Know Your Enemy: Princeton

The Quinnipiac/Princeton weekend, for the last few years, has become a study in contrasts. It cannot have been easy for the Tigers to face a team on Saturday nights that had just had to up their games to take on one of the very best teams in the nation - not when Princeton has been among the worst. The results kind of bear this out - the Tigers have won only two games on Saturday night of a regular league weekend in the last three years (Clarkson and Yale last year), but honestly, things have just been downright bad in New Jersey for a while now and it's hard to ascribe that futility to Quinnipiac's impact alone. Fortunately, things may be starting to turn in the other direction - slowly.

Princeton
Nickname: Tigers
Location: Princeton, NJ
Founded: 1746
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2009
Last Frozen Four: None
Coach: Ron Fogarty (3rd season)
2015-16 Record: 5-23-3 (3-16-3 ECAC, 12th place)
Series: RPI leads, 67-33-11
First Game: January 18, 1952 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: February 20, 2016 (Troy, NY)
Last PU win: January 10, 2014 (Princeton, NJ)

2016-17 games: December 3, 2016 (Princeton, NJ); February 17, 2017 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Tommy Davis, sr.; F Ben Foster, sr.; G Colton Phinney, sr.; D Quin Pompi, sr.; F Ryan Siiro, sr.; F Garrett Skrbich, sr.; D Joe Grabowski, jr.; F David Hallisey, jr.; D Matt Nelson, jr.; F Eric Robinson, jr.; F Ryan Kuffner, so.; F Alex Riche, so.; D Josh Teves, so.; F Max Véronneau, so.; F Jackson Cressey, fr.; D Derek Topatigh, fr.

Key losses: F Kyle Rankin, F Mike Ambrosia

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12
• 2012-13
• 2013-14
• 2014-15
• 2015-16

In seven seasons at D-III Adrian, a program that Ron Fogarty started from the ground up, the Bulldogs lost a grand total of 23 times under the tutelage of their first head coach. In two seasons at Princeton, Fogarty has lost 23 times... in both seasons. That's against a grand total of 9 wins across those two campaigns. Things couldn't get more starkly different for the man behind the wheel at Baker Rink.

Princeton has been in the absolute basement of the ECAC for the last three seasons, finishing 8 points behind 11th place in 2014 (twice their point total), and 7 points behind 11th in 2015 (on a total of 6 points). 2016 saw an improvement of sorts, as the Tigers finished just 3 points behind 11th place Brown (on 9 total points), but that's pretty thin.

There is certainly room for hope that this year will be better - perhaps only marginally better, but better nonetheless. Rankin and Ambrosia combined for just 5 goals and 13 assists last year (6th and 7th on the team in scoring, respectively), so their contributions won't be that difficult to replace. Realistically, there's nowhere to go but up, and the lack of "losses" for the Tigers only reinforces that idea.

And there's no doubt that Fogarty's recruits are showing some promise. Kuffner became both the first freshman to lead Princeton in scoring and the first Tiger frosh to post a 20-point season since Andrew Calof did both in 2011. Véronneau's 11 goals were the most by a Princeton freshman since Brett Wilson in 2006. The two freshmen paced what little offense the Tigers were able to put up, followed by sophomores Robinson and Hallisey. This quartet is doing good things at a relatively young experience level, and if they can show more growth in the next season, that only improves Princeton's upward mobility.

This year, there's no one coming in that stands out as a sure thing injection into a team that still has a lot of gaps to fill, but Cressey at least qualifies as a player who's coming in off a very strong season, scoring well over a point per game with Coquitlam of the BCHL as the captain of the Express. Topatigh was also captain of his team in the OJHL, where he led Orangeville as a puck-moving defenseman. Notably, Fogarty's son Jordan also joins the program this year, giving the ECAC two sons playing for their fathers (Harvard's Ryan Donato being the other).

The Tigers' ace in the hole is Phinney, a player that would probably be earning far wider plaudits had he not been playing on the worst team in the league and being compared to guys like Alex Lyon, Kyle Hayton, Jason Kasdorf, and Michael Garteig at the same time. He's been Princeton's MVP practically since his arrival, and his numbers have only improved from year to year. 2.86 and .924 may look plain and average for most strong netminders, but on this team those are fairly impressive, especially the save percentage. He faces a ton of shots and manages to keep a lot of them out - 2,450 saves in three seasons. By way of comparison, Kasdorf made only 2,290 at RPI and had a career save percentage of .920 - below the mark Phinney had last year. That's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but it's at least illustrative that Phinney is better than he's usually given credit for.

It's hard to see Princeton making vast improvements over what they had last year to the tune of being super competitive in the ECAC this year, but they pieces are certainly in place to at least continue the progression. If Phinney can get any semblance of defensive capacity in front of him, he might be enough to push the Tigers toward a position where they could fight to nab one of the last home playoff spots in the first round, but it'll be a battle for sure. Princeton might be improving, but they're still not quite at the league average just yet. But Ron Fogarty does at least seem to have things moving in the right direction and this could be an entirely different conversation in a year, maybe two.

Men's Hockey - Quinnipiac/Princeton (19/20 Feb)

It's not always just how good you are or how well you're playing that determines success. The opponent plays a role in your success or failure as well. This past weekend may have been one of the best examples of that possible. With the Quinnipiac/Princeton travel pairing not only on opposite ends of the ECAC standings but more or less on the opposite end of the national rankings as well, the Engineers got the mostly expected outcomes with different compete levels. On Friday against Quinnipiac, RPI played a mostly complete game in which they played their hearts out only to come up on the short end of a 5-4 result in overtime. The following night, a rough outing with plenty of mistakes turned into a 2-1 victory against Princeton.

Quinnipiac
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Liljegren-Bubela-DeVito
Wood-Miller-Ohrvall
Gillespie-Fulton-Rodriguez

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

With Drew Melanson and Parker Reno both still sidelined, the Engineers rolled with the same lineup they did in both games the previous weekend at Harvard and Dartmouth, hoping to more replicate their Friday night result than their Saturday night outcome.

The game got off to an ominous start for the home team. Just 47 seconds in, Travis St. Denis, who had a hat trick last season at the Field House, scored on a deflection to put the Bobcats up 1-0. That lead extended to 2-0 when Kevin McKernan fired a loose puck in the slot over a prone Jason Kasdorf before the game was even 10 minutes old. While the Engineers hadn't been playing poorly to that point, it did appear that they were going to be outclassed.

But a fortuitous bounce late in the period kept hope alive. Shortly after the expiration of RPI's first power play of the game, a shot by Jake Wood from the top of a faceoff circle glanced off the skate of Jimmy DeVito and in, cutting Quinnipiac's lead in half with the junior's second goal of the season.

The second period was a bit of a reversal of fortunes. While Quinnipiac didn't play poorly during the middle frame, the Engineers looked ready to outclass the best team in the nation, and they certainly did on the scoreboard. Early in the period, RPI got the game tied up at two with Alex Rodriguez's third goal of the season, a quick putback after a wrap-around attempt by Kenny Gillespie.

Then the fireworks began. A penalty to St. Denis for roughing as the game became much more physical was followed soon after by two penalties on Quinnipiac against one for the Engineers (Jesper Ohrvall) after a fracas in the Bobcats' end. That gave the Engineers a five-on-three power play for over a minute, and during that extended two-man advantage, RPI hit two posts and saw Milos Bubela absolutely robbed by Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig, who made several incredible saves to keep the game tied.

The Bobcats managed to avoid going behind during that sequence, but in the middle of the period, RPI took the lead anyway when Zach Schroeder potted his fourth of the year by backhanding a bouncing loose puck in the slot (that had squirted out from behind the net) to the back of the cage, putting the Engineers ahead 3-2 for RPI's third lead in as many games against a #1 ranked opponent this season.

Defense became the name of the game for the rest of the second period and well into the third, but the RPI lead held up until seven minutes into the final stanza, when Tim Clifton put home a rebound on a four-on-three power play to tie things back up. From there, the game became a chess match featuring terrific end-to-end action.

With four minutes left in regulation, the Engineers sent the puck down into the attacking zone, and a great individual effort by Viktor Liljegren resulted in the would-be icing call being waved off. Seconds later, he dug the puck out of the corner and just powered a shot that beat Garteig to give RPI a 4-3 lead with just 3:44 remaining in regulation.

