It's hard to decipher exactly what is up with both the men and the women right now.
The men last week clearly had their struggles against Harvard - at least, they did for the last 110 minutes of game time against the Crimson, as their offense that has been strong all season seemed to disappear for long stretches of time.
Then, they utterly dominated Dartmouth on the road, but it was a Dartmouth team that had lost by almost as much the previous night. How much of that was Dartmouth struggling as opposed to RPI getting back into the groove?
The women had a dumbfounding weekend as well. A day after knocking off the #7 team in the nation in Harvard, they lost to an 0-3-0 Dartmouth team that had just fallen to Union the previous night in somewhat decisive fashion.
Will the real RPI Engineers please stand up?
We'll find out more about what's real and what's not this weekend. The women travel to #3 Cornell, a team that's missing some of its top guns to the Olympics in much the same way as Harvard, but a team that is still doing extremely well nonetheless. The men also host the Big Red, a nationally ranked team that should help provide an answer as to whether the Engineers are "back" from their Harvard mishaps.
Colgate lies in wait tomorrow, and those teams are much more crystal in terms of what we need to be expecting - RPI should be able to pick up points in both contests.
And if it isn't skill that gets the job done tonight and tomorrow, hopefully there's just a little bit of luck involved. That never hurt anyone.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013
How to Succeed in the ECAC, By The Numbers
Well, the season's underway now. Time to get the stats out.
It helps to have some benchmarks for how many points a team needs to accrue in order to reach the highest levels of accomplishment.
There are three levels of success, really, in the regular season. On the men's side, it's a matter of winning the regular season title, earning a first round bye, and earning home ice in the first round. For the women, it's a regular season title, home ice in the quarterfinals, and simply making the playoffs at all. For both, those benchmarks lie in 1st place, 4th place, and 8th place respectively.
History tells us about what we're looking for. Each season "requires" a different number of points, depending on how well things go. Let's take a look at how we come to those totals.
For instance, last year, there was a separation between the first-round bye and the home ice in the first round positions:
4. Union - 24 points
5. Dartmouth - 22 points
Therefore, it could be said that in order to achieve a first-round bye last season, a team needed to reach 23 points, as the Dutchmen still would have held down 4th place with one less point than they earned.
Compare, also the way the 2011-12 season ended for the RPI women:
7. Princeton - 22 points
8. Brown - 14 points
9. RPI - 14 points
The teams finished tied for 8th, but Brown won the tiebreaker and thus entered the playoffs, while RPI's season ended. Since tiebreakers are an unknown factor for this exercise, we can say that a team required 15 points to earn a playoff berth, even though Brown earned one with 14 points. It would be inaccurate to say that 14 points earned a berth, since RPI did not earn one with that many points.
Those are individual examples. Here's a look at what's been required for 1st, 4th, and 8th since the 2000-01 season for the men - a date which correlates to the farthest back one can go to find each team playing a full 22-game schedule (thanks to the Vermont hazing scandal during the 1999-2000 season). The current playoff structure didn't exist in 2001 or 2002, but we can still use those seasons in our data set.
Mean averages are rounded up to the nearest point, since you can't earn fractions of a point.
Regular season championship: 30-29-36-30-33-31-31-29-30-32-36-31-28
Range: 28-36
Mean: 32 points - .727 winning percentage
Median: 31 - .705
Mode: 30/31 - .682/.705
So history tells us that in order to claim the "Cleary Cup," for whatever that's worth, you need somewhere between 28 points (Quinnipiac last season) and 36 points (Cornell in 2003, Union in 2011). However, in most cases we're looking at about 31 or 32 points, correlating to a little bit less than 75% of the available points in a given season.
Top 4: 25-24-25-28-29-26-25-26-25-24-25-24-23
Range: 23-29
Mean: 26 - .591
Median: 25 - .568
Mode: 25 - .568
For home ice, it's pretty clear that a team needs to be very solidly over .500 at the very least, although the 23 points required by Union last season was the lowest since Brown required only 22 (a perfect .500 record) in 1998 to reach the top four.
Top 8: 19-21-18-19-17-18-18-17-21-18-19-20-20
Range: 17-21
Mean: 19 - .432
Median: 19 - .432
Mode: 18 - .409
And, as we can see, the benchmark for home ice in the playoffs is not terribly high at all. As a point of reference, Quinnipiac cleared last year's bench mark in early January, although going 10-0-0 to start the league season will have you aimed in the right direction pretty much any year.
For the women, we can only go back to the 2006-07 season, when the Engineers joined the conference and gave it the makeup it has today with 12 teams. In women's hockey, finishing first overall has a bit more meaning, as it gives you the opportunity to host the championship game on your home ice.
Regular season championship: 36-38-34-32-32-36-37
Range: 32-38
Mean: 35 - .795
Median: 36 - .818
Mode: 32/36 - .727/.795
Right away, we see a significant difference in the number of points that have been required over the years in the women's ECAC, which has less overall parity than the men's league. In 2008, St. Lawrence had to settle for second place despite taking 84% of the possible points on the year due to Harvard's perfect 22-0-0 ECAC record.
Home ice: 30-26-28-27-26-31-29
Range: 26-31
Mean: 29 - .659
Median: 28 - .636
Mode: 26 - .591
Interestingly, a year after Cornell required just 32 points to claim the top spot in the ECAC, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence tied for 4th with 30 points, meaning it took 31 just to have home ice in the quarterfinals.
Playoff spot: 14-17-18-20-19-15-15
Range: 14-20
Mean: 17 - .386
Median: 17 - .386
Mode: 15 - .341
This is the statistic RPI is more used to needing to look at, and they've reached the playoffs in five of their seven Division I ECAC seasons.
