Men's Hockey - at North Dakota (15 Oct)

It was always going to be hard to expect anything about traveling to the defending and eight-time national champions, and the end result was pretty much as one would have expected. RPI was actually fairly efficient with their shots, scoring twice on 14 of them, but of course, 14 shots is not what you're looking for against a team like North Dakota, who have proven in their first three games to be very stingy on defense and full of firepower on offense. The end result was a 5-2 defeat from which the Engineers can at least draw some positives going forward, if not a victory for the resume.

North Dakota
Bourbonnais-Tironese-Nanne
Melanson-Hayhurst-Ohrvall
Liljegren-DeVito-Polino
Wood, Rodriguez

Prapavessis-Reno
Wilson-Reilly
Manley-Grant
Moore

Perry

Whatever Brady Wiffen's injury is, it kept him from traveling with the squad and the Engineers again went with an 11x7 lineup, with Meirs Moore returning from a minor thumb injury and replacing Bradley Bell among the starting 18, with a healthy amount of line jumbling as well.

The first goal was a repeat from both RPI and North Dakota's last outings - the Engineers scored first and the Fighting Hawks gave up the first goal. Evan Tironese notched his first goal of the year and his second collegiate goal when he one-timed a pass from Riley Bourbonnais past UND netminder Cam Johnson to put the Engineers ahead 1-0 on their first shot of the game.

RPI maintained that lead for much of the first period, and even had two opportunities to extend that lead on the power play, but both power plays were cut short by penalties taken by Viktor Liljegren. The Swedish junior took a tripping penalty just under a minute into RPI's first power play of the game, and then a hooking call about 20 seconds into the Engineers' second man advantage.

UND tied things up with about 4:30 left in the first period as sophomore Joel Janatuinen struck pretty much out of nowhere with a one-timer from Ludvig Hoff to put the Fighting Hawks on the board.

The Engineers didn't fall behind until almost six minutes into the second period. North Dakota took a 2-1 lead on a goal by super-freshman Tyson Jost, and just over a minute later a second goal by Janatuinen gave the home team a more comfortable 3-1 edge.

After a very solid penalty kill for RPI about five minutes later, freshman Will Reilly found Jake Wood on an outlet pass, and the senior was off to the races. Wood buried the puck just three seconds after a penalty to Mike Prapavessis ended - technically an even-strength goal but functionally a short-handed tally as the play began before the penalty concluded, but nevertheless pulling the Engineers back within a goal with two goals scored on just 10 shots in the first two periods of the evening.

But the ending still wasn't terribly in doubt, and the Fighting Hawks left zero doubt early in the third period, as a goal by Cole Smith five and a half minutes into the final period gave UND their two-goal cushion back, and the conclusion of the hat trick by Janatuinen - the second hat trick scored on the Engineers in three games - pretty much sealed things tight. After putting five shots on goal in each of the first two periods, RPI managed just four in the third period, certainly not anywhere close to being enough to pull back the three-goal hole. Chase Perry was once again a hard-luck loser in net with 33 saves on 38 shots - it really wasn't poor play by the Engineers that caused the loss, more just the outstanding play by the home team getting the job done without a shadow of a doubt.

Again, this wasn't an unexpected result. RPI was going to need to catch North Dakota on a bad night in order to find success and it just wasn't in the cards. The Fighting Hawks didn't even look particularly bad in the first period, when the Engineers led for over 10 minutes. So it's an 0-3 start for RPI, but that's probably not the best metric for measuring them just yet. The sweep at Maine suddenly looks a lot better after the Black Bears split with Quinnipiac in Orono over the weekend, with both games going to overtime - and from here, the schedule not only gets a touch easier, it also shifts home for the first time... and for the next five consecutive weekends.

RPI went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill on the evening, extending their streak of penalty kills to start the season off with 17 successful kills in a row. Only Bemidji State (22) has started off their season with more successful kills without allowing a power play goal, and Penn State (15) is the only other non-Ivy that has yet to allow a power play goal.

On the flip side, the Engineers are 1-for-19 on the power play to start the season. Only Alaska-Anchorage (1-for-23) and, amazingly, Boston College (a mind-numbing 0-for-20) have been worse on the power play to start the season. Mercyhurst, Minnesota, and St. Cloud State all have yet to score a power play goal as well, but all have fewer than 10 opportunities, so let's not be too harsh on them just yet.

In the meantime, the first two games of a nine-out-of-ten in a row homestand - the one being a road trip all the way to Schenectady - get underway this weekend against Niagara and RIT of Atlantic Hockey. RIT is no slouch, but they're not Maine on the road and they're not the defending national champions. The key, especially on Saturday night against the Tigers, is for the Engineers to display what they've learned in three tough games and show that they can win games that they're supposed to win, even if they couldn't win games they weren't necessarily favored to win.

RPI at #1 North Dakota
US Hockey Hall of Fame Game - Alfond Arena (Orono, ME)
10/15/16 - 8:00pm

RESULT: North Dakota 5, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Associated Press
Grand Forks Herald

RECORD: 0-3-0

Upcoming games
21 Oct - Niagara
22 Oct - RIT
28 Oct - Union
29 Oct - at Union
04 Nov - Brown

The Great Plains

Neither the men nor the women got off to the starts they wanted - but the women may have turned the corner a bit last night with a 3-0 victory at home against UConn, and the men have at least the opportunity to mimic last season with a tough game against the #1 team in the nation.

For the third straight year (2014 - Minnesota, 2015 - Boston College) the Engineers' second opponent of the year is the #1 team in the nation. For RPI (0-2-0), it's not looking like a game that's going to produce a result. The goal tonight against North Dakota (2-0-0) is to take strides from last week's pair of losses in Maine - get shots on goal. Finish when possible. Hopefully, don't get destroyed. Then take what you learn in playing against the very best and apply it at home next weekend against not the very best.

The women (2-4-1) got themselves off a five game winless streak with their first shutout of the season, at home against UConn last night, a 21-save shutout for Lovisa Selander that included the third goals of the season for both Makenna Thomas and Hannah Behounek. They'll be seeking an opportunity to complete their first weekend sweep since January (the Union home-and-home) on home ice this afternoon.

Yes, it's more Tragically Hip this weekend, and it's impossible not to use this tune. Sure, the Engineers have a pair of games that will be played farther west than this, but they'll never be closer to the magic longitude.

