

In the end, Weninger's growth may dictate whether the Saints are able to make a run or whether they will largely resemble their rivals up Route 11, just with more offensive spark. Carey could be a legitimate star in this league in the years to come, and sometimes that's all you need to get a few goals and sneak out with wins like they did against the Engineers in February. If Weninger and his defense can be more consistent, St. Lawrence will be a dangerous team to play - they might not blow you away, but they'll certainly make you work.

Tsunami Watch: Western Redux

Now that everything we ever knew about college hockey is basically wrong, it's time to re-examine the moving parts out west again, since everything we discussed in previous editions of Tsunami Watch with regards to those teams has changed somewhat.

By the way, we've been talking like this is all going down right away... 2013 is when the actual shifting will all take place. So we've at least got two more seasons of relative calm as it pertains to the actual product on the ice.

Big Ten: The Big Ten is still pretty much hunky dory. There's not much out there that is going to change, given the league's status not just as an all-sports conference, but as one of the BCS conferences. It's worth mentioning, I suppose, that because of the Big Ten's status as a new hockey conference, the teams within will have to forego an automatic bid to the national tournament in 2014 and 2015 due to the NCAA's requirement that new conferences wait for two years before receiving an autobid.

NCHC: The six teams that currently make up the NCHC are all set - North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha, and Miami. Chances are pretty solid that they'd like to bring in at least one or two more teams, and Notre Dame is number one on that list, no question. More on them (and the other candidates) later. Like the Big Ten, the NCHC will have to forego an autobid until 2016, though it would be beyond shocking if the league's members didn't earn an at-large or two at minimum.

WCHA: The five remaining schools - Alaska-Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, and St. Cloud State, appear to be rallying around the WCHA flag. There's no doubt that this league will be signifcantly weaker than the one we have known, and the MnSCU institutions (Bemidji, Mankato, and St. Cloud) are poised to take a leading role in the future of the conference.

Northern Michigan: They're on their way back to the WCHA, which they played in from 1984 through 1997. This reunites the Wildcats with their rivals from Michigan Tech, and it puts the WCHA back on somewhat more secure footing as NMU becomes the sixth team. If nothing else, the WCHA will continue to have their automatic bid come 2013 - the question now is whether the league can stay strong enough to be able to produce an at-large bid as well.

Notre Dame: We started out with Notre Dame as the pivot, but the NCHC clearly wasn't willing to wait to see what the Irish would do and took the second step themselves. Now we've got a third step with NMU moving to the WCHA and we could see other teams reacting to the Big Ten/NCHC combination, but no future step will be as big as where Notre Dame ends up. There are really only two options here - either the NCHC or Hockey East. The WCHA is no longer a viable option following the NCHC split since it doesn't offer the Irish anything they wouldn't get out of staying in the CCHA, which is now even less of an option as teams continue to bail. Word has it that the hockey staff prefers the NCHC, while the administration - i.e. the ones who will more than likely be making the final decision - are said to prefer Hockey East. What remains to be seen is whether the hockey people can influence the administration enough to get what they'd like.

We've already discussed the ins and outs of Notre Dame to Hockey East, what about the NCHC? From the administration's perspective, the NCHC is, like the CCHA following the Big Ten split, full of programs that may be hockey powers, but aren't among giants in other sports. The hockey people are certainly drawn to the regional hockey power aspect of the NCHC.

Western Michigan: Of the programs that make up "the rest," WMU actually seems to have the most options on the table. It's reported that they have a standing offer to join the NCHC. They could instead choose to follow NMU to the WCHA. They could hang with some of their CCHA conference mates and try to form the nucleus of a new CCHA. There are even rumors out there that WMU might be welcome in Hockey East if Notre Dame chooses that route, given the proximity of Kalamazoo to South Bend.