Just about 30 seconds later, the Engineers did ice the puck, and with an incredible 3:15 left in a one-goal game, Quinnipiac pulled their netminder for the extra attacker and called timeout. The gambit worked. With their possession powered top line out and the extra skater, the Bobcats held the zone for 1:11 (with just one RPI icing call in the middle) and played their strengths perfectly, scoring the tying goal on a blast from the point by Devon Toews with not one, not two, but three players screening Jason Kasdorf on the shot. RPI held the lead for only 1:40 after Liljegren's go-ahead goal.

On the ensuing center ice faceoff, Bubela was called for delay of game after playing the puck with his hand, forcing the Engineers to kill his minor penalty for the remainder of regulation. They escaped unscathed, but they fell in heartbreaking fashion after QU captain Soren Jonzzon ripped a slapper from the faceoff circle with no screen, a shot that Kasdorf stops nearly all the time, only it found the whole between his glove and leg to hit the back of the net just 15 seconds into overtime.

Ultimately, RPI lost one of the best games they played all season simply because the opposition was able to rise above it with even more superior play.

Princeton
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Liljegren-Bubela-DeVito
Wood-Miller-Ohrvall
Gillespie-Fulton-Rodriguez

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

The inspired play didn't seem to carry over into Saturday night's contest against a much weaker opponent in Princeton on Senior Night. The Tigers are accustomed to giving up gobs and gobs of shots per game, keeping Colton Phinney, one of the best goaltenders in the country that most college hockey fans don't know because of the quality of his team, exceptionally busy.

But on Saturday night, RPI managed just 23 shots combined against Princeton - not a bad number for them against an average team, but certainly below average for what the Tigers typically give up. This was something of an indicator of how generally malaised the RPI offense looked in the first two periods or so against Princeton.

While the Tigers certainly weren't lighting the world on fire themselves, they were the ones to get the lion's share of the quality scoring chances in the first period, and they got the first goal of the game early in the second period as Ben Foster wristed one home from the right-side faceoff circle to make it 1-0 Princeton.

The Engineers' lackluster play helped keep things 1-0 until late in the second period, where a good pass got things square once more. Jimmy DeVito made a quick pass from behind the Princeton cage and practically just as the puck was moving to the front of the net, Milos Bubela poked it in to knot the score.

Bubela would score again early in the second period to put the Engineers ahead as the third period started much better from the RPI perspective and continued to improve as the final 20 minutes wore on. The senior's second goal on Senior Night was again set up by DeVito, who drew the defenders away on the break and then slipped the puck past them to Bubela, who had snuck behind the defense and was alone in the slot. Bubela beat Phinney on the short side to give the Engineers their first lead of the night.

The much improved third period helped secure that lead immensely, as RPI spent much of the period on the attack. Though they couldn't find an insurance tally, they did outshoot Princeton 18-6 in the final period, keeping the pressure off Jason Kasdorf in the final frame. The Engineers held off the extra attacker late, and held on for the 2-1 victory, picking up a badly needed two points and keeping themselves in the hunt for a first-round bye - although they'll almost certainly need to finish the season with a sweep and they'll certainly need some help on Saturday in order to get there.

RPI is hoping to get Parker Reno back into the lineup for this coming weekend against Colgate and Cornell, but the timetable on Drew Melanson is a bit more stark - he won't be back this season, apparently, unless the Engineers can make it to Lake Placid (or, theoretically beyond).

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 33 pts (14-1-5)
2. Yale - 29 pts (13-4-3)
3. Harvard - 26 pts (11-5-4)
4. St. Lawrence - 23 pts (10-7-3)
5. Dartmouth - 22 pts (11-9-0)
6. RPI - 22 pts (8-6-6)
7. Cornell - 21 pts (8-7-5)
8. Clarkson - 19 pts (8-9-3)
9. Union - 16 pts (5-9-6)
10. Brown - 11 pts (3-12-5)
11. Colgate - 10 pts (4-14-2)
12. Princeton - 8 pts (3-15-2)

#1 Quinnipiac at #17 RPI

ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/19/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Quinnipiac 5, RPI 4 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Full game (RPITV)
Highlights (RPITV)
Appert post-game interview (RPI Athletics)

RECORD: 15-12-6 (7-6-6 ECAC, 20 pts)

Princeton at #17 RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/20/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Princeton 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Full game (RPITV)
Highlights (RPITV)
Appert post-game interview (RPI Athletics)

RECORD: 16-12-6 (8-6-6 ECAC, 22 pts)

Upcoming games
26 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - at #16 Cornell
04 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 1
05 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 2
06 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 3 (if necessary)

Women's Hockey - at Princeton & Quinnipiac (19/20 Feb)

RPI managed one final point on the road against Princeton and Quinnipiac to end the regular season, and it turned out to be a difference-maker as the Engineers finished in the final playoff spot by just a single point.

That point came in a 3-3 tie against Princeton on Friday, before the Engineers were outclassed by Quinnipiac to the tune of a  4-0 loss on Saturday.

Princeton

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mankey/Schwalbe
Grigsby/Hylwa/Thomas
Raspa/Orzechowski/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

Despite being outshot 53-27, RPI managed to put three pucks past Kimberly Newell to earn a 3-3 tie against Princeton Friday evening. Shayna Tomlinson had two goals for the Engineers while Alexa Gruschow had a goal and an assist.

The game got off to a quick start, with the teams trading a lot of shots early in the first, but it was Princeton eventually breaking through when Fiona McKenna snuck a bad-angle shot off the rush past Lovisa Selander for a 1-0 lead.

Tomlinson scored both of her goals in the second period. The first came at 6:15 - from an even worse angle than McKenna's goal, as Tomlinson found the top corner from below the bottom of the faceoff circles.

Her second was a deflection, tipping a point shot from Amanda Kimmerle to put RPI ahead 2-1.

Princeton tied the game at 11:42 on a Kiersten Falck goal, but Gruschow answered just 41 seconds later to regain the lead for RPI.

Karlie Lund spoiled the potential upset for the Engineers by tying the game once again with 3:01 left in regulation. The teams only managed one shot each in overtime as the game ended with a 3-3 final.

Quinnipiac

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mankey/Schwalbe
Grigsby/Hylwa/Thomas
Raspa/Orzechowski/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

After destroying Union 9-0 on Friday, Quinnipiac kept rolling on Saturday by defeating RPI 4-0, outshooting the Engineers 52-14 in the process.

Emma Grecco scored the first goal and eventual game-winner, firing a blast from the point through traffic and past Selander.

RPI had three consecutive power play opportunities in the middle of the first period, including nearly a minute of 5-on-3, but couldn't capitalize - and in fact only managed six shots in the opening frame despite the power plays.

Things got worse in the second as Quinnipiac piled on three more goals and outshot the Engineers 21-2. A faceoff win led to a quick opportunity for Nicole Brown, who made a couple quick moves for an easy backhand past Selander to make it 2-0 just 3:20 into the second period.

Less than a minute later, Kristen Tamberg scored on a cross-ice feed from Brown - a power play goal to make it 3-0. Nicole Connery extended the lead to four at 16:08 with a quick shot off a feed from behind the net that the RPI defense never picked up.

Selander held the lead to four despite facing another 21 shots in the third period, finishing with 48 saves on 52 shots Saturday and a combined 98 for 105 on the weekend.

RPI's one point weekend was not enough on its own to secure a playoff spot - instead it came down to a Clarkson goal, scored in the final minute of their game against Yale, to knock the Bulldogs out of the playoffs and land the Engineers in the eighth and final spot. With that, the playoff matchups for next weekend's ECAC quarterfinals are set:

#8 RPI at #1 Quinnipiac
#7 Cornell at #2 Clarkson
#6 St. Lawrence at #3 Princeton
#5 Harvard at #4 Colgate

All four series will run Friday through Sunday (if necessary) at the home rink of the higher seeds. The championship weekend will be the following weekend at the home rink of the highest remaining seed.

The road to the championship weekend will be an extremely tough one for the Engineers, as it runs through an extremely strong Quinnipiac team which has been ranked in the top 5 nationally since Thanksgiving and just soundly defeated them in the regular season finale.

RPI will be counting on Selander to hold strong in net, but they are going to need to find a couple goals to have any chance - in the two matchups with the Bobcats this season, the Engineers were held scoreless and outshot by a combined 92-29 margin.

