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)
Showing posts with label providence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label providence. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Another Tuesday Game?
Yup, for the fourth and final time this season, there's RPI hockey on a Tuesday. For the only time, however, it's going to be right at home at the Houston Field House as the women take on Providence at 4pm.
Coming off of what was arguably their best weekend of the season at home against Princeton and Quinnipiac - a split, but a 1-0 loss is a respectable result against a team like the Bobcats - the Engineers host the Lady Friars, a team whose offense and defense are both worse than RPI's. Hopefully, that means a winnable contest and a good springboard into what is likely to be a punishing next couple of weeks as the Dartmouth/Harvard homestand is followed by the trip to the North Country before a crucial home-and-home with Union.
Here's a special pumpup just for today - throw in the Awesome Mix tape and hit play.
Coming off of what was arguably their best weekend of the season at home against Princeton and Quinnipiac - a split, but a 1-0 loss is a respectable result against a team like the Bobcats - the Engineers host the Lady Friars, a team whose offense and defense are both worse than RPI's. Hopefully, that means a winnable contest and a good springboard into what is likely to be a punishing next couple of weeks as the Dartmouth/Harvard homestand is followed by the trip to the North Country before a crucial home-and-home with Union.
Here's a special pumpup just for today - throw in the Awesome Mix tape and hit play.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Women's Hockey - at Providence (4/5 Jan)
RPI returned from a long layoff with a short departure from ECAC play in a weekend series at Hockey East foe Providence. After the Engineers posted a 3-1 win on Saturday despite being outshot 33-21, Lauren Wash scored a hat trick in Sunday's affair but RPI eventually fell 4-3 in overtime on Lexi Romanchuk's game-winner.
Saturday
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Rooney
Horwood/Wash/Sanders
Letuligasenoa/Walsh/Hylwa
Banks/Schilter
Behounek/Marzario
Middlebrook/Marzario
O'Brien
Alexa Gruschow tallied two points, including an assist on a shorthanded goal by Taylor Mahoney, and Kelly O'Brien held Providence to one goal on 33 shots in a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
Jordan Smelker opened the scoring on Saturday, powering past the defense and putting a shot past goalie Sarah Bryant for a 1-0 first period lead.
The Friars erased that advantage just minutes later, as Cassidy Carels put home a rebound to knot things at one.
In the second period, with Kathryn Schilter in the box on a holding call, Mahoney put RPI back on top with a rebound goal of her own after Gruschow's sharp angle shot bounced back out to the slot and onto her stick.
The Engineers failed to capitalize on three nearly consecutive power plays late in the second period, only managing six shots in the period.
Things looked to get worse for RPI in the third as Providence pushed hard to even the score once again, outshooting the Engineers 16-4 in the final frame. However Gruschow's empty net power play goal with 23 seconds left put the game on ice and the Engineers left with a 3-1 victory on Saturday evening.
Sunday
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Rooney
Horwood/Wash/Sanders
Missy Mankey/Walsh/Hylwa
Banks/Schilter
Behounek/Marzario
Middlebrook/Marzario
Piper
Lauren Wash recorded the Engineers' first hat trick since Eleeza Cox notched one in the 2011-12 season and the Engineers overcame two two-goal defecits to force overtime, but it wasn't enough at Providence took a 4-3 victory thanks to Lexi Romanchuk's overtime tally.
Providence jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, with Beth Hanrahan beating Brianna Piper from close range on the power play and Janine Weber tipping a shot from the point a few minutes later. The Engineers were outshot 18-3 in the opening frame.
Wash's first goal cut the Friars' lead to 2-1 near the midpoint of the second. With numbers breaking into the Providence zone, Wash cut across the slot and put a shot past Bryant to get the Engineers on the board.
It took less than three minutes for Providence to regain the two goal lead, with Courtney Kukowski scoring off a nice 2-on-1 feed from Brittney Thunstrom.
Wash scored twice more in the third period to help the Engineers claw back into the game. Her second goal came on the doorstep as she took a pass from Marzario and quickly put it past Bryant to cut the score to 3-2. The third came with just 0.5 seconds left on the clock, a tip on another Marzario shot to make it 3-3.
The comeback attempt would fall short in overtime, however, as Romanchuk scored with a top shelf rocket from the blue line to give the Friars the win.
RPI now returns to ECAC play for the remainder of the season, beginning with Quinnipiac and Princeton next weekend before the Union home and home the weekend following.
-----
RPI at Providence
Non-Conference Game - Schneider Arena (Providence, RI)
1/4/14 - 7:00pm
RPI 3, Providence 1
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVv5l0L4Tjw
RECORD: 7-10-1 (3-5 ECAC)
-----
RPI at Providence
Non-Conference Game - Schneider Arena (Providence, RI)
1/5/14 - 4:00pm
Providence 4, RPI 3 (OT)
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbXXovaY5U0
Wash Named Player of the Week (Press Release): http://ecachockey.com/women/2013-14/Weekly_Awards/W_Weekly_Awards_010714.pdf
RECORD: 7-11-1 (3-5 ECAC)
-----
Upcoming Games
Jan. 10 - Quinnipiac (7pm)
Jan. 11 - Princeton (4pm)
Jan. 17 - Union (7pm)
Jan. 18 - at Union (4pm)
Friday, January 3, 2014
Survive and Advance
(The end of our series on the NCAA Regionals will run on Tuesday of next week.)
The Engineers come off a long break this weekend - both the men and the women. For the women, it's a road series at Providence, a team that has run hot and cold this year with a fairly challenging schedule. For the men, it's nothing less than a possible weekend with the two best teams in the nation.
The ladies return from basically a full month off with games at Providence, who started the second half of their season on Tuesday with a loss at Dartmouth. Right away, that should be a warning sign. The Lady Friars also have losses to Yale and Union in their resume. But, then again, the Engineers managed a loss to Yale as well, so who knows what's in store at "The Coffin."
The men have a tall task this afternoon as they face off with #2 Ferris State at about 5pm Eastern time, 4pm local at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. The college hockey world is watching to see if the Bulldogs get to face off with #1 Minnesota tomorrow night. Hopefully, the Engineers will be spoiling that dream - or, perhaps, helping to force it into the Mariucci consolation game provided that Colgate helps things along.
It's not going to be easy... but anything worthwhile rarely is.
It's Eminem for this weekend's pumpup... so be aware that it's obviously NSFW, but the lyrics seem to describe this team and this weekend fairly well (hopefully).