How are the teams looking now? Well, it's still early and the sample size is very small, but if the teams were to carry on their current pace at .500, it's a playoff berth for the women and home ice in the first round for the men, almost certainly.
It helps to have some benchmarks for how many points a team needs to accrue in order to reach the highest levels of accomplishment.
There are three levels of success, really, in the regular season. On the men's side, it's a matter of winning the regular season title, earning a first round bye, and earning home ice in the first round. For the women, it's a regular season title, home ice in the quarterfinals, and simply making the playoffs at all. For both, those benchmarks lie in 1st place, 4th place, and 8th place respectively.
History tells us about what we're looking for. Each season "requires" a different number of points, depending on how well things go. Let's take a look at how we come to those totals.
For instance, last year, there was a separation between the first-round bye and the home ice in the first round positions:
4. Union - 24 points
5. Dartmouth - 22 points
Therefore, it could be said that in order to achieve a first-round bye last season, a team needed to reach 23 points, as the Dutchmen still would have held down 4th place with one less point than they earned.
Compare, also the way the 2011-12 season ended for the RPI women:
7. Princeton - 22 points
8. Brown - 14 points
9. RPI - 14 points
The teams finished tied for 8th, but Brown won the tiebreaker and thus entered the playoffs, while RPI's season ended. Since tiebreakers are an unknown factor for this exercise, we can say that a team required 15 points to earn a playoff berth, even though Brown earned one with 14 points. It would be inaccurate to say that 14 points earned a berth, since RPI did not earn one with that many points.
Those are individual examples. Here's a look at what's been required for 1st, 4th, and 8th since the 2000-01 season for the men - a date which correlates to the farthest back one can go to find each team playing a full 22-game schedule (thanks to the Vermont hazing scandal during the 1999-2000 season). The current playoff structure didn't exist in 2001 or 2002, but we can still use those seasons in our data set.
Mean averages are rounded up to the nearest point, since you can't earn fractions of a point.
Regular season championship: 30-29-36-30-33-31-31-29-30-32-36-31-28
Range: 28-36
Mean: 32 points - .727 winning percentage
Median: 31 - .705
Mode: 30/31 - .682/.705
So history tells us that in order to claim the "Cleary Cup," for whatever that's worth, you need somewhere between 28 points (Quinnipiac last season) and 36 points (Cornell in 2003, Union in 2011). However, in most cases we're looking at about 31 or 32 points, correlating to a little bit less than 75% of the available points in a given season.
Top 4: 25-24-25-28-29-26-25-26-25-24-25-24-23
Range: 23-29
Mean: 26 - .591
Median: 25 - .568
Mode: 25 - .568
For home ice, it's pretty clear that a team needs to be very solidly over .500 at the very least, although the 23 points required by Union last season was the lowest since Brown required only 22 (a perfect .500 record) in 1998 to reach the top four.
Top 8: 19-21-18-19-17-18-18-17-21-18-19-20-20
Range: 17-21
Mean: 19 - .432
Median: 19 - .432
Mode: 18 - .409
And, as we can see, the benchmark for home ice in the playoffs is not terribly high at all. As a point of reference, Quinnipiac cleared last year's bench mark in early January, although going 10-0-0 to start the league season will have you aimed in the right direction pretty much any year.
For the women, we can only go back to the 2006-07 season, when the Engineers joined the conference and gave it the makeup it has today with 12 teams. In women's hockey, finishing first overall has a bit more meaning, as it gives you the opportunity to host the championship game on your home ice.
Regular season championship: 36-38-34-32-32-36-37
Range: 32-38
Mean: 35 - .795
Median: 36 - .818
Mode: 32/36 - .727/.795
Right away, we see a significant difference in the number of points that have been required over the years in the women's ECAC, which has less overall parity than the men's league. In 2008, St. Lawrence had to settle for second place despite taking 84% of the possible points on the year due to Harvard's perfect 22-0-0 ECAC record.
Home ice: 30-26-28-27-26-31-29
Range: 26-31
Mean: 29 - .659
Median: 28 - .636
Mode: 26 - .591
Interestingly, a year after Cornell required just 32 points to claim the top spot in the ECAC, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence tied for 4th with 30 points, meaning it took 31 just to have home ice in the quarterfinals.
Playoff spot: 14-17-18-20-19-15-15
Range: 14-20
Mean: 17 - .386
Median: 17 - .386
Mode: 15 - .341
This is the statistic RPI is more used to needing to look at, and they've reached the playoffs in five of their seven Division I ECAC seasons.
How are the teams looking now? Well, it's still early and the sample size is very small, but if the teams were to carry on their current pace at .500, it's a playoff berth for the women and home ice in the first round for the men, almost certainly.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Men's Hockey - Harvard, at Harvard/Dartmouth (29 Oct, 1/2 Nov)
The Engineers played a rare (very rare) 3-games-in-5-days schedule to open the ECAC season and complete their entire season series with the Harvard Crimson, and the results were fairly mixed. A difficult home tie on Tuesday was followed by a tough loss at Harvard on Friday and a big road win over a struggling Dartmouth team on Saturday. That starts the Engineers off with a .500 record in league play through 3 games, a position they're going to need to improve on going forward.
Harvard - Tuesday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Laliberte-McGowan-Haggerty
Zalewski-Neal-Bubela
Wood-Miller-Schroeder
Diebold
There were no changes in the RPI lineup from the previous Saturday's victory over New Hampshire - the lines and the players were exactly the same. As it turned out, much of the gameflow from the UNH game ended up being exactly the same, too.
