Men's Hockey - at Denver (17/18 Oct)

RPI's grueling early season schedule continued over the weekend with a second consecutive long trip west to faceoff against the Denver Pioneers, a matchup that featured a pair of teams with multiple links to one another. The Engineers have never had an awful lot of success traveling to Denver, that that lack of success continued as they were soundly defeated in 3-0 and 4-1 results. Both nights, RPI did themselves in with a relatively early major and game misconduct that created a short bench in the thin Colorado air, and offense, for a second and third straight game, was hard to come by.

Friday
Neal-Liljegren-Bourbonnais
Nanne-Miller-Schroeder
Fulton-Laliberte-Melanson
Wood-McGowan-DeVito

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Bradley
Wilson-Bokenfohr

Kasdorf

After the offensive power outage against the Golden Gophers, Seth Appert toyed with lines a little bit. With Milos Bubela out with an injury, Travis Fulton got his first start of the year, and the team's two strongest scorers, Matt Neal and Jacob Laliberte, were put on different lines. Freshman Viktor Liljegren, who's shown quite a bit of promise, graduated to first-line center.

The intended effect clearly wasn't met from the very start. Setting the tone for the entire weekend, Denver came out blazing in the first period, throwing a remarkable 20 shots on net. RPI's defense, which has been as strong as the offense has struggled, managed to keep every single one of them from reaching the back of the net, led by junior goaltender Jason Kasdorf.

Going the other way, the Engineers struggled to get decent shots off, much as they did against Minnesota. They managed only 9 shots in the first period, and then only 6 in the second.

The crack in the defense started 4:30 into the second period as Luke Curadi was assessed a checking from behind major and a game misconduct, leaving RPI with only five defenders for the remainder of the game. The Engineers escaped from the major penalty kill without giving up a goal, but three minutes later Quentin Shore scored for the home team on a turnover in the RPI zone to make it 1-0. Exactly three minutes after that, Zac Larraza's goal on a power play (created by only the third penalty of Jacob Laliberte's college career) made the score 2-0.

That was essentially the entire meaningful scoring of the game, as Kasdorf remained strong in net throughout the contest. RPI managed more shots in the third period as they sought to cut the Pioneers lead in half, but they were unable to solve DU netminder Evan Cowley. Ty Loney scored an empty-netter in the final minute to ice the game for a 3-0 victory, but it was Kasdorf, who made 39 saves on 41 shots, who was made the game's third star for the second time in as many games.

Saturday
Neal-Liljegren-Laliberte
Nanne-Miller-DeVito
McGowan-Schroeder-Bourbonnais
Wood-Bokenfohr-Hampton

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Wilson
Bradley-Bell

Kasdorf

Having been shut out in consecutive games, the line juggling intensified for Saturday night. All of the top producers were put on one scoring line, Fulton and Drew Melanson were removed from the lineup, and oddly enough, Craig Bokenfohr and Phil Hampton were moved onto the fourth line. Hampton played at forward in the Engineers' exhibition game, but Bokenfohr as a forward was quite a surprise. Bradley Bell replaced Bokenfohr on the blue line.

Penalties got the Engineers in trouble quickly on Saturday. Curtis Leonard picked up a slashing call in the game's first minute, and a goaltender interference call on Zach Schroeder (for a hit that saw DU's starter, Tanner Jaillet, pulled from his first collegiate game after only 2 minutes, with Cowley returning in net) gave Denver a short 5-on-3, but RPI managed to kill both of those penalties.

However, as with Friday night, it was a major penalty that helped get the scoring underway. Bokenfohr was given a major and a game misconduct for kneeing just 5:38 into the game, and unlike the major on Friday, Denver cashed in. The Pioneers scored twice on the major, with power play goals by Trevor Moore and Matt Marcinew to make it 2-0 before the Engineers returned to full strength.

An interference penalty to Curadi minutes after RPI got their fifth skater back led to a third power play goal for DU as Larraza scored his second of the weekend to make it 3-0. RPI, who had managed two shots on Jaillet in the first two minutes, did not muster a single shot on Cowley in the final 18 or so, and were outshot 18-2 in the first period, an even more lopsided tally than from the first night.

Larraza's second goal of the night and third of the weekend came 3:05 into the second period, making the score 4-0, and at that point, although he could hardly be blamed for much of the carnage, Seth Appert lifted Kasdorf from the net - perhaps more to save his psyche than anything else - and inserted senior Scott Diebold for his first game action of the year.

Diebold performed admirably in relief, stopping all 16 shots that he saw in 36:55 of ice time, but it was not enough to spark the RPI offense back into life. Five minutes after Larraza's second goal, Jake Wood, who had a great game drawing penalties (instead of taking them as he frequently does), drew a penalty shot for being hauled down on the breakaway. In line with RPI's luck offensively, Wood lost control of the puck while advancing on the net and never even got a shot off.

