* January 2004: Division III grandfathers programs with Division I scholarships
OutKast - Hey Ya!
When word got out in the summer of 2003 that the president of Middlebury College was proposing to restrict Division III schools that "play up" in Division I from offering athletic scholarships in their Division I sports, it sounded like a cruel joke.
"Let's issue is athletic scholarships, " John McCardell had said. "Let's debate that issue. The evidence is the [1983] waiver [allowing the "play up" scholarships]. It's a general acknowledgement that what they're doing is at variance from what is the Division III philosophy."
Thus, the gauntlet was thrown down. Division III was suffering the impure stain of scholarships offered by eight institutions - RPI in men's hockey, Clarkson and St. Lawrence in men's and women's hockey, Colorado College in men's hockey and women's soccer, Johns Hopkins in men's and women's lacrosse, Oneonta State in men's soccer, Hartwick in women's water polo, and Rutgers-Newark in men's volleyball. In McCardell's view, this was an affront to the 416 other Division III schools, and demanded their immediate revocation, for the sake of Division III purity. Proposition 65 was born.
McCardell assembled his allies. "There's nothing that prevents them from continuing their Division I competition, but do it without giving financial aid. Division III schools should never give athletic-related financial aid, ever." So said Donna Ledwin, commissioner of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, against all semblance of logic.
"It's special interest legislation that gives special treatment to eight members," declared Lincoln College president Ivory Nelson.
Battle lines were drawn. Twenty years after RPI's first scholarship athletes graduated, that privilege was in serious danger. The old Tri-State League rivals - RPI, Clarkson, and St. Lawrence, bitter enemies on the ice, found themselves sharing a foxhole in a fight for survival. Fortunately, RPI had a dynamic young leader helming the athletic department in Ken Ralph. In just his second year on the job, he was facing a serious threat to his school's premier athletic program, and he was ready to take the lead in order to fight it.
Ralph banded together with his counterparts at the other seven institutions to put together an all-out counteroffensive against McCardell's crusade, seeking to educate presidents and athletic directors all over Division III about the importance of defeating the measure - after all, it was one that affected only a very small percentage of the wider D-III membership, and could easily have just been voted in without a great deal of thought.
Ralph and his cohorts pulled out the big guns, launching an internet campaign called Stop Prop 65. Hockey games turned into pseudo-political rallies. Senator Charles Schumer hosted a press conference at Houston Field House urging the NCAA to defeat Proposition 65. The greater college hockey community mobilized - Ralph even received a phone call from a season ticket holder at Northern Michigan, a school RPI had never and still has never played, asking what he could do to help.
And still, heading into the NCAA's Division III convention in Nashville, no one was sure of success. There had been a great deal of hemming and hawing "we'll see" responses, and plenty of support for the measure to be found. So as the convention began, the eight schools went on offense. They proposed an amendment to Prop 65 - Proposition 65-1 - that would bar Division III schools from offering athletic scholarships, but grandfather the eight institutions which were already doing so.
It was a gamble. The eight schools ran the risk of appearing to be asking for even more special treatment, and the supporters of Proposition 65 tried their to make that argument. Ultimately, the education campaign paid off. 65-1 was taken as a legitimate compromise between the nature of the programs in question and the drive for a more pure Division III, it passed 296-106. Proposition 65 was then passed as amended, 304-89. 65-1 was ultimately supported by all but one Division III school that shared a conference with one or more of the affected schools (Union).
Thus, going forward, RPI, St. Lawrence, Clarkson, and Colorado College continue to offer athletic scholarships. This is also why Union and RIT are unable to do so, Union didn't offer them at the time and RIT didn't move to Division I in hockey until 2005.
RPI also made the announcement that women's hockey would move to Division I shortly after the vote.
A win was a win, and a bullet was dodged thanks to some very hard work by a number of stakeholders. But what if their argument had failed to persuade the fence-sitters in Nashville? What if the McCardells of the world had won the day, and scholarships had been stricken from those eight institutions?
At the time, public discussion on what would be done if Proposition 65 passed unamended was pretty much forbidden. After all, it would have done little good for the campaign if it appeared that members were prepared to either swallow the measure or bolt Division III to avoid its effects. For the sake of recruiting, both RPI hockey and Johns Hopkins lacrosse insisted they would continue to play in Division I, but the lack of specifics to potential recruits across the board on whether or not they would still have scholarships as seniors (with Prop 65 slated to take effect in 2008) surely played a negative role regardless of the declarations.
This scenario is easier to examine than some of the other ones, because there were only a few options available as contingencies if Proposition 65 had been enacted.
First, RPI could have chosen to drop the hockey program to Division III for the sake of competitiveness. This was practically always considered probably the least likely scenario, given all that the program had survived over the course of its history.
The next option would have been the "do nothing" option, simply playing in Division I without scholarships in hockey while remaining in Division III in other sports. In hindsight, this possibly could have been made to work, especially given that the last two Division III programs to reach the Frozen Four were... RIT and Union. They're getting by without scholarships, and it's possible that the other four schools could have managed to get by without them too (although Colorado College specifically would have had a much harder go of it), although to say that RIT and Union "don't offer scholarships," without putting the word "athletic" into it, is a bit misleading.
The third option was to move out of Division III, and was ultimately a pair of options - a move to Division II, or a move to what was then Division I-AA. Division II, geographically, was a poor option - it would have left RPI playing against schools like Saint Rose, Le Moyne, Pace, and Adelphi on a regular basis, schools which don't have a great deal in common with RPI other than location.
Division I-AA, however, would have offered some clear potential. As we've mentioned before, RPI would have found a number of similar schools in the Patriot League, and (at the time) would have even been able to keep costs down due to a lack of football scholarships in the league. At the end of the day, this option, presuming the Patriot League would have been open to accepting RPI as a member, would have been the most likely scenario.
Hindsight tells us that RPI's window for Division I accession would have been slim - in 2007, the NCAA issued a moratorium on teams moving into Division I, which means the school would have had three years to get the process underway. With scholarships scheduled to be revoked in 2008, it's likely that it would have been done relatively quickly.
There is one event in particular which took place a month before the vote in Nashville that may have nudged RPI in that direction. The football team, a local laughingstock for decades, broke through with not only its first ever NCAA tournament win, but three in a row as the Engineers advanced to the national semifinals before falling to eventual national champions St. John's just one win from the Stagg Bowl. The football team captivated campus at a time when it was in need of a pick-me-up, given the Prop 65 fight.
The combination of the football team's success and the fight to stop Proposition 65 was a bit of an enlightenment for RPI president Shirley Ann Jackson. Having focused almost entirely on academics since her arrival on campus in 1999, she began to see in full the popularity of athletics between the march through the national tournament in football and the impassioned response of alums to the NCAA threat in hockey. It's not too much of a stretch to suggest that in the wake of a lost battle against Prop 65, she could have been convinced to push forward with expanded early plans for a new East Campus Athletic Village that would allow the football and basketball teams to take on Ivy League opponents with a similar regularity as the hockey team while allowing the school's premiere sport to maintain competitiveness in Division I.
Money was the issue - but Dr. Jackson has never had a problem coming up with money when the urge or the need arises, that's for sure. Had Proposition 65-1 failed, it's very likely that we'd be seeing RPI competing as a Division I Football Championship Subdivision school today - but the possible cost to the hockey program of such a move weighs just as much as what it would have gained through continued ability to offer athletic scholarships.
No longer separated from other offerings by a special distinction, hockey would be jockeying for position with a football team now facing Colgate, Holy Cross, and Yale rather than Union, Merchant Marine, and Alfred, and basketball teams able to tap into the very popular Albany basketball market with competition against Siena and UAlbany, not to mention the money bonanza that would go along with a potential invitation to the March Madness dance.
Despite the likelihood of this scenario, RPI is far better off today because of the success of 65-1 regardless of the excitement that Division I athletics would have brought to campus. Despite its opposition to the purity drive of Prop 65, RPI as an institution does place its emphasis on academics and research, and it's commitment to Division III values allows the school to keep that emphasis there, while allowing for the special history of hockey at the Institute. It's a win-win, despite the allure of what could have become.
Showing posts with label colorado college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label colorado college. Show all posts
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Monday, October 31, 2011
Men's Hockey - Colorado College (28/29 Oct)
For the third consecutive weekend, the Engineers have gone up against one of the top teams in the nation, and for the third consecutive weekend, they've walked away without a win. This past weekend, it was a pair of 4-1 losses to the then-third ranked Colorado College Tigers, but just as with the other two weekends, they were in games that were filled with optimistic signs for RPI.
Friday
Angers-Goulet/Rogic/Lee
Friday
Angers-Goulet/Rogic/Lee
Tinordi/Schroeder/Haggerty
Cullen/Burgdoerfer/Smith
Merriam
McGowan/Malchuk/Rabbani
Bergin/Bailen
Leonard/Koudys
Leboeuf/Dolan
Merriam
The injury bug continues to be a problem for the Engineers, and it got a bit worse when it was revealed late Friday that freshman Matt Neal, who had just gone 11-for-14 at the faceoff dot against Notre Dame, would be out with injury. Brock Higgs missed his fourth consecutive game, as did Marty O'Grady, while Jacob Laliberte was out for the second straight match. All four of those guys are either regular centers, or have been capable replacements, leaving RPI with a dearth of their best guys in the circle.
Colorado College got out of the box quickly with a nice cross-crease pass from Scott Winkler to Rylan Schwartz that the elder Schwartz brother one-timed to the back of the net, giving the Tigers the lead just 4:10 into things. The first period, however, proved to be fairly even outside of the scoring, as RPI leveled 10 shots on CC's Joe Howe, just one less than the Tigers fired at Bryce Merriam.