Know Your Enemy: North Dakota

Pretty much since the very beginning of his tenure at RPI, Seth Appert has sought non-conference games against some of the top teams in the country. Well, it doesn't get much more "top" than playing a game at the defending national champions, something the Engineers will get to do for the third time in four seasons - the other two were kind of cheating since it was a couple of ECAC teams, but that's besides the point. It's a contest that certainly fits right into the "anyone, anywhere" mentality that we've seen in the last decade.

North Dakota

Nickname: Fighting Hawks
Location: Grand Forks, ND
Founded: 1883
Conference: NCHC
National Championships: 8 (1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000, 2016)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2016
Last Frozen Four: 2016
Coach: Brad Berry (2nd season)
2015-16 Record: 34-6-4 (18-4-1 NCHC, 1st place)
Series: North Dakota leads, 8-1-0
First Game: January 2, 1960 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: November 24, 1984 (Grand Forks, ND)
Last UND win: March 26, 2011 (Green Bay, WI)

2016-17 game: October 15, 2016 (Grand Forks, ND)

Key players: D Gage Ausmus, sr.; G Cam Johnson, jr.; F Austin Poganski, jr.; D Tucker Poolman, jr.; F Nick Schmaltz, jr.; F Johnny Simonson, jr.; F Brock Boeser, so.; F Rhett Gardner, so.; F Shane Gersich, so.; F Joel Janatuinen, so.; D Hayden Shaw, so.; F Chris Wilkie, so.; D Christian Wolanin, so.; D Christian Evers, fr.; F Tyson Jost, fr.; D Matt Kierstad, fr.; F Mitchell Mattson, fr.

Previous KYE installment:

• 2010-11

Since last we left North Dakota on the cusp of the 2011 NCAA tournament, they emerged from their thumping of RPI, quite a lot has changed. First went the name of the team, the Fighting Sioux moniker stricken in 2012. Then went the conference, as UND played a pivotal role in the founding of the NCHC in 2011 and became members in 2013. Finally, there was a coaching change in 2015 as Dave Hakstol became the first NCAA coach in over 30 years to move directly from the college ranks to a head coaching position in the NHL when he took over the Philadelphia Flyers last summer.

UND returned the next night after their 6-0 pasting of the Engineers to blitz Denver 6-1, an impressive overall regional showing that left the Fighting Sioux looking practically unbeatable heading into the Frozen Four - and then they looked fairly meek in going out in the national semis, 2-0 to eventual runners-up Michigan.

The 2011 Frozen Four was Hakstol's fifth with UND, and the fifth time they'd come up dry in their quest for the national championship. A WCHA title in 2012 was his fourth and final league title, and the NCHC regular season crown in 2015 was his the third and final time one of his teams accomplished that feat. Frozen Fours in 2014 and 2015 left Hakstol with a total of seven appearances in 11 seasons on the final weekend of the regular season - and a 1-7 record in those appearances, the lone national championship game appearance coming in his first try in 2005.

He left for the NHL, and what happens? UND - christened the Fighting Hawks in November - wins the national championship. There's not really much of a cause and effect there (first NCAA to NHL head coaching move in 30+ years and all), but it's certainly a bit odd.

Brad Berry, another UND alum who also logged time as an assistant coach under both Hakstol and his predecessor, Dean Blais, took over last summer and guided the Fighting Hawks to their second consecutive first-place finish in NCHC league play. They were upset by Minnesota Duluth in the NCHC semis, but they picked up their 8th national championship - second only to Michigan's nine - by blowing up the competition in the NCAA tournament, outscoring the opposition 20-7 in four games, including a 5-1 demolition of Quinnipiac in the national championship game that qualified as the Bobcats' worst loss (of four) on the entire season, and was probably even worse than it looks on the final scoresheet. It was less a game than a coronation.

There was nothing that UND did poorly last season. 7th best offensively (3.68 goals per game), 2nd defensively (1.84 GAA, trailing only Yale), 2nd best in scoring margin (+1.84 goals per game, trailing only St. Cloud), and 6th best in penalty kill (86.4%). The power play was a bit more pedestrian, but still well within an acceptable range at 19.1%.

It was at least a minor shock when Boeser, fifth in the nation in points per game (1.43), fourth in goals (27), and third in points (60) as a freshman didn't sign with the Vancouver Canucks. But there's at least some unfinished business, as that resume somehow didn't result in earning even a Hobey Baker finalist nod, let alone a place in the Hobey Hat Trick. With zero Hobey finalists returning to the college game next season, Boeser is the top returning points producer in the country and is inarguably returning as the best position player in the nation.

Really, if there's any opening to be prodded on this team, it's the fact that the defense (and the team in general) is going to be relatively young. Ausmus was supposed to be one of four senior defensemen on this squad, instead he's going to be just one of two upperclassmen at all after Troy Stetcher, Paul LaDue and Keaton Thompson signed NHL deals after the national championship - and what's more, Ausmus and the only other upperclassman, Poolman, had been flight risks, too. Those five guys were absolutely a big part of North Dakota's stifling defensive efforts.

Ausmus and Boeser especially could have been forgiven if they'd decided to leave, but their return along with that of Johnson, a Mike Richter Award finalist as a sophomore, provides a rock from which the Fighting Hawks will likely be able to build yet another NCAA tournament appearance upon what is already the longest active streak in the nation at 14 in a row (and 19 of the last 20).

North Dakota is going to score goals. They just are. When they lose goal scorers, they find others to fill the gap. In this century, the fewest number of goals UND has scored in a single season is 127 (2013-14). The number of times RPI has reached that number of goals in the same time frame is zero. To be extremely fair to RPI, North Dakota tends to play more games than the Engineers do every year just because they go deeper into their conference tournament and, as mentioned, they play in the NCAAs all the time, but it is what it is.

One thing that may work in RPI's favor: North Dakota has a recent history of "what the hell?" home games early in seasons. Last year they lost to Wisconsin in November. A year before that, to Bemidji State in October. Vermont managed a tie in October 2013.

It's going to be a tall task for the Engineers, no doubt. Three games into the season, there's no way we're going to know if RPI's questions on offense will be answered, and the Fighting Hawks will be a serious test of their defensive strengths. A victory in Grand Forks would be solid upset, and it would be one that would turn heads not just in the ECAC but nationally. Don't count on it, of course. But if the young defense can be exploited successfully, that door is at least open a crack.

Women's Hockey - North Dakota (2/3 Oct)

RPI jumped out to an early lead against sixth-ranked North Dakota on Friday night but eventually fell short in a 4-3 decision. In Saturday's rematch, the Engineers didn't fare as well, falling 4-1 despite a 41-save effort from freshman goalie Lovisa Selander.