Denver took a number of penalties following the Wood penalty shot, giving the Engineers six distinct opportunities on the power play during the second half of the game, but it wasn't until a shot from the point by Chris Bradley with 35 seconds left in the game that the Engineers cashed in on the man advantage. His first goal of the season came with assists to Schroeder and Lou Nanne, the latter's first collegiate point. That broke up the shutout and by the skin of their teeth, RPI managed to avoid being shut out in three consecutive games for the first time since November 1996.

Finally, the Engineers return to Troy to open their home schedule next weekend against decidedly softer competition than they faced in their first four games - 1-2 Bentley, who allowed six goals against Sacred Heart last time out. RPI needs to put points on the board against the Falcons with the Union home-and-home waiting on the horizon.

RPI at #16 Denver
Non-conference Game - Magness Arena (Denver, CO)
10/17/14 - 9:30pm

RESULT: Denver 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Denver Post

RECORD: 1-2-0

RPI at #16 Denver
Non-conference Game - Magness Arena (Denver, CO)
10/18/14 - 9:00pm

RESULT: Denver 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES

College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Troy Record
Denver Post

RECORD: 1-3-0

Upcoming games
24 Oct - Bentley
25 Oct - Bentley
31 Oct - #2 Union
1 Nov - at #2 Union
7 Nov - Harvard

Losing the Streaks

For the RPI women, their school-record winless streak, dating back to last season, is now at 14 games  (0-12-2) - the Engineers haven't won since a 3-0 victory at Union on January 18.

Their opponent tonight, the UNH Wildcats, know a little something about losing streaks. They finished last season by losing their last 11 straight games, then tacked on three more to start this season to make it an even 14 in a row in the loss column. They snapped out of it last weekend with a 1-0 win at RIT and a 2-2 tie at Syracuse. Tonight is the home opener for UNH, who are a long way from their salad days in Hockey East from 2004 to 2010, when they were virtually unbeatable. Can the Engineers finally get themselves back in the win column in their only game of the weekend?

For the men, the losing streak is more of a historical one than anything else. Denver, their opponents in a pair of games this weekend in Colorado, won the first 10 games against the Engineers, and they've won 12 out of 14 all time. It's a tough task to score at Magness as both teams boast solid defensive fronts. Can RPI solve yet another early season test?

Let's find out.

Know Your Enemy: Denver

The Denver series in Troy last year was a watershed moment for an RPI team that was about to go through some difficult times. The offense seemed to go into a serious funk starting with the two games against the Pioneers that started a stretch of six straight games in which the Engineers, pegged to be offensively capable, failed to score three goals. Against DU, they managed just 42 shots in 125 minutes of gameplay and scored only twice, but some of that was attributable to a strong Denver defense, one which will return largely intact in 2014.

Denver
Nickname: Pioneers
Location: Denver, CO
Founded: 1864
Conference: NCHC
National Championships: 7 (1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 2004, 2005)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2014
Last Frozen Four: 2005
Coach: Jim Montgomery (2nd season)
2013-14 Record: 20-16-6 (10-11-3-2 NCHC, 6th place)
Series: DU leads, 12-1-1
First Game: January 29, 1954 (Denver, CO)
Last RPI win: October 20, 2006 (Denver, CO)
Last DU win: December 13, 2013 (Troy, NY)

2014-15 games: October 17-18, 2014 (Denver, CO)

Key players: D Josiah Didier, sr.; F Daniel Doremus, sr.; D Joey LaLeggia, sr.; F Zac Larraza, sr.; F Ty Loney, sr.; F Matt Tabrum, sr.; F Grant Arnold, jr.; F Gabe Levin, jr.; F Quentin Shore, jr.; D Nolan Zajac, jr.; D Will Butcher, so.; G Evan Cowley, so.; F Matt Marcinew, so.; F Trevor Moore, so.; D Nick Neville, so.; D Matt VanVoorhis, so.; F Tariq Hammond, fr.

Previous KYE installment:

• 2013-14

Toward the end of the season, it appeared a number of Denver streaks were in serious jeopardy: a streak of 20-win seasons dating back to 2002, a streak of seasons over .500 dating back to 2001, and a streak of NCAA tournament appearances dating back to 2008. As the regular season concluded, the Pioneers had a record of 16-14-6 and were headed on the road for the NCHC playoffs.

After losing Game 1 of their series with Nebraska-Omaha, things looked bleak. But then, DU rattled off four consecutive wins - two over the Mavericks, then a victory over Western Michigan in the NCHC semifinals and a 4-3 victory over similarly upstart Miami (who'd actually finished last in the NCHC during the regular season) to guarantee that all three streaks would stay intact as the Pioneers earned the NCHC's first automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. There they fell 6-2 to Boston College to extend another streak - DU's fourth straight NCAA loss.