It got underway with an early goal by Johnny Rogic - not quite as early as his first minute tally against the Wildcats, but plenty quickly nonetheless at 4:33 of the first period, giving RPI a 1-0 lead on their very first shot of the game. Ryan Haggerty added another goal, his 9th of the season, about two and a half minutes later on RPI's second shot of the game during the first power play opportunity for either team to make it 2-0. The score was actually a bit of a reversal in fortunes, as Harvard controlled the opening faceoff and then pinned the Engineers in their own zone for a good chunk of the game's opening moments.
Brock Higgs netted his 3rd goal of the campaign at 15:30, and it looked as though the Engineers were ready to start putting the hammer down with a commanding 3-0 lead, given that the Crimson did not appear likely to break through against Scott Diebold any time soon.
The Crimson did eventually make that breakthrough seven minutes into the second period as the tide of the game slowly turned very much in Harvard's favor during the course of the middle frame. RPI was still putting pucks on net in the 2nd, forcing Steve Michalek to make 11 saves in the period, but gradually the Crimson started winning more puck battles and owning the puck more frequently. Despite the trailing off in intensity, the Engineers still had a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
The final 20 minutes of regulation was almost a complete collapse for the Engineers as they finished blowing the three-goal lead they'd earned in the first 15 minutes. Harvard scored three minutes into the third to cut the remaining RPI lead in half, then proceeded to completely dominate play for the remaining 17 minutes, earning the tying goal at 10:48 and on many occasions coming close to taking the lead.
RPI, fortunate to survive the third without completing their collapse, seemed to wake up in the overtime period, nearly gaining back the league point they'd coughed up in the third period but ultimately failing to record even a single shot on goal in the extra five minutes. In all honesty, Harvard probably deserved the win more than RPI, but given the 3-0 edge the Engineers held, the tie was probably more difficult to swallow for the home team than for the Crimson.
Harvard - Friday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Laliberte-Schroeder-Haggerty
Zalewski-Neal-Bubela
Wood-McGowan-DeVito
Diebold
Despite the lethargic play for most of the Tuesday game, only one substitution was made in the lineup as Jimmy DeVito came in to replace Mark Miller, who sat out a game for the first time in his collegiate career. Zach Schroeder was moved up to center the second line, while Mark McGowan took Miller's place centering the fourth line.
As has become the norm, the Engineers started Friday's game off quickly, unleashing a number of shots toward Harvard netminder Raphael Girard, but unlike most of their previous games, there was no breakthrough in the first 20 minutes. After failing to score on two power play opportunities in the first five minutes of the game, RPI started to back off considerably, especially once forced to kill a 1:49 5-on-3 opportunity for Harvard. They escaped the long kill unscathed, and there was no score after one period.
Harvard got all the offense they would need off the opening faceoff in the second period, scoring just 19 seconds into the middle stanza to take a 1-0 lead. From there on, they needed just 15 saves from Girard for the final 40 minutes of play to secure two points and a 3-1 series win over the Engineers in just four days time. RPI did not seem to be close to even threatening to score in the final two periods. Harvard would pick up an empty net goal with just over a minute left in the game to secure the victory.
Scott Diebold actually had a very good game and could hardly be blamed for the loss - he stopped 30 of 31 shots as a hard-luck loser, actually improving both his GAA and his save percentage despite losing. Oddly, there were no penalties called in the second or third periods after the teams had combined for five during the first 15 minutes of the first period.
Dartmouth
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Zalewski-Neal-Haggerty
Laliberte-McGowan-Schroeder
Bourbonnais-Miller-DeVito
Leonard-Bradley
Diebold
Mark Miller's return dovetailed with Milos Bubela following his lead from the previous night and sitting out for the first time in his collegiate career. Riley Bourbonnais made his college debut as well, replacing Jake Wood in the lineup.
Desperately in need of some points to salvage what was becoming a lost week, the Engineers weathered an early storm by killing off a penalty to Bo Dolan that came 4 minutes into the affair, then about a minute later went up 1-0 on Ryan Haggerty's national leading 10th goal of the season. That was followed just 13 seconds later by Brock Higgs' 4th goal of the year to make it 2-0 RPI. The senior would pick up a second goal on RPI's first power play of the evening at 16:23 to give the Engineers a 3-0 first period lead for the third time in five games. Notably, Haggerty picked up his first assist of the season on Higgs' second goal.
The onslaught continued in the second period, as Matt Neal scored his 2nd of the year just 1:32 in to make it 4-0, and Higgs completed the hat trick later in the period for his 6th goal of the season, like his second one on the power play, giving RPI a 5-0 lead through two periods.
In previous games, the Engineers had maintained cruise control with big leads in the 3rd period, but they continued pouring it on. Jacob Laliberte lit the lamp for the first time this year at 5:26 to make it 6-0. Dartmouth got one back on the power play following a hitting from behind call to Curadi with just over five minutes left to play to scuttle Scott Diebold's shutout efforts, but Curadi made up for it by scoring his first collegiate goal on a blast from the blue line on RPI's subsequent power play chance just over two minutes later to make the final score 7-1.
Diebold was brilliant again, stopping 31 of 32 shots on the evening for a road weekend total of 61 for 63 on saves.