Friday

Horwood/Gruschow/Rooney

Wash/Schwalbe/Tremblay

Grigsby/Mankey/Tomlinson

Thomas/Hylwa/Raspa

Hansen/Godin

Behounek/Banks

Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

Alexa Gruschow and Laura Horwood put RPI up 2-0 in Friday night's regular season opener, but North Dakota eventually came out on top by a 4-3 margin. After UND took a 3-2 lead in the second, RPI tied it at three, but Becca Kohler came through with the game winner for the visitors with 1:59 left in regulation.

Gruschow's goal got the Engineers on the board at 6:19 of the first, with two seconds remaining on a power play chance. Lauren Wash dumped the puck on net and Gruschow was in front to tip it home.

Horwood doubled the lead at 12:02, picking up her own rebound off a wraparound chance to put a wrister past Shelby Amsley-Benzie to make it 2-0.

The two-goal margin was short-lived as Sam LaShomb got UND on the board 54 seconds later, taking a feed from Kayla Gardner behind the net and blasting it past Selander before she had time to react.

UND tied it at two 1:57 into the second period, with Halli Krzyzaniak threading a point shot through traffic and past a screened Selander to make it 2-2. North Dakota then took a 3-2 lead at 8:09 of the middle frame off another Krzyzaniak goal, this time coming off a rebound but again through traffic.

UND had a chance to extend the lead late in the second on a 2-on-0 which Selander managed to stone to hold the score at 3-2. Freshman Josefine Hansen pulled RPI even at 9:30 of the third period. Skating 4-on-4, Hansen fired a rocket from the top of the circles which found the back of the net to make it a 3-3 game.

The Engineers couldn't hold the score there, and Kohler picked up a rebound off a Sam LaShomb shot and put it past a sprawling Selander who couldn't cross the crease quickly enough to get in front of it.

RPI couldn't find another tying goal and the 4-3 score held up to give UND the victory in game one of the weekend series. The Engineers were outshot 38-14 on the night

Saturday

Horwood/Gruschow/Rooney

Wash/Schwalbe/Tremblay

Grigsby/Mankey/Tomlinson

Thomas/Hylwa/Raspa

Hansen/Godin

Behounek/Banks

Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

After keeping things close with North Dakota Friday night, RPI had a harder time keeping up on Saturday and fell by a 4-1 margin. Despite a few periods of sustained pressure in the UND zone, the Engineers couldn't find the back of the net to make the most of the opportunities. Selander gave the Engineers a chance in the game with 41 saves.

UND scored first in the second game of the weekend, with Layla Marvin sending a shot on net that Selander got the blocker on, but the puck bounced up and over into the net at 14:06 of the first.

The visitors extended the lead to 2-0 at 6:28 of the second, when Meghan Dufault put home a rebound off a shot by Anna Kilponen.

Taylor Schwalbe cut that lead in half for the Engineers when she scored her first collegiate goal at 15:28 of the middle frame, an even-strength tally after a long stretch of power play time for RPI that included over 1:30 of 5-on-3 time.

LaShomb gave UND back their 2-goal lead at 7:34 of the third period, scoring late in a power play after the Engineers were stuck in their zone for about a minute and a half.

RPI tried to claw back late in the third with the extra attacker, but Kohler picked up an empty netter to give UND a 4-1 lead with 14 seconds left in regulation which held up as the final score.

RPI will hit the road next week for a pair of games at RIT before coming home to host Robert Morris in the last of their early non-conference action. RIT opened their regular season with a weekend split against Minnesota State after a 9-0 rout of the Ottawa Senators.

-----

RPI vs. North Dakota

Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)

10/2/15 - 7pm

UND 4, RPI 3

BOX SCORES:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5178

College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wndkren1.o02

RECAPS:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2015/10/2/WICE_1002152312.aspx?path=whock

UND: http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210389493&DB_OEM_ID=13500

Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEmsv7AEjcY

Complete Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/977-womens-hockey-vs-university-of-north-dakota 

RECORD: 0-1 (0-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. North Dakota

Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)

10/3/15 - 3pm

UND 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5179

College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wndkren1.o03

RECAPS:

RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2015/10/3/WICE_1003150926.aspx?path=whock

UND: http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210391588&DB_OEM_ID=13500

Complete Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/979-womens-hockey-vs-north-dakota-game-ii

RECORD: 0-2 (0-0 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Oct. 9 - at RIT (7pm)

Oct. 10 - at RIT (3pm)

Oct. 16 - Robert Morris (7pm)

Oct. 17 - Robert Morris (4pm)

October Dreams

Ahh, yes. It's the first weekend in October. Early Christmas for puckheads - the college season gets underway, and the NHL is just around the corner. Drink it in. We're ready for five months of fun or heartache. Or both. Probably both.

The women open their season this weekend with very little pressure against one of the best teams in the nation as they welcome the University of North Dakota to the friendly confines of the Houston Field House. Meanwhile, the men have their exhibition game against St. Thomas, a Canadian school from New Brunswick. Get thee to the Field House, ladies and gentlemen. Hockey season is upon us.

Reasonably certain I've used this for an early season pump-up in the past, but it works on so many levels that... whatever. Let's run with it.

HOCKEY!

Women's Hockey - at North Dakota & Bemidji State (3/4 Oct)

After opening up the season with a 2-0 exhibition win over the Ottawa Jr. Senators, RPI hit the road and headed west to launch the regular season against North Dakota and Bemidji State. The long trip didn't do the Engineers any favors as they got whalloped by a 7-1 margin in Grand Forks before suffering a 4-0 shutout the next night in Bemidji.

North Dakota

Rooney/Gruschow/Renn
Horwood/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Mahoney/Mankey/Walsh
Raspa/Hylwa

Huhtamaki/Banks
Kimmerle/Godin
Schilter/Behounek

O'Brien

The Engineers faced as many shots in the third period as they put on net the entire game Friday night, and North Dakota roared to a 7-1 victory over RPI behind a hat trick from Becca Kohler and four assists from Meghan Dufault.

The Engineers went 0-for-11 on the power play in their regular-season opener, including four chances on the 5-on-3, while UND put home two power play tallies and a shorthanded goal to soundly win the special teams battle.

Kohler scored the only goal of the first period, left wide open to rush down the right wing on the power play and take a pass from Dufault with only Kelly O'Brien left to beat.

UND added three goals in the second period, with Josephine Jakobsen and Marissa Salo each notching one while Kohler picked up her second of the night, also on the power play.