Unlike other years, where the NCAA difficulties piled up and led to George Gwozdecky's ouster, this was a loss that came on the end of a season in which DU's fortunes went from rough to golden in a two-week span, a much better turn of events than the opposite (as any RPI fan can tell you these days).

The biggest blow to the Pioneers in the upcoming season is the loss of goaltender Sam Brattain, who was a key figure in Denver's success last year, but the presence of one of the nation's best blue line corps in the nation in front of him was an important element as well, and basically all of that will be at the disposal of a team brimming with seniors and juniors. Brattain's replacement will be one of three options - two sophomores and a freshman - but count on Cowley, an NHL draft pick who started three games last season, being the likely starter.

Offensively, the Pioneers bring back 100% of the scoring output they got from their forwards last season, a unit now chock full of juniors and seniors. Overall, it makes Denver a well seasoned team from top to bottom with the exception of their net, an issue mitigated by the strength of their defensemen.

DU had a young team last year that congealed at the end to pick up some hardware and gain some additional NCAA experience. As RPI found in Troy, they still presented a very strong challenge mid-season against a team with offensive concerns, which means the concerns the Engineers still have coming into the year are going to need to be addressed quickly or it's likely to be a rough weekend for Seth Appert's homecoming in the second weekend of the schedule.

Men's Hockey - Denver, US Under-18 Team (13/14/15 Dec)

The RPI Engineers closed out their 2013 schedule with a back-to-back-to-back home helping of hockey that will be their last in Troy for over a month, for the first time taking on a program from the new NCHC in welcoming Denver to town. A pair of very evenly matched games did not turn out 100% in the Engineers favor, but both games went to overtime, producing a 2-1 loss and a 1-1 tie to complete the calendar year's competitive game slate. On Sunday afternoon, an exhibition game gave RPI fans the first opportunity to see Jake Soffer in action, and he did quite well in backstopping an unofficial 2-1 victory over the US Under-18 national development program team.

Denver (Friday)
Neal-Higgs-Haggerty
Laliberte-Zalewski-Bubela
Tinordi-Rogic-Schroeder
Bourbonnais-McGowan-DeVito

Leboeuf-Leonard

Bradley-Dolan
Curadi-Hampton

Diebold

Parker Reno was pulled from the RPI lineup in favor of Phil Hampton for the two Denver games, with most of the remainder of the forward lineup consisting of the Engineers who were healthy - Travis Fulton was the lone healthy scratch up front.

The list of injuries for the forwards grew by one almost right off the bat as Jacob Laliberte suffered a separated shoulder mere seconds into his first shift of the game, leaving the Engieners with a short bench for just about the entire contest. That didn't stop them from jumping out to a quick lead as they have done for nearly the whole season, with Brock Higgs notching his 12th goal of the year just 2:30 into the contest to give RPI the 1-0 lead that they have earned with such frequency.

On the other end, Scott Diebold stood tall in net, stopping all 13 shots that he saw during the first period. The Engineers maintained that one goal lead for 32 solid minutes thanks in part to the junior netminder's play. RPI was outshot in the first 40 minutes 26-14, and in all honesty just about all of those shots for RPI came in the first 10 minutes of the 1st period and the last five or so of the 2nd.

The lead came to an end with just over five minutes left to play in the middle frame as Denver scored a goal in transition to tie things up. That woke up an RPI offense that had been sluggish to be kind during the 2nd period, which has become a habit almost as strong as the early goals.

A lackluster third period followed which was devoid of any real sense of drama despite the tie score. Neither team appeared close to scoring in the period, which saw Scott Diebold add another 10 saves to his record for the weekend.

Ultimately, the game hinged only on a defensive lapse while Denver was in transition with about two minutes left in the overtime period. The Pioneers took advantage of out-of-position defensemen to score with a considerable amount of open ice, providing the difference in a game in which RPI did not play its best hockey but was right in until the end.

Denver (Saturday)
Neal-Higgs-Haggerty
Fulton-Zalewski-Bubela
Tinordi-Rogic-Schroeder
Bourbonnais-McGowan-DeVito

Leboeuf-Leonard

Bradley-Dolan
Curadi-Hampton

Diebold

Laliberte was listed on the initial line chart and planned to participate in the pre-game warmup, but was quickly replaced by Travis Fulton in what ended up a lost weekend for the junior. The lineup otherwise was exactly the same as Friday night.

The Engineers outshot Denver 7-4 in the opening period on Saturday, but failed to score a first period goal for only the fourth time this season. Meanwhile, the second period struggles continued, as RPI managed only 6 shots on goal in the period.

Saturday night's game was scoreless for the first 38 minutes and change, but Denver opened the scoring on a beautiful goal highly reminiscent of Brock Higgs' highlight reel goal against Princeton as the Pioneers took a 1-0 lead in the dying minutes of the second period.