-----

RPI at Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Hobey Baker Rink (Princeton, NJ)
2/19/16 - 7pm
RPI 3, Princeton 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5208
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wprnren1.f19

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/19/WICE_0219164838.aspx?path=whock
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210729407&DB_OEM_ID=10600
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrjX65P0eXc

RECORD: 10-14-7 (8-8-5 ECAC)

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RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
2/20/16 - 4pm
QU 4, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5209
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.f20

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/20/WICE_0220164401.aspx?path=whock
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/2/20/WIH_0220162156.aspx?path=whockey
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V9g6F9C4Xs

RECORD: 10-15-7 (8-9-5 ECAC)

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Final ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 36 pts (16-2-4)
2. Clarkson - 33 pts (14-3-5)
3. Princeton - 30 pts (14-6-2)
4. Colgate - 29 pts (12-5-5)
5. Harvard - 27 pts (12-7-3)
6. St. Lawrence - 23 pts (9-8-5)
7. Cornell - 22 pts (9-9-4)
8. RPI - 21 pts (8-9-5)
--
9. Yale - 20 pts (9-11-2)
10. Dartmouth - 15 pts (6-13-3)
11. Brown - 5 pts (1-18-3)
12. Union - 3 pts (0-19-3)

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Upcoming Schedule

ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals
Feb. 26 - at Quinnipiac (2pm)
Feb. 27 - at Quinnipiac (2pm)
Feb. 28 - at Quinnipiac (2pm) (if necessary)

Let's Shock The World (Again)

Quinnipiac is good at hockey right now, there's no denying that. Whether it's the men or the women, they're dominating the ECAC and that's a long way from where they were a decade ago when they joined our little club.

But we haven't lost to them this year. Not yet, anyway.

It's going to be hard to keep that intact this weekend. The women put up a brave stand against the Bobcats in January, fighting their way to a 0-0 draw in Troy. It won't be nearly as "easy" to do that on the road tomorrow - but hopefully, if everything shakes out well, the playoffs won't still be on the line. They can help themselves with that by getting at least some result against an almost as difficult Princeton team tonight. (As an aside, don't expect Quinnipiac to let off the gas pedal tomorrow. Barring a miracle, they will have nothing to play for in terms of ECAC positioning, but they're still trying to fight off Clarkson in the Pairwise.)

Nine seconds. Before last weekend, that's as close as anyone came in regulation to handing Quinnipiac their first loss in ECAC play (and they still haven't lost one in regulation). Can home ice make the difference tonight? If so, RPI's back in the fight for the top four. If not, it's a three-game fight to the finish to ensure the best placement possible that has to start with a win over a Princeton team that's starting to swirl the bowl.

The last two weekends of the season always end up with heightened importance. There's been a stumble for the men of late. Now's not the time to lose one's head.

Men's Hockey - at Princeton (7 Jan)

An odd Thursday night game with school out of session was RPI's only game last weekend, and the Engineers tied it into their split with Miami by adding it to their road trip. After spending some time in Pittsburgh practicing and seeing the Penguins play, RPI crossed Pennsylvania and played an ECAC road game against the Princeton Tigers, a team that is much improved over last season but still among the lower-tier of the conference. In a game the Engineers would have probably liked to have come away with a pair of points, they settled for a tie, fighting back twice in the third period to knot the score, eventually skating away with a 3-3 score.

Princeton
Melanson-Bubela-Wood
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Miller-DeVito-Liljegren
Fulton, Ohrvall

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Reno
Moore-Hampton
Grant

Kasdorf

Princeton netminder Colton Phinney is one of the sneaky good goaltenders in the ECAC. His stats don't give that away, but he certainly doesn't have much help when it comes to defense. He was busy during the first period, facing 11 shots from an RPI team that had fired only 17 and 19 shots in their previous two games during the opening 20 minutes alone. The Engineers did strike first, with Jesper Ohrvall scoring his fifth goal in as many games with just under two minutes to play in the opening frame.

A far more even second period saw the Tigers tie things up on the power play, as Mike Ambrosia's second goal of the season made it 1-1 with about four minutes left in the period. The Tigers then took the lead early in the third period after Ohrvall and Princeton's Matt Nelson were sent off for roughing after the whistle as Max Véronneau scored on the ensuing four-on-four.

That lead was short-lived. 1:01 later, Jared Wilson scored his third of the season, from Jimmy DeVito (notching his second assist in his second game back) and Riley Bourbonnais to make it 2-2. That goal didn't swing momentum in the Engineers' favor, however, and minutes later RPI had to call a timeout after icing the puck. Seconds later, Véronneau's  second of the night made it 3-2 Princeton and the game began to have all the hallmarks of a bad loss for the Engineers.

It took some time, but RPI managed to find the equalizer once again. Just under six minutes after falling behind for a second time, with a little over three minutes left in regulation, Riley Bourbonnais hit the back of the cage for his 13th goal of the year, giving some hope for a total turnaround. Princeton complained that Zach Schroeder was offsides on the play, but the goal stood.

That was as far as they'd be able to get, thanks in part to some strong play from Phinney in the overtime period, otherwise dominated by the Engineers. Ohrvall could have given RPI their third OT victory of the season late in the extra session, but fanned on a shot that would have had a wide open net to greet it. Ultimately, it was a bittersweet tie. Usually, coming from behind twice is considered a "good" tie, but this was certainly a missed opportunity to gain another point against a team that has the most losses in league play so far this year.

RPI's next weekend is back at home as they host a once-again strong Cornell team that's scoring goals at a rate we haven't seen from them in quite some time, combined with their usual strong defensive showing. That's followed by the annual autism awareness game against a Colgate team that have easily been the league's biggest negative shock of the year to date.

Parker Reno suffered a shoulder injury, possibly during the Princeton game, and will be on the shelf for 6-8 weeks. That's not a good turn of events at all, especially considering that he leads the ECAC outside of Quinnipiac in plus/minus.

Bourbonnais' 13 goals this year is the third most for an Engineer over the last five years, trailing only Ryan Haggerty (28) and Brock Higgs (14), both in 2013-14. And there's still plenty of season left.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 22 pts (10-0-2)
2. Cornell - 13 pts (6-1-1)
3. RPI - 12 pts (4-1-4)
4. Harvard - 11 pts (4-2-3)
5. St. Lawrence - 9 pts (4-2-1)
6. Yale - 8 pts (3-3-2)
7. Princeton - 8 pts (3-7-2)
8. Dartmouth - 6 pts (3-5-0)
9. Brown - 6 pts (2-5-2)
10. Union - 6 pts (2-6-2)
11. Colgate - 5 pts (2-6-1)
12. Clarkson - 2 pts (0-5-2)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.917)
2. Cornell (.812)
3. RPI (.667)
4. St. Lawrence (.643)
5. Harvard (.611)
6. Yale (.500)
7. Dartmouth (.375)
8. Brown (.333)
9. Princeton (.333)
10. Union (.300)
11. Colgate (.278)
12. Clarkson (.143)

#20 RPI at Princeton
ECAC Game - Goggin Ice Center (Oxford, OH)
1/7/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Princeton 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Troy Record

RECORD: 11-7-4 (4-1-4 ECAC, 12 pts)

Upcoming games
15 Jan - #8 Cornell
16 Jan - Colgate
21 Jan - at #2 Quinnipiac
23 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)
29 Jan - at Brown

Women's Hockey - Quinnipiac & Princeton (8/9 Jan)

RPI took what was slated to be one of the toughest weekends of the season and managed to make a decent showing of it, fighting hard to earn a 0-0 tie against fourth-ranked Quinnipiac on Friday before falling short in a late comeback bid in a 3-2 loss against Princeton on Saturday.

Quinnipiac

Rooney/Tomlinson/Mankey
Horwood/Gruschow/Thomas
Grigsby/Hylwa/Tremblay
Wash/Orzechowski

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

Games don't always need a lot of scoring to be exciting, and it was proven on Friday as RPI battled #4 Quinnipiac to a scoreless tie that featured a lot of back-and-forth action and some excellent goaltending, especially from RPI's Lovisa Selander who made 40 saves for her second shutout of the season. Her counterpart in the Quinnipiac net, Sydney Rossman, made 15 saves for a shutout of her own.

The tie broke a 10-game winning streak for Quinnipiac, which still sits atop the ECAC standings.

RPI nearly took a lead in the first period, as Mari Mankey was left alone on the doorstep to take a feed from behind the net, but the senior couldn't get a clean shot off. Quinnipiac had several chances of their own, including shots off the pipe in the first and second period.

Selander made a save on a Quinnipiac 2-on-1 chance early in the third period to keep the scoreboard clean. Her 40 saves were critical as the Engineers were outshot by a nearly 3-1 margin on the evening.

The scoreless tie is the first for the Engineers since a 2008 game against now-defunct Wayne State, while it's the second of the season for the Bobcats, with the first having come in November against Colgate.