After a penalty for too many players early in the third, Andrea Dalen made it a 5-0 lead for UND with a wrist shot on a shorthanded rush down ice.

Kohler completed the hat trick midway through the third, with another feed from Dufault on a 2-on-1 opportunity. Salo made it 7-0 in the final five minutes, picking up her own rebound on another 2-on-1 chance to sneak the shot past O'Brien.

Shayna Tomlinson allowed RPI to avoid the shutout less than a minute after Salo's goal, intercepting a UND pass and putting it in the back of the net for an unassisted tally to make it 7-1.

O'Brien faced 39 shots in the contest, turning 32 aside, while UND's Shelby Amsley-Benzie stopped 20 of 21 on the night.

Bemidji State

Horwood/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Rooney/Gruschow/Renn
Mahoney/Mankey/Walsh
Raspa/Hylwa

Schilter/Behounek
Huhtamaki/Banks
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook

Piper

With Bemidji State tabbed to finish seventh in the eight-team WCHA this season, the Engineers might have been hoping for a better result after Friday night's showing at UND, but Saturday did not go any better, With a 40-15 shot disparity in favor of the Beavers and the Engineers suffering a 4-0 shutout.

BSU jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Kristin Huber scored just 16 seconds into the game. Summer Thibodeau made it 2-0 late in the second, then handed RPI a 5-on-3 opportunity before the period ended which was cut short by an RPI penalty.

The Beavers tacked on two more goals in the span of 39 seconds near the middle of the third, with Rachael Kelly notching a power play goal followed shortly by Megan Lushanko's second of the season to make it a 4-0 game.

Brianna Piper finished with 36 saves on 40 shots, while Erin Deters earned her first shutout of the season for BSU.

RPI returns home next Saturday (3pm) for a single game against Vermont before heading to Burlington on Sunday (2pm) to make it a home-and-home series.

-----

RPI at #7/#8 North Dakota
Non-Conference Game - Ralph Engelstad Arena (Grand Forks, ND)
10/3/14 - 8:07pm
UND 7, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wndkren1.o03
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4423

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/10/3/WICE_1003140540.aspx
UND: http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209695687

RECORD: 0-1-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI at Bemidji State
Non-Conference Game - Sanford Center (Bemidji, MN)
10/4/14 - 8:07pm
BSU 4, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wbmjren1.o04

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/10/4/WICE_1004140335.aspx
BSU: http://www.bsubeavers.com/whockey/news/2014-15/7713/bemidji-state-shuts-out-rpi-4-0-and-remain-unbeaten-this-season/

RECORD: 0-2-0 (0-0-0 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Oct. 11 - Vermont (3pm)
Oct. 12 - at Vermont (2pm)
Oct. 18 - at New Hampshire (2pm
Oct. 25 - UConn (3pm)
Oct. 26 - UConn (2pm)

The Ecstasy of Gold

It may be 70 degrees outside, but summer is over. Let winter's icy grip commence... inside, at least.

The women got their unofficial start last week with a 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Jr. Senators, and they get things started for real this evening at North Dakota... listen to the action on WRPI tonight with Perry Laskaris.

Club hockey kicks off its home schedule tonight against Marist (I'll be on the call from the Houston Field House on RPITV), and the varsity gets their exhibition legs tomorrow night against Prince Edward Island).

Rejoice. Hockey season is here.

What If: Lake Placid in March

* March 1984: Jon Casey leads North Dakota to a 9-6 series upset over home-standing RPI in the NCAA tournament

Van Halen - Jump


Something was certainly afoot in Troy in 1983, and it made the entire college hockey world stand up and take notice of RPI in ways it hadn't for at least 20 years dating back to its last NCAA tournament appearance and perhaps even 30 years dating back to Gordie Peterkin and the goal that shocked the college hockey world.

The 1983-84 Engineers were beastly. Practically able to score at will, RPI dominated scoreboards night in and night out, beatable only when held under three goals in a game (they were 1-4 in those games during the regular season, all five were one-goal games). Furthermore, they were unbeatable at home with a perfect 17-0 record at Houston Field House, winners of 23 straight in Troy dating back to a December 11, 1982 loss to Clarkson by the time the 1984 NCAA tournament began. During that run, they outscored opponents at home 177-84, averaging over seven goals per game.

So when North Dakota, runners-up to Minnesota-Duluth (in both the regular season and the tournament) in the 6-team WCHA came to Troy for the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament, there weren't too many giving the Fighting Sioux a fighting chance. While RPI was busy dominating all comers in the east down the stretch to the tune of 15 wins in their last 16 games on their way to the ECAC title (mostly - Clarkson proved more than game in both RPI's only loss and in the ECAC semifinal), North Dakota had limped to a 6-6-2 record in the same stretch, their final win a 5-4 "victory" in the back end of a two-game series with Duluth in the WCHA playoffs that followed an 8-1 loss that had the Bulldogs in cruise mode.

Truly, the Engineers had a date with destiny in front of what was sure to be a favorable crowd at the Frozen Four in Lake Placid. North Dakota senior Jon Casey had other plans.

With some of the greatest names ever to don the Cherry and White blasting away at him, Casey put on a display of brilliance in net that propelled North Dakota to an upset of the ECAC champions and into the Frozen Four themselves. The netminder faced a total of 93 shots in a two-game, total goal series at Houston Field House, and managed to emerge victorious on the other end. In game one, Casey allowed the Engineers four goals, but the RPI defense, frequently able to bend significantly due to the usual higher output from the offense, allowed five, giving the Fighting Sioux a one-goal edge heading into the back end of the series.

The Engineers couldn't have been overly concerned about falling out of the tournament at that point, after all, they had put together a barrage and were still just one goal down. Another similar effort the next night offensively combined with a boost defensively would surely still see them through. But as good as Casey had been on Friday night, he was even more effective on Saturday night, limiting RPI's freakish offense to only two goals, while the Sioux were able to pump in four of their own. Despite being outshot 93-52, the total score was 9-6, and it was North Dakota, on the back of an incredible performance by their goaltender (with a save percentage of .935, good by today's standards and unheard of at the time), who was off to Lake Placid, leaving the Engineers to wonder about what could have been.

Mike Addesa and some of his charges were critical of the officiating in the series (which had featured western referees), but at the end of the day, officiating can't accomplish what Casey did in net - the numbers simply don't lie.

But what if Jon Casey hadn't been Superman that weekend in March? What if the heavy favorites from that school with the funny name had gotten the job done and moved on to the Frozen Four for the first time in 20 years?