Other junk - Given the up-and-down nature of the weekend, it's not too shocking to see that RPI has not moved at all in the USCHO poll this week, staying at #10 for the second consecutive week. Other ranked ECAC teams this week are #5 Quinnipiac (swept at Colgate/Cornell, up two), #9 Yale (tied SLU and beat Clarkson, up two), #15 Cornell (beat Princeton and lost to Quinnipiac, down one), and #16 Clarkson (beat Brown and lost to Yale, up one). St. Lawrence (34 votes), Union (30), Harvard (22), and Brown (8) also received votes. Other teams on the Engineers' schedule that are ranked include #1 Minnesota (all 50 first place votes, no change), #8 Boston College (no change), #17 Boston University (up one), and #19 Ferris State (previously unranked). New Hampshire (13) also received votes.
Ryan Haggerty's 10 goals is the most in the nation, his closest trailer is Miami's Riley Barber with 8. His 1.25 goals per game leads the nation, and he's one of five players in the country scoring a goal per game or higher.
Haggerty is also tied (with seven other players) for the national lead in power play goals with 4. Brock Higgs is tied with 16 players nationally who are right behind with 3.
Scott Diebold's 1.58 GAA is fifth in the nation, while his .946 save percentage has him tied for fourth.
RPI is tied with Union for the 6th highest scoring offense in the nation (4.00 GPG), and with Denver and UMass-Lowell for the 9th strongest team defense (2.12 GAA). The 1.88 GPG average scoring margin is fourth in the country, behind Minnesota, Providence, and Quinnipiac.
The Engineers' discipline has been superb on a national level - only UConn takes fewer penalty minutes per game.
Next up for RPI is the home weekend against Central New York - Cornell and Colgate. Home points are always a must, but they're even more important now with most of the league having a game in hand over the Engineers, as well as the 1 point showing for the season against Harvard.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 4 points (2-0-0, +8 GD)
2. Union - 4 points (2-0-0, +7 GD)
3. Yale - 3 points (1-0-1)
4. RPI - 3 points (1-1-1, +4 GD)
5. Harvard - 3 points (1-1-1, 0 GD)
6. St. Lawrence - 2 points (1-1-0, 0 GD)
7. Cornell - 2 points (1-1-0, -1 GD)
8. Clarkson - 2 points (1-1-0, -2 GD)
9. Colgate - 2 points (1-1-0, -3 GD)
10. Brown - 1 point (0-1-1, -1 GD)
11. Princeton - 0 points (0-2-0, -4 GD)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-2-0, -11 GD)
Harvard at #10 RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/29/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 3, Harvard 3
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
Upcoming games
08 Nov - #15 Cornell
09 Nov - Colgate
15 Nov - Union
16 Nov - at Union
22 Nov - at Mercyhurst
Harvard - Tuesday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Laliberte-McGowan-Haggerty
Zalewski-Neal-Bubela
Wood-Miller-Schroeder
Leboeuf-Dolan
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Diebold
There were no changes in the RPI lineup from the previous Saturday's victory over New Hampshire - the lines and the players were exactly the same. As it turned out, much of the gameflow from the UNH game ended up being exactly the same, too.
It got underway with an early goal by Johnny Rogic - not quite as early as his first minute tally against the Wildcats, but plenty quickly nonetheless at 4:33 of the first period, giving RPI a 1-0 lead on their very first shot of the game. Ryan Haggerty added another goal, his 9th of the season, about two and a half minutes later on RPI's second shot of the game during the first power play opportunity for either team to make it 2-0. The score was actually a bit of a reversal in fortunes, as Harvard controlled the opening faceoff and then pinned the Engineers in their own zone for a good chunk of the game's opening moments.
Brock Higgs netted his 3rd goal of the campaign at 15:30, and it looked as though the Engineers were ready to start putting the hammer down with a commanding 3-0 lead, given that the Crimson did not appear likely to break through against Scott Diebold any time soon.
The Crimson did eventually make that breakthrough seven minutes into the second period as the tide of the game slowly turned very much in Harvard's favor during the course of the middle frame. RPI was still putting pucks on net in the 2nd, forcing Steve Michalek to make 11 saves in the period, but gradually the Crimson started winning more puck battles and owning the puck more frequently. Despite the trailing off in intensity, the Engineers still had a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
The final 20 minutes of regulation was almost a complete collapse for the Engineers as they finished blowing the three-goal lead they'd earned in the first 15 minutes. Harvard scored three minutes into the third to cut the remaining RPI lead in half, then proceeded to completely dominate play for the remaining 17 minutes, earning the tying goal at 10:48 and on many occasions coming close to taking the lead.
RPI, fortunate to survive the third without completing their collapse, seemed to wake up in the overtime period, nearly gaining back the league point they'd coughed up in the third period but ultimately failing to record even a single shot on goal in the extra five minutes. In all honesty, Harvard probably deserved the win more than RPI, but given the 3-0 edge the Engineers held, the tie was probably more difficult to swallow for the home team than for the Crimson.
Harvard - Friday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Laliberte-Schroeder-Haggerty
Zalewski-Neal-Bubela
Wood-McGowan-DeVito
Leboeuf-Dolan
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Diebold
Despite the lethargic play for most of the Tuesday game, only one substitution was made in the lineup as Jimmy DeVito came in to replace Mark Miller, who sat out a game for the first time in his collegiate career. Zach Schroeder was moved up to center the second line, while Mark McGowan took Miller's place centering the fourth line.
As has become the norm, the Engineers started Friday's game off quickly, unleashing a number of shots toward Harvard netminder Raphael Girard, but unlike most of their previous games, there was no breakthrough in the first 20 minutes. After failing to score on two power play opportunities in the first five minutes of the game, RPI started to back off considerably, especially once forced to kill a 1:49 5-on-3 opportunity for Harvard. They escaped the long kill unscathed, and there was no score after one period.