Princeton

Horwood/Gruschow/Thomas
Rooney/Mankey/Wash
Grigsby/Hylwa/Tremblay
Orzechowski

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

After no goals and just three penalties on Friday, Saturday's score sheet had a lot more to offer as RPI fell short in their comeback bid against Princeton by a 3-2 tally.

Princeton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period, with Jaimie McDonell taking a feed through traffic and putting it past Selander.

With back-to-back RPI penalties late in the first and early in the second, the Tigers' power play went to work and cashed in at 3:36 of the middle frame. Molly Contini tipped home a shot by Karlie Lund, taken after the puck popped out of a scrum in front of Selander.

Things looked bleak for the Engineers as Princeton extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:14 of the second, with Cassidy Tucker getting the puck in front of the RPI net and putting it top shelf for the goal.

RPI settled down after the third goal and stopped the bleeding, holding Princeton scoreless for the remainder of regulation. Ths third period saw RPI launch a comeback bid, started by Katie Rooney at 3:25 of the third. Rooney charged the net as Mari Mankey carried the puck behind the goal line, and quickly redirected it past Kimberly Newell when Mankey fed it to the front.

Makenna Thomas cut the deficit to 3-2 at 16:30 on the power play, deflecting a shot from Hannah Behounek at the top of the circle to bring the Engineers within a goal.

Unfortunately for RPI, that was as close as they would get to the tying goal, as the late push with the extra attacker was cut short by a penalty in the game's final minute.

With the one point weekend, the Engineers fall into ninth place in the ECAC but will have an opportunity to make up a little ground next weekend in the home-and-home against Union. Though the Dutchwomen have no wins and just five ties on the season, they always manage to play RPI tough. If the Engineers want to chart a course for the playoffs, however, these games are pretty strongly in the "must-win" column.

-----

RPI vs Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/8/16 - 7pm
RPI 0, QU 0 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5197
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.j08

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/1/8/WICE_0108165001.aspx?path=whock
QU: http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/1/8/WIH_0108163252.aspx?path=whockey
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqu-NspdTy4
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/1027

RECORD: 5-10-4 (3-4-2 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/9/16 - 4pm
Princeton 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5198
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wprnren1.j09

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/1/9/WICE_0109164157.aspx?path=whock
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210624394&DB_OEM_ID=10600
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zmhQqtFrY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/1028

RECORD: 5-11-4 (3-5-2 ECAC)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 23 pts (10-1-3) (.821)
2. Princeton - 19 pts (9-4-1) (.679)
3. Harvard - 15 pts (7-3-1) (.682)
4. Clarkson - 12 pts (5-3-2) (.600)
5t. Colgate - 10 pts (3-2-4) (.556)
5t. St. Lawrence - 10 pts (5-5-0) (.500)
5t. Dartmouth - 10 pts (4-5-2) (.455)
8. Yale - 7 pts (3-4-1) (.438)
9t. Cornell - 8 pts (3-4-2) (.444)
9t. RPI - 8 pts (3-5-2) (.400)
11t. Brown - 2 pts (1-9-0) (.100)
11t. Union - 2 pts (0-8-2) (.100)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 15 - Union (3pm)
Jan. 16 - at Union (3pm)
Jan. 22 - at Brown (7pm)
Jan. 23 - at Yale (4pm)

ECAC Immersion

Well, that's all. The next time RPI hockey, men's or women's, takes on a team from outside the ECAC, it'll be October - or, God-willing, March. It's time to do battle.

Tonight, the men finish a long road-trip - literally - by concluding their Midwestern journey in the most natural of places, New Jersey. And we've said it before and will say it again: if you're going to be a top 4 team, there are games that you absolutely must win in order to prove it. Tonight, even on the road at Princeton, is one of those nights. The Tigers aren't as bad as they were last season and are probably better than their record (they've been in a few nailbiters). Nevertheless, tonight looms as not only a winnable game, but one a team claiming top honors should win.

Tomorrow and Saturday, the women host Quinnipiac and Princeton in what could be the most difficult home weekend of the year - the Bobcats are #1 in the ECAC by winning percentage, and Princeton's #2. As we've often mentioned when it comes to weekends like, this, these are bonus points up for grabs. Gotta snag some of these where possible if you're going to make the playoffs, and what better place to do that than Houston Field House?

Anyway... the fight to the finish begins now, and here's the fun part.

Know Your Enemy: Princeton

It probably didn't take Ron Fogarty long to realize that Princeton wasn't exactly going to be the same as Adrian, the Division III school he'd come from, the program he'd built from the ground up that never had problems scoring wins. His first year at Old Nassau probably wasn't an awful lot of fun - 4-win seasons typically don't provide a whole lot of cheer. His second season doesn't seem to be shaking up to be a whole lot better, but on the bright side, it honestly can't get much worse.

Princeton
Nickname: Tigers
Location: Princeton, NJ
Founded: 1746
Conference: ECAC (Ivy League)
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2009
Last Frozen Four: None
Coach: Ron Fogarty (2nd season)
2014-15 Record: 4-23-3 (2-18-2 ECAC, 12th place)
Series: RPI leads, 66-33-10
First Game: January 18, 1952 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: January 10, 2015 (Princeton, NJ)
Last PU win: January 10, 2014 (Princeton, NJ)

2015-16 games: January 7, 2016 (Princeton, NJ); February 20, 2016 (Troy, NY)

Key players: F Mike Ambrosia, sr.; F Jonathan Liau, sr.; F Kyle Rankin, sr.; F Michael Zajac, sr.; D Tommy Davis, jr.; F Ben Foster, jr.; G Colton Phinney, jr.; D Quin Pompi, jr.; F Ryan Siiro, jr.; D Joe Grabowski, so.; D Matt Nelson, so.; F Eric Robinson, so.; F Ryan Kuffner, fr.; F Alex Riche, fr.; D Josh Teves, fr.; F Max Veronneau, fr.

Key losses: F Tucker Brockett, D Aaron Ave, D Tom Kroshus, F Aaron Kesselman

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12
• 2012-13
• 2013-14
• 2014-15

If it wasn't for RPI and Union starting out the ECAC schedule against each other the previous weekend, Princeton could have been in first place for a night. They actually won their league opener, at home against Cornell on November 7th, making them 1-0-0 in the league right out of the gate. Their next league point wouldn't come until January 31st in a road draw with Brown. The Tigers lost 12 league games in a row between those contests.

For all the bellyaching we did about the Engineers and their struggles to score three goals in a game, Princeton reached that lofty tally only three times all year, and finished the season without reaching three in each of their last 12 games, scoring just 13 goals in that stretch. They were shut out an incredible nine times. No team that could score at least twice against the Tigers failed to skate away without at least a tie.

Much as with cellar-mates Brown, pretty much nothing worked for Princeton last season. The offense as you might imagine was dead last in the nation at 1.30 per game, the fourth worst scoring season in the nation by any team over the last decade. They scored just 39 goals on the season, 60 fewer than they gave up. They do bring back the top three scorers - the only three to reach double digits in points - with Liau, Foster, and Rankin, but honestly, the entire team needs some kind of spark offensively, because there's almost nothing there at all.

Defense for Princeton is all about their goaltender. Phinney's numbers weren't anything close to what you'd consider elite, but without him things could have been a whole lot worse than they ended up being. A lack of support pretty much forced him to have to stand on his head at all times, and often if not for his play, losses could have become complete blowouts quickly.

And that's more or less it. The Tigers had expected to be bringing in a game-changer on offense this season with the planned addition of forward Neil Doef. Unfortunately, back in December, Doef was checked awkwardly into the boards during an all-star competition and was paralyzed from the waist down. He'll be at Princeton next year as a student, just not in the capacity anyone had hoped. In his stead, the Tigers will hope to get at least some injection of life from Kuffner, Riche, and Veronneau.

Even if Princeton does manage to produce better results than they did last season, it's going to be a chore for Phinney to keep pucks out of the net with the number he's likely to see again this year, and there's still no obvious answer as to where the goal scoring is going to come from. Those better results probably aren't going to include a rise even up out of the bottom four, to say nothing of challenging the very elite of the league.

From the RPI perspective, it's kind of a bummer that the Engineers don't see the Tigers until after the new year. After all, a team that struggled as much as Princeton did is usually at least good for gaining some early confidence. By January, both teams should know exactly where they stand. That's not to say that RPI probably shouldn't be favored to sweep the series with Princeton for the second year in a row, which believe it or not would be the first time that has happened since the mid-1980s.