The last one is kind of a longshot - there's not much need for a team right near Notre Dame unless Hockey East decides to move to an ECAC-esque travel partner system, which doesn't make a great deal of sense. Right now, the most likely move appears to be a move into the NCHC to follow their Mid-American Conference brethren from Miami. The NCHC isn't doling out invitations on the cheap, and once WMU settles in with a new coach, they could well become the seventh team in the NCHC, though life would certainly not be easy for them there - they'd be a minnow among giants, at least at first.

Alaska: The Nanooks are in a tight spot. We've touched on why it's a bad idea for both Alaska schools to be in the same conference, and yet, when it comes to their survival, it might just end up happening anyway. Rumor has it that Alaska will apply for WCHA membership, which would put them with their rivals from Anchorage in what would then be an eight-team conference. That would almost certainly necessitate yearly trips to Alaska for the entire WCHA and require both UAF and UAA to get creative with non-conference games, but with the CCHA's existence in question, the Nanooks (and the Seawolves, who do depend on UAF for some games) probably feel that it's in their best interest to get themselves into an existing league.

Bowling Green: The Falcons, like their MAC colleagues from Western Michigan, also have options, but theirs are a little hazier. They could try for the WCHA, but they're a little far away from the rest of the conference and they'd be the only Division I program unless WMU decides on that path. They could stick around in the CCHA, especially if WMU chooses that path. NCHC or Hockey East bids would both be longshots.

Lake Superior State and Ferris State: These schools are absolutely stuck in limbo until something else happens. Neither are appealing to the WCHA or the NCHC due to the size of the schools and their geographic locations - which means they could well be dependent on the eventual survival of the CCHA in order to have a conference in 2013. They'll need to be proactive in recruiting new members, because it's going to require more than a few, and they're almost certainly going to come from Atlantic Hockey and the independent ranks (of which, there is only one, who we're getting to). That is a very difficult position to be in. They could forseeably try for WCHA membership, but remember, that conference is now completely comprised of smaller schools with smaller budgets and still involves a school from Alaska, if not two. The footprint can't grow by much more.

Niagara, Robert Morris, Mercyhurst, and Canisius: Recent reports have these four programs, known to be interested in moving up in the world, in discussions with the CCHA about joining that conference. The biggest problem right now? It's hard to know exactly what teams are concerned with the makeup of the CCHA in 2013. It seems that there's at most four - LSSU, Ferris, and maybe BGSU and/or WMU. That's a tough place to start from. One thing that is generally agreed upon here is that these four schools are almost certainly going to want to come into an Alaska-free CCHA. The inclusion of these four institutions would move the CCHA's footprint east, but it would guarantee the conference a minimum of six programs, even if four of them were new to the conference.

Air Force: If the above four teams leave Atlantic Hockey, it puts some additional pressure on Air Force to consider the new-look WCHA since it would leave AHA basically with Air Force, RIT, Holy Cross, and an assortment of low-budget or low-attention programs. The difficulty now, though, is that a WCHA comprised entirely of Minnesota, Alaska, and Upper Peninsula schools may not be terribly keen on bringing in a Colorado school, especially when both Alaska schools are involved.

Alabama-Huntsville: If the Big Ten was the best thing that could happen for UAH given the log-jam created by four full conferences and an 11-team CCHA unwilling to bring the Chargers on, the formation of the NCHC is probably one of the worst. It puts the power teams of the west, the ones with the most money and therefore most willing to bring in a team that requires more travel than the average program, into elite segments that UAH cannot hope to break into. That leaves the Chargers with two options - a CCHA largely comprised of teams that did not support their inclusion in the past, or an Atlantic Hockey that has lost some of its current programs. As with the Atlantic Hockey teams looking at the CCHA, UAH would almost certainly require Alaska to move out of the conference before they would be considered, but for the opposite reason: the existing schools of the CCHA would not be willing to deal with both UAH and UAF in the same conference, but might be more willing to stomach the Chargers without also having the Nanooks around.