Harvard got all the offense they would need off the opening faceoff in the second period, scoring just 19 seconds into the middle stanza to take a 1-0 lead. From there on, they needed just 15 saves from Girard for the final 40 minutes of play to secure two points and a 3-1 series win over the Engineers in just four days time. RPI did not seem to be close to even threatening to score in the final two periods. Harvard would pick up an empty net goal with just over a minute left in the game to secure the victory.
Scott Diebold actually had a very good game and could hardly be blamed for the loss - he stopped 30 of 31 shots as a hard-luck loser, actually improving both his GAA and his save percentage despite losing. Oddly, there were no penalties called in the second or third periods after the teams had combined for five during the first 15 minutes of the first period.
Dartmouth
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Zalewski-Neal-Haggerty
Laliberte-McGowan-Schroeder
Bourbonnais-Miller-DeVito
Leonard-Bradley
Leboeuf-Dolan
Curadi-Reno
Curadi-Reno
Diebold
Mark Miller's return dovetailed with Milos Bubela following his lead from the previous night and sitting out for the first time in his collegiate career. Riley Bourbonnais made his college debut as well, replacing Jake Wood in the lineup.
Desperately in need of some points to salvage what was becoming a lost week, the Engineers weathered an early storm by killing off a penalty to Bo Dolan that came 4 minutes into the affair, then about a minute later went up 1-0 on Ryan Haggerty's national leading 10th goal of the season. That was followed just 13 seconds later by Brock Higgs' 4th goal of the year to make it 2-0 RPI. The senior would pick up a second goal on RPI's first power play of the evening at 16:23 to give the Engineers a 3-0 first period lead for the third time in five games. Notably, Haggerty picked up his first assist of the season on Higgs' second goal.
The onslaught continued in the second period, as Matt Neal scored his 2nd of the year just 1:32 in to make it 4-0, and Higgs completed the hat trick later in the period for his 6th goal of the season, like his second one on the power play, giving RPI a 5-0 lead through two periods.
In previous games, the Engineers had maintained cruise control with big leads in the 3rd period, but they continued pouring it on. Jacob Laliberte lit the lamp for the first time this year at 5:26 to make it 6-0. Dartmouth got one back on the power play following a hitting from behind call to Curadi with just over five minutes left to play to scuttle Scott Diebold's shutout efforts, but Curadi made up for it by scoring his first collegiate goal on a blast from the blue line on RPI's subsequent power play chance just over two minutes later to make the final score 7-1.
Diebold was brilliant again, stopping 31 of 32 shots on the evening for a road weekend total of 61 for 63 on saves.
Ryan Haggerty's 10 goals is the most in the nation, his closest trailer is Miami's Riley Barber with 8. His 1.25 goals per game leads the nation, and he's one of five players in the country scoring a goal per game or higher.
Haggerty is also tied (with seven other players) for the national lead in power play goals with 4. Brock Higgs is tied with 16 players nationally who are right behind with 3.
Scott Diebold's 1.58 GAA is fifth in the nation, while his .946 save percentage has him tied for fourth.
RPI is tied with Union for the 6th highest scoring offense in the nation (4.00 GPG), and with Denver and UMass-Lowell for the 9th strongest team defense (2.12 GAA). The 1.88 GPG average scoring margin is fourth in the country, behind Minnesota, Providence, and Quinnipiac.
The Engineers' discipline has been superb on a national level - only UConn takes fewer penalty minutes per game.
Next up for RPI is the home weekend against Central New York - Cornell and Colgate. Home points are always a must, but they're even more important now with most of the league having a game in hand over the Engineers, as well as the 1 point showing for the season against Harvard.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 4 points (2-0-0, +8 GD)
2. Union - 4 points (2-0-0, +7 GD)
3. Yale - 3 points (1-0-1)
4. RPI - 3 points (1-1-1, +4 GD)
5. Harvard - 3 points (1-1-1, 0 GD)
6. St. Lawrence - 2 points (1-1-0, 0 GD)
7. Cornell - 2 points (1-1-0, -1 GD)
8. Clarkson - 2 points (1-1-0, -2 GD)
9. Colgate - 2 points (1-1-0, -3 GD)
10. Brown - 1 point (0-1-1, -1 GD)
11. Princeton - 0 points (0-2-0, -4 GD)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-2-0, -11 GD)
Harvard at #10 RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/29/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 3, Harvard 3
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
RECORD: 4-1-1 (0-0-1 ECAC, 1 pt)
#10 RPI at Harvard
ECAC Game - Bright Hockey Center (Boston, MA)
11/1/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Harvard 2, RPI 0
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
ECAC Game - Bright Hockey Center (Boston, MA)
11/1/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Harvard 2, RPI 0
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
RECORD: 4-2-1 (0-1-1 ECAC, 1 pt)
#10 RPI at Dartmouth
ECAC Game - Thompson Arena (Hanover, NH)
11/2/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 7, Dartmouth 1
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
ECAC Game - Thompson Arena (Hanover, NH)
11/2/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 7, Dartmouth 1
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
RECORD: 5-2-1 (1-1-1 ECAC, 3 pts)
Upcoming games
08 Nov - #15 Cornell
09 Nov - Colgate
15 Nov - Union
16 Nov - at Union
22 Nov - at Mercyhurst
Monday, November 4, 2013
Women's Hockey - Harvard & Dartmouth (1/2 Nov)
A common theme for the Engineers early this season has been an inability to win games where they outplay their opponent and rack up a majority of the game's shots.
It looked like they might have turned the corner as they defeated 7th ranked Harvard on Friday night by a 2-1 margin, but it was right back to old ways on Saturday when the Engineers outshot a struggling Dartmouth squad 34-11 but managed to suffer a 3-1 defeat, the first at home against the Big Green since 2009.