Men's Hockey - at Quinnipiac & Princeton (9/10 Jan)

In desperate need to find some way to turn the season around with the ECAC schedule now back in full swing, RPI made at least some process in throwing the brakes on a very rough set of play. Their myriad dismal streaks continued on Friday night against the ECAC team they've now gone the longest without beating, falling 4-2 against Quinnipiac, but the streaks came to a screeching halt the next night as the Engineers took care of business against the worst team in the league by blitzing Princeton, 5-2.

Quinnipiac
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Laliberte-Bubela-Fulton
Wood-Neal-Bourbonnais

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

A major shot in the arm for the Engineers came from the return of Lou Nanne to the lineup from injury - he'd been more or less since the last time RPI played the Bobcats in Troy back in November, save the first period of the BU game. The other big return came in the four senior captains who'd been kept out against Miami, allowing the Engineers to return to a more or less optimal lineup (though they still await the return of Mark Miller from an ankle injury).

At even strength on Friday night in Hamden, the Engineers did a fairly decent job of hanging in there with one of the best teams in the league, but they certainly got themselves into trouble on the penalty kill enough times to get burned. Quinnpiac got themselves on the board first not with a power play goal, but with a terrific individual effort by Matthew Peca just 1:10 into the second period. The coast to coast score by the QU senior broke a scoreless tie that had persisted through the game's first 20 minutes after some sloppy early play from both teams.

The remainder of the Bobcats' goals would be generated more or less by their power play. Devon Toews made it 2-0 twelve minutes later while Curtis Leonard was serving a high-sticking penalty. That goal was mitigated almost immediately by the Engineers, who got a team-leading 5th goal of the year from Milos Bubela just 27 seconds later to make the score 2-1.

A pair of penalties to Zach Schroeder in the third period, however, would make the hole too deep to climb back from. A boarding call 48 seconds into the third culminated in a Travis St. Denis goal, then a tripping call at 8:08 produced a power play that RPI killed off, but led to a goal by Tim Clifton just seven seconds after the game had returned to full strength, effectively a power play goal if not officially one.

Mark McGowan would net his second of the year on a fluky play on the power play in the game's final minute, but it was little more than a consolation effort. The loss was RPI's ninth in a row, and the 12th straight game in which they'd failed to produce at least three goals, tying a 99-year school record.

Princeton
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte
Curadi-Bourbonnais-Wood

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Reno
Wilson-Bokenfohr

Kasdorf

A road game against the bottom of the barrel was what ultimately brought those regrettable streaks to an end. In addition to being the first non-nationally ranked opponent in over a month, it came with an almost back to full-strength Engineers team. One injury from Friday was to Travis Fulton, but it was easy enough for Seth Appert to slot Luke Curadi, whose play up front had steadily improved, onto the fourth line, and add a much improved Parker Reno back to the lineup on the blue line.

RPI emphatically ended their 3 goal game streak by scoring three goals in the game's first 13:30. Curtis Leonard ended another streak - 11 straight games of RPI not scoring the game's first goal - by collecting his second goal of the season at 5:36 to give the Engineers only their 4th 1-0 lead of the entire season. Freshman Drew Melanson followed up six and a half minutes later with his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-0, and Chris Bradley followed on two and a half minutes after that with his third of the year to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead. Oddly enough, despite RPI's struggles to score the first goal, it was the Engineers' third 3-0 lead of the campaign.

Matt Neal made it 4-0 on the power play midway through the second period with his long awaited first goal of the season. From there, the final result was never truly in doubt, but Princeton did make it interesting. Defenseman Tom Kroshus scored a fluke goal in the last minute of the second period, the puck bouncing off the end wall, hitting Jason Kasdorf in the leg and trickling just over the line to make it 4-1. Kroshus scored again seven minutes into the third to make it 4-2, but RPI's hold on the game was rarely tenuous.

Viktor Liljegren collected an empty netter for his fourth goal of the year in the final minute of play to ice the game. Kasdorf, looking to return to his usual form, made 35 saves on 37 shots for the victory, a big step forward for the junior goaltender.

Jacob Laliberte had a very fruitful weekend, collecting 4 assists in the two games, giving him a team leading 9 and tying Melanson for the team's scoring lead at 11.

The ECAC schedule continues this weekend as the Field House plays host to league contests for the first time in two months. Streaky Colgate, winners of four straight, come to Troy on Friday, followed by a Cornell team that's had an even harder time scoring than RPI of late with 4 goals in their last 5 games.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 20 points (10-2-0)
2. Harvard - 14 points (6-1-2)
3. Colgate - 11 points (5-2-1)
4. St. Lawrence - 10 points (5-4-0)
5. Clarkson - 10 points (4-3-2)
6. RPI - 10 points (5-6-0)
7. Yale - 9 points (4-3-1)
8. Union - 9 points (4-5-1)
9. Cornell - 8 points (4-4-0)
10. Dartmouth - 7 points (3-4-1)
11. Brown - 2 points (1-7-0)
12. Princeton - 2 points (1-11-0)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.833)
2. Harvard (.778)
3. Colgate (.688)
4. Yale (.562)
5. St. Lawrence (.556)
6. Clarkson (.556)
7. Cornell (.500)
8. RPI (.455)
9. Union (.450)
10. Dartmouth (.438)
11. Brown (.125)
12. Princeton (.083)

RPI at #15 Quinnipiac
ECAC Game - High Point Solutions Arena (Hamden, CT)
1/9/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Quinnipiac 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union
New Haven Register

RECORD: 6-16-1 (4-6-0, 8pts)

RPI at Princeton
ECAC Game - Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (Princeton, NJ)
1/10/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 5, Princeton 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 7-16-1 (5-6-0, 10pts)

Upcoming games
16 Jan - #15 Colgate
17 Jan - Cornell
24 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)
30 Jan - at Dartmouth
06 Feb - at St. Lawrence

Firewall

It's go time.

Both the men and the women faced their final non-conference opponents in the past week (the men do still have the Mayor's Cup game against Union, but... come on), so now it's time to get down to the meat and potatoes of the schedule - the final two months of the season where destinies are truly determined.

The women are at home this weekend, taking on #6 Harvard tonight and Dartmouth tomorrow. Harvard may be a bit of a tough haul, but Dartmouth is sitting there just ahead of RPI in that final playoff position (although they could pass Yale after playing Union tonight). If the Engineers are going to overcome their rough start to the season and make the playoffs, points at home against teams like Dartmouth are a must.

The men seem to be in a tailspin, but there are two key elements to that tailspin that seem to be winding up - the injuries and suspensions that have ravaged the roster appear to be concluding, as the suspensions to the captains are done and a report this morning suggests that Lou Nanne and Mark Miller, the only Engineers yet to return from their injuries, could come back this weekend. The other is that RPI's remarkably tough recent schedule - the last four games coming against teams presently in the top five nationally.

RPI has another tough one tonight at Quinnipiac, but the last time out against the Bobcats, the game was fairly even. Tomorrow afternoon's game against Princeton, however, has to be considered a must-win considering the Tigers' record. Princeton gives up a ton of shots, which is just what a team struggling to score goals needs, but their defense has been improved in the last month or so.

It's time for the full race to the finish in the ECAC.

Women's Hockey - Princeton & Quinnipiac, Providence (2/3 Jan and 6 Jan)

A long holiday break drew to a close with RPI hosing Princeton and Quinnipiac before a quick turnaround for a Tuesday night matchup with Providence. After splitting the weekend with a 4-3 win over Princeton on Friday and a 1-0 loss to Quinnipiac on Saturday, they rounded out the three game set with a 3-3 tie on Tuesday afternoon against Providence.

Princeton

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

Kimmerle/Godin
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Katie Rooney tallied a pair of goals, with Ali Svoboda and Marisa Raspa each adding a goal as RPI picked up a 4-3 win over Princeton at Houston Field House on Friday afternoon.

Kelly O'Brien earned her third win of the season with 30 saves as the Tigers outshot RPI 33-21.

The Engineers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on, with Svoboda tipping a point shot from Amanda Kimmerle past Kimberly Newell just 24 seconds in to make it 1-0, and Rooney somehow managing to carry the puck through three defenders and past a surprised Newell to extend the lead to 2-0 just over two minutes later.

Princeton went on to knot things up through the middle of the first period, with Hilary Lloyd scoring twice to make it a 2-2 game. Her first goal came early on a power play as she put a rebound past O'Brien to make it 2-1. The second came when RPI failed to clear a puck from their defensive zone. Jamie McDonell took it away and fed it across the slot for an easy one-timer by Lloyd.