Presuming that the heavy favorites had found a way to continue their usual goal scoring ways and had gotten themselves past Casey and North Dakota, the Engineers would have been the lone eastern team in the 1984 Frozen Four at Lake Placid, which actually ended up being an all-western affair. RPI was not the only team that could have been local in Lake Placid - Clarkson, it should be noted, came within a goal of forcing a Game 2 overtime at Minnesota-Duluth. Boston University, meanwhile, did face overtime in its Game 2 while hosting Bowling Green, the odd sight of a 4-1 game going into overtime thanks to a 4-1 BU win the night before ended with a goal for the Falcons, sending the CCHA regular season champs to the Frozen Four.

But leaving everything else alone, RPI would have gone to Lake Placid with Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan State, and Bowling Green as the other three teams. North Dakota faced off with the Bulldogs, leading to the possibility that an RPI win over North Dakota would have created the classic RPI-UMD matchup that graced the 1985 tournament, just one year sooner.

The 1984 Duluth squad, as one would expect, was largely the same as the 1985 team, with one major exception - Brett Hull was still a year away from matriculating. Both teams included 1985 Hobey Baker winner Bill Watson as the top scorer, both included Norm Maciver, who went on to a long NHL career, and both featured Rick Kosti in net. The 1984 team, in place of Hull, really, had defenseman Tom Kurvers, who had won the 1984 Hobey Baker.

UMD defeated North Dakota to advance to the national championship game, but it wasn't for lack of effort by Jon Casey, who continued his amazing performance to limit a team with two eventual Hobey Baker winners to just one goal in regulation. The Bulldogs advanced in overtime, 2-1. Would RPI have done any better? It's almost impossible to know for sure. To their advantage, they would have been closer to home, but RPI did end up with a 1-3 record against WCHA teams in 1983-84 in real life, coupling the two losses to North Dakota with a split against Wisconsin in Madison. It certainly would have been a very, very good game, probably quite similar to the 1985 classic (especially since UMD went to four overtimes in the 1984 national championship).

We're probably assuming a lot by pondering further, but the Engineers would likely have been favorites against Bowling Green in the national championship had they advanced that far. The Falcons had a number of players who had long NHL careers, including Garry Galley, Dave Ellett, and Gino Cavallini, and they were coached by Jerry York, who was in search of his first national championship. They had overachieved a bit on their way to what would eventually be that first national championship.

The question really isn't whether RPI could have beaten Bowling Green here, because it presumes an answer to the previous situation. The question really is this: if RPI had won the 1984 national championship - certainly a happening that would not have been outside the realm of possibility - what would have changed?

Would the professional exodus that took place after the 1985 championship have taken place? Possibly. Daren Puppa probably would have stuck around since he'd just finished his freshman season, but would sophomore Adam Oates have stayed? Hard to say for sure, but probably just as hard to see them staying. It's certainly not a given that the Engineers would have been in a position to go back to back, especially if they'd run into a UMD team with extra motivation to beat RPI in 1985.

Outside of RPI, one wonders if Jerry York would have caught on at his alma mater in 1994 without the national championship win in his back pocket from a decade prior. That seems pretty likely, but if not, what becomes of the current Boston College dynasty? Just a ponderance.

All in all, it's hard to see exactly what RPI would have gone on to accomplish if they had lived up to expectations in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but it certainly underscores the speed with which Mike Addesa was able to build a national contender in Troy.

Running For the Border

Lost in all of the discussion of the shell game going on amongst Division I conferences this offseason is the continuing war between the CHL and the NCAA over talent - and there is new evidence that the NCAA is losing the battle.

The 2011 NHL Entry Draft was somewhat noted for its lack of collegiate talent in the early rounds. The first selection linked to a college team was defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who just finished his freshman year at Northeastern, selected 14th overall by Dallas. That followed on with North Dakota recruit J.T. Miller, taken next at 15th by the Rangers, and a pair of Miami recruits, Connor Murphy and Tyler Biggs, by Phoenix and Toronto respectively, at 20th and 22nd. That was it for first round picks - four.

Now, it looks even worse. It's actually down to one. Miller and Murphy have decided to reneg on their commitments and will instead play major junior in the Ontario Hockey League, Oleksiak has left Northeastern and will also play in the OHL, and throw in early second round choice John Gibson (Anaheim), a Michigan commit, who is also bound for the O. Of the top eight draftees who had college hockey connections a little over a month ago at the draft - either as commits or current players - fully half have now defected north of the border.

RPI was indirectly hit by this last season, with recruit Nick Quinn eventually choosing the OHL over college shortly after decommitting, though his choice not to come to RPI may have been affected by other elements, not the least of which was his unexpected cut from Dubuque by Jim Montgomery due to a misinterpretation of USHL rules. There's also Jerry D'Amigo, who ended up finishing his season last year in major junior with Kitchener after he struggled in the AHL, but again, that wasn't a direct correlation - he signed a pro contract, which is why he left RPI, and was probably a little disappointed to have ended up in the OHL.

The Engineers have won some battles, too. D'Amigo and Brandon Pirri were both highly coveted by their OHL teams, both ultimately chose RPI during the summer of 2009. Incoming freshman Jacob Laliberté had also apparently been pursued by Gatineau of the QMJHL that same summer.

Make no mistake - the "war" we talked about last summer has largely come about because some very talented players who in years past probably would have been pushed 100% to the CHL are now considering and in many cases playing NCAA hockey in the United States, both Americans and Canadians. This speaks to the still-growing value of college hockey as a route to the professional ranks. Though this year's draft wasn't the best in that respect, recent drafts have had college and college-linked players performing extremely well (along with American players in general).

The CHL, however, isn't ready to admit that the NCAA can be a fertile ground for talent to grow, not while they're losing good players. They're also willing to take advantage of NCAA rules which force a player who chooses major junior to stay on that route, since the NCAA considers the CHL to be a professional league since many of its players are paid. Once they reel a player in, there's no going back, though NCAA players always have the option to change direction - like Oleksiak did.

College commitments are almost always adhered to within the college community - after all, no coach wants his own commits poached, so he's not likely to go after another's. The CHL certainly doesn't respect those decisions and in many cases will relentlessly pursue top college-bound players up until the point where it becomes obvious that they will not change their minds. It does speak a bit to the character of some (not all) of these players that their commitment - their word - doesn't mean much.