The Engineers come off a long break this weekend - both the men and the women. For the women, it's a road series at Providence, a team that has run hot and cold this year with a fairly challenging schedule. For the men, it's nothing less than a possible weekend with the two best teams in the nation.
The ladies return from basically a full month off with games at Providence, who started the second half of their season on Tuesday with a loss at Dartmouth. Right away, that should be a warning sign. The Lady Friars also have losses to Yale and Union in their resume. But, then again, the Engineers managed a loss to Yale as well, so who knows what's in store at "The Coffin."
The men have a tall task this afternoon as they face off with #2 Ferris State at about 5pm Eastern time, 4pm local at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. The college hockey world is watching to see if the Bulldogs get to face off with #1 Minnesota tomorrow night. Hopefully, the Engineers will be spoiling that dream - or, perhaps, helping to force it into the Mariucci consolation game provided that Colgate helps things along.
It's not going to be easy... but anything worthwhile rarely is.
It's Eminem for this weekend's pumpup... so be aware that it's obviously NSFW, but the lyrics seem to describe this team and this weekend fairly well (hopefully).
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
2013-14 Women's Hockey Schedule
We pieced together most of this schedule on Twitter over the last couple of weeks, but the full official schedule was released last week. So here it is. This year's schedule includes just three non-conference games at home (eight are on the road), but there are a couple of earlier opportunities to see the team play non-ECAC squads with a pair of exhibitions in late September - the official opening of the RPI hockey season.
Friday games are at 7pm and Saturday games are at 4pm unless otherwise indicated.
September
Sunday, 22 September - OTTAWA JR. SENATORS, 1pm (exhibition)
Monday, 23 September - BROCK, 3pm (exhibition)
October
Friday, 4 October - at Robert Morris
Saturday, 5 October - at Robert Morris, 3pm
Friday, 11 October - BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Saturday, 12 October - NORTHEASTERN
Saturday, 19 October - VERMONT, 3pm
Friday, 25 October - at UConn, 2pm
Saturday, 26 October - at UConn, 2pm
November
Friday, 1 November - HARVARD*
Saturday, 2 November - DARTMOUTH*
Friday, 8 November - at Cornell*
Saturday, 9 November - at Colgate*
Friday, 15 November - YALE*
Saturday, 16 November - BROWN*
Friday, 29 November - at St. Cloud State, 4pm
Saturday, 30 November - at St. Cloud State
December
Friday, 06 December - at Princeton*
Saturday, 07 December - at Quinnipiac*
January
Saturday, 04 January - at Providence, 7pm
Sunday, 05 January - at Providence, 4pm
Friday, 10 January - QUINNIPIAC*
Saturday, 11 January - PRINCETON*
Friday, 17 January - UNION*
Saturday, 18 January - at Union*
Friday, 24 January - at Dartmouth*
Saturday, 25 January - at Harvard,* 5pm
Friday, 31 January - ST. LAWRENCE*
February
Saturday, 01 February - CLARKSON*
Friday, 07 February - at Brown*
Saturday, 08 February - at Yale*
Friday, 14 February - COLGATE*
Saturday, 15 February - CORNELL* (Senior Night)
Friday, 21 February - at Clarkson*
Saturday, 22 February - at St. Lawrence*
Friday, 28 February - ECAC Quarterfinals Game 1 (at campus sites)
March
Saturday, 01 March - ECAC Quarterfinals Game 2 (at campus sites)
Sunday, 02 March - ECAC Quarterfinals Game 3 (if necessary, at campus sites)
Saturday, 08 March - ECAC Semifinals (at highest seed)
Sunday, 09 March - ECAC Championship (at highest semifinal seed)
Sat-Sun, 15-16 March - NCAA Quarterfinals (at campus sites)
Friday, 21 March - NCAA Frozen Four (Hamden, CT)
Sunday, 23 March - NCAA Championship (Hamden, CT)
Friday games are at 7pm and Saturday games are at 4pm unless otherwise indicated.
September
Sunday, 22 September - OTTAWA JR. SENATORS, 1pm (exhibition)
Monday, 23 September - BROCK, 3pm (exhibition)
October
Friday, 4 October - at Robert Morris
Saturday, 5 October - at Robert Morris, 3pm
Friday, 11 October - BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Saturday, 12 October - NORTHEASTERN
Saturday, 19 October - VERMONT, 3pm
Friday, 25 October - at UConn, 2pm
Saturday, 26 October - at UConn, 2pm
November
Friday, 1 November - HARVARD*
Saturday, 2 November - DARTMOUTH*
Friday, 8 November - at Cornell*
Saturday, 9 November - at Colgate*
Friday, 15 November - YALE*
Saturday, 16 November - BROWN*
Friday, 29 November - at St. Cloud State, 4pm
Saturday, 30 November - at St. Cloud State
December
Friday, 06 December - at Princeton*
Saturday, 07 December - at Quinnipiac*
January
Saturday, 04 January - at Providence, 7pm
Sunday, 05 January - at Providence, 4pm
Friday, 10 January - QUINNIPIAC*
Saturday, 11 January - PRINCETON*
Friday, 17 January - UNION*
Saturday, 18 January - at Union*
Friday, 24 January - at Dartmouth*
Saturday, 25 January - at Harvard,* 5pm
Friday, 31 January - ST. LAWRENCE*
February
Saturday, 01 February - CLARKSON*
Friday, 07 February - at Brown*
Saturday, 08 February - at Yale*
Friday, 14 February - COLGATE*
Saturday, 15 February - CORNELL* (Senior Night)
Friday, 21 February - at Clarkson*
Saturday, 22 February - at St. Lawrence*
Friday, 28 February - ECAC Quarterfinals Game 1 (at campus sites)
March
Saturday, 01 March - ECAC Quarterfinals Game 2 (at campus sites)
Sunday, 02 March - ECAC Quarterfinals Game 3 (if necessary, at campus sites)
Saturday, 08 March - ECAC Semifinals (at highest seed)
Sunday, 09 March - ECAC Championship (at highest semifinal seed)
Sat-Sun, 15-16 March - NCAA Quarterfinals (at campus sites)
Friday, 21 March - NCAA Frozen Four (Hamden, CT)
Sunday, 23 March - NCAA Championship (Hamden, CT)
Monday, January 14, 2013
Women's Hockey - Providence (11/12 Jan)
Sometimes it's a fine line dividing a win from a loss, and RPI experienced that twice this weekend in a pair of one-goal losses to Providence at the Field House.