While the RPI power play has struggled all season to date, it certainly didn't help any that on all of their first three opportunities on Friday, they took a penalty themselves to negate the advantage - which led to shortened opportunities for CC on three of their first four power plays. When Josh Rabbani was called for boarding to negate an RPI power play, the Tigers converted once their player was out of the box, and it was Rylan Schwartz doing it again with 14 seconds left in the second period, putting the Tigers up 2-0.
It could have been the worst possible time to allow a goal, but the Engineers pounced on a Tigers squad that looked like it had one leg back in the dressing room already. Only 10 seconds after CC went up by two, Patrick Cullen scored his first goal of the season from Guy Leboeuf to bring RPI back within one and send the teams off for the second intermission with a charged up crowd.
RPI finally got what would be its only full two-minute power play opportunity of the game midway through the third period, but they were unable to convert, as Joe Howe made a number of big saves to keep his team on top throughout the final frame. With just over two minutes left in regulation and a faceoff coming in the CC zone, RPI called timeout and pulled Merriam for the extra skater, but a boarding call against C.J. Lee just 14 seconds after the puck dropped disrupted the Engineers' plans significantly. Once RPI cleared the puck, Merriam was pulled again, but the Tigers would pick up a pair of empty netters in the final 30 seconds - the first a very slow dribbler that the RPI defense simply couldn't catch up to - for a 4-1 final score.
That score certainly didn't underscore the closeness of the game, which, given the number of injuries the Engineers were in the process of enduring, was a pretty solid result against one of the best teams in the nation when you remove the empty netters. Both of their goals were scored by one of the best lines in the nation, featuring Winkler and the Schwartz brothers.
Saturday
Cullen/Malchuk/Rabbani
Cullen/Malchuk/Rabbani
Tinordi/Schroeder/Haggerty
Angers-Goulet/Rogic/Lee
Diebold
McGowan/Smith/Burgdoerfer
Leonard/Koudys
Bergin/Bailen
Leboeuf/Dolan
Diebold
Scott Diebold making his second career start was the only lineup change overall for the Engineers on Saturday, and, much as in his first start, the freshman goaltender had a sharp game that was well played but was not enough to result in a victory.
CC's first goal on Saturday was a bit of a fluky one, though they count just as much as the pretty ones do. During RPI's second power play opportunity midway through the first period, Alexander Krushelnyski was stopped on a shorthanded opportunity with a beautiful save by Diebold, and then flung the puck back on net from a practically impossible angle, the puck curling behind Diebold and into the net - the RPI goaltender never saw the shot, and in fact was still looking for the play for a couple of seconds before realizing the puck had somehow ended up behind him.
RPI played a physical game on Friday, but it was even more physical on Saturday for sure. They seemed to have a goal of punishing anyone in black who even looked at the puck, and it helped keep them in the game even if it generally kept shot totals down on both sides of the ice.
About a minute after C.J. Lee picked up his third penalty of the weekend, the Engineers picked up a shorthanded goal to compliment CC's shorty earlier in the game, this one coming from senior Alex Angers-Goulet, who has long been one of RPI's better penalty killers anyway. His goal from Nick Bailen tied things up at one, but the Engineers still had over a minute left to kill on the Lee penalty.
The Tigers bounced back right away with a laser of a pinpointed shot from Winkler, who placed the puck perfectly in the corner of the net past a screened Diebold to give CC the lead once again just 51 seconds later. CC dominated the shot count in the second period, but Diebold came up big with 12 saves to keep RPI firmly in the game heading into the third.
A defensive breakdown took place in the middle part of the third period leading to CC's third goal - and given that the beat-up Engineers had been skating with the prolifically speedy Tigers all weekend, it's not surprising that the sixth period would expose a mistake at some point. Rylan Schwartz picked up his third goal of the weekend (and fifth in four games against RPI in the last two years) after Diebold and Leboeuf were left alone in the RPI zone, giving CC a 3-1 edge.
RPI certainly refused to go away, and they continued working to crawl back within one. A decent opportunity on the power play three minutes after the Schwartz goal created good opportunities, but again Joe Howe showed why he is one of the best goaltenders in the nation with some excellent play keeping RPI out of the back of the net.
As he's shown all year long, Seth Appert is not afraid to go for it, even down by two, and Diebold was pulled from the net with just over two minutes left to play, and for the fifth straight game, an empty netter was the result as Jaden Schwartz, popularly considered the better of the brothers, picked up his only goal of the weekend.
So despite running with one of the best teams in the nation for the better part of 120 minutes, the far-less-than-100% Engineers still walked away with their fourth and fifth straight losses, and yet, as the ECAC schedule gets underway next weekend, there's still plenty to be optimistic about going forward. The team has played great physical hockey, decent defense, and they have shown an ability to move the puck. The biggest issue thus far has been finishing, which was difficult even in the first weekend against Minnesota State, but next to impossible against top defenses like Ferris State and Colorado College (both tied for 5th in the nation on D).
Other junk - The sweep of RPI, coupled with Denver's 1-point weekend against Michigan Tech, pushed the Tigers from #3 to #2 with five first place votes, still behind #1 Boston College. Ranked ECAC teams this week are #9 Yale (tied Princeton and beat Dartmouth, up one with one first place vote), #13 Union (lost to UNH and beat AIC, down two), #18 Colgate (split with Niagara, down two) and #19 Quinnipiac (idle, up one). Also ranked are #6 Notre Dame (swept Bowling Green, down one) and #10 Ferris State (swept by #3 Michigan, down four). Also receiving votes were Clarkson (47), Dartmouth (30), Cornell (ex-#19, 11), and Harvard (7).
#3 Colorado College at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/28/11 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Colorado College 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/28/11 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Colorado College 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
VIDEO
RECORD: 1-5-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)
Reale Deals
Reale Deals
1. G Bryce Merriam, 30 saves
2. F Patrick Cullen, 1 G
3. D Pat Koudys, 2 shots, +1
#3 Colorado College at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/29/11 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Colorado College 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
10/29/11 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Colorado College 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
VIDEO
RECORD: 1-6-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)
Reale Deals
Reale Deals
1. F Alex Angers-Goulet, 1 G
2. G Scott Diebold, 23 saves
3. F Ryan Haggerty, 4 shots
Upcoming games
04 Nov - at Clarkson
05 Nov - at St. Lawrence
11 Nov - #9 Yale (Black Friday)
12 Nov - Brown
15 Nov - #13 Union
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Game #7: Colorado College
Here's game two this weekend - again, just a twitter feed while we're at home, but we're certain you'll find it useful.
Stats of the Morning
RPI has lost 4 straight games. Their three opponents in those games have an overall record of 13-4-0 (with two of the losses coming Thursday/Friday as #6 Ferris State was swept by #4 Michigan) and a goals differential of 60-36.
By comparison, Clarkson has won 5 straight games. Their three opponents in those games have an overall record of 2-16-0 and a goals differential of 38-86.
Which team is being better prepared for playing league games?
---
Jaden Schwartz gets all the attention. It's Rylan that's been burning RPI. He has scored in each of the three games between CC and RPI, with four goals in those contests.
---
As we mentioned on the Twitter feed last night, the clowns that "analyze" college hockey will look at the 4-1 final and see a solid victory by CC despite two empty netters. Impressively, CC's rivals from Denver had three empty netters scored on them against Michigan Tech, falling 7-2.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Game #6: Colorado College
It's a home game, so our "extra commentary" will be light (we're all at the game, after all), but feel free to enjoy up-to-the-second updates from the game and around the ECAC at our gameday live feed.
That Which Does Not Kill...
Speaking of killing... did you know the Engineers were 4th in the nation on the kill? Not as good as they were heading into last week against Notre Dame, but at 92% (23-for-25), it's certainly a plus to know that RPI's got the defense they need when they're down a man.
They'll need that against a Colorado College power play that will be looking to improve on its weak 1-for-7 showing on the man advantage two weeks ago in its opening weekend against Bemidji State.
These two games against the Tigers represent the last non-conference games of the early-season run for RPI, and as we've well documented here, they've been a doozy - but we agree with Seth Appert, these are the kind of games you want to be playing.
Meanwhile, the women kick off their ECAC schedule, also at home, against Quinnipiac and Princeton, a tough weekend to be sure but a key opportunity for the women to snap out of their four-game slide.
It's a great weekend for hockey in Troy, complete with its very own snowstorm!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Today's Podcast: Joe Paisley
I admit, we're playing with fire this week.
Last year, we tried on two different occasions to get Colorado Springs Gazette writer Joe Paisley on our podcast, and both times failed due to problems on our side.
Here's hoping the third try's the charm. We'll talk to Joe about the high-flying Tigers, now ranked #3 in this beautiful country of ours, and see just what it is that makes them a dangerous team. We'll get his thoughts on the advent of the NCHC, given that the Tigers will be a charter member of the league in 2013, and we'll talk about CC-RPI, of course.
We go live at 6 p.m. Eastern today. To listen live (or on demand after the show), click Listen to Without a Peer in the upper right hand corner of the page.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Know Your Enemy: Colorado College
Today, we touch on our first "repeat offender" in the Know Your Enemy series. The Engineers and Tigers faced one another last season in a two-game series in Colorado Springs, and this year the Tigers return the favor by coming to Troy for a pair of games. This series, I'm sure, will mark a homecoming for CC athletic director Ken Ralph, who guided RPI athletics from 2002 through 2007 before leaving for the Centennial State.