But a pair of Denver penalties for roughing combined with a Mike Zalewski roughing call put RPI on the power play seconds later, and the Engineers converted with Matt Neal scoring his 7th goal of the season with only four seconds left in the period to tie the game back up just 1:08 after Denver had taken their only lead of the weekend.

For the second straight night, the third period only brought further deadlock and not much in the way of excitement. Denver turned on the jets in the overtime period, forcing Scott Diebold to be sharp with five saves, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Engineers managed only 19 shots on Saturday night, most of which did not feature a rebound from the solid Denver netminder, Sam Brittain.

The tie marked the first time this season the Engineers did not lose a game in which Ryan Haggerty failed to score a goal. Diebold put together a very solid weekend against a team that's struggling to score, but 68 saves on 71 shots is decent no matter how you slice it.

US Under-18 Team
Neal-Higgs-Haggerty
McGowan-Zalewski-DeVito
Tinordi-Bubela-Schroeder
Fulton-Rogic-Bourbonnais

Curadi-Reno
Bradley-Dolan
Leboeuf-Leonard

Bokenfohr

Soffer

Although exhibition rules allow a team to dress as many players as will fit on the bench, a lack of healthy forwards left RPI with just 12 up front, and with Phil Hampton seeing little ice time late in the Saturday game against Denver, only one extra defenseman suited up in Craig Bokenfohr. The biggest change, of course, was in net, where freshman Jake Soffer got his unofficial first start in net, or at least his first game action for RPI.

Soffer looked a little bit shaky on his first save, giving up a big rebound that the U-18s buried rather quickly to make it 1-0 just 66 seconds into the game, but it would be his only mistake of the evening. His team helped him have a relatively quiet first 40 minutes as Soffer faced just 9 shots in the first two periods.

Meanwhile, the game was rather chippy from the outset, and that eventually played into RPI's hands. Matt Neal scored 1:14 into the second period on the power play to make it 1-1, and Riley Bourbonnais followed up at 7:37 to make it 2-1. Neal would eventually leave with what was reported to be a dislocated elbow, a worse-case scenario for RPI to be sure, but while he would not return, he is not expected to miss time down the road.

Most notable other than the two RPI goals in the second period was the shot onslaught that the Engineers produced, unleashing 20 shots in the period alone, more than they had managed in the entire 65 minutes against Denver a night prior. That diminished sharply in the third period, as momentum changed drastically with the U-18s outshooting RPI 13-1 in the final period, but it was in the third that Soffer encouraged some optimism in the RPI faithful standing strong in net against a team that was definitely looking to get itself back into the game. He finished with 21 saves on 22 shots.

Other junk - The "one-point" weekend knocked the Engineers back out of the USCHO poll, becoming instead the top unranked vote getter for the second time in three weeks with 54, 13 away from #20 Minnesota State. Ranked ECAC teams include #6 Union (beat and tied St. Cloud State, up four), #8 Quinnipiac (idle, down one), #9 Clarkson (idle, up one), #11 Yale (idle, no change), and #15 Cornell (idle, down one). No other ECAC teams received votes this week. Other ranked teams on the RPI schedule include #1 Minnesota (up one with 32 first place votes), #2 Ferris State (up two with 12 first place votes), #7 Boston College (down one), and #17 Denver (up three). New Hampshire (18) and Mercyhurst (3) also received votes.

Despite no goals on the weekend, Ryan Haggerty continues to lead the nation in goals with 18, still five ahead of second place. He remains the only player in the country with more than one goal per game at 1.06. With 1.53 points per game, he is alone in 6th in the nation in that category, and he leads the country in power play goals (8) and is tied for the national lead in game-winning goals (4) with Matt Bailey of Alaska-Anchorage.

Brock Higgs is now on 12 goals, which is tied for 7th in the nation - one more on the weekend (the Neal goal was originally credited to him) would have tied him for 2nd. His 1.11 points per game is tied for 36th in the country.

Jacob Laliberte and Matt Neal are both sitting on 1.00 points per game, tying them for 49th in the nation there. Laliberte is 23rd in assists per game with 0.76.

RPI's team offense, thanks to a pair of one goal efforts, is now outside the national Top 10 for the first time this season at 3.44 goals per game.

The Engineers have a tall task ahead of them after the New Year, as they take on the #2 team in the country, Ferris State. The Bulldogs have the longest unbeaten streak in the nation at 15 games. Beyond that game, RPI could find itself facing off with #1 Minnesota on the Gophers' home ice if the chips fall correctly. That's a tough weekend no matter how you slice it.

