Men's Hockey - Quinnipiac & Princeton (17/18 Feb)

It's starting to look like the Engineers may play better on the road than they do at home. If that's the case, they could well start playing better permanently, since their play this past weekend in Troy guaranteed that they will not return to competitive hockey at the Field House until October, failing to win at home for the fourth and fifth consecutive times with a 3-1 loss to Quinnipiac and a 6-2 loss to Princeton.

Quinnipiac

Lee/McGowan/O'Grady 

Cullen/Higgs/Haggerty

Neal/Laliberte/Schroeder

Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Tinordi

Leonard/Bergin
Leboeuf/Bailen

Curadi/Dolan

Merriam

It seems to have happened quite a few times this season that the Engineers have put the puck in the net only to lose the momentum in short order to great detriment. That's basically the story of the first period on Friday as the Engineers put themselves on the board first with Zach Schroeder's sixth goal of the season nine minutes in, giving RPI a 1-0 lead.

But just 23 seconds later, Quinnipiac scored the equalizer to make it 1-1, blunting any momentum that the Engineers could have hoped to gain from Schroeder's goal. A power play goal ten minutes later - with 16 seconds left on the clock - made it 2-1 Bobcats and represented yet another blow, the dreaded late goal which has also been a difficult one for RPI to bounce back from.

The Engineers picked up a pair of power plays in the first 13 minutes of the second period, but were unable to translate those advantages into the tying goal. About a minute after the second power play expired, Quinnipiac struck again to make it 3-1.

Two more power plays fell by the wayside in the third period as the RPI advantage went 0-for-5 on the evening, contributing to an overall bad night on special teams (1-for-7). The Engineers registered 7 shots on goal in the third but still couldn't add to Schroeder's goal, falling 3-1 as the team failed to beat Quinnipiac for the fourth consecutive outing against the Bobcats.

Princeton

Angers-Goulet/Malchuk/Schroeder

Cullen/Higgs/Haggerty

Lee/McGowan/O'Grady 

Rabbani/Rogic/Smith

Leonard/Bergin
Bailen/Dolan

Curadi/Koudys

Merriam

In part to ensure that seniors Josh Rabbani and Justin Smith got the opportunity to play on Senior Night, a shakeup took place in the RPI lineup. Johnny Rogic was also reinserted into the lineup, with Matt Neal, Jacob Laliberte, and Matt Tinordi sitting down, as well as Guy Leboeuf, who came out in favor of Pat Koudys.

The Engineers entered Saturday's game with a distinct advantage - thanks to an injury and a game disqualification to defensemen in Friday's game at Union, Princeton had only four healthy defensemen on hand to take on RPI.

That advantage gave the Engineers the opportunity to generally control the game early on, but it did not translate into goals right away. In fact, Princeton got on the board first on a bit of a weak goal off a faceoff in the RPI zone, but the Engineers did respond before the end of the first period. Mike Bergin scored his first goal of the season - and his first since December 3, 2010 - with a rip from the blue line about four minutes later.

Princeton broke the game open in the second period with four goals, picking up two in the first five and a half minutes of the second period on their first two shots of the period, making it 3-1 and chasing Bryce Merriam in favor of Scott Diebold. The Engineers responded about a minute and a half later with Josh Rabbani scoring his first goal of the season - and his first since February 18, 2011 - on a rebound to cut Princeton's lead in half.

As the Engineers tried going for the second tying goal of the game, a bad break that has created plenty of offensive opportunities for the opposition this season - a blocked blue line shot kicked into the neutral zone - led to a breakaway opportunity and a goal for the Tigers, making it 4-2. A five-on-three advantage three minutes later led to Princeton's fifth goal, and the rout was on. The Tigers picked up another marker eight minutes into the third to seal things up tight.