Colorado College
Colorado College
Nickname: Tigers
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Founded: 1874
Conference: WCHA
National Championships: 2 (1950, 1957)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2011
Last Frozen Four: 2005
Coach: Scott Owens (13th season)
2010-11 Record: 23-19-3 (13-13-2 WCHA, 6th place)
Series: Colorado College leads, 3-0-2
First Game: January 30, 1954 (Colorado Springs, CO)
Last RPI win: Never
Last CC win: October 8, 2010 (Colorado Springs, CO)
2011-12 games: October 28-29, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Previous KYE installment:
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Founded: 1874
Conference: WCHA
National Championships: 2 (1950, 1957)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2011
Last Frozen Four: 2005
Coach: Scott Owens (13th season)
2010-11 Record: 23-19-3 (13-13-2 WCHA, 6th place)
Series: Colorado College leads, 3-0-2
First Game: January 30, 1954 (Colorado Springs, CO)
Last RPI win: Never
Last CC win: October 8, 2010 (Colorado Springs, CO)
2011-12 games: October 28-29, 2011 (Troy, NY)
Key players: F Nick Dineen, sr.; D Gabe Guentzel, sr.; G Joe Howe, jr.; D Joe Marciano, jr.; F William Rapuzzi, jr.; F Rylan Schwartz, jr.; D Eamonn McDermott, so.; F Jaden Schwartz, so.; D Aaron Harstad, fr.; D Peter Stoykewich, fr.
Previous KYE installment:
There's no need to rehash Colorado College's history... if you want a full refresher, check out last year's version of Know Your Enemy. It is worth noting, however, that the omen we discussed last year came true - whenever the Engineers have made a trip to Colorado Springs, they made the NCAA tournament that season.
Expectations weren't exceptionally high in the Springs last year, but the Tigers certainly made do with what they had - including a super freshman who, if not for an injury and the play of T.J. Tynan at Notre Dame probably would have been the national rookie of the year. Jaden Schwartz scored his first career goal against the Engineers at the beginning of the season, and went on to lead the Tigers in scoring despite missing 15 of CC's 45 games due to the World Junior Championship (where he played for Team Canada) and an injury sustained in that tournament.
Schwartz, along with his older brother Rylan and a couple of seniors, lifted the Tigers to a respectable 6th place finish in the WCHA, a finish that ensured that they would be in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid, especially if they could put together a strong run in the WCHA tournament. That's pretty much what they got, taking down Wisconsin in three games in the first round and defeating Alaska-Anchorage in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champions North Dakota in a tight semifinal contest. That was enough deliver the NCAA bid, and the Tigers quite nearly put together a solid run straight to the Frozen Four.
They shocked the college hockey world in the West Regional with four first period goals against defending champions Boston College (after BC had scored just 19 seconds into the game). The Tigers continued putting pucks in the net in the second period with three more, jumping out to a 7-2 lead that became an 8-4 upset win. Against Michigan in the Western final, two first period goals sunk CC's Frozen Four hopes, but Joe Howe made 41 saves, including 30 in the final two periods, to give the Tigers a shot. A late goal by Rylan Schwartz put the Tigers down by just one, but they were unable to find the equalizer.
CC does lose 37 goals between graduated seniors Stephen Schultz and Tyler Johnson, but with both Schwartz brothers set to return, along with solid scorers Dineen and Rapuzzi, the power core of the Tigers does remain intact. Howe did not play as well last year as he did as a freshman, but he proved his worth in the national tournament and remains a top netminder. Although Jaden Schwartz is one of only two NHL draft picks on this team, it's still a team that could be quite dangerous, even in the WCHA. CC presents a solid home challenge for an Engineer squad with a young core that will conclude an October full of western challenges.
This will be Colorado College's first ever trip to Troy, with previous RPI-CC meetings having taken place in Colorado Springs (three), Providence, RI, and Tampa, FL. It's not like you really needed extra incentive to come out to the Field House to watch hockey, but that makes this trip semi-historic, one could say.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Low-Seeded and Rusty
So, the Engineers are a #4 seed. They also didn't play last week (or the week before that, but that's beside the point). Some would say... well, they're going to be rusty and they're a low seed, so they're going to get bounced with no problem. And maybe they're right.
But... maybe neither of those are particularly relevant, either.
How have #4 seeds and teams that have had extra rest fared in the tournament lately? Well... pretty good actually. #4 seeds are in bold, teams playing with extra rest are in italics.
2006
Bemidji State - Lost to Wisconsin
Colorado College - Lost to Cornell
Holy Cross - Defeated Minnesota, lost to North Dakota
Nebraska-Omaha - Lost to Boston University
New Hampshire - Lost to Michigan
2007
Air Force - Lost to Minnesota
Alabama-Huntsville - Lost to Notre Dame (2 OT)
Maine - Defeated St. Cloud State, defeated UMass, lost to Michigan State
Miami - Defeated New Hampshire, lost to Boston College
UMass - Defeated Clarkson, lost to Maine
2008
Air Force - Lost to Miami
Clarkson - Defeated St. Cloud State, lost to Michigan
Michigan State - Defeated Colorado College, lost to Notre Dame
Niagara - Lost to Michigan
Notre Dame - Defeated New Hampshire, defeated Michigan State, defeated Michigan, lost to Boston College
Princeton - Lost to North Dakota
Wisconsin - Defeated Denver, lost to North Dakota
2009
Air Force - Defeated Michigan, lost to Vermont
Bemidji State - Defeated Notre Dame, defeated Cornell, lost to Miami
Miami - Defeated Denver, defeated Minnesota-Duluth, defeated Bemidji State, lost to Boston University
New Hampshire - Defeated North Dakota, lost to Boston University
Ohio State - Lost to Boston University
Vermont - Defeated Yale, defeated Air Force, lost to Boston University
2010
Alabama-Huntsville - Lost to Miami
Alaska - Lost to Boston College
Bemidji State - Lost to Michigan
New Hampshire - Defeated Cornell, lost to RIT
RIT - Defeated Denver, defeated New Hampshire, lost to Wisconsin
Yale - Defeated North Dakota, lost to Boston College
Vermont - Lost to Wisconsin
2011
Air Force
Colorado College
Nebraska-Omaha
New Hampshire
RPI
Union
#4 seeds are 8-12 in the first round since 2006, while teams that were off the previous week are 10-9 in the same stretch. Meanwhile, at least one #4 seed has won in the opening round in every tournament since 2006, and at least two supposedly "rusty" teams have won in the opening round against a team fresh from the fight in each of the last four years - not to mention that North Dakota has suffered losses to such teams in each of the last two tournaments (though neither were as a #1 seed).
Oh, and we've had at least one team in the Frozen Four for the last four years running that were either a #4 seed or were rested heading into the tournament (or both).
Hockey isn't basketball - a low seed isn't necessarily a killer. We'll see what happens tomorrow, we're just over 24 hours to go until we tangle with the Sioux.
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Today, games get underway in the East and West regionals in Bridgeport and St. Louis. There's the potential for an all-ECAC final in Bridgeport if Yale and Union, the higher seeds, win their games. Yale and Air Force have met once before this season, and it ended in Yale's first loss out in Colorado in a game they were winning 3-0 with 15 minutes left to play. Now in their backyard, I don't see this ending the same way. Meanwhile, Union and Minnesota-Duluth provides one of the truest toss-up games of the first round, as 8/9 matchups frequently do. This one's probably anyone's game, the Dutchmen have the stronger team while Duluth has the stronger individual players.
Out in St. Louis, it's Boston College and Colorado College in an interesting high/low matchup. The Eagles are certainly favored, but the Tigers seem like they could at least provide an interesting game if nothing more. Finally, there's Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha. Michigan shows up every year, but they rarely have been bringing home the national championship, with their only two championships during their long stretch of NCAA tournament appearances coming in 1996 and 1998. Omaha, meanwhile, had a pretty decent season overall but simply could not beat Bemidji State to save their lives this year (fully 1/3 of their losses this year are to the Beavers, including two in the WCHA playoffs). Dean Blais vs. Red Berenson has all the makings of a barnburner in this matchup between teams that were CCHA rivals just last year.
But... maybe neither of those are particularly relevant, either.
How have #4 seeds and teams that have had extra rest fared in the tournament lately? Well... pretty good actually. #4 seeds are in bold, teams playing with extra rest are in italics.
2006
Bemidji State - Lost to Wisconsin
Colorado College - Lost to Cornell
Holy Cross - Defeated Minnesota, lost to North Dakota
Nebraska-Omaha - Lost to Boston University
New Hampshire - Lost to Michigan
2007
Air Force - Lost to Minnesota
Alabama-Huntsville - Lost to Notre Dame (2 OT)
Maine - Defeated St. Cloud State, defeated UMass, lost to Michigan State
Miami - Defeated New Hampshire, lost to Boston College
UMass - Defeated Clarkson, lost to Maine
2008
Air Force - Lost to Miami
Clarkson - Defeated St. Cloud State, lost to Michigan
Michigan State - Defeated Colorado College, lost to Notre Dame
Niagara - Lost to Michigan
Notre Dame - Defeated New Hampshire, defeated Michigan State, defeated Michigan, lost to Boston College
Princeton - Lost to North Dakota
Wisconsin - Defeated Denver, lost to North Dakota
2009
Air Force - Defeated Michigan, lost to Vermont
Bemidji State - Defeated Notre Dame, defeated Cornell, lost to Miami
Miami - Defeated Denver, defeated Minnesota-Duluth, defeated Bemidji State, lost to Boston University
New Hampshire - Defeated North Dakota, lost to Boston University
Ohio State - Lost to Boston University
Vermont - Defeated Yale, defeated Air Force, lost to Boston University
2010
Alabama-Huntsville - Lost to Miami
Alaska - Lost to Boston College
Bemidji State - Lost to Michigan
New Hampshire - Defeated Cornell, lost to RIT
RIT - Defeated Denver, defeated New Hampshire, lost to Wisconsin
Yale - Defeated North Dakota, lost to Boston College
Vermont - Lost to Wisconsin
2011
Air Force
Colorado College
Nebraska-Omaha
New Hampshire
RPI
Union
#4 seeds are 8-12 in the first round since 2006, while teams that were off the previous week are 10-9 in the same stretch. Meanwhile, at least one #4 seed has won in the opening round in every tournament since 2006, and at least two supposedly "rusty" teams have won in the opening round against a team fresh from the fight in each of the last four years - not to mention that North Dakota has suffered losses to such teams in each of the last two tournaments (though neither were as a #1 seed).
