Men's Hockey - Acadia (6 Oct)

Another season of RPI hockey is now officially underway, and nearly 3,000 turned out for the first official look at the Engineers this season - a homecoming weekend exhibition against the Acadia Axemen. Despite the nature of exhibitions making the game's outcome irrelevant and the results difficult to interpret, RPI put on a show against the Nova Scotia side for the second consecutive year, skating away with a 6-2 victory.

Acadia
Lee-McGowan-Schroeder
Zalewski-Higgs-Tinordi
Neal-Laliberte-Haggerty
Miller-Rogic-Bubela
Commers, Burgdoerfer

Leboeuf-Bailen
Curadi-Leonard
Bradley-Dolan
Hampton

Merriam

As with any exhibition, the roster was limited only by who could fit on the bench. Freshmen Craig Bokenfohr and Travis Fulton were the odd men out, with senior Marty O'Grady out with injury. Every other player on the roster got at least a little playing time on Saturday night, including all three goaltenders, each of which got to play for one period in order of seniority.

Last season, Scott Diebold played all 60 minutes and picked up a shutout victory. This year, a similar result was not in the cards, and it took only a little over five minutes for that prospect to fall by the wayside, as Acadia notched the game's first goal on a weak shot that Merriam just missed grabbing. The 1-0 score was in place for the next six minutes of game time, and the Engineers broke onto the scoresheet on a four-on-four opportunity. With Milos Bubela in the penalty box for goaltender interference (negating a power play that could have come from a cross-checking call against Acadia), Nick Bailen scored on a scrum in front to tie the game up following an excellent series of passes with the open ice.

Two minutes later, a solid individual effort by Mark McGowan gave RPI the lead. The sophomore forward intercepted a pass along the Acadia blue line and took the puck in by himself, rifling a shot past the goaltender on the short side to make the score 2-1.

Acadia tied things up a couple minutes into the second on a mini breakway that gave middle frame goaltender Scott Diebold trouble. Diebold guessed wrong and went to his left on a fake shot, and the shot instead was slapped into an open net on his right. But RPI responded just under four minutes later on a nifty play by sophomores Matt Neal and Jacob Laliberte. Neal drifted a perfect pass through the slot to a wide open Laliberte, who popped the puck into an open net to make it 3-2 Engineers.

Five minutes into the third period, Neal and Laliberte would link up a second time, this time with Laliberte feeding Neal the puck on another four-on-four (Bailen was called for diving after being cross-checked in the neck). Up 4-2, the power play took center stage as RPI finally got their first real opportunities on the man advantage and did not waste them. The first of these power plays came concurrently with the Neal goal, which was scored during a delayed penalty call, and Bubela became the first of the freshmen to dent the twine, giving RPI a 5-2 lead. Some three and a half minutes later, it was sophomore Ryan Haggerty scoring on the power play, making it 6-2, which is how the game ended.

In net, Jason Kasdorf worked a perfect third period, stopping all nine shots that he faced in the final stanza. Diebold made eight saves on nine shots in the second, while Merriam stopped five of six in the first.

Brock Higgs showed distinct signs of continuing his playmaker role that he had late last season, notching three assists, while Matt Neal added a goal and two assists as part of a dynamic pairing with Jacob Laliberte. Laliberte and Nick Bailen each had a goal and an assist on the night.

The games that count now get underway next week in Troy, as RPI welcomes last year's national runners-up Ferris State, Seth Appert's alma mater. The Bulldogs found success last season on a heavily defense-centric game plan, and given what they return from last year's squad, that same game plan could be in store next weekend. The Engineers were unable to score a single goal in two games in Michigan against Ferris State last year, obviously, that will have to change this coming weekend.

Other junk - As with most years, the Engineers were part of a glut of teams receiving votes in the first USCHO poll of the season, picking up 5. They still had 5 votes in this, the second week of the rankings. Ranked teams in the ECAC are #5 Cornell (idle, up one), #10 Union (lost to Merrimack, down five), #17 Harvard (idle, no change), and #18 Quinnipiac (beat Maine and lost to Acadia, previously unranked). Also receiving votes was Yale (4). Ranked teams appearing on RPI's schedule this season are #11 Ferris State and #12 Boston University - New Hampshire (64), St. Cloud State (62), and Minnesota State (3) also received votes.