Rooney gave RPI the lead once again at 15:52 of the opening frame, finally putting one home after a series of rebounds given up by Newell.

The Engineers' lead disappeared again in the second when Molly Contini scored for the Tigers, but the game wasn't tied for long as Raspa converted a nice 2-on-1 feed from Alexa Gruschow to give RPI the 4-3 lead.

RPI was outshot 12-3 in the third period as they clung to the one-goal lead, but O'Brien made it hold up to help RPI start out 2015 in the win column.

Quinnipiac

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

Kimmerle/Godin
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Despite being massively outshot to the tune of 34-8 by Quinnipiac, Kelly O'Brien put up a strong performance and limited the Bobcats to a single goal but the Engineers couldn't get one of their own, falling 1-0 on Saturday.

The game was most lopsided in the first period where the Engineers were outshot 15-1. Despite having to kill a pair of penalties in the first and another midway through the second, RPI held Quinnipiac at bay until 15:12 of the middle frame when Nicole Connery beat a pair of Engineers in a rush down ice and a defensive miscue left Taylar Cianfarano charging the net for the feed from behind the net and a shot that O'Brien had little chance at stopping.

While RPI's play picked up as the game went on, the Engineers failed to score on Quinnipiac netminder Chelsea Laden, who picked up her team record-setting 10th shutout of the season with the 1-0 victory.

Providence

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

Piper

RPI held 2-0 and 3-1 leads but couldn't hold on to them, eventually settling for a 3-3 tie against Providence at Houston Field House on Tuesday afternoon. Ali Svoboda scored a shorthanded goal and Brianna Piper put up 27 saves to earn the tie.

Another early goal got the Engineers on the board as Shayna Tomlinson snuck through the defense for a tap-in on a feed from Jenn Godin along the boards.

Mariana Walsh made it 2-0 late in the frame, capitalizing on a turnover by the Friars to fire one past Sarah Bryant after a stretch of good pressure from the Engineers.

Providence cut the lead in half in the second period, with Beth Hanrahan scoring thanks to a play that was significantly offside but not detected by the officials. Brooke Simpson was a solid four feet offside then proceeded to interfere with Mari Mankey, helping clear the way for Hanrahan to skate down the far side and beat Piper to put the Friars on the board.

RPI regained the two-goal cushion early in the third on Svoboda's shorthanded tally. The play was set up when a Providence player slid the puck back into the defensive zone toward netminder Bryant, who misplayed it and put it right onto Svoboda's stick for the tally.

Providence erased the RPI lead as the third wore on, with Madison Sansone putting home a one-timer off a feed from Hanrahan on a waved-off icing at 8:19 before Hanrahan scored her second of the night (figuring in all three goals) at 15:07, firing a soft shot through the defense who may have screened Piper on the play.

The teams traded seven shots in overtime but neither was able to pick up the winner and the Engineers settled for a tie in their final non-conference game of the season.

The extended home stand draws to a close for RPI next weekend as they host Dartmouth at 7pm Friday and Harvard at 4pm Saturday before taking to the road for the first time since mid-November.

-----

RPI vs. Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/2/15 - 3:00pm
RPI 4, Princeton 3

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprnren1.j02
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4440

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/2/WICE_0102153743.aspx
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209830846
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H55-lpHmp8k
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/883-womens-hockey-vs-princeton

RECORD: 4-12-2 (2-5-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/3/15 - 3:00pm
QU 1, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wquiren1.j03
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4441

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/3/WICE_0103151400.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wice/2014-15/releases/201501032xxxu8
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg9pATS2RBY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/884-womens-hockey-vs-quinnipiac

RECORD: 4-13-2 (2-6-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Providence
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/6/15 - 4:00pm
RPI 3, Providence 3

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprvren1.j06
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4442

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/6/WICE_0106152722.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/010615aaa.html
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/888-womens-hockey-vs-providence-college

RECORD: 4-13-3 (2-6-0 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 9 - Dartmouth (7pm)
Jan. 10 - Harvard (4pm)
Jan. 16 - at St. Lawrence (7pm)
Jan. 17 - at Clarkson (4pm)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 20 pts. (9-1-2) (.833)
2. Harvard - 15 pts. (7-1-1) (.833)
3. Clarkson - 13 pts. (6-2-1) (.722)
4. Princeton - 12 pts. (6-6-0) (.500)
5. St. Lawrence - 11 pts. (5-3-1) (.611)
6. Cornell - 10 pts. (5-2-0) (.714)
7. Yale - 8 pts. (4-4-0) (.500)
8. Dartmouth - 7 pts. (3-5-1) (.389)
9. RPI - 4 pts. (2-6-0) (.250)
10t. Colgate - 2 pts. (1-6-0) (.143)
10t. Brown - 2 pts (1-7-0) (.125)
10t. Union - 2 pts. (1-7-0) (.125)

BOHICA

We got two up close and personal examples of Rule 83.5 this past weekend in Troy. One was an exercise in how to apply it. The other was an exercise in how to royally screw things up in ways only the average ECAC referee can.

This is known around these parts as the "Second Union Rule" or the "National Union Rule," as it was adopted following the Union-Michigan State game in the 2012 national tournament where a goal for the Spartans was waved off because Union's Josh Jooris, apparently intentionally according to the NCAA, lifted the net off its moorings just before the puck went in (the "First Union Rule" or the "ECAC Union Rule" provides for all 12 ECAC teams making the post-season tournament).

The rule was redefined as such in the summer of 2012:

83.5 Goal Cage Dislodged - In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. 

In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions of a defending player, the puck must have been shot (or the player must be in position to shoot) at the goal prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts. 

When the goal post has been displaced deliberately by the defending team when their goalkeeper has been removed for an extra attacker thereby preventing an impending goal by the attacking team, the Referee shall award a goal to the attacking team. 

The goal frame is considered to be displaced if either or both goal pegs are no longer in their respective holes in the ice, or the net has come completely off one or both pegs, prior to or as the puck enters the goal. This rule also applies to other types of net anchoring systems.

So there are a few elements to examine here.

First, there's a defined difference between "may award a goal" and "shall award a goal." The referee is given leeway to award a goal but is not required to when this happens with the goaltender in the net. If it's an empty net, he's required.

This is pretty standard, it allows the referees to use judgment when it pertains to the other elements that we're about to discuss.

In order for the goal to be awarded, three things have to be true. First, the goal has to have been dislodged by the actions of a defending player. This would include a defending player pushing an attacking player into the net - the reverse would be cause for disallowing a goal. Second, the puck must have been already shot, or the shooting player must already be in position to shoot, when the net is dislodged. Third, the puck must be determined to have crossed the line where it would have counted had the net been in the proper position.

Let's examine this first in the Princeton game, where a Princeton goal was disallowed.

With RPI leading 1-0, Princeton's Ryan Siiro took a shot toward the RPI cage from the top of the right faceoff circle that was saved by Jason Kasdorf, the rebound falling just to his right. Princeton's Ben Foster worked it free and came around behind the net to the left side.

Foster beat out Jimmy DeVito to grab the rebound, but Craig Bokenfohr and Phil Hampton skated into the area to try and help out - Bokenfohr into the mix with Foster and DeVito, Hampton into the crease. Princeton freshman Eric Robinson arrived late to the party and ultimately checked Hampton into the cage, knocking it loose.

At this point, Foster had the puck to the left of the cage. He passed it to Siiro, who moved into the slot, and Siiro one-timed it into the cage, which was off both of its moorings at that point.

This goal was rightfully disallowed because the circumstances met only one of the three criteria for it to be upheld. Siiro's shot did go where the net would have been, but it was the actions of an attacking player - Robinson checking Hampton - that dislodged the net, and the shot was not imminent when the net was dislodged - Foster had the puck behind the cage and passed it in front only after the net came loose.

Referee CJ Hanafin got this one right from start to finish. He did the right thing by awarding a goal on the ice, then reviewing the play. Under Rule 83.5, this is not a goal, so he disallowed it. For anyone who might still be on the fence, Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty agreed after the game after reviewing video that the goal should not have been awarded. (We like Hanafin a lot because he's an Engineer. Some of us here were crestfallen when we heard he'd become an ECAC referee, but he seems to be raising the bar. He's done well so far and he's been fair.)

Compare this with the disallowed RPI goal the next night against Quinnipiac.