Oh, and we've had at least one team in the Frozen Four for the last four years running that were either a #4 seed or were rested heading into the tournament (or both).
Hockey isn't basketball - a low seed isn't necessarily a killer. We'll see what happens tomorrow, we're just over 24 hours to go until we tangle with the Sioux.
-----
Today, games get underway in the East and West regionals in Bridgeport and St. Louis. There's the potential for an all-ECAC final in Bridgeport if Yale and Union, the higher seeds, win their games. Yale and Air Force have met once before this season, and it ended in Yale's first loss out in Colorado in a game they were winning 3-0 with 15 minutes left to play. Now in their backyard, I don't see this ending the same way. Meanwhile, Union and Minnesota-Duluth provides one of the truest toss-up games of the first round, as 8/9 matchups frequently do. This one's probably anyone's game, the Dutchmen have the stronger team while Duluth has the stronger individual players.
Out in St. Louis, it's Boston College and Colorado College in an interesting high/low matchup. The Eagles are certainly favored, but the Tigers seem like they could at least provide an interesting game if nothing more. Finally, there's Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha. Michigan shows up every year, but they rarely have been bringing home the national championship, with their only two championships during their long stretch of NCAA tournament appearances coming in 1996 and 1998. Omaha, meanwhile, had a pretty decent season overall but simply could not beat Bemidji State to save their lives this year (fully 1/3 of their losses this year are to the Beavers, including two in the WCHA playoffs). Dean Blais vs. Red Berenson has all the makings of a barnburner in this matchup between teams that were CCHA rivals just last year.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tonight's Podcast: Joe Paisley
With the Engineers off to the NCAA tournament, it's time to bring back the podcast - and who better to talk to than Colorado Springs Gazette reporter Joe Paisley? After all, he's one of the few guys out there that have seen both RPI and North Dakota this season. Besides, we owe him an appearance, since we tried to have him on at the beginning of the season before the RPI/CC series and failed due to technical issues.
Before the season started, few observers would have pegged that RPI/CC series as one between teams that would still be playing in late March, and yet here we are. Joe is in St. Louis getting set to cover the Tigers' game against Boston College. We'll ask him about the Engineers, the Fighting Sioux, the Tigers, and the Denver Pioneers, who lurk as a potential opponent on Sunday if RPI can pull off the upset. We'll also break down the NCAA tournament and provide a wrap-up on the women's NCAA tournament.
We hit the "airwaves" at 9pm Eastern tonight, and we'll talk to Joe around 9:30. Don't miss it! Click "Listen to Without a Peer" in the upper right hand corner of the page at the appropriate time to listen in live.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Two Down, 17 to Go
We went 0-for-2 in our cheering section last night. Minnesota-Duluth, a team that could help ensure a non-upset in the WCHA, lost out to Bemidji State, a team that would be a potential upset winner, but more importantly, Colorado College defeated Alaska-Anchorage. This had two end results, one good, one bad. The bad news is that Colorado College has essentially guaranteed their place in the tournament, in part because the comparison with the Engineers is now permanently in their favor. The good news is that UAA is no longer a potential problem champion.
The bad does outweigh the good. By virtue of the two unfortunate results, the Engineers' chances of making the NCAA tournament are down about 13%. They now stand at 68.5010% according to Reilly Hamilton's KRACH-weighted prediction program. Before you start to worry, remember... that's still better than 2 in 3. This time last week, you would have been ecstatic at that figure.
| Seed | Weighted | Unweighted | Permutations |
| 11 | 0.2356% | 0.6619% | 1952 |
| 12 | 2.7267% | 6.6538% | 19623 |
| 13 | 12.8118% | 20.8445% | 61473 |
| 14 | 21.1501% | 24.3364% | 71771 |
| 15 | 31.5767% | 8.8704% | 26160 |
| Seed | Weighted | Unweighted | Permutations |
| 13 | 0.0253% | 1.1488% | 3388 |
| 14 | 0.7333% | 7.8796% | 23238 |
| 15 | 10.5518% | 20.0290% | 59068 |
| 16 | 18.9268% | 9.2231% | 27200 |
| 17 | 1.2619% | 0.3523% | 1039 |
So RPI can no longer finish in 10th, but we knew that wasn't probably going to happen anyway. They can no longer be 18th or 19th either, but that wasn't ever going to matter either.
RPI remains 16th in the PairWise, but that can and will change if we can flip one or more of the remaining flippable comparisions: Notre Dame, Dartmouth, and/or Maine.
So here's our new cheering section, with explanations to follow.
WCHA
Denver over Bemidji State
Colorado College over North Dakota
CCHA
Michigan over Western Michigan
Miami over Notre Dame
ECAC
Cornell over Dartmouth
Yale over Colgate
Hockey East
Merrimack over New Hampshire
Boston College over Northeastern
Atlantic Hockey
RIT over UConn
Air Force over Holy Cross
So there it is. I have highlighted the four most important games of the day for the Engineers.
Wait, you say. Aren't CC and Cornell supposed to be sworn enemies of ours?
Well, they were. But not anymore. In CC's case, again.
We've bounced back and forth on the Tigers because they're a previous opponent who happened to be very close to us in the PWR. After last night's win, they are almost certainly going to be in the tournament, which is disappointing from our perspective, but there's also nothing we can do about it. Since they're also not a potential upset champion in the WCHA, we can fall back to our original position that we dwelled on in Engineer Bracketology for the last three months: you root for teams you played outside the conference during the season.
In this case, a CC victory over North Dakota would help the Engineers' RPI to an extent that it would flip the comparison with Maine - which right now, the Black Bears are winning by a margin of .0001. Additionally, the Fighting Sioux played Maine twice earlier this season as well, so there's a double bonus here. Colorado College vs. North Dakota is a proxy game between Rensselaer and Maine, with CC playing the role of the Engineers and North Dakota taking on the part of the Black Bears. The winner wins the comparison, most likely.
So when it comes to the WCHA, we're actually big Tigers fans now. If they win the Broadmoor Trophy tomorrow, it's hard to see the Engineers not playing next weekend, and it's all because of the mere existence of the first two games of the year.
Cornell? We've been harping on how bad Cornell is for the Engineers practically the entire span of Engineer Bracketology. And yes, if they lost twice this weekend, their RPI could fall below .5000, but from where we're sitting right now, that's not something we absolutely need. Yes, it would flip the Notre Dame comparison back, but Notre Dame losing twice or losing tonight and tying tomorrow would accomplish the same thing. Meanwhile, we want a crack at flipping that Dartmouth comparison, and the only way for that to happen is for the Big Green to lose twice.
That's playing with fire, because Dartmouth is a potential upset stifler, while Cornell would be an upset champion if they won twice. We definitely don't want that. So Cornell, for one night only, gets our support, but then we become Yale fans, assuming that they beat Colgate. If Cornell and Colgate both win... gulp.
The other ones, you know about. UNH gets bounced, that locks our comparison with the Wildcats, which we really need now that we can't flip the CC comparison. If Western Michigan loses twice, the Engineers are probably going to move ahead of them in the PWR by virtue of WMU losing comparisons to other teams. And of course, we want Notre Dame to lose twice. That can't happen in conjunction with WMU losing twice, of course, but if we can get one or the other to happen, that's fantastic for the Engineers. Basically, if Miami and Michigan both win tonight, the CCHA will turn out positive results.
Oh, and you want to know about the Atlantic Hockey part? Meh. Mr. Hamilton's KRACH machine tells us that these two results incrementally help the Engineers, while the opposite result incrementally hurts them. Every little bit helps at this point, but generally they're not too important. If RIT (or UConn) were playing, say, Holy Cross, it would be a little more important, because they could help boost the Engineers' RPI with a win, but as it is they're playing another previous opponent in UConn (or RIT), so it cancels out.
Northeastern, as a previous opponent, could help us out, but we don't want them becoming a TUC or an upset champion. That supersedes the benefit we could get from them beating Boston College.
That's it. Keep those fingers crossed and keep an eye on our Twitter feed tonight. We'll have live updates on what's going on and how it effects RPI.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Hacking the PairWise
What happens when you combine a mathematically defined system for selecting the NCAA field, the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world, and two weeks of waiting around to see if said university (or Institute, if you prefer) is going to get a bid to the tournament?
Well, you get this: a program that runs all of the permutations heading into the final three days of games before the field is chosen.
Reilly Hamilton, an enterprising CompSci/Economics major from RPI's Class of 2012 (and a key component of RPI TV's broadcasts as president), took it upon himself to write a program that essentially played the remaining 19 games to each potential overall result, then weighted those results using KRACH, the best statistic available for determining the likelihood of one team beating another (which we've discussed here before).
Those results can be found here. They include numbers for every team that is either still playing or can still potentially make the tournament. If your team isn't listed here... sorry. Your season's definitively over.
Now, this isn't perfect for a couple of reasons. First, in these calculations, KRACH doesn't change as the games are played. To do that would require a whole new set of calculations taking up a heck of a lot more time... and the games start tonight, so time is something we don't have a lot of. The second is that KRACH really doesn't have a good way of predicting the likelihood of a tie, and there are two games this weekend - the ECAC and CCHA consolation games - that could potentially end in a tie. But they are at the very least a rough estimate of the likelihood of teams making the tournament, and what seed they're likely to be.