Acadia at RPI
Exhibition Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/6/12 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 6, Acadia 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO

Post-game press conference
Full game (RPI TV)

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

Upcoming games
12 Oct - #11 Ferris State
13 Oct - #11 Ferris State
19 Oct - at Minnesota State
20 Oct - at Minnesota State
02 Nov - #10 Union (Black Friday)

Hockey!

The wait's over, it's back to hockey!

Things get started tonight with the women taking on UConn at home. The Engineers opened their season against the Huskies last year as well, picking up a 3-3 tie and a 1-0 victory in Storrs to get the season off on the right foot. Can they do it again this season? Well, just know that this is UConn's second consecutive weekend traveling to the Capital District, as they kicked off their season in Schenectady last week against the Dutchwomen, falling 3-2. Take from that what you will.

The men have their exhibition this weekend as well as the puck drops tomorrow against Acadia. As mentioned yesterday, it might be hard to glean much from what we see, but it still promises to be a fun outing.

So it's hockey season, it's Friday, and you know what that means... pumpup time! Here's a classic that'll never go out of style to get you set for the season's start.

Whither Acadia?

Following last year's exhibition game with the Acadia Axemen, the Engineers were prohibitive favorites to win the national championship. Or at least, you would have thought so given game's turnout, the reaction to what was seen, and some of the expectations coming off of an NCAA tournament appearance. Two goals for Ryan Haggerty. A goal and two assists for Zach Schroeder. A 19-save shutout for Scott Diebold. All three of those stars of the game, part of an anticipated freshman class. A 7-0 demolition in front of a larger-than-usual exhibition crowd.

Our writeup was a little more reserved, given the general unpredictability of just what one can take away from an exhibition contest, which always features a longer bench than normal and plenty of different line permutations.

Acadia last year was coming off of a strong season and had been undefeated in their five prior exhibition matchups in Canada, so there was, at the time, every reason to believe the the Engineers had just laid the smackdown on a pretty solid team. Unfortunately, it turned out to be nothing of a harbinger whatsoever, as RPI took six games to score the seven goals they had tallied in the exhibition, four of them coming in just one of those six games. Meanwhile, the defense allowed four goals or more in five of the team's first eight contests.


Acadia, incidentally, went on to finish fifth in the eight-team Atlantic University Sport, making the playoffs but falling in a best-of-three quarterfinal series against fourth-ranked Prince Edward Island, two games to one. Still, the Axemen did turn out to be the only team to land two players on the AUS All-Stars first team, with Andrew Clark (who led the league in scoring) and Christopher Owens both earning the honor, and both players are back with the team this season, as is Evan Mosher, who allowed 7 goals on 34 shots against the Engineers last season. In fact, a good number of the same players that were in Troy last year with the Wolfville, Nova Scotia team will be back this season.

So what should we expect from Saturday's game? Well, expect an exciting opportunity to see this year's team for the first time. Expect a solid opportunity to see the freshmen play for the first time. Expect a fun night. And don't expect to translate what you see into anything you can apply for next week's games against the national runners-up, Ferris State.

Bear in mind not only last year's result and subsequent rough season, but consider also that the 2005-06 Engineers lit up the University of Ottawa by a 13-3 score on their way to a 14-17-6 season. In fact, since that game in 2005 (the first season opening exhibition game against a Canadian team since 1994), the Engineers are 2-1-1 in Canadian exhibitions - and the only times RPI skated to a winning season were following the tie (2009 against Prince Edward Island) and the loss (2010 against New Brunswick).

Men's Hockey - Acadia (1 Oct)

The now annual exhibition game is becoming an excellent opportunity for the Engineers to get a competitive game under their belts before the games that count begin - by the time October rolls around, the team has been playing each other for a good two months. It also affords Engineer fans the opportunity to see the freshmen play for the first time, and with a much anticipated class hitting the ice for the first time in the Cherry and White, a larger than usual exhibition crowd of about 2,650 was on hand as the Engineers thoroughly dismantled the Acadia Axemen, 7-0.