Don't forget, though, that the NHL plays a role here. Some teams out there have proven themselves to be friendly to college hockey - especially teams like Toronto (Brian Burke), New Jersey (Lou Lamoriello), and Washington (George McPhee) who have administrators with links to college. But there are a number of teams out there that clearly accept the CHL's line - Montreal, Anaheim, and Dallas among them. Atlanta was long known to be fairly hostile to college hockey, we'll have to see whether a wholesale management change during their move to Winnipeg will change that for the Jets, who have Jason Kasdorf's draft rights.

For the time being, however, the role of college hockey's PR arm, College Hockey Inc., continues to be important. Paul Kelly has the arduous task of winning hearts and minds for the NCAA experience, and while there's still a long way to go, the effort is being made, and the die has been cast. The CHL may emerge victorious this summer, but the battle continues.

Men's Hockey - vs. North Dakota (26 Mar)

They got very little attention ahead of what was possibly the biggest (easily, the latest) game in the program's recent history - at least since the turn of the millennium - but it turned out there was plenty of cause for that lack of attention. The North Dakota Fighting Sioux, ranked #1 in the country, put on a clinic of efficient hockey that, while never thoroughly dominating on the ice, was certainly dominating on the scoreboard. RPI ran into a more well-rounded and talent-laden team in the first round of their first NCAA tournament experience in 16 years, but the only truly disappointing element to the game was the team's inability, for the third consecutive NCAA appearance, to not score a goal as the Engineers fell 6-0 to North Dakota.

North Dakota
Higgs/Polacek/Lee
Cullen/Malchuk/Rabbani

Angers-Goulet/O'Grady/Brutlag
Tinordi/Rogic/Helfrich

Bergin/Foss
Bailen/Kennedy
Koudys/Dolan

York

The 20-day layoff that the Engineers experienced between their last ECAC tournament game and their NCAA regional appearance represented the longest break between games since the tournament expanded to 16 teams in 2003. Some expected RPI to be rusty due to the layoff, others expected them to have more energy. Neither truly ended up being true, but the Engineers did seem to be able to at the very least run with North Dakota in the first period, and actually controlled play to some extent during portions of the opening 20 minutes.

RPI actually had the game's first decent scoring opportunity just seconds into the affair, forcing UND goaltender Aaron Dell to be sharp right away to keep the Engineers off the scoresheet. RPI was ready, willing, and able to set the physical tone early on, though that did lead to a penalty to Bryan Brutlag just 45 seconds into the game. That penalty was killed off, and a big, bruising hit by Josh Rabbani that leveled UND defenseman Brock Nelson (and led to his being helped off the ice, not to return) could have signaled a serious momentum shift, but North Dakota turned around rather quickly and notched the game's first goal on a bit of a dribbling puck. Brad Malone picked up a slow mover that he placed between Allen York's pads. York got a piece of it, but could not stop it from eventually crossing the line.

That would be the only goal of the first period, but the Engineers certainly had their chances, most notably on a shot taken by Chase Polacek that rang off the post loud enough to reverberate in the Resch Center. Brock Higgs also had an opportunity to light the lamp in the first period after finding the puck at his stick with Dell well out of the net, but he was unable to pull the trigger thanks in part to a solid backup from the UND defense.

Malone scored again early in the second period, this time on the power play, to put UND up 2-0, but the Engineers were still largely hanging with the Sioux. The game's turning point, however, came midway through the period. Shortly after killing off a short 5-on-3 after penalties to Brock Higgs and Jeff Foss - in fact, just seven seconds after Foss exited the penalty box to allow RPI to escape the penalty kill unscathed - UND's Danny Kristo scored a nifty goal on a toe drag, blunting any potential momentum from the penalty kill and giving the Sioux a comfortable 3-0 lead.

From there, the game was mostly academic. RPI began to look a little gassed, having given their all during the game's first 30 minutes to keep up with the Sioux and getting nothing to show for it. North Dakota would score on the next two penalties, netting a power play goal on a second penalty to Jeff Foss and a shorthanded goal with their captain, Chay Genoway, in the penalty box late in the second. While the end of the first saw the Engineers trailing only 1-0, the end of the second saw them back 5-0, a comeback looking quite unlikely even with 20 minutes left.

The coupe de grace came just 32 seconds into the third when Hobey Baker favorite Matt Frattin scored despite drawing a slashing penalty against Mike Bergin in the process - he was not about to be stopped. From there, the Sioux relented slightly, preferring to work for the shutout instead. The Engineers, meanwhile, were completely gassed. Their only offensive opportunities of the third period came on three power plays, but RPI still was unable to put anything home. In fact, on some of the man advantages, North Dakota continued to have a pretty solid control of the puck, occasionally pulling up rather than taking shots on Allen York. They put only eight shots on net after 14 in the first and 18 in the second.

Ultimately, RPI didn't play poorly despite their long layoff - they didn't seem rusty at all and they even seemed to play the type of game they set out to play. The only truly ugly element of the entire game was on the scoreboard. Who knows what could have happened if Higgs or Polacek had been able to put the puck home in the first period - but that is neither here nor there. Not scoring a goal, in the end, was the toughest part for RPI fans to have to swallow. The last goal RPI has scored in the NCAA tournament was the famous goal by George Servinis that won the 1985 national championship.

And so ends a remarkable season that had its share of highs and lows, characterized by the lowest of the low being followed by one of the highest highs in March. Seven seniors - Chase Polacek, Tyler Helfrich, Jeff Foss, Bryan Brutlag, John Kennedy, Scott Halpern, and Kevin Beauregard, have played their final games in an RPI sweater. Joel Malchuk is expected to return for his redshirt season - but there is one key underclassman who we know will not be returning.

Allen York on Tuesday signed a pro contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, forgoing his senior season and becoming the fourth Engineer to sign his first NHL contract this season, following Jerry D'Amigo, Brandon Pirri, and Kirk MacDonald. That leaves a big gap for RPI next season, but fortunately Seth Appert has six months to decide what to do in net. Most likely, junior-to-be Bryce Merriam will be the man between the pipes, but another goaltender will be needed to come in on the roster. That could be the already-recruited Jason Kasdorf, who had been expected to replace York in 2012, or it could be another goaltender yet to be added, with Kasdorf replacing instead Jeremy Coupal on the roster when the practice goalie graduates next year.

Other junk - Chase Polacek finishes his career with 160 points, 19th place among all time scorers at RPI.

With 106 points, Tyler Helfrich finishes his career tied with Norm Bean '70 and Joe Ens '78 for 50th all-time.