In a pair of closely-contested games, the Engineers were just a step behind a very quick Providence team and the Friars used that to their advantage en route to 2-1 and 3-2 victories.
Friday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Sanders/Wash/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Middlebrook/Missy Mankey
Daniels/Le Donne
Banks/Godin
Schilter/Marzario
Piper
Brianna Piper saw her first action since November 9, making 18 saves on 20 shots, but it wasn't quite enough as the Engineers only managed a single goal in a game which featured anemic offense from both teams early on and a faster pace the longer it went on.
The Friars didn't manage a shot on goal until 14:19 of the first period, but as luck would have it, the shot found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. It was one of just seven shots the two teams combined for in a first period where neither team could sustain any pressure.
The pace picked up in the second period but neither team mustered another goal. Both teams had some good opportunities, including a chance for a tip-in goal which Jordan Smelker just missed, and a breakaway for Alexa Gruschow which she lost control of without getting a clean shot off.
Corinne Buie made it 2-0 for the Friars at 9:08 of the third period, burying a perfect shot off a faceoff in the RPI zone. With the Engineers' offensive woes in the game, that looked to be a pretty steep hill to climb but Katie Daniels gave RPI some hope when she scored a power play goal out of a scrum in front of the Providence net, making it 2-1.
RPI pushed hard for the equalizer in the final minutes, including a power play opportunity with 2:07 left, but didn't manage to get a second puck past the Friars' Nina Riley, who earned her third win of the season while making 22 saves on 23 shots.
Saturday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Sanders/Wash/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Middlebrook/Missy Mankey
Marzario/Godin
Le Donne/Daniels
Schilter/Banks
For as slowly as Friday night's game started, Saturday saw an increased pace in the early going, culminating in a quick pair of goals before the game was three minutes old.
Providence's Haley Frade scored 1:35 in with a goal that was remarkably similar to the faceoff play on which Buie scored the night before. Quickly firing a no-look shot through traffic, it was in the back of the net before Kelly O'Brien could get her glove up to make a save.
Taylor Horton evened things up just under a minute and a half later, potting her eighth goal of the season out of another goal mouth scrum.
The tie wouldn't last until the midway point of the period, as Courtney Kukowski was sprung on a breakaway by Frade and beat O'Brien glove side to give the visitors a 2-1 lead at 9:57.
Jordan Smelker tied things up for the second time in the game early in the third period, taking a pass from Gruschow behind the net and beating goalie Sarah Bryant for a 5-on-3 goal and a 2-2 score.
Jessica Vella regained the lead for the Friars with 3:06 left in the middle frame, one-timing a perfect pass through traffic past O'Brien to make it 3-2.
Again the Engineers found themselves trailing late and again they stepped up the pressure, but as was the case on Friday night they weren't able to get things tied up and suffered their third one-goal loss in a row.
It's back to the ECAC grind now and it may be hard to believe but there are only six weeks left in the regular season. First up is a road rematch against Harvard and Dartmouth that promises to be a challenge for an RPI squad struggling to score.
Harvard remains undefeated in league play (11-0) and Dartmouth rolled over Princeton and Quinnipiac for an eight point weekend by the travel partners heading into next week's matchup.
After that series comes the home-and-home against Union followed by Colgate, a set of three important games for the Engineers in order to keep the playoffs in their sights.
RPI currently holds 7th place with the 8th and last playoff spot being held by Princeton, two points back but having played four more games than the Engineers. However - Brown and Colgate are just four points back from RPI, with Union and Yale one more point behind, and with well upwards of a dozen games left between the teams fighting for the final playoff spots, those spots are certainly still up for grabs for any team that can string together a couple wins in the home stretch.
-----
RPI vs. Providence
Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/11/13 - 7pm
Providence 2, RPI 1
BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/11/providence-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wprvren1.j11
RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/11/WICE_0111133635.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/011113aaa.html
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPgSMXNcD8
RECORD: 6-13-2 (4-6-0 ECAC)
-----
RPI vs. Providence
Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/12/13 - 4pm
Providence 3, RPI 2
BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/12/providence-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wprvren1.j12
RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/12/WICE_0112134643.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/011213aaa.html
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Onq9TF6Nqc
RECORD: 6-14-2 (4-6-0 ECAC)
-----
ECAC Standings
1. Harvard - 22 points (11-0-0)
2. Clarkson - 18 points (9-1-0)
3. Quinnipiac - 17 points (8-5-1)
4t. Cornell - 16 points (8-2-0)
4t. St. Lawrence - 16 points (8-2-0)
6. Dartmouth - 13 points (6-4-1)
7. RPI - 8 points (4-6-0)
8. Princeton - 6 points (2-10-2)
9t. Brown - 4 points (2-8-0)
9t. Colgate - 4 points (1-7-2)
11t. Yale - 3 points (1-8-1)
11t. Union - 3 points (0-7-3)
-----
Upcoming Games
Jan. 18 - at Harvard (7pm)
Jan. 19 - at Dartmouth (4pm)
Jan. 25 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 26 - Union (4pm)
In a pair of closely-contested games, the Engineers were just a step behind a very quick Providence team and the Friars used that to their advantage en route to 2-1 and 3-2 victories.
Friday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Sanders/Wash/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Middlebrook/Missy Mankey
Daniels/Le Donne
Banks/Godin
Schilter/Marzario
Piper
Brianna Piper saw her first action since November 9, making 18 saves on 20 shots, but it wasn't quite enough as the Engineers only managed a single goal in a game which featured anemic offense from both teams early on and a faster pace the longer it went on.
The Friars didn't manage a shot on goal until 14:19 of the first period, but as luck would have it, the shot found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. It was one of just seven shots the two teams combined for in a first period where neither team could sustain any pressure.
The pace picked up in the second period but neither team mustered another goal. Both teams had some good opportunities, including a chance for a tip-in goal which Jordan Smelker just missed, and a breakaway for Alexa Gruschow which she lost control of without getting a clean shot off.
Corinne Buie made it 2-0 for the Friars at 9:08 of the third period, burying a perfect shot off a faceoff in the RPI zone. With the Engineers' offensive woes in the game, that looked to be a pretty steep hill to climb but Katie Daniels gave RPI some hope when she scored a power play goal out of a scrum in front of the Providence net, making it 2-1.
RPI pushed hard for the equalizer in the final minutes, including a power play opportunity with 2:07 left, but didn't manage to get a second puck past the Friars' Nina Riley, who earned her third win of the season while making 22 saves on 23 shots.