Harvard
Horwood/Gruschow/Smelker
Mahoney/Wash/Rooney
Sanders/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Missy Mankey/Walsh/Hylwa
Banks/Schilter
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Middlebrook/Godin
O'Brien
Lauren Wash's third goal of the season was also the game winner Friday night as RPI defeated #7 Harvard 2-1 at Houston Field House.
The Engineers picked up the win despite being outshot 30-15 on the night thanks to solid goaltending from Kelly O'Brien and goals from Wash and freshman Laura Horwood.
Horwood's goal came late in the first period, just as a Harvard penalty, one of several taken by the two teams, expired. After managing little sustained pressure on the power play chance, Horwood was able to redirect a pass from Alexa Gruschow for the 1-0 lead.
While RPI held an edge in shots in the first period, Harvard turned up the pressure in the second and outshot the Engineers 12-4.
The momentum swing was sparked by a tying goal fairly early on at 4:47, with Dylanne Crugnale blasting past the Engineer defense and beating O'Brien for the tally.
The Harvard pressure continued into the third period, however the Engineers held on and made a great play at the midpoint of the period to take the lead. After dumping the puck in behind the Harvard net, Taylor Mahoney chased it down and was able to get it to the front of the net, where Katie Rooney quickly redirected it across the crease to a waiting Wash who had a wide open net for an easy tap-in.
RPI held strong for the latter half of the third period, including a minute of time with the Harvard net empty in favor of the extra attacker, in order to pick up the 2-1 victory.
Dartmouth
Horwood/Gruschow/Smelker
Mahoney/Wash/Rooney
Sanders/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Missy Mankey/Walsh/Hylwa
Banks/Schilter
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Behounek/Godin
O'Brien
After defeating one of the top teams in the country on Friday, the Engineers faced off against a Dartmouth squad which had gone winless in five straight games - including handing Union its first ECAC victory in more than a year.
While that should have been a recipe for success, the Engineers instead allowed three goals on eleven shots and only managed one of their own on 34 tries, falling 3-1 to the Big Green.
Dartmouth scored first in Saturday's affair, with Ali Winkel knocking the puck off an Engineer stick and straight into the back of the net while skating across the top of the crease.
RPI answered with a goal of their own early in the second period, with Katie Rooney managing to get behind the Dartmouth defense for a breakaway goal.
While RPI outshot Dartmouth 11-5 in the middle frame, the Big Green picked up the next goal, a big momentum-killer with only 21 seconds left in the period. Karlee Odland scored the goal on a Dartmouth power play.
The Engineers dominated the third period and racked up a 15-1 advantage in shots. Unfortunately for them, Dartmouth's lone shot was also a goal, as Laura Stacey scored on a shorthanded breakaway to put the Engineers behind 3-1.
In the end, the Engineers outshot the Big Green 34-11 and left the ice with nothing to show for it, handing Dartmouth its first win of the season.
Things will get harder before they get easier as RPI now travels to #3 Cornell on Friday night before taking on Colgate on Saturday. Cornell opened the season 5-0 before tying Quinnipiac 1-1 on Saturday. Colgate, in the meantime, has racked up a 2-8 record, with the wins coming against RIT and UConn.
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RPI vs. Harvard
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/1/13 - 7:00pm
RPI 2, Harvard 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1314/boxes/wharren1.n01
RECAPS:
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/619-womens-hockey-vs-harvard
RECORD: 2-5-1 (1-0 ECAC)
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RPI vs. Dartmouth
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/2/13 - 4:00pm
Dartmouth 3, RPI 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1314/boxes/wdarren1.n02
RECAPS:
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/620-womens-hockey-vs-dartmouth
RECORD: 2-6-1 (1-1 ECAC)
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Upcoming Games
Nov. 8 - at Cornell (7pm)
Nov. 9 - at Colgate (4pm)
Nov. 15 - Yale (4pm)
Nov. 16 - Brown (4pm)
Sunday, November 3, 2013
A Quick ECAC Snapshot
We do power rankings for the ECAC at the end of November, December, and January, but we skip February (because the ECAC standings suffice at that point) and October (because the Ivy League doesn't have enough games played yet to really know much about them), but with each team in the league now with games under their belt, here are some early observations.
Brown: Looking perhaps slightly better than expected, but not by a lot. There was little doubt that the Bears had some offensive ability, especially in the Lorito-Naclerio-Lappin line, and that trio absolutely victimized Yale and Dartmouth in the Liberty Invitational in Newark. They combined for 6 goals and 9 assists on the weekend. The rest of the forwards had just 2 goals - an unassisted tally against Yale and an empty-netter against Dartmouth. The L-N-L line has the early edge as the best single forward line in the league, but they need more help from the other three lines. Early returns on goaltending from last weekend are mixed, as Brown has gone 1-1-1 in their last 3 games despite giving up 3 or more in each of those contests.
Clarkson: Looking much better than expected. The offense certainly has gotten itself out of the funk it ended last year with, and is close to where we thought it would be heading into the season, maybe a little better. What is really eye-opening with the Knights is the defense, which appeared somewhat wanting. We said Greg Lewis needed to be far better than he was last season and he absolutely has been. As a bonus, freshman Steve Perry, who's splitting time with Lewis, has been just as good. Whether they are potentially ready to reach elite level is yet to be seen, their two games thus far against nationally ranked opponents (UNH and Yale) resulted in their only two losses.