On the power play and with RPI down 2-1, Mike Prapavessis digs the puck out of the corner to the left of the net. He brings it up and around through the faceoff circle and the slot, waiting for his opportunity to catch QU goaltender Michael Gartieg off balance. He gets it when defenseman Connor Clifton, also trying to defend against Prapavessis, falls to a knee and into Gartieg. Prapavessis takes his shot and rings it off the post, the rebound coming straight back out.

Meanwhile, once Clifton and Gartieg collide, QU forward Matthew Peca, standing at the top of the crease, makes a bee-line for the net, sliding into the right-side post to dislodge the net shortly after Prapavessis' shot rebounded off the post. Drew Melanson, now standing over Clifton, does not move with the puck coming directly back to him, and simply puts the puck into the open but dislodged cage.

The goal was awarded on the ice, and it met all three requirements. First, the cage was dislodged by the actions of Peca, who skated straight into the cage unaided. Second, while the shot by Melanson did not come before the cage was dislodged, the rebound from Prapavessis' shot (which happened and hit the post before the dislodging) was coming straight to him already and he did not have to move to take the shot, which occurred a split-second after the net was dislodged. Third, the puck clearly enters the net in a way that it would have been in had the goal been in the proper place.

And despite all of this, the tying goal was waved off. In a search for justification, there are some very, very thin arguments that can be made. All four were posited by our researchers in an attempt to find something that would rationalize the goal being waved off.

1. Melanson is near Clifton just before the latter takes out his own netminder, but he doesn't appear to do anything that would cause Clifton to go down. He does push through Clifton, who is impeding his progress forward, in the bottom of the slot with his stick on the ice. If he'd shoved Clifton into Gartieg, that could be goaltender interference (which was never suggested anyway), but it doesn't seem to be there.

2. While Peca is moving to the net, Melanson's stick is in his vicinity, but it's tough to make even a cursory argument that Melanson did anything to put Peca into the net. It's possible, even likely that Peca was only trying to get himself in a position to defend Prapavessis' initial shot, but he's honestly lucky that he wasn't called for delay of game.

3. One could try to make the argument that Melanson wasn't yet preparing to take his shot at the moment the puck was dislodged, but the shot, based on the trajectory and speed of the rebound and the fact that Clifton and Gartieg were taken out of the play, was clearly imminent at the time the net was dislodged by any reasonable definition of the word.

4. The last question is whether the whistle had blown, or whether there was "intent to blow." That's rendered fairly irrelevant by the fact that the referee behind the net never came close to blowing the play dead (he had his arms at his sides the whole time), and in fact signaled a goal on the ice.

Ultimately, this is exactly the type of situation that the Second Union Rule was intended to fix, and the referees blew it. Compounding the error, it was called a goal on the ice, and then waved off without clear evidence to support a reversal.

By the way, this was not the first time last weekend that Quinnipiac got away with one on a bad call by the referees that directly impacted the scoreline. The previous night in Schenectady, the Bobcats notched the game winner on a play in which the goal-scorer was offsides.

It's not possible to tell with 100% surety from this camera angle because of people standing on the Union bench, but unless the 5'7" Travis St. Denis (bottom of the screen) has abnormally sized legs, he's totally offside right before he takes a pass he ends up putting in the net for the winning goal.

No coach is going to get overly upset over calls that are blown this badly, because most teams still have other opportunities to rectify the problem themselves. Bad calls are part of the game and referees are human, but you'd think they'd at least get the call right with the opportunity to review the play. It's true that the Engineers had other chances before and after this call to get a goal and they didn't. This goal being disallowed wasn't the reason they lost on Saturday. Who knows if QU then goes down and scores off the ensuing faceoff or something. But there's no team that wouldn't prefer to be in a 2-2 situation than down 2-1, and the missed call changes things for the worse for the team being dealt a raw deal. Union in particular had less than a minute to make up for the bad call that put them behind.

So now the league has a team in first place, half of whose wins were assisted by the men in stripes. Are we happy?

Men's Hockey - Princeton/Quinnipiac, at UConn (14/15, 18 Nov)

Three games in five nights is difficult enough under the best of circumstances. When your team is battling illness and injury, it tends to make things worse, especially when that team is still trying to get into an offensive groove. With all of that as the backdrop, it makes the 1-1-1 record the Engineers put together in that three game stretch pretty easy to accept, especially considering the manner in which the only loss came about. After taking down Princeton 3-1 on Friday night, RPI fell by the same score against Quinnipiac in somewhat controversial fashion, bouncing back with an even more depleted roster on Tuesday night with a 1-1 draw against Hockey East's UConn.

Princeton
Fulton-DeVito-Bourbonnais
Liljegren-Bubela-McGowan
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Laliberte-Schroeder-Wood

Leonard-Prapavessis
Hampton-Bokenfohr
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

We got a little more clarity on some of the absences seen the previous week - Chris Bradley has been sidelined with a shoulder injury, Luke Curadi out with a concussion, and added to that list for the ECAC weekend was Matt Neal, who was sick.

The Engineers managed to score the game's first goal for only the second time all season as Mark Miller rocketed a pass from Drew Melanson to the back of the net at 8:45 of the first period to give RPI a 1-0 edge. Three minutes later on the power play, another one-timer from just about the same part of the ice put the Engineers up 2-0 as Jared Wilson blasted a pass by Milos Bubela for his second goal of the season.

Princeton almost halved the RPI lead late in the first period, but the apparent goal was waved off due to the net being disloged by an Engineer checked into the cage by a Princeton player.

RPI carried the 2-0 edge into the third period, pretty much sealing things up with a second goal by Miller midway through the final frame. Like the first two goals, it was an a one-timed shot from near the top of the slot, and this feed came from the stick of Riley Bourbonnais.

The Tigers pulled back within two just under two minutes later with a power play goal by Ben Foster that ended Jason Kasdorf's shutout bid, but Princeton would get no closer. The Engineers managed 35 shots on goal, a big improvement from their outing a week prior against Harvard, and Kasdorf stopped 24 of 25 shots for the victory.

Quinnipiac
Fulton-DeVito-Bourbonnais
Liljegren-Schroeder-McGowan
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Wood-Laliberte-Gillespie

Leonard-Prapavessis
Hampton-Bokenfohr
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

Late in the Princeton game, the Engineers lost Milos Bubela to a concussion, leaving the already short-staffed Engineers with just 12 healthy forwards. Freshman Kenny Gillespie was inserted into the lineup, seeing his first collegiate action.

As with Friday night, it was RPI who struck first. A centering pass by Wilson was tapped home by a speeding Lou Nanne for his team-leading fourth goal of the season, putting the Engineers ahead 1-0 just 5:22 into the game.

RPI continued to dominate play in the first period until a tripping call against Craig Bokenfohr put them on the penalty kill. That kill did a pretty decent job, but late in the Bokenfohr penalty, a dicey tripping call against Mike Prapavessis put the Engineers down two men for 18 seconds. That danger zone was killed off without much of a problem either, but then an even dicier call against Parker Reno for high-sticking generated yet another two-man advantage for Quinnipiac, this one 17 seconds long. The Bobcats ultimately cashed in for a goal, but it came 19 seconds after the Reno call, officially coming 5-on-4, but tying the game nonetheless to the great displeasure of the home fans.

A deadlocked and fairly uninteresting second period gave way to a more interesting third period, and the Bobcats took the lead just under six minutes into the third with some sustained pressure in the RPI zone. The Engineers spent a good 90 seconds trapped in their own end, getting the puck out once but not far enough out to change the line that had been stuck out there for some time, and Quinnipiac eventually converted to take a 2-1 lead.

The Engineers did not back down. Despite struggles on the power play all night, they were the beneficiaries of a holding call with just over five minutes left to play. Early in the advantage, Prapavessis dug the puck out of the corner and then skated through the slot, trying to outwait Bobcat goaltender Michael Gartieg. When Gartieg went down, Prapavessis took a shot that rang off the post, and in the immediate interim, Quinnipiac's Michael Peca slid into the net to dislodge it. Immediately after the net was dislodged, Drew Melanson picked up the rebound and put it into the open cage for what should have been his first collegiate goal. Called a goal on the ice, the officials reviewed it and disallowed the goal for reasons that were not made abundantly clear.

The 2-1 lead for Quinnipiac intact, the Engineers pulled Kasdorf from the net late, but gave up an empty-netter to seal the victory for the Bobcats.

All told, RPI played a brave game despite some horrendous officiating practically from start to finish, and despite missing some very key players. They also lost another two important forwards during the game, as Lou Nanne was boarded behind the Quinnipiac net in the third period (no call), leading to him skating off favoring his surgically repaired shoulder, while Zach Schroeder picked up an ankle injury during the night.