With 5:49 left in the game, Seth Appert called timeout and sent senior Jeremy Coupal into the net, which drew a standing ovation from the RPI crowd. In a similar circumstance two years ago in the Freakout, Princeton did not relent against the third-string seeing his first game action, scoring two goals on three shots. With Coupal in net, Princeton did visibly pull up a bit, but did squeeze off a couple of shots, one of which was on net and blockered aside for his first career save.

On the other end, RPI fired only 26 shots on net in the game, half of them in the second period. The loss, coupled with Yale's 7-1 slaughter of Harvard, sealed the Engineers' fate in the playoffs - they will be on the road for the first round. While they can potentially reach as high as the 9th seed, the reality is that they will probably finish in the bottom three of the league table.

Other junk - Ferris State remains the #1 team in the nation this week, picking up 36 of 50 first place votes, so congratulations to the Bulldogs on that for sure. They're in first place in the CCHA and hitting on all four cylinders right now with a nation-leading 14 game unbeaten streak, they haven't lost since December 30. Other teams on the RPI schedule ranked this week are #7 UMass-Lowell (down one), #8 Union (no change), #11 Cornell (up one), #16 Colorado College (down one), #18 Notre Dame (down five), and #20 Colgate (re-entering the rankings). Quinnipiac (8) and Clarkson (1) also received votes.

RPI has not beaten Princeton at home since the 2006-07 season - they are 0-5-0 since then and have been outscored 25-6, half of the Engineers' goals coming in last year's 4-3 loss.

Barring a miracle, the Engineers will fail to have any player reach double digits in goals scored for the first time since 2007-08, the only time it has happened in the modern era. C.J. Lee, Zach Schroeder, and Ryan Haggerty each have six goals this year, seven different players reached six that season and the lowest ever team-leading total was nine by both Tyler Helfrich (in his freshman year) and Jonathan Ornelas (in his senior season).

It gets worse on points. Brock Higgs' 18 points leads the team with only four guaranteed games remaining in the season. RPI has never failed to produce at least one player with 20 points in the modern era, coming closest in the disastrous 1965-66 season with Al Jones reaching 10 goals (the only player on the team with double digits that year) and 20 points. Helfrich and Chase Polacek had 29 and 28 points respectively in 2007-08, both were freshmen that year.

On the flip side, only three skaters - Justin Smith, Greg Burgdoerfer, and Luke Curadi - have not scored goals this year, and Curadi is the only skater that has not registered a point (Rabbani and Bergin scored their first goals on Saturday, Smith picked up his first assist). However, nine skaters have only one goal.

Assuming he doesn't get more playing time, Jeremy Coupal becomes the first RPI goaltender to register a 1.000 save percentage since Jim Palmer in 2001-02, who made 14 saves on 14 shots in 23:41 of game time, including a shutout first period against Bowling Green. Palmer is the last third-string goaltender with limited playing time to register more than one save in his career - he had 19 on 20 shots in 31:15 of playing time. Palmer, incidentally, played at Seton Catholic HS in Plattsburgh, NY with RPI teammate Glenn Coupal, no relation to Jeremy.

ECAC Standings

1. Union - 30 pts (13-3-4)
2. Cornell - 28 pts (11-3-6)
3. Colgate - 23 pts (11-8-1)
4. Clarkson - 22 pts (9-7-4)

5. Harvard - 21 pts (6-5-9)

6. Quinnipiac - 20 pts (8-8-4)

7. St. Lawrence - 19 pts (9-10-1)

8. Yale - 19 pts (9-10-1)

9. Dartmouth - 17 pts (7-10-3)

10. Princeton - 15 pts (6-11-3)

11. RPI - 13 pts (5-12-3)

12. Brown - 13 pts (5-12-3)

Quinnipiac at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/17/12- 7:00pm
RESULT: Quinnipiac 3, RPI 1

BOX SCORES

College Hockey Stats

USCHO

RECAPS

RPI

Troy Record

Albany Times Union

RECORD: 8-20-3 (5-11-3 ECAC, 13 pts)

Princeton at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/18/12 - 7:00pm
RESULT:  Princeton 6, RPI 2