The unweighted listings are very simple: they are a list of the total number of scenarios that could result after the 19 games this weekend are played.
Since we're an RPI-centric site, here are the Engineers' results. They are in the tournament in permutations listed in green, out in the ones listed in red.
As you can see, RPI could finish as high as 10th in the PWR, but that's not only highly unlikely (68 possible scenarios out of 1,179,648 overall scenarios), the situation is also fairly fanciful, because the weighted percentage is less than the unweighted percentage.
A simple way to explain this is to look at Colgate's tournament chances. Given that they will only be in the tournament if they win the ECAC title, their unweighted chances of making the tournament are 25%, because in 25% of the possible scenarios, they win the ECAC tournament. However, not all teams are created equal, and in the scope of the entirety of the season, their chances of actually winning the tournament isn't really great.
With that said, the Engineers, according to this model have an 81.3656% chance of playing next weekend. Slightly better than 4 in 5? What's not to be excited about there? It's not a given, which would be better, but beggars can't be choosers. Their unweighted chances are 74.3808%, which means that even if you treated every scenario as being equally likely, they're still in almost 3 times out of 4.
This analysis proves what we already knew about teams that are already in the tournament: Yale, North Dakota, Boston College, Miami, Michigan, Denver, Union, Merrimack, and Minnesota-Duluth can't miss the tournament.
It also shows that the bandied about scenarios of Notre Dame or New Hampshire missing the tournament are extremely fanciful. Barring something extremely, extremely unlikely, both teams are in.
Nebraska-Omaha, for all of its problems, is also almost certainly in.
That leaves the teams that are firmly on the bubble, and that's RPI, Western Michigan, Colorado College, and Dartmouth. Depending on the number of upset champions, there will be between 0 and 3 at-large bids that will go to these teams, discounting the fact that BU, Alaska-Anchorage, and Maine are also alive in this group but with much worse chances of making it. Of that group, the Engineers stand the best chance of emerging in the tournament field. That's a wonderful place to be.
So special thanks to Reilly Hamilton for putting in the time and effort needed to create this program. He has promised some updates over the course of the weekend, and we'll be glad to bring them to you here.
Go Seawolves (tonight)!
Well, you get this: a program that runs all of the permutations heading into the final three days of games before the field is chosen.
Reilly Hamilton, an enterprising CompSci/Economics major from RPI's Class of 2012 (and a key component of RPI TV's broadcasts as president), took it upon himself to write a program that essentially played the remaining 19 games to each potential overall result, then weighted those results using KRACH, the best statistic available for determining the likelihood of one team beating another (which we've discussed here before).
Those results can be found here. They include numbers for every team that is either still playing or can still potentially make the tournament. If your team isn't listed here... sorry. Your season's definitively over.
Now, this isn't perfect for a couple of reasons. First, in these calculations, KRACH doesn't change as the games are played. To do that would require a whole new set of calculations taking up a heck of a lot more time... and the games start tonight, so time is something we don't have a lot of. The second is that KRACH really doesn't have a good way of predicting the likelihood of a tie, and there are two games this weekend - the ECAC and CCHA consolation games - that could potentially end in a tie. But they are at the very least a rough estimate of the likelihood of teams making the tournament, and what seed they're likely to be.
The unweighted listings are very simple: they are a list of the total number of scenarios that could result after the 19 games this weekend are played.
Since we're an RPI-centric site, here are the Engineers' results. They are in the tournament in permutations listed in green, out in the ones listed in red.
| Seed | Weighted | Unweighted | Permutations |
| 10 | 0.0005% | 0.0058% | 68 |
| 11 | 0.4574% | 1.5599% | 18401 |
| 12 | 7.8356% | 12.7865% | 150836 |
| 13 | 19.9679% | 24.7119% | 291514 |
| 14 | 28.6039% | 27.0253% | 318803 |
| 15 | 24.5002% | 8.2914% | 97809 |
| Seed | Weighted | Unweighted | Permutations |
| 13 | 0.0062% | 0.5383% | 6350 |
| 14 | 0.3022% | 4.4988% | 53070 |
| 15 | 5.2459% | 13.6443% | 160955 |
| 16 | 11.2954% | 6.4567% | 76166 |
| 17 | 1.7260% | 0.4508% | 5318 |
| 18 | 0.0583% | 0.0299% | 353 |
| 19 | 0.0005% | 0.0004% | 5 |
As you can see, RPI could finish as high as 10th in the PWR, but that's not only highly unlikely (68 possible scenarios out of 1,179,648 overall scenarios), the situation is also fairly fanciful, because the weighted percentage is less than the unweighted percentage.
A simple way to explain this is to look at Colgate's tournament chances. Given that they will only be in the tournament if they win the ECAC title, their unweighted chances of making the tournament are 25%, because in 25% of the possible scenarios, they win the ECAC tournament. However, not all teams are created equal, and in the scope of the entirety of the season, their chances of actually winning the tournament isn't really great.
With that said, the Engineers, according to this model have an 81.3656% chance of playing next weekend. Slightly better than 4 in 5? What's not to be excited about there? It's not a given, which would be better, but beggars can't be choosers. Their unweighted chances are 74.3808%, which means that even if you treated every scenario as being equally likely, they're still in almost 3 times out of 4.
This analysis proves what we already knew about teams that are already in the tournament: Yale, North Dakota, Boston College, Miami, Michigan, Denver, Union, Merrimack, and Minnesota-Duluth can't miss the tournament.
It also shows that the bandied about scenarios of Notre Dame or New Hampshire missing the tournament are extremely fanciful. Barring something extremely, extremely unlikely, both teams are in.
Nebraska-Omaha, for all of its problems, is also almost certainly in.
That leaves the teams that are firmly on the bubble, and that's RPI, Western Michigan, Colorado College, and Dartmouth. Depending on the number of upset champions, there will be between 0 and 3 at-large bids that will go to these teams, discounting the fact that BU, Alaska-Anchorage, and Maine are also alive in this group but with much worse chances of making it. Of that group, the Engineers stand the best chance of emerging in the tournament field. That's a wonderful place to be.
So special thanks to Reilly Hamilton for putting in the time and effort needed to create this program. He has promised some updates over the course of the weekend, and we'll be glad to bring them to you here.
Go Seawolves (tonight)!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Upcoming Podcast: Cindy Acropolis, Tim Heiman
This is homecoming weekend at the Institute, and the annual induction ceremony for the RPI Athletic Hall of Fame is this Sunday. Among the inductees is Cindy (Acropolis) Toye of the class of 2000, who will become the second member of the Hall of Fame from the women's hockey program. Cindy will join us early in the podcast (tomorrow night at 8pm, as usual!) to discuss her induction and the evolution of women's hockey at RPI.
Long time RPI fans heard a familiar voice on the air last week in Colorado College - recent grad and regular play-by-play man Tim Heiman returned to the radio to call the Engineers' games in the Centennial State. We'll catch up with Tim and talk about the CC series he just saw, along with the upcoming weekend at Northeastern and the home opener against Bentley.
We'll also discuss the women's home series last weekend against Vermont and touch on the tough Friday night matchup with one of the usual powers of Hockey East in New Hampshire. The standard breakdown of last week's big games will also be on tap.
We had a snafu during our podcast last week - a messup here at the secret underwater lair that led us to not be able to hear our guest, Joe Paisley, of the Colorado Springs Gazette even though he was on the air. That snafu has been corrected and we look forward to a relatively error-free broadcast this week (we tried to get Joe for this week, but with CC heading to Alaska he's got a lot on his plate, unfortunately). Catch our podcast live on Wednesday, October 13 at 8pm by clicking "Listen to Without a Peer" in the upper right-hand corner of the site.
Our interview with Seth Appert went swimmingly, however, and the first half-hour of last week's broadcast went without a hitch. You can catch last week's broadcast on demand by pushing play on the player below.
Long time RPI fans heard a familiar voice on the air last week in Colorado College - recent grad and regular play-by-play man Tim Heiman returned to the radio to call the Engineers' games in the Centennial State. We'll catch up with Tim and talk about the CC series he just saw, along with the upcoming weekend at Northeastern and the home opener against Bentley.
We'll also discuss the women's home series last weekend against Vermont and touch on the tough Friday night matchup with one of the usual powers of Hockey East in New Hampshire. The standard breakdown of last week's big games will also be on tap.
We had a snafu during our podcast last week - a messup here at the secret underwater lair that led us to not be able to hear our guest, Joe Paisley, of the Colorado Springs Gazette even though he was on the air. That snafu has been corrected and we look forward to a relatively error-free broadcast this week (we tried to get Joe for this week, but with CC heading to Alaska he's got a lot on his plate, unfortunately). Catch our podcast live on Wednesday, October 13 at 8pm by clicking "Listen to Without a Peer" in the upper right-hand corner of the site.
Our interview with Seth Appert went swimmingly, however, and the first half-hour of last week's broadcast went without a hitch. You can catch last week's broadcast on demand by pushing play on the player below.
Listen to internet radio with Without a Peer on Blog Talk Radio
Monday, October 11, 2010
Men's Hockey - at Colorado College (8/9 Oct)
There are varying levels of success in a given weekend. A team can sometimes escape a really bad weekend with four points, the points being a silver lining in an otherwise poor showing. Other times, a team can play very well and not come out with many points, the lack of points being a downside in an otherwise great weekend. For RPI's first weekend of the regular season, the latter situation applied, in this case occurring largely thanks to a few bad breaks and a few tough bounces. The Engineers went to Colorado for a weekend series with the Tigers of Colorado College, dropping the first game 2-1 before coming back to tie on Saturday, 2-2.