ECAC Standings
1. Union - 16 points (8-1-0)
2. Quinnipiac - 14 points (6-2-2)
3. Clarkson - 12 points (6-2-0)
4. Colgate - 11 points (5-3-1)
5. Cornell - 10 points (4-3-2)
6. Yale - 9 points (3-2-3)
7. RPI - 9 points (3-3-3)
8. Brown - 7 points (3-4-1)
9. St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-4-2)
10. Harvard - 6 points (2-6-2)
11. Dartmouth - 4 points (2-8-0, -16 GD)
12. Princeton - 4 points (2-8-0, -19 GD)

#20 Denver at #18 RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/13/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Denver 2, RPI 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
RPI TV (full game)
YouTube (post game press-conference)

RECORD: 8-6-3 (2-3-3 ECAC, 7 pts)

#20 Denver at #18 RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/14/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 1, Denver 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
RPI TV (full game)
YouTube (post game press-conference)

RECORD: 8-6-4 (3-3-3 ECAC, 9 pts)

US Under-18 Team at #18 RPI
Exhibition Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/15/13 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, US Under-18 Team 1

BOX SCORES

College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI

VIDEO
RPI TV (full game)
YouTube (post game press-conference)

RECORD: 8-6-4 (3-3-3 ECAC, 9 pts)

Upcoming games
03 Jan - vs. #2 Ferris State (Minneapolis, MN)
04 Jan - vs. #1 Minnesota OR Colgate (Minneapolis, MN)
10 Jan - at Princeton
11 Jan - at #8 Quinnipiac
24 Jan - Dartmouth

Get Out the Fine Cutlery

We don't see an awful lot of western powers at the Field House - that's just the way it goes. We don't even really see a lot of eastern powers at the Field House either with the notable exceptions of Boston University and New Hampshire, a pair of teams that have made fairly regular appearances.

Besides the Terriers (and Cornell, who has to show up every year), consider when the last time teams that have won multiple national championships since the 1960s have been to Troy.

Lake Superior State: 1997-98 (not counting the 2009-10 RPI tournament, where they did not face RPI)
Boston College: 1994-95
Maine: 1994-95
Denver: 1981-82
North Dakota: 1981-82 (not counting the NCAA tournament appearance in 1984)
Michigan: 1976-77
Wisconsin: 1970-71
Michigan Tech: 1967-68
Minnesota: 1962-63
Michigan State: 1958-59

So... yeah, it just doesn't happen very frequently.

Now, that could all be changing in the near future. We do know that Michigan is coming to the Capital District for a game against both RPI and Union in 2015-16, so that's kind of exciting. With the new quality win bonus giving extra props for winning on the road, we may see some of these teams sooner rather than later.

But for now, it's still the first opportunity to see RPI play a team outside of Cornell and BU with multiple national titles since the Kennedy assassination... at home.

Denver also will be the first opponent from the new NCHC, which is exciting as well. Throw in the return of former RPI assistant Jim Montgomery (who also coached Luke Curadi and Milos Bubela in Dubuque), Seth Appert competing against his former team (and the team against which he earned his first win as a head coach), and the backdrop of the ECAC potentially having one of the highest non-conference records of all the conferences this season, and it's some pretty fun stuff.

Oh, and just for even more excitement for the fans, it's a three-night hockey weekend as the Engineers play an exhibition against the US Under-18 team on Sunday.

Give us no excuses. Get yourself to the Field House. And turn your speakers up so we can drop some bass.

Know Your Enemy: Denver

Today's Know Your Enemy entry is a program that seems to have been quite closely linked to RPI for some time now. Seth Appert came to RPI following his stint as a Denver assistant, and was reportedly DU's top choice to become their head coach during this offseason before Appert signed an extension to stay in Troy. Denver then hired former RPI assistant Jim Montgomery. As well, RPI athletic director Jim Knowlton's son Chris played four seasons for the Pioneers, graduating in 2013 after 138 games at DU.

Denver
Nickname: Pioneers
Location: Denver, CO
Founded: 1864
Conference: NCHC
National Championships: 7 (1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 2004, 2005)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2013
Last Frozen Four: 2005
Coach: Jim Montgomery (1st year)
2012-13 Record: 20-14-5 (14-9-5 WCHA, 4th place)
Series: DU leads, 11-1-0
First Game: January 29, 1954 (Denver, CO)
Last RPI win: October 20, 2006 (Denver, CO)
Last DU win: October 21, 2006 (Denver, CO)

2013-14 games: December 13-14, 2013 (Troy, NY)

Key players: G Sam Brittain, sr.; D David Makowski, sr.; D Josiah Didier, jr.; F Daniel Doremus, jr.; D Joey LaLeggia, jr.; F Zac Larraza, jr.; F Ty Loney, jr.; F Matt Tabrum, jr.; F Grant Arnold, so.; F Gabe Levin, so.; F Quentin Shore, so.; D Nolan Zajac, so.; D Will Butcher, fr.; F Connor Chatham, fr.; F Trevor Moore, fr.

The December series at the Field House marks Denver's third trip to Troy ever, and the first to take place outside of the first weekend of a calendar year - the first trip was during the first weekend of 1967, the second in the first weekend of 1982.