Allen York finishes his career at RPI as the top goaltender in program history in goals against average with 2.47.

Greg Burgdoerfer has now been on the roster for three NCAA tournament games - two with Air Force in his freshman season, and one with RPI this year - but did not dress in any of them.

#4 RPI vs. #1 North Dakota
NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal - Resch Center (Green Bay, WI)
3/26/11 - 1:30pm

RESULT: North Dakota 6, RPI 0

BOX SCORES

College Hockey Stats

USCHO

RECAPS

RPI

USCHO

Troy Record

Albany Times-Union

Grand Forks Herald

Dickinson Press

Green Bay Press-Gazette

Denver Post

Bismarck Tribune

VIDEO
YouTube (Seth Appert remarks)

YouTube (Chase Polacek and John Kennedy remarks)

YouTube (Dave Hakstol remarks)

YouTube (Brad Malone and Corban Knight remarks)

RECORD: 20-13-5 (11-9-2 ECAC, 24 pts)

Reale Deals
1. G Allen York, 36 saves

2. F Brock Higgs, 4 shots

3. F Chase Polacek, 3 shots

The Dream is Alive

Last year, we had a bonafide champion in Rensselaer County. The Averill Park girls basketball team won not only the state championship in Class A, but also the federation championship, which pits the public school champion against the very best from New York City. That made them the best of the best throughout the entire state.

That team had practically all of its best players leave at the end of the year. After starting off this season with a mediocre 7-7 record, they lost their last four games of the season and limped into the sectional tournament as a relatively low seed, an afterthought.

Then they won a game. And another, this time against an undefeated team considered one of the best in the state. They won another to claim an improbable sectional championship. Then they won again to kick off the state tournament. They were told they were in over their heads against a second undefeated team, but they managed to win that one too at the very end to reach the state semifinals. That followed on with another juggernaut they were supposed to lose to, and they won that game on a last-second shot at the buzzer to find themselves in a place no one, not even themselves, most likely, expected them to be just three weeks prior: defending their state championship.

"We just got tired of losing," more than one of the team's players said. "We wanted to prove everyone wrong."

It didn't matter how their season ended. They got their chance in a single-elimination tournament, and they made it count. Repeatedly. All it took was a team effort and a refusal to lose, even when no one thought they had a prayer.

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right." - Henry Ford

16 years.

That's a long time to wait for another chance. The last three weeks, of course, have been agonizing as well. But the waiting is over.

As long as there is time left on the clock, the dream is alive.

So Sioux Me

I usually try to keep politics and political stances away from this blog - we're an equal opportunity provider of RPI and college hockey news and information. Fortunately, most of the time we don't even get within a mile of political issues, but with a game with North Dakota now on the horizon, especially given what that game could mean for UND if they lose, there's an issue that I'd rather not just avoid - the Fighting Sioux nickname.

In response to continued pressure from the NCAA, among other entities, the University of North Dakota announced in 2009 that the nickname would be retired, a decision which has understandably upset the majority of UND supporters, given their dedication and love for the school's programs, especially when it comes to their flagship hockey program.

The argument put forward by the NCAA and those who have campaigned against the name is always pretty much the same: that calling the team the "Fighting Sioux" is somehow offensive or degrading to Native Americans. The term "hostile and abusive" was specifically used by the NCAA.

Before I get into whether that makes sense or not, let's look at the evolution of the rather American concept of having official team nicknames. During the turn of the 20th century, most professional teams didn't have nicknames other than those basically assigned to them by the newspapers that covered them. The "Yankees," for instance, grew from the fact that the team was New York's entry in the American League, a name that transitioned from the team's old name, the "Highlanders," which came into being due to the team's original stadium location at Hilltop Park in Manhattan. Both were originally used only by the media to describe them.

RPI had a similar occurrence that helped lead to their current name. The Institute's sports teams were frequently called the "Bachelors" in antiquity, perhaps in part because the school was essentially all-male at the time. That transitioned into the name the school currently uses, the "Engineers," naturally, because the school is renowned for its engineering programs and has always placed a very firm emphasis on that field of study.

We've had our own issues with nicknames (remember the chicken?), but at least ours weren't tinged with accusations of bigotry and racism - they were just an attempt to be more inclusive to other fields of study. Even that didn't go over very well, and this Lally School of Management graduate is quite satisfied with cheering on a team called the Engineers.

In North Dakota, the discussion went far beyond the one at RPI. Supporters of the Fighting Sioux name were called every pejorative in the book by those opposing it, with "racist" seeming to be the term du jour. Why? Are there too many assumptions being made?

In what way is the Fighting Sioux name "hostile and abusive" to the Sioux tribes? Teams and schools do not take on monikers to mock those which they associate with. Did Denver take on their name to be hostile toward the pioneers who explored and settled the west? Does Alaska's use of the Inuit word "nanook," which means polar bear, constitute abusive conduct since the term is sometimes used by the ignorant to refer to Arctic tribes? No, of course not.

And yet, for some reason, "Fighting Sioux" is. Whenever I've heard the name used, the imagery it conjures up should actually be considered flattering. When the Sioux tribes had their land, their way of life, and their very lives threatened by European expansion, they did not meekly submit. They resisted to the end. That is the spirit by which the Fighting Sioux name is quite clearly used.

The university has not used an actual "mascot" since the early 1970s, which was a good move to spike something that seems like it could be actually hostile and abusive. But now, at the conclusion of this season, UND has announced that they will be discontinuing the name, finally capitulating after decades of pressure, increased over the past 10 years by the NCAA (which, incidentally, is not pressuring the BCS conference Florida State Seminoles or the Illinois Fighting Illini to change their names).

Thus, if the Engineers emerge victorious on Saturday, it will likely spell the end of the Fighting Sioux era, and that's a true shame (not that it wouldn't potentially end two weeks later after the Frozen Four anyway, of course). The name has already been associated with seven national championships in men's hockey and is truly legendary in our sport.

It doesn't sound like they've settled on a new name. Some have suggested returning to the name "Flickertails," which is what was in use prior to the adoption of "Sioux" (basically cute little squirrels). Others, tongue firmly in cheek, have suggested the name Suhaki as a workaround, although that doesn't work real well for the university's other sports. (For what it's worth, the people behind "Save our Suhaki" have installed a method for finding out if your own name is "hostile and abusive.")