Acadia
Tinordi/Malchuk/Rabbani

Cullen/O'Grady/Haggerty

Angers-Goulet/Neal/Schroeder

Laliberte/Higgs/Lee

Smith, Burgdoerfer

Bergin/Koudys
Leboeuf/Bailen

Leonard/Dolan

Curadi

Diebold

The game's notable scratches were Bryce Merriam, who has a knee injury that kept him from getting any playing time and has him listed as questionable for the upcoming home series with Minnesota State, and Mark McGowan, who was the only freshman not to dress for the game (though he did skate afterwards in the Skate with the Engineers). Johnny Rogic was also MIA.

Jacob Laliberte very nearly started his RPI career with a fairytale beginning, getting the puck on his stick all alone with the goaltender in the game's very first minute, but his low slot wrister was blocked up into the netting by goaltender Evan Mosher. That, perhaps, only foreshadowed what was to come, however, as the Engineer freshmen generally put on a show during the next 60 minutes.

Ryan Haggerty was the first to score for the Engineers, in close on the power play about six minutes in to give RPI a 1-0 lead. On their next power play late in the first, Nick Bailen netted one just to the left of the goal to make it 2-0.

Bailen would then make the Engineers 3-for-3 on the power play with his second goal of the game about five minutes into the second period.

Overall, RPI was 5-for-7 on the power play. The first failure to covert was due in part to a 24 second power play when Laliberte got his stick stuck in a defenseman's skate and was called for tripping. The second failure was followed by a goal just 24 seconds after the penalty expired, while the Engineers were already up 6-0. Zach Schroeder, Haggerty, Bo Dolan, and C.J. Lee all picked up goals in the final period.

Ultimately, Acadia just didn't seem like a very strong team, although freshman goaltender Scott Diebold was on top of things when he needed to be. He seems to play a style very reminiscent of just-departed goaltender Allen York, with good lateral movement and a willingness to stop play when need be.

The Axemen were taken behind the woodshed the next night in Hamden, as Quinnipiac upended Acadia 5-2. Coming into the game, it had been hoped that the Axemen would provide a very significant challenge as has come to be expected from Canadian college teams from the Maritimes after tough games with UPEI and UNB in the last two years, but RPI, especially the freshmen, skated circles around the bigger and older but much slower Acadia team.

Next up for the Engineers is a first-ever meeting with Minnesota State. The Mavericks were picked by both the WCHA coaches and media to finish 11th in the 12 team league, but it should be a solid matchup. MSU has always been a very physical team, and it will be just the kind of environment that will help RPI's young forwards grow as the season gets underway.

Other junk - RPI will begin the season as the 18th ranked team in the nation, though all told the true tale of the USCHO poll is how little consensus there is on exactly which teams go where. Seven different teams drew first place votes, and differences in position were often by just a few points. At any rate, the ECAC is well represented, with #9 Yale (1 first place vote), #11 Union, and #20 Cornell joining the Engineers as nationally ranked teams. Dartmouth drew 80 votes, leaving them as the top unranked team in the poll. Princeton (7) and Quinnipiac (4) also drew the attention of some voters. Notre Dame, who will face off with the Engineers in three weeks, is ranked #1 in the poll with 10 first place votes. Also on the RPI schedule this year is #7 Colorado College. RIT (53) and Ferris State (12) also received votes.


Acadia at #18 RPI
Exhibition Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/1/11 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 7, Acadia 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats

USCHO

RECAPS
RPI

Troy Record

VIDEO

Full game (RPI TV)

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

Reale Deals
1. F Ryan Haggerty, 2 G

2. F Zach Schroeder, 1 G, 2 A

3. G Scott Diebold, 19 saves, SO

Upcoming games
07 Oct - Minnesota State
08 Oct - Minnesota State
14 Oct - at Ferris State
15 Oct - at Ferris State
21 Oct - at #1 Notre Dame