The all-time series is quite lopsided - the Pioneers won the first 10 games they played against RPI between 1954 and 1982. Ironically, RPI's first ever win over Denver was also former DU assistant coach Appert's first win as RPI's head coach, splitting a series in late October that was put on the schedule before he'd even accepted the job.

History seemed about ready to repeat itself when multiple media reports had Appert as one of the top contenders to succeed his mentor, George Gwozdecky, as head coach at Denver, which would have seen Appert return to Troy coaching from the south side of the Field House had it gone through. Instead, an extension will keep Appert with RPI for many seasons to come, while Montgomery takes a high-profile position for his very first college head-coaching gig.

For a high-profile program, Denver is actually fairly young - unlike many of the classic programs of the east, the Pioneers didn't have their first season until after World War II, first dropping the puck in 1949-50 with a rough first season. DU lost 17-0 to the University of Saskatchewan in their first game, lost twice to Brown by a combined 33-3 score, lost 23-2 to the University of Alberta in their next to last game, and their only four wins on the season came against that hockey powerhouse, Wyoming. Not exactly a stellar beginning.

But that inauspicious beginning vanished relatively quickly. The Pioneers picked up wins over the more established teams from Minnesota, Michigan, and Michigan State in their second season, and notched their first win over local rivals Colorado College in 1952. From there, it was an upward march for the Pioneers, who earned their first winning season that year en route to 22 over the next 23 years, a stretch that would see the team establish a true dynasty during the 1960s.

Murray Armstrong was hired to coach the rising program in 1956, and it was under Armstrong that Denver would become one of the top programs in the new WCHA. In Armstrong's second year in Denver, the Pioneers captured their first national championship with a 6-2 victory over North Dakota in the title game, the first of three in a four year stretch that placed the Pioneers as one of the nation's top teams. During that four-year run, Denver had a combined 104-20-7 record.

The dominance continued throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. The Pioneers reached the national championship game again in 1963 and 1964, but fell to North Dakota and Michigan. Additional Frozen Four appearances in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, and 1973 continued DU's run as one of the nation's premiere teams, highlighted by back-to-back championships in 1968 and 1969 and a championship game appearance in 1973. During the first 14 years of the WCHA's existence, Denver won six regular-season championships, two overall tournament championships, and made 10 trips to the NCAA tournament, four of which resulted in titles.

The 1973 Frozen Four appearance was later vacated by the NCAA after it was found in 1976 that the school had violated eligibility rules by allowing some athletes to play after losing their amateur status playing with semi-professional teams in Canada, even though they were aware of the players' situation. The Pioneers were made ineligible for the 1977 and 1978 post-seasons.

When Armstrong departed in 1977 after 21 seasons in Denver, he had won 463 games and helmed only three losing seasons, one of which was his first and the other two coming toward the end of his tenure during the NCAA morass. Marshall Johnston, his replacement, guided Denver to a WCHA regular-season title and a coach of the year honor in his first season, but was gone three years later. Ralph Backstrom then led the team through the 1980s, earning big success in 1986 with WCHA regular-season and tournament titles and DU's first NCAA appearance in 13 years, culminating in a Frozen Four appearance. Backstrom's other teams across nine seasons were typically fair, but rarely outstanding.

Frank Serratore replaced Backstrom in 1990 for his first NCAA head coaching gig, and while he later found success at Air Force (where he now coaches), his time to the north in Denver was disastrous. In 1991, during his first season behind the bench, the Pioneers failed to reach 10 wins for the first time since their inaugural season, finishing dead last in the WCHA. DU went 15-55-4 in his first two seasons alone, including 30 losses in 1991.

Miami head coach George Gwozdecky came to Denver in 1994 to rejoin the league where he'd been a player with Wisconsin in the 1970s. Fresh off back-to-back 20-win seasons and the Redhawks' first NCAA appearance in 1993, "Gwoz" turned the Pioneers around quickly, putting them back in the NCAA tournament in just his first season while winning 25 games, 10 better than the team had mustered in Serratore's final season.

NCAA appearances and 20-win seasons would become commonplace under Gwozdecky. In 1999, DU won its first WCHA crown since 1986, the first of six WCHA banners the program would earn in his 19-year stint. The majority of the "Gwoz" glory came after 2002, as the Pioneers began a run of 12 straight 20-win seasons that continues to the present, and landed back-to-back national championships in 2004 and 2005, the school's first in 35 years. Defenseman Matt Carle won the school's first Hobey Baker Award in 2006.

Despite reaching the NCAA tournament for the past six consecutive seasons - a school record - and a WCHA regular season championship in 2010, Gwozdecky was fired at the end of 2013. The team's record in those six tournaments likely had a lot to do with that - the Pioneers are 1-6 in the national tournament during that stretch, the lone win coming in double overtime against Western Michigan in 2011.