MSU-Moorhead: WHO? Oh, you don't know the Dragons? That's probably because they don't have a varsity program. And yes, I said I wasn't going to engage in rampant speculation over schools without programs, but Moorhead has gone beyond speculation, announcing a fundraising drive last week for what they hope will be a new program in the near future. As a MnSCU school - the "MSU" stands for Minnesota State University - the Dragons would fit perfectly into the WCHA, given its new outlook. Let's not count them in quite yet, but they're hoping to be able to make an announcement of a new program in the coming months, so they're worth keeping an eye on.

So that's about where we stand right now. Waiting to see who the WCHA's new suitors are, what Notre Dame is going to do, and who WMU (and Northeastern, by the by) chooses as their new coach. Join us next time for another exciting edition of "As the Tsunami Turns."

Your 2011-12 (and beyond) RPI Engineers

OK, we've waited long enough.

Usually, the Institute drops its press release on incoming recruits in late May or early June, which essentially confirms the roster for the coming season. That still hasn't happened, mostly because of Allen York's departure necessitating a third goaltender and the long unsure nature of just which goaltender we'd see on campus this fall - Jason Kasdorf (who was selected by his hometown Winnipeg Jets in this year's draft) had been scheduled to replace York in 2012 and Scott Diebold (who committed after York's departure) had been noted in several places as a 2012 arrival as well. It is now known that Diebold will be arriving on campus.

We've got a pretty good idea at this point what the class will look like, so without further ado, let's take a look at the 2011-12 RPI Engineers.

Forwards

Gone: Chase Polacek, Tyler Helfrich, Bryan Brutlag, Scott Halpern and Kevin Beauregard.

Returning: Brock Higgs, C.J. Lee, Joel Malchuk, Marty O'Grady, Josh Rabbani, Alex Angers-Goulet, Patrick Cullen, Greg Burgdoerfer, Johnny Rogic, Matt Tinordi and Justin Smith.

Arriving: Jacob Laliberté, Matt Neal, Ryan Haggerty, Mark McGowan and Zach Schroeder.

It's never easy replacing a two-time Hobey Baker finalist, but the Engineers do have some guys returning and arriving that can pick up the slack a little. Polacek and Helfrich led the team in goals by a solid amount, and Brutlag was also a very solid contributor on both ends of the ice. Of the returning forwards, Higgs, Lee and O'Grady seem poised to lead offensively, and the Engineer faithful continue to hope for a return to form from Cullen, who just hasn't put up the same numbers he did as a freshman in the last two years (though the same was true of Tyler Helfrich last year, and he came out with a terrific senior season). Rogic may also be more of an offensive factor this year, while Malchuk and Rabbani will almost certainly be reliable as the grinders we've come to know and love. Throw in one of the best defensive forwards in the ECAC in Angers-Goulet and you've got a well rounded group of forwards coming back, even if the ones who got the headlines last year aren't.

Five very talented incoming forwards will almost certainly have a significant role as well, though it's always tough to know exactly what you'll get out of freshmen. Laliberté and Neal are, without a doubt, future leaders on this team and they could well be very big contributors right out of the gate, similar to Jerry D'Amigo and Brandon Pirri (though, both undrafted, they should have longer careers in Troy). Haggerty, of course, comes from the elite US Under-18 team and should see lots of ice time, Schroeder was one of the top high school players in Minnesota last year, and McGowan had strong numbers in Ontario as well. It's going to be exciting to find out exactly what these guys will bring to the table once the games get underway - especially Laliberté, who RPI fans have been waiting for with bated breath for years.

Defensemen

Gone: John Kennedy and Jeff Foss.

Returning: Nick Bailen, Mike Bergin, Pat Koudys, Guy Leboeuf and Bo Dolan.

Arriving: Luke Curadi, Curtis Leonard, and a player to be named later.