Friday
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Brutlag
Helfrich/Polacek/O'Grady
Cullen/Higgs/Lee
Halpern/Rogic/Burgdoerfer
Bergin/Foss
Leboeuf/Kennedy
Bailen/Dolan
York
The tone was set early on Friday as freshman Guy Leboeuf took a checking from behind penalty just 57 seconds into the game, the first of 20 minor penalties that would be called on the evening - that's one every three minutes. RPI escaped the first penalty kill, and had a long 5-on-3 chance shortly thereafter that went nowhere. Practically back-to-back penalty kills after penalties to Johnny Rogic and Joel Malchuk later in the period produced CC's first goal as first-round draft pick Jaden Schwartz notched his first career goal in his first period of college hockey play, beating Allen York to make it 1-0.
A CC penalty late in the first period led to RPI's first goal of the season, but not in the typical power play fashion. Nick Bailen unleashed a laser of a slapshot from just behind the blue line as the Engineers moved to assume the attacking zone, and the shot eluded Tiger goaltender Joe Howe, giving Bailen his first goal as an Engineer, unassisted, and making the score 1-1 heading into the second period.
The second period was marred by penalties - both teams had three power play opportunities while 11 penalties were called over the course of the 20 minutes. Most disappointing for the Engineers, a second long 5-on-3 opportunity arose midway through the period, but they simply could not finish, and the period ended 1-1. The goaltenders put on a show in the period, with Howe stopping 15 shots while York made 12 saves of his own.
The march to the penalty box resulted in a second CC goal midway through the third period. An early penalty to Malchuk and a later penalty to Bailen gave the Tigers the first two power play chances of the third period, and they delivered halfway through the Bailen penalty when Rylan Schwartz, Jaden's older brother, collected his first of a year by scoring on a rebound over York, who was still on the ice from the previous save.
The Engineers didn't quit, and they appeared to have tied the score after a flurry in front of Howe during a late power play opportunity. The goal was disallowed on the ice and the decision held up after a review - the referee ruling that the whistle had been intended to have blown before the puck ended up in the net. RPI wouldn't get another one past Howe, struggling to maintain control of the puck with York pulled late in the game. They wouldn't give up the empty netter, but fell 2-1 regardless.
All in all, it wasn't a bad game for RPI. They outshot the home team 31-27, got a great game out of Allen York, and was pretty tight defensively for the most part, not giving up too many good scoring chances at even strength and successfully taking care of 6 of 8 penalty kills on the night. The high number of penalties was a problem, but it was a problem for both teams. To be fair to the referees, there weren't a great number of questionable calls on Friday night.
Saturday
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Brutlag
Helfrich/Polacek/O'Grady
Cullen/Higgs/Lee
Rabbani/Rogic/Burgdoerfer
Koudys/Kennedy
Bergin/Foss
Bailen/Dolan
York
As opposed to Friday night's game, Saturday night started off as an unmitigated disaster for the Engineers, as the first 20 minutes were utterly dominated by Colorado College. While York was peppered with 13 shots in the first period, RPI managed only a single shot on goal against Joe Howe. The defense held for the first half of the period, but the floodgates opened when Rylan Schwartz notched his second goal of the weekend at 11:40, and the Tigers would score again on a good bounce their way just over a minute later to make it 2-0.
RPI, meanwhile, looked helpless. Down two goals, they had three terrible power play showings, two late in the first and one right at the beginning of the second period. After the conclusion of that third power play, the Engineers still had only one shot for the entire game to that point.
The penalties started popping back up after the third power play failure. During the second, RPI would hand Colorado College five consecutive power play chances in the middle stanza, including a long 5-on-3 chance late in the period. Fortunately, the penalty kill stood up to the heavy scrutiny, keeping the Engineers in the game when they needed it most. Offensively, RPI improved to 6 shots in the second period, but it still looked like a tall task to come back, still down 2-0 after two periods. York was the backbone, rebounding from a couple of tough breaks in the first to finish the first 40 minutes with 21 saves.
RPI came out for the sixth period of the weekend on the big ice at high altitude as the more aggressive of the teams, something the Tigers surely aren't used to dealing with, which really displays the Engineers' outstanding conditioning. The aggressiveness paid off early in the period, when RPI, finally given a fourth chance on the power play, converted to get on the board as Tyler Helfrich, who had been a nuisance for the Tigers all weekend long, made the break through to bring the Engineers within a goal with most of the third period left to play.
Then, it was CC's turn to march to the penalty box. The Tigers took three consecutive penalties during the middle part of the third, and the Engineers hungrily searched for the tying goal, putting up good showings on all three advantages, but finding Howe a tough nut to crack, as the CC sophomore stood on his head during the penalty kills to keep his team on top.
It was another long shot that would elude Howe to tie things up late in the period. Very similar to Bailen's blast the previous night, Mike Bergin uncorked a big shot from just outside the blue line that found the back of the net, knotting the game at two despite all of the rough patches the Engineers endured through the first two periods.
Hungry to take the lead, RPI maintained pressure. A few minutes later, C.J. Lee, who had a great night offensively for the Engineers, got a mini breakaway on Howe but could not pull the trigger, and after being hauled down, he picked up a retaliatory roughing call that gave CC the opportunity to have a late power play. The Engineers bent during the ensuing penalty kill, but did not break, and the game went into overtime.
After some dominant play from CC early in the extra period, the Engineers got a two-on-one break the other way that ended with a pass to Chase Polacek. Despite an open net, Polacek couldn't corral the pass, having to switch to his backhand instead of blasting it into the net. He instead moved behind the net and lost the puck, where he was blasted into the boards. Much like Lee's penalty, Polacek swung at the player that had put him on the ice, earning himself a foolish roughing call with two minutes left that had RPI playing for the tie instead of the win. The penalty kill, as it had been all night, held up late, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. RPI was 7-for-7 on the penalty kill on Saturday, and 13-for-15 on the weekend.
Other junk - The Engineers still managed to earn 13 votes in this week's USCHO.com poll despite the "one-point" weekend in Colorado. The Tigers, for their part, moved up two positions to #18. Among ECAC teams, the idle Ivies had some movement due to the misfortunes of teams around them - St. Cloud State's upset loss to Clarkson saw the Huskies move down considerably, boosting Yale up one to #5. Meanwhile, BU's title win in the Icebreaker had them moving up to #10, dropping Cornell down one to #12. Union's near-total home white-washing of Sacred Heart earned them a three-slot raise to #16. Other teams on the RPI schedule this year earning votes were RIT (37, dropped out after losing to St. Cloud State and Nebraska-Omaha), Colgate (21, beat Army), St. Lawrence (3, tied Minnesota State twice) and Quinnipiac (2, split with Ohio State).
Notably, in three games (one being the UNB exhibition), three of RPI's four goals have been scored by defensemen - two by Mike Bergin and one by Nick Bailen.
Next up for RPI is an away/home weekend, starting off in Boston against Northeastern and finishing up at home against Bentley. The Huskies were 0-2 last weekend, losing to Hockey East cellar-dwellers Providence before dropping a 2-0 decision at home to #1 Boston College. So in that sense, both teams on Friday will be playing easier competition than their last game. Bentley does not begin play until next weekend and will be entering the Field House after a game at Quinnipiac.
RPI at #20 Colorado College
Nonconference Game - World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)
10/8/10 - 9:30pm
RESULT: Colorado College 2, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 0-1-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)
Reale Deals
1. D Nick Bailen, 1 G
2. G Allen York, 25 saves
3. F Bryan Brutlag, 5 shots
RPI at #20 Colorado College
Nonconference Game - World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)
10/9/10 - 9:00pm
RESULT: RPI 2, Colorado College 2
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 0-1-1 (0-0-0 ECAC)
Reale Deals
1. G Allen York, 34 saves
2. F Tyler Helfrich, 1 G
3. D Mike Bergin, 1 G
Upcoming games
15 Oct - at Northeastern
16 Oct - Bentley
22 Oct - RIT
23 Oct - Niagara
30 Oct - vs. #16 Union (Lake Placid, NY)
Friday
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Brutlag
Helfrich/Polacek/O'Grady
Cullen/Higgs/Lee
Halpern/Rogic/Burgdoerfer
Bergin/Foss
Leboeuf/Kennedy
Bailen/Dolan
York
The tone was set early on Friday as freshman Guy Leboeuf took a checking from behind penalty just 57 seconds into the game, the first of 20 minor penalties that would be called on the evening - that's one every three minutes. RPI escaped the first penalty kill, and had a long 5-on-3 chance shortly thereafter that went nowhere. Practically back-to-back penalty kills after penalties to Johnny Rogic and Joel Malchuk later in the period produced CC's first goal as first-round draft pick Jaden Schwartz notched his first career goal in his first period of college hockey play, beating Allen York to make it 1-0.
A CC penalty late in the first period led to RPI's first goal of the season, but not in the typical power play fashion. Nick Bailen unleashed a laser of a slapshot from just behind the blue line as the Engineers moved to assume the attacking zone, and the shot eluded Tiger goaltender Joe Howe, giving Bailen his first goal as an Engineer, unassisted, and making the score 1-1 heading into the second period.
The second period was marred by penalties - both teams had three power play opportunities while 11 penalties were called over the course of the 20 minutes. Most disappointing for the Engineers, a second long 5-on-3 opportunity arose midway through the period, but they simply could not finish, and the period ended 1-1. The goaltenders put on a show in the period, with Howe stopping 15 shots while York made 12 saves of his own.
The march to the penalty box resulted in a second CC goal midway through the third period. An early penalty to Malchuk and a later penalty to Bailen gave the Tigers the first two power play chances of the third period, and they delivered halfway through the Bailen penalty when Rylan Schwartz, Jaden's older brother, collected his first of a year by scoring on a rebound over York, who was still on the ice from the previous save.