BOX SCORES

College Hockey Stats

USCHO

RECAPS

RPI

Troy Record

Albany Times Union

RECORD: 8-21-3 (5-12-3 ECAC, 13 pts)

Upcoming games

24 Feb - at #20 Colgate

25 Feb - at #11 Cornell

02 Mar - at ECAC First Round, Game 1 (site/opponent TBD)

03 Mar - at ECAC First Round, Game 2

04 Mar - at ECAC First Round, Game 3 (if necessary)

Every Picture Tells a Story

We're coming up on Labor Day weekend, and even though it may not feel like it outside just yet, we're just three weeks away from hockey at Houston Field House when the women take on the University of Montreal in an exhibition game at 4 p.m. on September 25th ahead of their trip to Wisconsin the following weekend. A week later, the men take part in the Cherry and White intrasquad scrimmage on October 2nd at 4 p.m., to be followed at 7 p.m. by an AHL preseason game between the Adirondack Phantoms and the Albany Devils. Three days after that, on Tuesday, October 5th 7 p.m., the men will face the University of New Brunswick in an exhibition matchup ahead of their trip to Colorado the following weekend.

In the meantime, renovations continue apace at the Field House. We've got some pictures.


This is the first picture we've seen of the new section with the lights on in the Field House. According to what we've found out about the project, the floor level will indeed contain some Let's Go Red space and a mini "Hall of Fame" type area. The second level will house men's hockey offices on one side, women's hockey offices on the other side, and in the middle will be a reception room for Dr. Jackson and her guests, high rollers, donors, recruits, etc.

There are plans for a third level, which may include additional press space, but this will not be included as part of this project at present.



The east side of the Field House is starting to look a little more familiar as the dashers have now been put up on that side, but it's still sans glass. There's still no stage - and there isn't going to be, apparently. The current plan is to put the Pep Band at the top of Section 13 on the north side of the Field House instead of on stage, and the eastern curtain will be moved closer to the glass. The goal is to create a more "intimate" feeling within the Field House, but we'll see just how well it works in a month's time. There are a number of issues for the band especially, having to arrange themselves in the stands.

The old scoreboard is right back up where it normally is. There's been some conflicting reports as to whether it is going to be replaced mid-season (along with the sound system) or whether the replacement will wait until the next offseason, but the components themselves should arrive before the end of the year.

The mid-season replacement may be what's going to happen - according to the site manager, the building will have ice and be habitable for sporting events by the time scheduled events begin again in three weeks, but the renovations themselves will not be completed until December.

With the Field House still lacking in ice, the captains have had to move their practices to Knickerbacker Arena in North Troy.



Here's John Kennedy (center, no helmet) giving the team a pep talk at the end of practice. Visible on the right in the goalie pads and black sweater without a helmet is Jeremy Coupal, the Engineers' new practice goaltender. He replaces Joe Harkenrider, who left the team to focus on his studies, as the 3rd goaltender.

Coupal, a junior Materials Engineering major, started eight games for the RPI club team last season, amassing a 2-6-0 record with a 4.22 GAA and .872 save percentage, with one shutout against Norwich. Before coming to RPI, Coupal was at one point was the starting goaltender at Seton Catholic High School in Plattsburgh. Former RPI practice goalie Jim Palmer, one of the most popular fan favorites in recent history, also attended Seton Catholic, as did former defenseman Glenn Coupal (who is likely related to Jeremy, but we won't know for sure until his RPI biography is released).

Speaking of the club team, the Engineers will have all 14 of their home games at Houston Field House this year, starting on September 24th at 7 p.m. when they host Union. The club team will also host Brown, Merrimack, Quinnipiac, Hudson Valley CC, Roger Williams, Keene State, Westfield State, UConn, Marist, NYU, Vermont, and Norwich this season.

The women are also hard at work at "The Knick." Below, the team takes a few shots on senior goaltender Sonja van der Bliek.



Finally, a quick video of the women taking a few shots.