So Denver begins a new era on two different fronts in this coming season - a new coach in Montgomery, and a new league after 54 years in the WCHA. DU will be the first member of the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference to visit Troy and play against the Engineers.

The Pioneers lost their top scorer, Nick Shore, when he signed a pro deal with the LA Kings, and their top three goal scorers (Shawn Ostrow, Knowlton, and Shore). Their top goaltender last year, Juho Olkinuora, also fled for the NHL, as did top defenseman Scott Mayfield, both with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

That kind of early departure list would be devastating for a lot of teams, and it's likely to make the Pioneers less potent as they could have been, but there's plenty still around in Denver to make them a solid team. Four defensemen who played at least 75% of the team's games last year return, as do four forwards who notched at least eight goals each. Brittain already has experience as DU's top-choice goaltender, having held down the position in his freshman season before being displaced by Olkinuora, and his numbers that year were nothing to sneeze at.

And when it comes to coaching, there are few coaches with the track record of Jim Montgomery to be making their head coaching debut this season. He's been very successful wherever he's been, including in Dubuque where he coached Luke Curadi three seasons ago, and at RPI as Appert's top lieutenant.

Despite all of the changes the Pioneers have experienced this offseason - new coach, new league, early departures - RPI fans can still expect them to be packing a considerable punch when they show up at Houston Field House in December. But RPI should be packing a sizable punch of its own. It'll be interesting to watch and see how DU stacks up in a smaller but amazingly difficult new conference (all eight teams have been in the NCAA tournament in the last three seasons, including four last season) ahead of the visit.

Of the non-conference teams coming to Troy this season, this is the must-see series of the year - not just because of the extensive links between the two programs over the last several years, but because the matchup should be absolutely stellar, and both teams ought to be able to learn quite a bit about themselves during the course of the mid-season weekend.

Things To Do In Denver When You're Red

12 consecutive 20-win seasons. Six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Back to back national championship wins in 2004 and 2005. Three MacNaughton Cup titles for winning the WCHA regular season title. Four Broadmoor Trophy reigns as WCHA champions. A Hobey Baker Award winner. Just one losing record in 19 seasons.

Not enough for George Gwozdecky to keep his job at the University of Denver.

Now, the haters are going to point out that, while the Pioneers have consistently made the tournament, they haven't advanced to the Frozen Four since winning it all in 2005, and have won just one NCAA tournament game since then (beating Western Michigan in two overtimes in 2011 at Green Bay - the regional that included the Engineers). So, perhaps the bar is just that high in Denver.

Even still... the resume in the first paragraph is pretty impressive. Apparently, the powers that be at DU want national titles and won't be satisfied with anything less. That has to be daunting for whoever it is that might replace the truly legendary Gwozdecky at Magness Arena.

Denver is certainly a high-profile opening - not the most high-profile opening we've seen this year, but the BU opening was open for about 40 seconds before they named David Quinn as Jack Parker's replacement.

So who is it? Denver's associate head coach, Steve Miller is almost certainly not it - he's been Gwozdecky's top lieutenant for all 19 years that he's been in Denver. You don't show that kind of loyalty for that long only to take the guy's job when he gets canned. The other assistant, David Lassonde, has been an assistant coach in college hockey since 1989, including 14 years at New Hampshire before spending the last two seasons at Denver. He could be a solid candidate.

Protégés are all over the rumor mill. Air Force associate head coach Mike Corbett is a former DU defenseman who played for Gwozdecky, he's been with the Falcons (conveniently, right there in Colorado) for 10 seasons. Derek Lalonde was an assistant in Denver under Gwozdecky from 2006 to 2011, when he took over the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL and won a league championship in his first season.

Among the other names that have cropped up are two other Gwozdecky protégés - Miami head coach Enrico Blasi, who played for Gwozdecky in Miami between 1990 and 1994 and who was an assistant in Denver from 1996 to 1999 before taking the top job at his alma mater, and St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko, who served under Gwozdecky at both Miami and Denver before eventually taking the top spot at his alma mater.

Neither of these candidates seem likely based on what they have accomplished or are accomplishing in their current positions. Blasi has taken Miami to heights that even his predecessor did not achieve while he was in Ohio (namely, NCAA tournament victories to go with 9 NCAA tournament apperances in 10 years, including two Frozen Fours and very nearly a national championship in 2009). And I don't know if you've been reading the news lately, but Motzko's Huskies just reached the Frozen Four for the first time in school history, quite an accomplishment for a much maligned program that until Motzko took the reins, was a punchline for the number of times they'd tried and failed to win even one NCAA tournament game.

Throw in the fact that both of these gentlemen would be facing their former teams in the NCHC next year, and it's a good bet we won't see either of them in Denver next year.

But there's one other well known Gwozdecky protégé out there that people are talking about - in fact, he was the first name the Denver Post, among other outlets, brought up: RPI's Seth Appert.