The Engineers didn't quit, and they appeared to have tied the score after a flurry in front of Howe during a late power play opportunity. The goal was disallowed on the ice and the decision held up after a review - the referee ruling that the whistle had been intended to have blown before the puck ended up in the net. RPI wouldn't get another one past Howe, struggling to maintain control of the puck with York pulled late in the game. They wouldn't give up the empty netter, but fell 2-1 regardless.
All in all, it wasn't a bad game for RPI. They outshot the home team 31-27, got a great game out of Allen York, and was pretty tight defensively for the most part, not giving up too many good scoring chances at even strength and successfully taking care of 6 of 8 penalty kills on the night. The high number of penalties was a problem, but it was a problem for both teams. To be fair to the referees, there weren't a great number of questionable calls on Friday night.
Saturday
Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Brutlag
Helfrich/Polacek/O'Grady
Cullen/Higgs/Lee
Rabbani/Rogic/Burgdoerfer
Koudys/Kennedy
Bergin/Foss
Bailen/Dolan
York
As opposed to Friday night's game, Saturday night started off as an unmitigated disaster for the Engineers, as the first 20 minutes were utterly dominated by Colorado College. While York was peppered with 13 shots in the first period, RPI managed only a single shot on goal against Joe Howe. The defense held for the first half of the period, but the floodgates opened when Rylan Schwartz notched his second goal of the weekend at 11:40, and the Tigers would score again on a good bounce their way just over a minute later to make it 2-0.
RPI, meanwhile, looked helpless. Down two goals, they had three terrible power play showings, two late in the first and one right at the beginning of the second period. After the conclusion of that third power play, the Engineers still had only one shot for the entire game to that point.
The penalties started popping back up after the third power play failure. During the second, RPI would hand Colorado College five consecutive power play chances in the middle stanza, including a long 5-on-3 chance late in the period. Fortunately, the penalty kill stood up to the heavy scrutiny, keeping the Engineers in the game when they needed it most. Offensively, RPI improved to 6 shots in the second period, but it still looked like a tall task to come back, still down 2-0 after two periods. York was the backbone, rebounding from a couple of tough breaks in the first to finish the first 40 minutes with 21 saves.
RPI came out for the sixth period of the weekend on the big ice at high altitude as the more aggressive of the teams, something the Tigers surely aren't used to dealing with, which really displays the Engineers' outstanding conditioning. The aggressiveness paid off early in the period, when RPI, finally given a fourth chance on the power play, converted to get on the board as Tyler Helfrich, who had been a nuisance for the Tigers all weekend long, made the break through to bring the Engineers within a goal with most of the third period left to play.
Then, it was CC's turn to march to the penalty box. The Tigers took three consecutive penalties during the middle part of the third, and the Engineers hungrily searched for the tying goal, putting up good showings on all three advantages, but finding Howe a tough nut to crack, as the CC sophomore stood on his head during the penalty kills to keep his team on top.
It was another long shot that would elude Howe to tie things up late in the period. Very similar to Bailen's blast the previous night, Mike Bergin uncorked a big shot from just outside the blue line that found the back of the net, knotting the game at two despite all of the rough patches the Engineers endured through the first two periods.
Hungry to take the lead, RPI maintained pressure. A few minutes later, C.J. Lee, who had a great night offensively for the Engineers, got a mini breakaway on Howe but could not pull the trigger, and after being hauled down, he picked up a retaliatory roughing call that gave CC the opportunity to have a late power play. The Engineers bent during the ensuing penalty kill, but did not break, and the game went into overtime.
After some dominant play from CC early in the extra period, the Engineers got a two-on-one break the other way that ended with a pass to Chase Polacek. Despite an open net, Polacek couldn't corral the pass, having to switch to his backhand instead of blasting it into the net. He instead moved behind the net and lost the puck, where he was blasted into the boards. Much like Lee's penalty, Polacek swung at the player that had put him on the ice, earning himself a foolish roughing call with two minutes left that had RPI playing for the tie instead of the win. The penalty kill, as it had been all night, held up late, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. RPI was 7-for-7 on the penalty kill on Saturday, and 13-for-15 on the weekend.
Other junk - The Engineers still managed to earn 13 votes in this week's USCHO.com poll despite the "one-point" weekend in Colorado. The Tigers, for their part, moved up two positions to #18. Among ECAC teams, the idle Ivies had some movement due to the misfortunes of teams around them - St. Cloud State's upset loss to Clarkson saw the Huskies move down considerably, boosting Yale up one to #5. Meanwhile, BU's title win in the Icebreaker had them moving up to #10, dropping Cornell down one to #12. Union's near-total home white-washing of Sacred Heart earned them a three-slot raise to #16. Other teams on the RPI schedule this year earning votes were RIT (37, dropped out after losing to St. Cloud State and Nebraska-Omaha), Colgate (21, beat Army), St. Lawrence (3, tied Minnesota State twice) and Quinnipiac (2, split with Ohio State).
Notably, in three games (one being the UNB exhibition), three of RPI's four goals have been scored by defensemen - two by Mike Bergin and one by Nick Bailen.
Next up for RPI is an away/home weekend, starting off in Boston against Northeastern and finishing up at home against Bentley. The Huskies were 0-2 last weekend, losing to Hockey East cellar-dwellers Providence before dropping a 2-0 decision at home to #1 Boston College. So in that sense, both teams on Friday will be playing easier competition than their last game. Bentley does not begin play until next weekend and will be entering the Field House after a game at Quinnipiac.
RPI at #20 Colorado College
Nonconference Game - World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)
10/8/10 - 9:30pm
RESULT: Colorado College 2, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 0-1-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)
Reale Deals
1. D Nick Bailen, 1 G
2. G Allen York, 25 saves
3. F Bryan Brutlag, 5 shots
RPI at #20 Colorado College
Nonconference Game - World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)
10/9/10 - 9:00pm
RESULT: RPI 2, Colorado College 2
BOX SCORES
RECAPS
RECORD: 0-1-1 (0-0-0 ECAC)
Reale Deals
1. G Allen York, 34 saves
2. F Tyler Helfrich, 1 G
3. D Mike Bergin, 1 G
Upcoming games
15 Oct - at Northeastern
16 Oct - Bentley
22 Oct - RIT
23 Oct - Niagara
30 Oct - vs. #16 Union (Lake Placid, NY)
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Friday Night in Colorado In-Game Chat
As promised, we're bringing you the first ever dedicated real-time chat environment for you to interact with your fellow fans if you can't make it to the Field House. Listen along on WRPI or simply follow our Twitter updates during the game. Or, if you can't do either of those, you can just enjoy this chat with your colleagues who ARE getting updates. At any rate, it's certainly easier than hitting refresh 2,000 times a game!
This is the second trial run for our in-game chats. We will have at least three more - tomorrow night's game in Colorado, and the Northeastern/Bentley away and home week next weekend. If they're successful, we'll extend the throughout the whole season!
To chat, all you have to do is choose an option for signing in - you can choose to sign in as a guest (with an option to choose your handle du jour), you can sign up with Chatroll and have a designated name, or you can even choose to sign in with Facebook if you like.
This is the second trial run for our in-game chats. We will have at least three more - tomorrow night's game in Colorado, and the Northeastern/Bentley away and home week next weekend. If they're successful, we'll extend the throughout the whole season!
To chat, all you have to do is choose an option for signing in - you can choose to sign in as a guest (with an option to choose your handle du jour), you can sign up with Chatroll and have a designated name, or you can even choose to sign in with Facebook if you like.
The Wait is Over
Time to get psyched - the long, hard summer is over. It's time to see what the season brings, and it starts on the other side of the country as the Engineers face off with the Colorado College Tigers in what should be a very interesting matchup between two teams with similar national expectations.
Meanwhile, the women kick off their regular season home schedule tonight against Vermont in what should be a more competitive series than the one they finished last weekend in Wisconsin.
Let's get pumped.
Meanwhile, the women kick off their regular season home schedule tonight against Vermont in what should be a more competitive series than the one they finished last weekend in Wisconsin.
Let's get pumped.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Know Your Enemy: Colorado College
Today, we kick off a 20-part Summer Cooler series we like to call "Know Your Enemy," a semi-detailed look at the 19 teams (and one potential matchup with Bowling Green) that the Engineers will be grappling with in the upcoming season. With a little over 17 weeks left until the puck drops in October, that means we'll have about one of these every week, with a couple of weeks where we'll have two, right before the season starts.
We'll start with the non-conference games - the teams that RPI fans will probably be less familiar with - and then get to the 11 ECAC foes. We start this week with the first opponent of the season.
Colorado College
Nickname: Tigers
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Founded: 1874
Conference: WCHA
National Championships: 2 (1950, 1957)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2008
Last Frozen Four: 2005
Coach: Scott Owens (12th season)
2009-10 Record: 19-17-3 (12-13-3 WCHA, 6th place)
Series: Colorado College leads, 2-0-1
First Game: January 30, 1954 (Colorado Springs, CO)
Last RPI win: Never
Last CC win: December 29, 2007 (Tampa, FL)
2010-11 games: October 8-9, 2010 (Colorado Springs, CO)
Top players: F Tyler Johnson, sr.; F Nick Dineen, jr.; F Rylan Schwartz, so.; F William Rapuzzi, so.; F Andrew Hamburg, so.; F Jaden Schwartz, fr.; D Ryan Lowery, sr.; D Gabe Guentzel, jr.; D Eamonn McDermott, fr.; G Joe Howe, so.
This trip will mark only the fifth time in school history that the Engineers have made the journey to Colorado Springs - they did so in 1953 (where they took third place in the Frozen Four), twice in 1954 (once to play the Tigers and once to compete in - and win - the Frozen Four), and once in January 1995 when they swept a weekend series at Air Force. So if you like omens, that's a good one - the Engineers played in the NCAA Tournament every season in which they went to the Springs.