Saturday
Smelker/Horton/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Mari Mankey
Sanders/Wash/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Middlebrook/Missy Mankey
Marzario/Godin
Le Donne/Daniels
Schilter/Banks
For as slowly as Friday night's game started, Saturday saw an increased pace in the early going, culminating in a quick pair of goals before the game was three minutes old.
Providence's Haley Frade scored 1:35 in with a goal that was remarkably similar to the faceoff play on which Buie scored the night before. Quickly firing a no-look shot through traffic, it was in the back of the net before Kelly O'Brien could get her glove up to make a save.
Taylor Horton evened things up just under a minute and a half later, potting her eighth goal of the season out of another goal mouth scrum.
The tie wouldn't last until the midway point of the period, as Courtney Kukowski was sprung on a breakaway by Frade and beat O'Brien glove side to give the visitors a 2-1 lead at 9:57.
Jordan Smelker tied things up for the second time in the game early in the third period, taking a pass from Gruschow behind the net and beating goalie Sarah Bryant for a 5-on-3 goal and a 2-2 score.
Jessica Vella regained the lead for the Friars with 3:06 left in the middle frame, one-timing a perfect pass through traffic past O'Brien to make it 3-2.
Again the Engineers found themselves trailing late and again they stepped up the pressure, but as was the case on Friday night they weren't able to get things tied up and suffered their third one-goal loss in a row.
It's back to the ECAC grind now and it may be hard to believe but there are only six weeks left in the regular season. First up is a road rematch against Harvard and Dartmouth that promises to be a challenge for an RPI squad struggling to score.
Harvard remains undefeated in league play (11-0) and Dartmouth rolled over Princeton and Quinnipiac for an eight point weekend by the travel partners heading into next week's matchup.
After that series comes the home-and-home against Union followed by Colgate, a set of three important games for the Engineers in order to keep the playoffs in their sights.
RPI currently holds 7th place with the 8th and last playoff spot being held by Princeton, two points back but having played four more games than the Engineers. However - Brown and Colgate are just four points back from RPI, with Union and Yale one more point behind, and with well upwards of a dozen games left between the teams fighting for the final playoff spots, those spots are certainly still up for grabs for any team that can string together a couple wins in the home stretch.
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RPI vs. Providence
Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/11/13 - 7pm
Providence 2, RPI 1
BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/11/providence-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wprvren1.j11
RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/11/WICE_0111133635.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/011113aaa.html
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPgSMXNcD8
RECORD: 6-13-2 (4-6-0 ECAC)
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RPI vs. Providence
Non-Conference Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/12/13 - 4pm
Providence 3, RPI 2
BOX SCORES:
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/womens-hockey/2013/01/12/providence-vs-rensselaer/
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/wprvren1.j12
RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2013/1/12/WICE_0112134643.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/011213aaa.html
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Onq9TF6Nqc
RECORD: 6-14-2 (4-6-0 ECAC)
-----
ECAC Standings
1. Harvard - 22 points (11-0-0)
2. Clarkson - 18 points (9-1-0)
3. Quinnipiac - 17 points (8-5-1)
4t. Cornell - 16 points (8-2-0)
4t. St. Lawrence - 16 points (8-2-0)
6. Dartmouth - 13 points (6-4-1)
7. RPI - 8 points (4-6-0)
8. Princeton - 6 points (2-10-2)
9t. Brown - 4 points (2-8-0)
9t. Colgate - 4 points (1-7-2)
11t. Yale - 3 points (1-8-1)
11t. Union - 3 points (0-7-3)
-----
Upcoming Games
Jan. 18 - at Harvard (7pm)
Jan. 19 - at Dartmouth (4pm)
Jan. 25 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 26 - Union (4pm)
Friday, January 11, 2013
Sic 'Em
As good as the men have been since the beginning of December, one thing sticks out as the heart of the ECAC schedule begins: they are in last place in the ECAC. Non-conference wins can bolster your confidence and put you on a better plane nationally, but they don't do jack for positioning yourself for March.
That starts now.
The hits, they just keep on coming for the men, as they prepare to face their sixth game in the last seven against a ranked opponent, and third in a row against an opponent in the national Top 10. Much is being made of Quinnipiac's run: 10 straight wins to open the ECAC schedule has the Bobcats sitting pretty. A .500 record the rest of the way would easily sew up the bye for them - hell, they could afford to lose every game from now until March and they'd still see home ice. That's a position one would call enviable.
And then there's Princeton, and all bets are off with Princeton when they're playing RPI. You never know what you're gonna get with the Tigers. Two tough games, and despite the fact that tonight's is against a team that doesn't do anything but win, it's still an important game for the Engineers. Lose tonight, and that's three in a row, disheartening no matter how good you play.
The women wrap up their non-conference schedule with a pair in Troy against Providence. The Friars won't be pushovers, but they do at least make for a needed breather before heading off to Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend to try and duplicate (or even improve on) last week's performance.
Allow the Bad Boys from Boston to welcome the beginning of the meaty part of the schedule...
That starts now.
The hits, they just keep on coming for the men, as they prepare to face their sixth game in the last seven against a ranked opponent, and third in a row against an opponent in the national Top 10. Much is being made of Quinnipiac's run: 10 straight wins to open the ECAC schedule has the Bobcats sitting pretty. A .500 record the rest of the way would easily sew up the bye for them - hell, they could afford to lose every game from now until March and they'd still see home ice. That's a position one would call enviable.
And then there's Princeton, and all bets are off with Princeton when they're playing RPI. You never know what you're gonna get with the Tigers. Two tough games, and despite the fact that tonight's is against a team that doesn't do anything but win, it's still an important game for the Engineers. Lose tonight, and that's three in a row, disheartening no matter how good you play.
The women wrap up their non-conference schedule with a pair in Troy against Providence. The Friars won't be pushovers, but they do at least make for a needed breather before heading off to Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend to try and duplicate (or even improve on) last week's performance.
Allow the Bad Boys from Boston to welcome the beginning of the meaty part of the schedule...
Thursday, December 20, 2012
What If: Whistle Blown for Offsides
* March 1985: George Servinis scores a disputed goal to put RPI ahead 2-0 in the national championship game
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
The hard part was supposed to have been beating Bill Watson, Brett Hull, and Minnesota-Duluth. That was plenty hard, considering how long it took to get it done. But after three overtimes, John Carter finally potted the game winner to give UMD its second consecutive long-game heartbreaker and lift the Engineers to a place they hadn't been since 1954 - the national championship game.