Colgate: Defense has been up and down as we thought it would. Outside of a three-game stretch against Ferris State, RIT, and Bowling Green in which the Raiders gave up just 2 goals (2-0-1) and last night's win over Princeton, they've given up 29 goals and scored only 11 of their own in five losses, including a 7-22 deficit in their four-game losing streak stopped last night. The super sophomores on this squad who were the fab freshmen last year are still basically carrying the all of the weight themselves offensively, and that can't hold.
Cornell: The Big Red are certainly already better than they were for much of last season, but based on their home loss to Quinnipiac they may at least still be a step behind the very elite of the league. The defense still isn't quite as strong as we're used to seeing from a Cornell team, but at the same time it hasn't been awful and the offense has been strong enough to make them dangerous against most of the teams they've played this season. Their weekend in the Capital District next weekend is going to be very telling about exactly what we can expect from this team, as they have a tough task ahead of them on the road with RPI and Union. Other than Quinnipiac, the Big Red's schedule thus far has been only fair.
Dartmouth: We thought the Big Green would be better than most were giving them credit for, but Dartmouth's first four games this season have been absolutely putrid, beyond anything even modest observers thought they'd be doing. They gave up 14 goals to Union and RPI, which gives them 19 in their last three games, overall a national worst 5.50 GAA as a team. Offensively, things aren't horrid, but it would have to be lighting the world on fire the way they've been unable to keep the puck out of their own net. At this point, it's hard to find a team that's off to a worse start in the league.
Harvard: We thought Harvard would be much better than some of the conventional wisdom, especially since the rest of the media seemed to think the Crimson were going to be closer to their performance last year. Early on, it's looking like they're at least certainly better than last, year, especially if their season series win over the Engineers is any method of judging. We've only got games against three teams to judge by, and Harvard did lose to Union last night for their first loss of the season, but not before they took a 2-0 lead on the Dutchmen at one point.
Princeton: A tough season was expected for the Tigers and a tough season seems to be in the cards based on the early returns. Just 8 goals in 4 games has been only enough to pick up a single win, against the only team in the league struggling even more than the Tigers, which is Dartmouth. Princeton will need a strong offense in order to overcome defensive deficiencies, and as we expected they just can't get enough out of Andrew Calof, who has been stifled in his first four games and has yet to score a goal. They have six straight home games coming up to try to get something done, but they have some strong offenses coming in with Yale, Brown, and UMass-Lowell that will make things difficult on a taxed-enough already defense.
Quinnipiac: Heard from lots of people that Quinnipiac "lost too many seniors." Our response was "so what?" Advantage, WaP. After an opening game loss at Alaska-Anchorage (which is a long trip if you didn't know), the Bobcats have rattled off 8 straight wins and are now 8-1-0. That stretch includes a home-and-home sweep of a highly-touted Lowell team that got off to a slow start and three wins over Atlantic Hockey competition, but any concerns about the Q's offense lacking robustness after the losses to graduation or their all new defense being problematic have pretty much faded entirely. In fact, the defense is currently tops in the entire nation with a GAA of 1.56. They're very well positioned to contend for a second consecutive Cleary Cup.
RPI: There are only two teams in the entire country that are in the Top 10 nationally in both offense and defense. One of them is Minnesota, the #1 team in the country. The other? The Engineers. (Quinnipiac is close - their #1 defense is supplemented by the #11 offense). The Harvard games notwithstanding, RPI has shown themselves to be very formidable in practically every aspect of the game, and perhaps most importantly have shown that they do not have to be reliant on the health of their top goaltender, given the excellent play of Scott Diebold in relief of the injured Jason Kasdorf - Diebold's numbers in both GAA and save percentage are in the Top 5 in the nation. So far, not much to dissuade the early optimism.
St. Lawrence: The Saints are about where we thought they'd be. Offense? They've got it, and the Carey brothers are the ones leading the way. SLU has shown an ability to score in bunches, but defensively they are going to have to get their house in order in order to be shooting for a first-round bye the way they were late last season. The team's at 4-2-2, but they're giving up more than three goals a game, that magic number that is going to spell problems if it continues at length. Unlike some other teams struggling defensively, this is a team with the depth, guts, and experience to still have a shot in games where the defense struggles, but they'll have a hard time cracking into the elite level without some more D.
Union: The Dutchmen have been night and day depending on the availability of their top netminder, Colin Stevens. With Stevens in net, Union has been able to get enough defense to be competitive, and in fact, they're 2-0-1 in games he's started (including the opening game against Bowling Green, in which he got hurt early). Without Stevens starting, they're 1-2-1, the one tie coming against UConn. Union's clearly still got the offense to make things easier on the team even when the defense isn't as staunch as they'd like it to be, but it's fairly clear that they do need their starter in net to ease the burden of that offense.
Yale: The defending champs actually resemble Brown in a lot of ways, perhaps the only real difference being that the offense is a lot deeper and more dangerous overall rather than having the danger packed into a single line. That fact has kept the Bulldogs in their games, and has them at 2-1-1 despite the fact that they still have not found an exact heir apparent to Jeff Malcolm in net. As with Union, that strong offense will be enough to keep them in most of their games, but they're not going to want to have to get into a track meet with other teams that have strong offenses with the ability to at least keep Yale's high-flyers in check - see Quinnipiac and RPI especially.
Friday, November 1, 2013
The League
It's a Harvard/Dartmouth weekend for both the men and the women as both get their league schedules underway this weekend (save for the RPI/Harvard game from Tuesday, which was rescheduled from January as mentioned before).