Obviously, a pair of leaders like Kennedy and Foss will be missed, but the core of the defensemen that helped make RPI successful last year will be returning, and a pair of very solid, very big recruits will be filling those skates. Curadi is simply enormous, and though scouting reports say he's not as fleet of skate as he could be, his size alone is going to make opposing forwards think twice about getting near him and his toughness is unquestioned. Bradley isn't quite as big as Curadi, but he's got the skating and stickhandling needed to be a force.

Together with Koudys, Leboeuf and Bergin, they make for an intimidating D-corps. Koudys is poised for a breakout season as he continues to blend into the college game (even as a sophomore, he's still only 18 until November), and don't forget returning All-American Nick Bailen's solid two-way ability - he's the leading overall returning scorer.

That "player to be named later?" That'll be the eighth defenseman, which Appert has said will be a walk-on determined by tryout. The early favorite would seem to be sophomore Bruce Statton, who tried out last year for the team and even played in the Cherry and White game. Statton led the club team in goals last season as a defenseman. Senior Ryan O'Neill, who was a regional all-star could also be in contention, or perhaps an unknown freshman candidate will appear. At any rate, the eighth defenseman probably won't get much ice time - he'll mostly be an emergency option if the blueliners are suffering more than one injury, the way Kevin Beauregard and Bryan Brutlag were kept in potential reserve for emergency d-man duty last year.

Goaltenders

Gone: Allen York.

Returning: Bryce Merriam and Jeremy Coupal.

Arriving: Scott Diebold.

The situation in net is usually pretty easy to break down since you're usually only talking about one or two guys. Regardless of whether Kasdorf or Diebold come to Troy in August (or an unknown third party), the starting job belongs to Merriam. Appert has said repeatedly that Merriam was recruited to be a starter, and with York gone, it is his time to shine. He's been in York's shadow for two years, but when called upon last year after York suffered an injury, he showed that while he wasn't quite York, he was a perfectly capable Division I goaltender in his own right. Now that it's his time, we should be fine with Merriam, the definition of a lunchpail goalie, in the crease.

Coupal is a great guy with a great personality (and hard-working, too, given all the work he's done for club hockey at the Institute), but his role is as the practice goaltender and the emergency third goalie. The Engineers need a more solid option directly behind Merriam, and that's where Diebold comes in. He had an impressive rookie season with Tri-City of the USHL last season, and while he probably could have used an extra year in juniors to hone his game, RPI needs another goaltender. Will he be able to adjust to the rigors of college hockey? His 2.12 GAA in a very difficult league suggests he might, but fortunately the weight of the team won't fall on his shoulders next year - he'll be afforded the opportunity to ease himself into college hockey.

When Jason Kasdorf arrives in 2012, the Engineers will have three regular game-able goaltenders for the first time since 2004, when Nate Marsters, Kevin Kurk, and Andrew Martin were together.

And speaking of 2012, here's a quick look at the current recruiting situation for future seasons as it stands right now.

Looking ahead

2012-13

Graduating forwards: Angers-Goulet, Cullen, Malchuk, Rabbani and Smith

Arriving forwards: Mike Zalewski, Mark Miller, more to come

Graduating defensemen: Bergin (maybe, he does potentially have a medical redshirt year to use)

Arriving defensemen: Chris Bradley

Graduating goaltenders: Coupal

Arriving goaltenders: Kasdorf

2013-14

Graduating forwards: Burgdoerfer, Lee and O'Grady

Arriving forwards: Jake Wood, possibly Drew Melanson

Graduating defensemen: Bailen (Bergin if he uses the redshirt)

Graduating goaltenders: Merriam

Know Your Enemy: Clarkson

It's an enemy as old as time itself, at least as far as the Engineers are concerned, for our first ECAC foe of the Know Your Enemy series. The very first league weekend of the season features a trip to the North Country (previously known as the "dreaded North Country trip"), a road weekend that is always good to get out of the way as soon as possible for a number of reasons, not the least of which includes not having to trek through the heart of the Adirondacks in the middle of winter.