Providence wasn't even supposed to be there. Their run was supposed to have ended against BU in Hockey East's first ever semifinals. After a 5-2 upset, it was supposed to have ended to Hockey East's first ever regular-season champions, Boston College. With a little home cooking - the neutral site for Hockey East's first tournament was the Providence Civic Center - the Friars earned the nascent league's inaugural title with a 2-1 double overtime win. Then they weren't going to survive a two-game, total goals set at CCHA champions Michigan State. They did. Surely they wouldn't survive BC a second time in the Frozen Four. Once again, an overtime winner. The Providence Friars were into the national championship game, against all odds.
Friar netminder Chris Terreri earned himself the nickname "the Extra Terreri-al" with out of this world goaltending, and he was perhaps some of the best proof you'll ever find that a team can ride a hot goaltender pretty far. But there was no doubt he was in for a real test facing down an RPI team that was one of the greatest offensive juggernauts in the history of college hockey. Three goals was a bare minimum for the Engineers in 1985.
RPI looked to be on their way to three with a power play goal just 4:29 into the contest off the stick of sophomore Neil Hernberg. The Friars then had to survive two more RPI power plays in the first period, and Terreri made 13 saves to keep the score 1-0 after one period.
Perhaps Providence's most golden opportunity to put themselves in position to tie things up came early in the second. Mark Jooris' hooking penalty 38 seconds in was compounded by a cross-checking call against captain Mike Sadeghpour, giving the Friars a two-man advantage for 32 seconds. RPI killed Jooris' penalty, but still had 25 seconds left to kill on Sadeghpour's minor when a faceoff came in the RPI end. Providence won the faceoff, but a blue line pass by Peter Taglianetti was stolen by George Servinis, who immediately went on a breakaway, faked Terreri down and put the puck into an empty net to give RPI a 2-0 lead. The picture of Servinis shooting past a splayed out Terreri is one of the most famous pictures in RPI's hockey history.
There was just one minor problem. Servinis was in a position to intercept the pass, in part, because he appeared to have skated into the faceoff circle just before the puck was dropped, which made him offside. That's not supposed to be legal, but the goal counted anyway - one wonders how the linesman who was dropping the puck missed the movement into the circle.
The rest is history - Providence provided some drama with a power play goal midway through the third period, but it was as close as they would get as Terreri put up a brilliant effort with 40 saves, stifling the RPI offense as no other goaltender had all season by allowing just two goals, but the Engineers skated away with their second national championship.
How would things have been different if Servinis' goal had been called back? Tough to say for sure. Obviously, both teams scored one legitimate goal each, but we can't calculate how the teams played differently in the second period and the first half of the third with RPI holding a 2-0 lead as opposed to a 1-0 lead. The Engineers certainly had their opportunities to add to their advantage with three more power play chances before Providence's Paul Cavallini made it 2-1, but a combination of brilliant play by Terreri and tired legs from having played a three-overtime contest the night before made for a bit of a power outage by the awesome RPI offense. The Engineers were 1-for-7 on the man advantage.
We'd like to think the 1-0 edge might have produced some added urgency for the RPI power play on those final three opportunities. The Engineers didn't face much adversity in that championship season, but when the game was tight they put things together, bouncing back from a 3-2-0 start to the season to go undefeated the rest of the way and winning overtime games against a less than stellar Brown team in Providence and against Division III Union in Schenectady (albeit a Division III team that had played for the national championship a season earlier).
Providence, remember, had plenty of time to get themselves back into the game, but could only manage the one goal thanks to RPI's outstanding defense led by Daren Puppa, Ken Hammond, and Mike Dark, not to mention some good discipline after the Sadeghpour penalty ended, as they allowed only two more power plays from there on out (including John Carter's hooking call which helped get the Friars on the board).
So maybe it's just us being homers here, but if it hadn't been George Servinis on a disputed call, we think it probably would have been someone else over the course of 35 minutes of game play that would have collected a memory for the ages.
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
The hard part was supposed to have been beating Bill Watson, Brett Hull, and Minnesota-Duluth. That was plenty hard, considering how long it took to get it done. But after three overtimes, John Carter finally potted the game winner to give UMD its second consecutive long-game heartbreaker and lift the Engineers to a place they hadn't been since 1954 - the national championship game.
Providence wasn't even supposed to be there. Their run was supposed to have ended against BU in Hockey East's first ever semifinals. After a 5-2 upset, it was supposed to have ended to Hockey East's first ever regular-season champions, Boston College. With a little home cooking - the neutral site for Hockey East's first tournament was the Providence Civic Center - the Friars earned the nascent league's inaugural title with a 2-1 double overtime win. Then they weren't going to survive a two-game, total goals set at CCHA champions Michigan State. They did. Surely they wouldn't survive BC a second time in the Frozen Four. Once again, an overtime winner. The Providence Friars were into the national championship game, against all odds.
Friar netminder Chris Terreri earned himself the nickname "the Extra Terreri-al" with out of this world goaltending, and he was perhaps some of the best proof you'll ever find that a team can ride a hot goaltender pretty far. But there was no doubt he was in for a real test facing down an RPI team that was one of the greatest offensive juggernauts in the history of college hockey. Three goals was a bare minimum for the Engineers in 1985.
RPI looked to be on their way to three with a power play goal just 4:29 into the contest off the stick of sophomore Neil Hernberg. The Friars then had to survive two more RPI power plays in the first period, and Terreri made 13 saves to keep the score 1-0 after one period.
Perhaps Providence's most golden opportunity to put themselves in position to tie things up came early in the second. Mark Jooris' hooking penalty 38 seconds in was compounded by a cross-checking call against captain Mike Sadeghpour, giving the Friars a two-man advantage for 32 seconds. RPI killed Jooris' penalty, but still had 25 seconds left to kill on Sadeghpour's minor when a faceoff came in the RPI end. Providence won the faceoff, but a blue line pass by Peter Taglianetti was stolen by George Servinis, who immediately went on a breakaway, faked Terreri down and put the puck into an empty net to give RPI a 2-0 lead. The picture of Servinis shooting past a splayed out Terreri is one of the most famous pictures in RPI's hockey history.
There was just one minor problem. Servinis was in a position to intercept the pass, in part, because he appeared to have skated into the faceoff circle just before the puck was dropped, which made him offside. That's not supposed to be legal, but the goal counted anyway - one wonders how the linesman who was dropping the puck missed the movement into the circle.
The rest is history - Providence provided some drama with a power play goal midway through the third period, but it was as close as they would get as Terreri put up a brilliant effort with 40 saves, stifling the RPI offense as no other goaltender had all season by allowing just two goals, but the Engineers skated away with their second national championship.