A full weekend matchup with the Tigers has long been expected ever since Athletic Director Ken Ralph left the Institute in 2007 to take the same job at CC. The teams met in the Lightning College Classic in Florida during Ralph's first year at the helm in Colorado Springs, but the matchup had been determined well prior to his departure.
CC is home to some of the longest suffering fans in college hockey. For the last 9 years, ever since Boston College broke their 52-year streak without a national championship, the Tigers have had the mantle of "longest championship drought," a dry spell that has now overtaken BC at 53 years. After their last title in 1957, CC became something of a perennial afterthought in the nascent WCHA. Just five years after winning the national championship, the team went 0-23-0, and between 1958 and 1993, the team had no less than 30 losing seasons against only 5 where they went .500 or better. Their best season during that stretch was 1974-75, when they went 23-16-0.
The renaissance began as soon as Don Lucia, then head coach at Alaska-Fairbanks, came to Colorado Springs in 1993. That season, Lucia turned the program around from an 8-28-0 record just a year prior to a 23-11-5 record in 1993-94 and the program's first MacNaughton Cup, the trophy awarded to the WCHA regular season champions. They would suffer a humiliating defeat to Michigan Tech in the first round of the playoffs that year, but the die was cast. The Tigers would follow up with back-to-back 30-win campaigns, a three-peat as MacNaughton champions, and two trips to the NCAA tournament, the latter of which ended with an overtime loss to Michigan in the national championship game.
Lucia left in 1999 to take the helm at Minnesota, but the Tigers were an afterthought no more. Since Lucia's arrival, the Tigers have gone 17 consecutive seasons with a .500 record or better and have been a staple in the NCAA Tournament. Lucia took the team there in the last five of his six years in the Springs, and Scott Owens has been there six times in 11 seasons - in fact, last season was the first time since 1994 in which the Tigers have failed to make the NCAAs in back-to-back seasons.
Within the WCHA, the Tigers are generally being predicted to fall somewhere in the middle quartiles of the now 12-team league, roughly between 4th and 9th. They're coming off a season in which they got out of the gate much stronger than most observers expected them to, going 12-5-3 in the first three months of the season, but faltered in the 2010 segment of the schedule, 6-10-0 finish, with two of the wins coming in a home weekend against Atlantic Hockey teams. That doomed them to a road playoff series against Minnesota-Duluth, which they lost in 3 games, ending hopes for an NCAA berth.
Most pressing right now for CC is replacing the 36 goals scored by Bill Sweatt and Mike Testuwide last season. Johnson had 14 goals, while Rylan Schwartz had 6 with 22 assists on the year as the highest returning scorer for the Tigers. His highly touted brother Jaden, who should be a fairly high pick in the NHL Draft this month, should make his college debut against the Engineers.
In net, the Tigers boast one of the best young goaltenders in the nation in Joe Howe. Howe had some mighty large skates to fill after Richard Bachman left after his sophomore season, and he performed admirably, being named the top freshman goaltender in the nation by both CHN and INCH.
There will be a number of factors working against the Engineers. First, it's Colorado, and with that comes the altitude. Second, the Tigers' home arena, Colorado Springs World Arena, is an Olympic-sized ice surface, which the Engineers have struggled with historically. They had an 0-1-2 record last season on the larger ice, and RPI is winless on Olympic ice since beating Michigan Tech 4-3 in Anchorage, AK on October 15, 2005 - but since MTU plays on an NHL sized rink themselves, you have to go back to November 2, 2002 to find the last time RPI beat an team with Olympic ice on the larger sheet, when they knocked off St. Cloud State at the National Hockey Center. Third, our understanding is that the opening weekend of the season is also homecoming at CC, so expect the building to be filled with some 5,000 CC partisans. Finally, the Engineers are 1-4 against the WCHA in the Seth Appert era - with the one coming in his second game behind the bench, at Denver. It's a tough league - a mid-table team in the WCHA will usually be a tough opponent for even the very best of the ECAC.
So no matter how you slice it, the first two games that count in the upcoming season will be tough. The Tigers represent an excellent opportunity in the first weekend of the season for a physical and mental challenge that will serve RPI well as the season develops. If nothing else, the season will certainly be starting off with a bang.
We'll start with the non-conference games - the teams that RPI fans will probably be less familiar with - and then get to the 11 ECAC foes. We start this week with the first opponent of the season.
Colorado College
Nickname: Tigers
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Founded: 1874
Conference: WCHA
National Championships: 2 (1950, 1957)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2008
Last Frozen Four: 2005
Coach: Scott Owens (12th season)
2009-10 Record: 19-17-3 (12-13-3 WCHA, 6th place)
Series: Colorado College leads, 2-0-1
First Game: January 30, 1954 (Colorado Springs, CO)
Last RPI win: Never
Last CC win: December 29, 2007 (Tampa, FL)
2010-11 games: October 8-9, 2010 (Colorado Springs, CO)
Top players: F Tyler Johnson, sr.; F Nick Dineen, jr.; F Rylan Schwartz, so.; F William Rapuzzi, so.; F Andrew Hamburg, so.; F Jaden Schwartz, fr.; D Ryan Lowery, sr.; D Gabe Guentzel, jr.; D Eamonn McDermott, fr.; G Joe Howe, so.
This trip will mark only the fifth time in school history that the Engineers have made the journey to Colorado Springs - they did so in 1953 (where they took third place in the Frozen Four), twice in 1954 (once to play the Tigers and once to compete in - and win - the Frozen Four), and once in January 1995 when they swept a weekend series at Air Force. So if you like omens, that's a good one - the Engineers played in the NCAA Tournament every season in which they went to the Springs.
A full weekend matchup with the Tigers has long been expected ever since Athletic Director Ken Ralph left the Institute in 2007 to take the same job at CC. The teams met in the Lightning College Classic in Florida during Ralph's first year at the helm in Colorado Springs, but the matchup had been determined well prior to his departure.
CC is home to some of the longest suffering fans in college hockey. For the last 9 years, ever since Boston College broke their 52-year streak without a national championship, the Tigers have had the mantle of "longest championship drought," a dry spell that has now overtaken BC at 53 years. After their last title in 1957, CC became something of a perennial afterthought in the nascent WCHA. Just five years after winning the national championship, the team went 0-23-0, and between 1958 and 1993, the team had no less than 30 losing seasons against only 5 where they went .500 or better. Their best season during that stretch was 1974-75, when they went 23-16-0.
The renaissance began as soon as Don Lucia, then head coach at Alaska-Fairbanks, came to Colorado Springs in 1993. That season, Lucia turned the program around from an 8-28-0 record just a year prior to a 23-11-5 record in 1993-94 and the program's first MacNaughton Cup, the trophy awarded to the WCHA regular season champions. They would suffer a humiliating defeat to Michigan Tech in the first round of the playoffs that year, but the die was cast. The Tigers would follow up with back-to-back 30-win campaigns, a three-peat as MacNaughton champions, and two trips to the NCAA tournament, the latter of which ended with an overtime loss to Michigan in the national championship game.
Lucia left in 1999 to take the helm at Minnesota, but the Tigers were an afterthought no more. Since Lucia's arrival, the Tigers have gone 17 consecutive seasons with a .500 record or better and have been a staple in the NCAA Tournament. Lucia took the team there in the last five of his six years in the Springs, and Scott Owens has been there six times in 11 seasons - in fact, last season was the first time since 1994 in which the Tigers have failed to make the NCAAs in back-to-back seasons.
Within the WCHA, the Tigers are generally being predicted to fall somewhere in the middle quartiles of the now 12-team league, roughly between 4th and 9th. They're coming off a season in which they got out of the gate much stronger than most observers expected them to, going 12-5-3 in the first three months of the season, but faltered in the 2010 segment of the schedule, 6-10-0 finish, with two of the wins coming in a home weekend against Atlantic Hockey teams. That doomed them to a road playoff series against Minnesota-Duluth, which they lost in 3 games, ending hopes for an NCAA berth.
Most pressing right now for CC is replacing the 36 goals scored by Bill Sweatt and Mike Testuwide last season. Johnson had 14 goals, while Rylan Schwartz had 6 with 22 assists on the year as the highest returning scorer for the Tigers. His highly touted brother Jaden, who should be a fairly high pick in the NHL Draft this month, should make his college debut against the Engineers.
In net, the Tigers boast one of the best young goaltenders in the nation in Joe Howe. Howe had some mighty large skates to fill after Richard Bachman left after his sophomore season, and he performed admirably, being named the top freshman goaltender in the nation by both CHN and INCH.
There will be a number of factors working against the Engineers. First, it's Colorado, and with that comes the altitude. Second, the Tigers' home arena, Colorado Springs World Arena, is an Olympic-sized ice surface, which the Engineers have struggled with historically. They had an 0-1-2 record last season on the larger ice, and RPI is winless on Olympic ice since beating Michigan Tech 4-3 in Anchorage, AK on October 15, 2005 - but since MTU plays on an NHL sized rink themselves, you have to go back to November 2, 2002 to find the last time RPI beat an team with Olympic ice on the larger sheet, when they knocked off St. Cloud State at the National Hockey Center. Third, our understanding is that the opening weekend of the season is also homecoming at CC, so expect the building to be filled with some 5,000 CC partisans. Finally, the Engineers are 1-4 against the WCHA in the Seth Appert era - with the one coming in his second game behind the bench, at Denver. It's a tough league - a mid-table team in the WCHA will usually be a tough opponent for even the very best of the ECAC.
So no matter how you slice it, the first two games that count in the upcoming season will be tough. The Tigers represent an excellent opportunity in the first weekend of the season for a physical and mental challenge that will serve RPI well as the season develops. If nothing else, the season will certainly be starting off with a bang.
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