Clarkson
Nickname: Golden Knights
Location: Potsdam, NY
Founded: 1896
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2008
Last Frozen Four: 1991
Coach: Casey Jones (1st season)
2010-11 Record: 15-19-2 (9-12-1 ECAC, 7th place)
Series: Clarkson leads, 81-44-8
First Game: January 24, 1925 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: February 19, 2011 (Potsdam, NY)
Last CU win: January 7, 2011 (Troy, NY)

2011-12 games: November 4, 2011 (Potsdam, NY); January 28, 2012 (Troy, NY)

Key players: F Julian Cayer, sr.; G Paul Karpowich, sr.; F Jake Morley, sr.; F Louke Oakley, sr.; F Corey Tamblyn, sr.; F Nick Tremblay, sr.; D Nik Pokulok, jr.; D Alex Boak, so.; F Allan McPherson, so.; D David Pratt, so.; F Ben Sexton, so.; F Matt Zarbo, so.; D Kevin Tansey, fr.; F Joe Zarbo, fr.; F Mitch Zion, fr.

Key losses: F Brandon DeFazio, D Mark Borowiecki, F Scott Freeman, D Bryan Rufenach

Previous KYE installment:

• 2010-11

Obviously, the biggest change in Potsdam is behind the bench - in 2008, George Roll had Clarkson on the doorstep of the Frozen Four, but three losing seasons since now has him in Rochester as D-III Nazareth's first head coach. His replacement is former Clarkson assistant and longtime Ohio State and Cornell assistant Casey Jones.

When a new coach comes to town, it's hard to know exactly what to expect. Sometimes, it's a slow build to respectability, such as has happened with Seth Appert. Sometimes, it's an immediate splash, as happened with Seth's college roommate, Jeff Blashill at Western Michigan (which landed him an assistant coaching gig with the Red Wings right away). Will Jones play Cornell hockey at Clarkson (we hope not, zzzzzzz)? Will he try to tinker with and improve upon Roll's methods? Will we get something completely different from either of those? It's hard to know.

What we can look at are the players, their numbers, and what they're losing and bringing in. What they lose are their top two goalscorers in DeFazio and Freeman, and their top defensemen in Rufenach and Borowiecki, the latter of which left with a year of eligibility remaining to sign with Ottawa.

What's left isn't exactly nothing, though Clarkson surely wants to get more production out of Tremblay, a Boston Bruins draftee who has just 16 goals for his career (which actually makes him Clarkson's active leader). A healthy season out of Sexton would probably go a long way, McPherson could be poised for a solid second campaign, and with both Zarbo brothers now in place, the Knights could get some good production from their younger players.

Defensively, Clarkson is going to be very young. Pokulok and Andrew Himelson, both juniors, are the Knights' most experienced blueliners, and they'll be in front of Karpowich, whose numbers in his first three years in Potsdam leave much to be desired. The defense took another hit when highly touted defensive recruit Luke Juha decided - possibly in part because of Roll's departure - that he would not come to Clarkson, preferring to wait a year and then join Penn State's program in its first varsity campaign.

The defensive issues, it would seem, might be enough to lead Jones to consider Cornell's methods - Pokulok's brother Sasha fit well into Schafer's scheme in Ithaca, but beyond the 6'5" junior, there's not a great deal of size back there.

Again, the coaching change is a wildcard, because you never quite know exactly what a coach is going to do with the players he inherits, but when it comes to wildcards, Jones is a pretty solid ace in the hole. His name has come up as a candidate for practically every eastern D-I opening in the last decade or so (including RPI's in the middle part of it), and that doesn't happen without having the bonafides to be a solid head coach - especially in the recruiting aspect, although that'll take a few seasons to blossom.

On paper, Clarkson seems to be in for another difficult season that'll probably be full of high-scoring affairs. But if Jones makes a system work for the players that he has as Blashill did last year in Kalamazoo, anything could happen.