How would things have been different if Servinis' goal had been called back? Tough to say for sure. Obviously, both teams scored one legitimate goal each, but we can't calculate how the teams played differently in the second period and the first half of the third with RPI holding a 2-0 lead as opposed to a 1-0 lead. The Engineers certainly had their opportunities to add to their advantage with three more power play chances before Providence's Paul Cavallini made it 2-1, but a combination of brilliant play by Terreri and tired legs from having played a three-overtime contest the night before made for a bit of a power outage by the awesome RPI offense. The Engineers were 1-for-7 on the man advantage.
We'd like to think the 1-0 edge might have produced some added urgency for the RPI power play on those final three opportunities. The Engineers didn't face much adversity in that championship season, but when the game was tight they put things together, bouncing back from a 3-2-0 start to the season to go undefeated the rest of the way and winning overtime games against a less than stellar Brown team in Providence and against Division III Union in Schenectady (albeit a Division III team that had played for the national championship a season earlier).
Providence, remember, had plenty of time to get themselves back into the game, but could only manage the one goal thanks to RPI's outstanding defense led by Daren Puppa, Ken Hammond, and Mike Dark, not to mention some good discipline after the Sadeghpour penalty ended, as they allowed only two more power plays from there on out (including John Carter's hooking call which helped get the Friars on the board).
So maybe it's just us being homers here, but if it hadn't been George Servinis on a disputed call, we think it probably would have been someone else over the course of 35 minutes of game play that would have collected a memory for the ages.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
What If: Eastern Promises
* July 1983: Five schools plan leave the ECAC to start Hockey East, RPI stays put
Michael Jackson - Beat It
The ECAC unified eastern college hockey under a single banner since its formation in the early 1960s, but it had always been a strange brew. The Ivy League, its own conference in every other sport, made up a healthy chunk of the group. The other teams based in the east of the region were typically Division I schools with a strong pedigree in hockey, while the other teams based in the west part of the region were mainly relics of a bygone era, when small schools and large schools were lumped into one, but their hockey histories made them equals.
The league has always been a precarious combination, and when concerns over the Ivy League's potential departure from the alliance, or their stringent academic requirements becoming paramount within the ECAC, it created a rift that ultimately led to the creation of one power conference and the slow decline of the former eastern power.
In July 1983, Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire, Northeastern, and Providence decided upon a preemptive strike to protect their programs from an Ivy split. They announced the formation of a new conference, the Hockey East Association. Maine, the lone holdout from the ECAC's Eastern Division joined in soon thereafter, along with Division II power UMass-Lowell, giving the nascent conference seven members. There were certainly room for more.
The Division III schools of the ECAC, RPI, Clarkson, and St. Lawrence, were invited to become a part of the new grouping in part thanks to their strong hockey reputations. Clarkson was the program with the highest winning percentage in college hockey history, St. Lawrence a traditionally strong program, and RPI was on the rise to what would eventually become a national championship.
The remaining schools had a conundrum. Would they abandon the Ivy League ties, with its prestigious links to outstanding education, or would they pass up the opportunity to join what was sure to be one of the new power conferences of college hockey? Ultimately, all three schools chose to maintain their connection to the ECAC, and when the Ivy League elected to remain in the ECAC, a new 12-team conference was born, minus many of its top tier programs.
RPI was offered another opportunity to join Hockey East in the 1990s, but the school again turned down the invitation, citing a satisfaction with their position in the ECAC given that the program was among the league's top teams at the time. Recent flirtations between RPI and Hockey East went nowhere after UConn chose to improve their program with scholarships and a new arena in order to become the league's 12th team.
So the Engineers have had more than their fair share of opportunities to join Hockey East - besides the usual suspects of UConn and the University of Rhode Island (as the only prominent state schools in New England not currently in the conference), the Engineers may be the program most frequently linked with Hockey East accession. With the latest development of the Huskies joining the conference, it seems to be a road now closed to RPI, at least until the next conference upheaval, if and when it happens.
But what if RPI had done what BC and BU did in 1983, and freaked out at the possibility of the Ivies striking out on their own - a scenario which continues to pop up in rumors from time to time? What if they'd chosen to accept the invitation?
Hockey East's first season was also the season RPI won the national championship, the 1984-85 campaign. Given that Hockey East played an intriguing interlocking schedule with the WCHA that season (in which games were scheduled between the conferences, to count in each conference's standings), it's likely the Engineers would have played a much more difficult regular-season schedule than they actually did. While they could have certainly finished atop the new conference, it would not have been as easy as it was in the ECAC.
RPI certainly would not have faced Providence in the national championship if they had left, as Providence was a Cinderella team in the NCAA tournament. Had the Engineers duplicated their feat of winning the ECAC regular season and tournament in the new conference, the Friars would likely have been stuck at home. That could have jumbled the entire tournament up, and seen RPI facing the likes of Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, or Michigan State in the finals instead - the latter of which would have been a tough draw in Detroit for sure. It's hard to say exactly what would have happened - perhaps Providence's Cinderella run would have derailed RPI completely.
Further out, though, the Engineers' prospects in Hockey East as charter members are likely closer to that of the Friars than to the power quartet that has traded the regular season crown since the conference's creation. The ECAC, for all of its problems, has been a conference with a great deal of parity from year to year, but in Hockey East, it's all about the Big Four, and the rest have traditionally fought for the scraps. NCAA bids for teams outside the Big Four have been few and far between - Providence in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1996, and 2001; Northeastern in 1988, 1994, and 2009; Lowell in 1988, 1994, 1996, and 2011; UMass in 2007, Vermont in 2009 and 2010, and Merrimack in 2011. That's just 16 bids over 28 years, compared with 19 for Boston College alone and 72 between all of the Big Four schools.
RPI has as many NCAA tournament appearances (four - 1985, 1994, 1995, 2011) as any non-Big Four Hockey East school with the exception of Providence during Hockey East's existence (Vermont too, if you count their three trips while they were in the ECAC). It has been argued that RPI's recruiting would improve if it were in Hockey East, but would it improve enough for them to be able to compete more frequently than Providence does? It's tough to make that assertion.
The major difference would be in October every year - RPI would be playing league games in its first month if it were in Hockey East today, and although its chances at competing for hardware would be diminished, they probably would be able to draw better non-conference opponents to play at Houston Field House as a Hockey East member, and by extension it's likely that the RPI Holiday Tournament would still exist. Non-conference games with Union, Clarkson, and St. Lawrence would be commonplace. Yearly home contests with the major schools of Hockey East would likely raise the local profile of the program.