For the women tonight, it's a big challenge in a Harvard team without its coach, without its star players, and seemingly without problems as the Crimson handily defeated Quinnipiac and Princeton in Boston last weekend. With the exception of last Saturday's game at UConn, the Engineers have been "in" every game they've played. Hopefully their return home will give them a bit of an edge over Harvard, who are hitting the road for the first time this season.
The men also take on the Crimson tonight, just three days removed from Tuesday's game, easily the worst showing of the young season as RPI blew a 3-0 lead that they racked up in the first 15 minutes and had to settle for a 3-3 tie. Technically, tonight's game is for first place in the ECAC, since the winner will have 3 points to a maximum of 2 points for the rest of the league. Hey, it's the little things. Expect some lineup changes after the Engineers' lethargic showing on Tuesday.
Then on Saturday, it's Dartmouth. In the afternoon in Troy, the Engineers welcome a short-handed Dartmouth team that was rocked in its first three outings (but, one would expect, is likely to be coming off their first win of the season against perennial cellar-dwellers Union). RPI would do well to take advantage of its longer bench on Saturday to get themselves a leg-up in the ECAC chase early.
Dartmouth's men are off to a tough start, too, after falling to Princeton and Brown in New Jersey last weekend at the Liberty Invitational, but they'll be at home for the first time this season (not counting their exhibition blowout of Ontario Institute of Technology), and RPI is going to have to be sharp, especially on the road. This is still expected to be a pretty solid Big Green team.
Anyway... we've got a few features coming out next week that just didn't fit in well with the awkward schedule the men have this week. Keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime...
Let's drop some bombs this weekend.
For the women tonight, it's a big challenge in a Harvard team without its coach, without its star players, and seemingly without problems as the Crimson handily defeated Quinnipiac and Princeton in Boston last weekend. With the exception of last Saturday's game at UConn, the Engineers have been "in" every game they've played. Hopefully their return home will give them a bit of an edge over Harvard, who are hitting the road for the first time this season.
The men also take on the Crimson tonight, just three days removed from Tuesday's game, easily the worst showing of the young season as RPI blew a 3-0 lead that they racked up in the first 15 minutes and had to settle for a 3-3 tie. Technically, tonight's game is for first place in the ECAC, since the winner will have 3 points to a maximum of 2 points for the rest of the league. Hey, it's the little things. Expect some lineup changes after the Engineers' lethargic showing on Tuesday.
Then on Saturday, it's Dartmouth. In the afternoon in Troy, the Engineers welcome a short-handed Dartmouth team that was rocked in its first three outings (but, one would expect, is likely to be coming off their first win of the season against perennial cellar-dwellers Union). RPI would do well to take advantage of its longer bench on Saturday to get themselves a leg-up in the ECAC chase early.
Dartmouth's men are off to a tough start, too, after falling to Princeton and Brown in New Jersey last weekend at the Liberty Invitational, but they'll be at home for the first time this season (not counting their exhibition blowout of Ontario Institute of Technology), and RPI is going to have to be sharp, especially on the road. This is still expected to be a pretty solid Big Green team.
Anyway... we've got a few features coming out next week that just didn't fit in well with the awkward schedule the men have this week. Keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime...
Let's drop some bombs this weekend.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Black Ice
Ooh. Darkness. Fun.
It's BlackFriday Saturday Tuesday, which for the 11th straight season recognizes RPI's first home ECAC contest of the season. This year, it's also the first ECAC game period, so the winner tonight gets to be in first place all by their lonesome for three days. Fun.
Hard to take away much from last year's Harvard games. In November, when Harvard won 4-0 against RPI, the Engineers were at rock-bottom and had several healthy scratches in a "message sending" game from the locker room. In February, when RPI won 3-0 at home, the Crimson were approaching rock-bottom, having lost six in a row going into that contest.
One thing that is still true from February to today - while the players who left the program midseason as part of the cheating scandal at Harvard are back with the team, they won't play in any games until around Thanksgiving. That means the Crimson are likely going to improve around then... and RPI's getting them at the right time, since they can't see them until the ECAC Tournament at the earliest.
But Harvard won't be the pushovers that they seemed to be in February, either. This is a team brimming with offensive talent in the sophomore and freshman classes, and we saw last year what a team like that can do - it finished in 2nd place when it found some good defense. The Crimson shut out Bentley on Saturday, 3-0, but they had to stop 43 shots in order to do so. Something tells me RPI has a slightly better capacity to make those shots dent twine than do the Falcons.
The Engineers have struck paydirt in the first eight minutes of each of their last three victories. Getting ahead early and maintaining offensive pressure will be key tonight.
It's Black
Hard to take away much from last year's Harvard games. In November, when Harvard won 4-0 against RPI, the Engineers were at rock-bottom and had several healthy scratches in a "message sending" game from the locker room. In February, when RPI won 3-0 at home, the Crimson were approaching rock-bottom, having lost six in a row going into that contest.
One thing that is still true from February to today - while the players who left the program midseason as part of the cheating scandal at Harvard are back with the team, they won't play in any games until around Thanksgiving. That means the Crimson are likely going to improve around then... and RPI's getting them at the right time, since they can't see them until the ECAC Tournament at the earliest.
But Harvard won't be the pushovers that they seemed to be in February, either. This is a team brimming with offensive talent in the sophomore and freshman classes, and we saw last year what a team like that can do - it finished in 2nd place when it found some good defense. The Crimson shut out Bentley on Saturday, 3-0, but they had to stop 43 shots in order to do so. Something tells me RPI has a slightly better capacity to make those shots dent twine than do the Falcons.
The Engineers have struck paydirt in the first eight minutes of each of their last three victories. Getting ahead early and maintaining offensive pressure will be key tonight.
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