UConn
Liljegren-Neal-McGowan
Melanson-Miller-Bourbonnais
Laliberte-DeVito-Wood
Fulton-Bokenfohr-Gillespie

Leonard-Prapavessis
Wilson-Reno
Bell-Hampton

Diebold

Now with only 11 healthy forwards following the loss of Nanne and Schroeder and the return from illness of Matt Neal, Kenny Gillespie was again in the lineup, joined on the fourth line by Craig Bokenfohr. The Engineers dressed literally every healthy skater they had available for their mid-week non-conference road game, and reports got out after the game was over that defenseman Phil Hampton was battling an illness himself despite playing.

After an uneventful first period, UConn got themselves on the board first in the cavernous XL Center (which is almost literally across the street from the RPI Hartford campus) about three minutes into the second period, shortly after the Engineers killed off their second penalty of the game. The Huskies pounced on a turnover in the RPI zone and put it past Diebold to go up 1-0, but it was the only goal the senior would allow on the evening. He eventually stopped 33 of 34 shots that he faced.

RPI pulled back within one late in the period, with Drew Melanson making up for the power play goal he was deprived of three nights earlier, officially notching his first collegiate goal from Neal and Curtis Leonard with just 2 ticks remaining on the clock to make it 1-1.

UConn dominated the third period almost completely, outshooting the Engineers 13-4, but Diebold was rarely tested beyond his capacity. The Huskies came close on a couple of occasions to taking the lead, but were unable to convert on one-timers or put shots wide. To some extent, RPI was lucky to get to the overtime period.

In that overtime period, however, it was all RPI as they poured on the output. They managed 7 shots in the extra five minutes, more shots than they managed in either the first or the third periods, and only two shy of their second period production. However they weren't able to find the winning goal, having to settle for a 1-1 tie, a draw that undoubtedly goes into the book as a "good" tie considering that they scored the game tying goal and fielded a less than ideal lineup.

RPI is off this weekend, but is back in action this coming Tuesday as they travel to play a struggling New Hampshire team in Durham ahead of a trip to Michigan against the equally struggling Wolverines. Most of the injured players are expected to be back in the lineup by the time the team gets to Ann Arbor.

By the way, the #1 team in the nation right now? 10-0-0 Michigan Tech. If anyone ever tells you that RPI's never going to get back to where they once were, they're lying.

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

Princeton at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/14/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Princeton 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 5-6-0 (4-1-0, 8pts)

#20 Quinnipiac at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/15/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Quinnipiac 3, RPI 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 5-7-0 (4-2-0, 8pts)

RPI at UConn
Non-conference Game - XL Center (Hartford, CT)
11/18/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 1, UConn 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Troy Record
Hartford Courant

RECORD: 5-7-1 (4-2-0, 8pts)

Upcoming games
25 Nov - at New Hampshire
28 Nov - at Michigan
29 Nov - at Michigan
05 Dec - at Yale
06 Dec - at Brown

Women's Hockey - at Quinnipiac & Princeton (14/15 Nov)

RPI continued looking for their first league win in a set at Quinnipiac and Princeton this weekend. Quinnipiac ran their unbeaten streak to 9 straight with a 6-1 thrashing of the Engineers on Friday, then RPI rallied late but came up short in overtime Saturday in a 2-1 loss to Princeton.

Quinnipiac

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

Kimmerle/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek
Godin/Banks

Piper

Quinnipiac has been on a roll to start the season and the train showed no signs of letting up as it rolled over RPI 6-1 on Friday night. Erica Uden Johansson had a goal and two assists while Nicole Connery scored two more for the Bobcats.

Nicole Kosta struck first for Quinnipiac, capitalizing on a sustained period of pressure in the RPI end and winning a puck battle in the corner before carrying the puck into the slot and firing it past Brianna Piper.

Uden Johanssen scored at 11:07 of the second, making the most of a 2-on-1 opportunity to double the Bobcats' lead.

Shiann Darkangelo added a power play tally late in the second, parking in the slot, taking a feed from the point and turning to put it home before the penalty killers could react.

Connery scored her two goals about six minutes apart early in the third period. The first was a quick redirection on a pass toward the crease, the second coming on a quick break back into the zone after RPI was unable to get the puck down ice.

Laura Horwood broke the Bobcats' shutout bid at 16:15 of the third, crashing the crease the put the puck past Chelsea Laden to cut the lead to 5-1.

Taryn Baumgardt put a cap on the evening for the hosts, scoring at 17:13 to make it a 6-1 lead which would hold up as the final score. The Engineers were outshot 32-13 on the night, including 12-3 in the first and 8-1 in the second.

Princeton

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

Kimmerle/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek
Godin/Banks

O'Brien

After taking a drubbing on Friday night, RPI looked for redemption against Princeton on Saturday and came close, but eventually fell short in a 2-1 overtime loss.

The Engineers rallied in the third period to erase a 1-0 Princeton lead, with Horwood scoring her second of the weekend, but Cristin Shanahan's tally at 2:18 of overtime would give the Tigers the win.

Morgan Sly also scored for Princeton, her 2-on-1 goal giving the Tigers the 1-0 lead midway through the second period.

While Saturday's effort was much better for the Engineers, they now find themselves in an 0-4 hole to start conference play, and have now lost six in a row.

After a week of rest which may prove helpful in getting some players rested and healed from injuries, RPI will host RIT for a nonconference series on Thanksgiving weekend, launching a stretch of nine straight home games which will last into January.

-----

RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
11/14/14 - 7:00pm
QU 6, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wquiren1.n14
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4434

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/11/14/WICE_1114144912.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wice/2014-15/releases/201411148u9pws
Complete Game Video: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/QU_Women-s_Ice_Hockey_Video_vs._Rensselaer

RECORD: 1-9-2 (0-3-0 ECAC)

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RPI at Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Baker Rink (Princeton, NJ)
11/15/14 - 4:00pm
Princeton 2, RPI 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprnren1.n15
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4435

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/11/16/WICE_1116142846.aspx
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209767549
Video Highlights: http://ecachockey.com/women/video/2014-15/20141115_Princeton_WH

RECORD: 1-10-2 (0-4-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Nov. 28 - RIT (7pm)
Nov. 29 - RIT (4pm)
Dec. 5 - Brown (7pm)
Dec. 6 - Yale (4pm)

Put On the Red Light

Eight shots.

That's how many the Engineers put up on St. Cloud State last weekend in getting shutout for the second time this season. Harry Doyle from Major League comes to mind.


Didn't catch Perry Laskaris' broadcast on WRPI on Saturday, so let's just assume he said something along these lines. According to the research WaP reader Zachary Gannam (who hooked us up with knowledge on teh Twittars), it's the lowest shot total in RPI's Division I history.

Eight shots will be unlikely to get the job done tonight against a team that's allowed a whopping three goals in eight games played this season - #5 Quinnipiac. Tomorrow, they're up against Princeton, a team that doesn't quite have the defensive capabilities of the Bobcats, but they're scoring goals at a pretty hefty pace. Quinnipiac hasn't lost since falling to Clarkson back in March (8 games in a row), Princeton hasn't fallen since dropping a 2-1 decision to Penn State in their first game of the year (5 games in a row). This isn't shaping up to be a stellar weekend for the ladies, to say the least, not unless something drastic happens.

For the men, we've talked about how they're in a precarious first-place position. Now's the time to solidify that. Princeton has been giving up shots like The Ruck was on fire. Their team GAA is 3.50, AKA that's awful. Granted, it's a pretty small sample size of four, but this is what we expected from the Tigers this season. Might be perfect for the offensive issues RPI's become well known for lately.

Quinnipiac might be a different story tomorrow. Keeping the puck out of the net is an all-gender thing in Hamden, apparently. They kicked off their ECAC season last weekend with back-to-back shutouts of Colgate (a team of goal scorers) and Cornell (a team of no goal scorers). Before that, they were pretty sieve-tastic, so you never know. Bottom line, as mentioned in this space yesterday, four crucial home points for the Engineers this weekend.

No, this isn't The Police. You thought it was going to be The Police, didn't you? It's not.

Try this on instead. It's dubstep, so it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. This is either going to pump you up or wreck your ears. It's fun, and although it's instrumental, the title basically tells you all you need to know for this weekend's metric for success. Heck, flip the ice, and you can use the artist AND the title. See, we just reduced hockey to it's most simple form. Score goals. Don't let the other team score goals. Keep it simple, Tute.