All in all, many of the difference are things we discussed last year when the possibility of becoming the 12th team in Hockey East was thrown around. The move could have had murky effects on the 1985 championship, but all told it's hard to say for sure it would have been a net positive experience for the program. If any existed, it would likely be only incremental.
Michael Jackson - Beat It
The ECAC unified eastern college hockey under a single banner since its formation in the early 1960s, but it had always been a strange brew. The Ivy League, its own conference in every other sport, made up a healthy chunk of the group. The other teams based in the east of the region were typically Division I schools with a strong pedigree in hockey, while the other teams based in the west part of the region were mainly relics of a bygone era, when small schools and large schools were lumped into one, but their hockey histories made them equals.
The league has always been a precarious combination, and when concerns over the Ivy League's potential departure from the alliance, or their stringent academic requirements becoming paramount within the ECAC, it created a rift that ultimately led to the creation of one power conference and the slow decline of the former eastern power.
In July 1983, Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire, Northeastern, and Providence decided upon a preemptive strike to protect their programs from an Ivy split. They announced the formation of a new conference, the Hockey East Association. Maine, the lone holdout from the ECAC's Eastern Division joined in soon thereafter, along with Division II power UMass-Lowell, giving the nascent conference seven members. There were certainly room for more.
The Division III schools of the ECAC, RPI, Clarkson, and St. Lawrence, were invited to become a part of the new grouping in part thanks to their strong hockey reputations. Clarkson was the program with the highest winning percentage in college hockey history, St. Lawrence a traditionally strong program, and RPI was on the rise to what would eventually become a national championship.
The remaining schools had a conundrum. Would they abandon the Ivy League ties, with its prestigious links to outstanding education, or would they pass up the opportunity to join what was sure to be one of the new power conferences of college hockey? Ultimately, all three schools chose to maintain their connection to the ECAC, and when the Ivy League elected to remain in the ECAC, a new 12-team conference was born, minus many of its top tier programs.
RPI was offered another opportunity to join Hockey East in the 1990s, but the school again turned down the invitation, citing a satisfaction with their position in the ECAC given that the program was among the league's top teams at the time. Recent flirtations between RPI and Hockey East went nowhere after UConn chose to improve their program with scholarships and a new arena in order to become the league's 12th team.
So the Engineers have had more than their fair share of opportunities to join Hockey East - besides the usual suspects of UConn and the University of Rhode Island (as the only prominent state schools in New England not currently in the conference), the Engineers may be the program most frequently linked with Hockey East accession. With the latest development of the Huskies joining the conference, it seems to be a road now closed to RPI, at least until the next conference upheaval, if and when it happens.
But what if RPI had done what BC and BU did in 1983, and freaked out at the possibility of the Ivies striking out on their own - a scenario which continues to pop up in rumors from time to time? What if they'd chosen to accept the invitation?
Hockey East's first season was also the season RPI won the national championship, the 1984-85 campaign. Given that Hockey East played an intriguing interlocking schedule with the WCHA that season (in which games were scheduled between the conferences, to count in each conference's standings), it's likely the Engineers would have played a much more difficult regular-season schedule than they actually did. While they could have certainly finished atop the new conference, it would not have been as easy as it was in the ECAC.
RPI certainly would not have faced Providence in the national championship if they had left, as Providence was a Cinderella team in the NCAA tournament. Had the Engineers duplicated their feat of winning the ECAC regular season and tournament in the new conference, the Friars would likely have been stuck at home. That could have jumbled the entire tournament up, and seen RPI facing the likes of Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, or Michigan State in the finals instead - the latter of which would have been a tough draw in Detroit for sure. It's hard to say exactly what would have happened - perhaps Providence's Cinderella run would have derailed RPI completely.
Further out, though, the Engineers' prospects in Hockey East as charter members are likely closer to that of the Friars than to the power quartet that has traded the regular season crown since the conference's creation. The ECAC, for all of its problems, has been a conference with a great deal of parity from year to year, but in Hockey East, it's all about the Big Four, and the rest have traditionally fought for the scraps. NCAA bids for teams outside the Big Four have been few and far between - Providence in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1996, and 2001; Northeastern in 1988, 1994, and 2009; Lowell in 1988, 1994, 1996, and 2011; UMass in 2007, Vermont in 2009 and 2010, and Merrimack in 2011. That's just 16 bids over 28 years, compared with 19 for Boston College alone and 72 between all of the Big Four schools.
RPI has as many NCAA tournament appearances (four - 1985, 1994, 1995, 2011) as any non-Big Four Hockey East school with the exception of Providence during Hockey East's existence (Vermont too, if you count their three trips while they were in the ECAC). It has been argued that RPI's recruiting would improve if it were in Hockey East, but would it improve enough for them to be able to compete more frequently than Providence does? It's tough to make that assertion.
The major difference would be in October every year - RPI would be playing league games in its first month if it were in Hockey East today, and although its chances at competing for hardware would be diminished, they probably would be able to draw better non-conference opponents to play at Houston Field House as a Hockey East member, and by extension it's likely that the RPI Holiday Tournament would still exist. Non-conference games with Union, Clarkson, and St. Lawrence would be commonplace. Yearly home contests with the major schools of Hockey East would likely raise the local profile of the program.
All in all, many of the difference are things we discussed last year when the possibility of becoming the 12th team in Hockey East was thrown around. The move could have had murky effects on the 1985 championship, but all told it's hard to say for sure it would have been a net positive experience for the program. If any existed, it would likely be only incremental.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Revolving Door
It's one of the items that we touched on in our last posting about a week and a half ago, but even then, we had no idea just how crazy and how fast the coaching carousel would spin... or just how much impact it would have on the ECAC.
Here's the rundown.
Michigan Tech: Still looking for a coach after alum and long-time Michigan assistant Mel Pearson left them at the altar at the very last minute. Much of the most recent talk has been about Nebraska-Omaha associate head coach Mike Hastings, who coached the USHL's Omaha Lancers from 1994 to 2008.
UMass-Lowell: Norm Bazin, the head coach at Division III Hamilton for the last three years, will be the new head coach in Lowell, and the first alum to ever coach the program. Prior to that, he spent eight seasons as an assistant at Colorado College. So the Lowell coach doesn't touch off another search elsewhere, at least not at the Division I level.