So, "Fighting Sioux" is "hostile and abusive," eh? OK, so that must necessarily mean that nicknames using groups of people are, by their very nature, hostile and abusive. Thus, to make amends for being hostile and abusive for so long, UND should change their name in order to be hostile and abusive toward the Sioux's greatest enemy instead. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the North Dakota Cavalry. It's a name that reflects the area's history and it even adheres to that fad that never quite went away whereby new sport team names do not end in "s." Best of all, it's hostile and abusive to those that drove the Sioux from their land. Just change the primary color from green to blue. Everyone wins!

Is my logic wrong? Whatever. They'll always be the Fighting Sioux to me - and I will continue to refer to them as such whether the NCAA likes it or not.

UPDATE, 6:04 p.m.: Hmm. This is interesting. Just reading now that a supermajority in both the North Dakota House and Senate passed on legislation to Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordering UND to keep the name Fighting Sioux, and that the governor signed the measure on March 15. I'm sure this will eventually cause another round of bellyaching by the NCAA - hopefully, the name is allowed to stand this time.

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.

Know Your Enemy: North Dakota

Well. This wasn't on the schedule at the beginning of the year. Must have missed this one.

Actually, it technically was, since we always put the schedule out to include the entire NCAA tournament (you know, just in case), but at any rate, it's time to take a close look at the opponents for Saturday's contest in Green Bay. There's no such thing as an easy opponent this time of year, but the first test for the Engineers is a tall one indeed - the #1 team in the nation, if not in the tournament.

North Dakota

Nickname: Fighting Sioux
Location: Grand Forks, ND
Founded: 1883
Conference: WCHA
National Championships: 7 (1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000)
Last NCAA Appearance: 2010
Last Frozen Four: 2008
Coach: Dave Hakstol (7th season)
2010-11 Record: 30-8-3 (21-6-1 WCHA, 1st place)
Series: North Dakota leads, 7-1-0
First Game: January 2, 1960 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: November 24, 1984 (Grand Forks, ND)
Last UND win: January 13, 1990 (Grand Forks, ND)

2010-11 game: March 26, 2011 (Green Bay, WI)
Key players: D Derek Forbort, fr. (0-15--15), F Matt Frattin, sr. (35-22--57), D Chay Genoway, sr. (6-26--32), F Jason Gregoire, jr. (24-17--41), F Corban Knight, so. (13-29--42), F Brad Malone, sr. (16-21--37), F Evan Trupp, sr. (16-21--37), G Aaron Dell (28-6-2, 1.87, .921)

The names are what stand out in UND's hockey history - names like Ed Belfour, Craig Ludwig, Troy Murray, David Christian, and Tony Hrkac. Today's NHL ranks are littered with former Sioux - Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie... the list goes on.

Hockey has been synonymous with North Dakota since the end of World War II, when the school hired student John Jamieson as the team's first hockey coach in 1946. It didn't take long for UND to establish itself as a worthy hockey power, taking down a Michigan team that was just a month away from becoming the first NCAA champion by a 6-5 score in Ann Arbor in 1948.

The upward trend continued into the 1950s, where the school was one of the founding members of the WIHL, the forerunner of the WCHA. They reached their first Frozen Four in 1958, blasting Harvard 9-1 in the semifinal before falling to Denver, but the next season the Sioux broke through, claiming their first national championship in the 1959 Frozen Four at RPI Field House, where they won a pair of heart-stopping 4-3 overtime games over St. Lawrence and Michigan State.

Head coach Barry Thorndycraft was behind the bench in Troy, and he would earn a second national championship in 1963. That was the last national crown the Sioux earned for nearly 20 years, but the team stayed competitive through the 1960s.

One thing RPI and North Dakota have in common are ruinous tenures by UND alum Rube Bjorkman. He spent one year at RPI in 1964, leading the Engineers to the Frozen Four that season but nearly causing the program to die when he left for New Hampshire. Bjorkman had moderate success in Durham, but while at his alma mater, the team entered a 10-year period of mediocrity.

That period ended as soon as Bjorkman stepped down in early 1978. His repalcement, Gino Gasparini, returned the team to the Frozen Four in 1979, his first season behind the bench. Under Gasparini, the Sioux returned to prominence, winning three national championships during his tenure from 1978 to 1994. That stretch included a much-remembered pair of upsets (at RPI, anyway) in Troy in the NCAA tournament, as the Sioux twice defeated an RPI team that entered the tournament with a record of 32-4 as one of the favorites for the national championship.

The Fighting Sioux are arguably in the midst of their greatest sustained success in the history of their program. Since the 1996-97 season, they have scored seven MacNaughton Cups as WCHA regular season champions, five Broadmoor Trophies as WCHA tournament champs, and have only missed 20 wins and the NCAA tournament once (2001-02, their first season in the college hockey cathedral known as Ralph Englestad Arena). During that stretch, they have reached the Frozen Four seven times, winning two national championships in 1997 and 2000.

North Dakota has completed the WCHA sweep (regular season and playoffs) three times. The first two times, in 1987 and 1997, they won the national championship. 2011 is the third.

This team has all kinds of experienced offense, led by Hobey Baker Award favorite Matt Frattin, Evan Trupp, and Corban Knight, and their defense is keyed by Aaron Dell, who was the backup to Brad Eidsness heading into the season. Dell has been superb all season long, however, being named the WCHA's goaltender of the year. The team is deep enough to roll with four dangerous lines that will burn you if you take a shift off. That's a key reason why they come into the NCAA tournament with a 13-game unbeaten streak (12-0-1).

What does RPI have going for them? Well, they didn't just emerge from the all-out war that is the WCHA tournament. They will have had almost three weeks for their minor bumps and bruises to heal - and in recent years, teams that have had a couple of weeks off before their NCAA tournament have found success, usually quite unexpected (that would seem to bode well for Nebraska-Omaha and Union, too). They've shown resiliency this season as well against top teams, including a victory over then-#1 Yale (who boasts the only goaltender with better numbers than Dell this year). Of course, the Engineers also have a Hobey Baker candidate of their own and a goaltender who has been known to keep his team in practically every game he's played this season.

Let there be no doubt as to which team in this matchup has the pressure on them. Anything short of the national championship for North Dakota, especially given their dismissive demeanors after winning the MacNaughton and the Broadmoor, will be a failure. The Engineers, while they surely are going to go for the win, are merely happy to still be playing. That alone, or even combined with the elements above, isn't going to suddenly make RPI favorites, but there's something to be said for the freedom that comes with using house money.

We'll see what happens on Saturday. North Dakota are the favorites and rightfully so, but there's no reason not to go into this game without hope. If RPI goes for broke and Allen York has a strong game, anything's possible.