As most RPI fans known, Appert was an assistant in Denver from 1999 through 2006, when he came to Troy as RPI's 9th head coach in the modern era, and he was considered an instrumental recruiter for the program during the Pioneers reign as back-to-back national champions. He's not currently at his alma mater like Blasi and Motzko, and he hasn't yet placed RPI on the same level that either of those men have done at their respective schools.

He refused comment when the Daily Gazette's Ken Schott asked him if he would be a candidate. Don't read too much into the refusal to say no - the question was asked mere minutes from the time Gwozdecky's firing was made public. That isn't enough time to consider anything, either way.

It has long been suspected that Appert might only consider leaving RPI for two places - Denver, his long-time home, and Ferris State, his alma mater. That's probably not entirely true, but it does make the Denver opening more intriguing from an RPI fan's perspective.

But don't count on a vacancy in Troy this summer. Why? A couple of reasons. First, alumni reaction to the firing at Denver has been almost universally negative. Whoever comes in now is going to have to deal with a fanbase that will have very little patience. Second, DU's interest could be tepid at best - who would fire a person and then hire someone that learned from him? It would be a different story, for sure, if Gwozdecky had resigned. Third, Gwozdecky's resume is going to be difficult to top. Fourth, the loyalty factor has to come into play: reports say that Gwozdecky's protégés tend to maintain a very close relationship with the man. Like Miller, who would want to be the one to succeed him?

Is it possible that Seth Appert could leave? Yes. Is it likely? Probably not.

Regardless, it will be very interesting to see how everything plays out, especially with the conference realignment about to strike the balance in college hockey.

We'll be keeping a close eye here as well, in part because the Pioneers will be coming to Troy next season as one of the non-conference opponents. Stay tuned.

Tentative 2013-14 Men's Hockey Schedule

Here it is, the tentative schedule for next year. The exhibition game in October should be against a Canadian school as usual, the game against Boston College is rumored to be part of a doubleheader with BU/Cornell at Madison Square Garden (if it doesn't pan out, the game will likely take place in Chestnut Hill), and the second opponent in the Minnesota tournament in January is not known for sure, though it is believed the first opponent will be the Golden Gophers. Freakout! is presumed to be Brown, given the usual time of year for the event, though Harvard and Clarkson are outside possibilities.

Game times are at 7pm unless otherwise indicated, but are subject to change due to television scheduling.

October
Saturday, 05 October - EXHIBITION
Saturday, 12 October - at Sacred Heart (Bridgeport, CT)
Sunday, 13 October - at Boston College (time TBD)
Friday, 18 October - at Boston University
Saturday, 19 October - SACRED HEART (Parents Weekend)
Saturday, 26 October - NEW HAMPSHIRE

November
Friday, 01 November - at Harvard*
Saturday, 02 November - at Dartmouth*
Friday, 08 November - CORNELL* (Black Friday)
Saturday, 09 November - COLGATE*
Friday, 15 November - at Union*
Saturday, 16 November - UNION*
Friday, 22 November - at Mercyhurst
Saturday, 23 November - at Mercyhurst

December
Friday, 06 December - QUINNIPIAC*
Saturday, 07 December - PRINCETON* (4pm)
Friday, 13 December - DENVER
Saturday, 14 December - DENVER
Sunday, 15 December - US UNDER-18 TEAM (exhibition)
Friday, 20 December - vs. Union (Albany, NY)

January
Friday, 03 January - at Minnesota (8pm)
Saturday, 04 January - at Minnesota Tournament (Minneapolis, MN) (5pm)
Friday, 10 January - at Princeton*
Saturday, 11 January - at Quinnipiac*
Friday, 24 January - DARTMOUTH*
Saturday, 25 January - HARVARD*
Friday, 31 January - at Clarkson*

February
Saturday, 01 February - at St. Lawrence*
Friday, 07 February - YALE*
Saturday, 08 February - BROWN* (Big Red Freakout!)
Friday, 14 February - at Colgate*
Saturday, 15 February - at Cornell*
Friday, 21 February - ST. LAWRENCE*
Saturday, 22 February - CLARKSON* (Senior Night)
Friday, 28 February - at Brown*

March
Saturday, 01 March - at Yale*
Fri-Sun, 07-09 March - ECAC First Round (at campus sites)
Fri-Sun, 14-16 March - ECAC Quarterfinals (at campus sites)
Friday, 21 March - ECAC Semifinals (Lake Placid, NY)
Saturday, 22 March - ECAC Championship (Lake Placid, NY)
Fri-Sun 28-30 March - NCAA Regionals (Bridgeport, CT; Worcester, MA; Cincinnati, OH; St. Paul, MN)

April
Thursday, 10 April - NCAA Frozen Four (Philadelphia, PA)
Saturday, 12 April - NCAA Championship (Philadelphia, PA)