Clarkson: If you'd asked me two weeks ago which coach in the ECAC was most likely to lose his job, I'd have told you that it was Harvard's Ted Donato, with the qualifier that he wasn't likely to get the boot. Unfortunately for George Roll, he was the right answer, he lost his job last week without much in the way of an official explanation. We can presume that the three straight losing seasons were more than the alumni, who are used to winning all the time, were willing to tolerate. I'd thought Roll would get at least one more year to turn the team around, especially considering that he brought Clarkson within a goal of playing in the Frozen Four in 2008. A lot of what happened to the team in the last two years was hardly his fault - most notably, a rash of injuries last season and some legal problems for some important recruits.
It's Clarkson's loss, in my view. Roll is a proven winner - it's the ECAC and the college hockey landscape that has changed. It's not going to be easy for Clarkson to be as dominant in the ECAC as they were for decades, but Roll knew what he was doing. The only message this firing sends is to anyone who would have interest in the job. You get very little margin for error.
At any rate, the names that were immediately thrown around are a couple of guys who have been behind the bench in Potsdam before, US Under-18 Team coach Ron Rolston and Cornell associate head coach Casey Jones, but it's worth pointing out that those guys have had their names thrown around for every opening in college hockey since the Clinton administration, including the one at RPI in 2006, regardless of prior links.
And let this be a lesson to the tiny but whiny minority of RPI alums and townies who have been agitating for Seth Appert's head. We've said it about a million times, but it still needs to be said - it's a dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb idea. Uber-dumb.
Providence: Found their man in Union's Nate Leaman. Notably for RPI fans, Ben Barr will follow Leaman from Schenectady to Providence. That begot...
Union: The Dutch wasted no time whatsoever in promoting the associate head coach, Rick Bennett, as soon as the Leaman move became official. Bennett ironically is a Providence alum, who spent five years as an assistant with the Friars before joining Union in 2005 when Paul Pooley was let go. He was promoted to associate head coach in 2007. Hard to say right now what this means for Union but they were clearly comfortable with the idea even before Leaman left, so they must believe he will be able to carry on Leaman's work in Schenectady.
Penn State: All the buzz was on Minnesota-Duluth's Scott Sandelin and Wisconsin women's coach Mark Johnson, but instead, it'll be Guy Gadowsky, the man that brought Princeton hockey back into relevance. Word came out on Easter Sunday that Gadowsky was the choice to become the first varsity hockey coach at Happy Valley, and he was formally introduced today. Therefore...
Princeton: Still too early to tell who might be a candidate for the sudden opening at New Jersey's lone entry in Division I college hockey, and truth be told, the level of fan buzz at Princeton is so generally low that we may not find out much until the process is over unless there's a present coach who ends up in the mix for this one. Eh, why not. How about Ron Rolston or Casey Jones?
Elsewhere: For a short time late last week, there was concern that something was happening at Western Michigan. It was announced that WMU had a press conference ready to go regarding the future of the head coach, which lately has been code for "he's leaving" or "he's getting canned." For Jeff Blashill, however, it was merely a much deserved raise and extension, intriguing especially considering the question marks surrounding WMU and the rest of the CCHA in the light of the pending Big 10 conference, which will likely tear the league asunder.
Also, just to throw this in - interesting story out of Tucson, AZ. Yes, that's right. Leo Golembiewski, who has run a very successful semi-independent club team at the University of Arizona since 1979, may be on his way out. Few people realize that the U of A has a fairly noteworthy club program, known as the IceCats, that draw just as many fans as many ECAC teams do on a regular basis. Golembiewski has been running almost every element of that program for 32 years, but it appears that Arizona is ready to step in and wrest most, if not all, control away. Arizona, to me, has always been an interesting "what if" candidate for Division I expansion given the popularity of the IceCats, so this may bear keeping a semi-interested eye on.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Women's Hockey - at Providence & Northeastern (22/24 Oct)
RPI took to the road this weekend for a pair of games against tough Hockey East opponents in Providence and Northeastern, who had between them lost just two games out of twelve played. After a weak start Friday night in Providence, the Engineers fought back to a 3-2 overtime win, before being soundly outplayed in Boston Sunday afternoon against Northeastern in a 5-1 loss.
Providence
Smelker/Vandegrift/Horton
Dunlop/Harrison/O’Keefe
Sanders/Padmore/Jakubowski
Letuligasenoa/Guillemette/Mankey
Le Donne/Vadner
Castignetti/Daniels
Stapleton/Marzario
Van der Bliek
Providence came into Friday’s game riding a five-game winning streak, including a 5-0 win over Clarkson and a 6-1 win over St. Lawrence – both games in which the Friars were thoroughly outshot by their opponents. The Friars have received solid goaltending from Genevieve Lacasse, who surrendered just five goals in the five games leading up to Friday’s tilt. The game marked the first time RPI and Providence met in women’s hockey , though the schools’ men’s programs have a history with each other – RPI having defeated Providence to win the 1985 national championship.
The early game was all Providence, who outshot the Engineers 11-4, and Abby Gauthier poked home a rebound to give Providence a 1-0 lead just past the midpoint of the period. The Friars had the benefit of four power plays in the period as well, but the Engineer penalty kill held strong and kept Providence from notching any additional goals.
Providence made a move to build on their first period momentum when Kate Bacon scored on a 2-on-1 just 44 seconds into the second period, but RPI made a stronger showing in the period, notching 10 shots to six for Providence, but goals eluded the Engineer offense and the score remained 2-0 entering the second intermission.
The third period saw RPI get its opportunity to capitalize as Jordan Smelker fed a wide open Alisa Harrison for an easy goal at 0:44 of the third, and just 59 seconds later, Toni Sanders was in the right place at the right time as the puck popped out of a scrum in front of the net onto her stick for an easy goal to tie the game at 1:47. Kristen Jakubowski was awarded an assist on the play, which marked her first career point – a well-deserved reward as Jakubowski’s play has been much improved this season. The teams traded penalties through the rest of regulation, but the game headed for overtime tied at two.
At 2:12 of the extra frame, Taylor Horton and Jill Vandegrift broke in on a 2-on-1 and Vandegrift fed the puck to Horton who shot it off Lacasse and into the back of the net, giving RPI the first win in the series between the Engineers and Friars.
Northeastern
Smelker/Vandegrift/Horton
Dunlop/Harrison/O’Keefe
Sanders/Padmore/Jakubowski
Letuligasenoa/Guillemette/Mankey
Le Donne/Vadner
Castignetti/Daniels
Stapleton/Marzario
Van der Bliek (1st/2nd periods)
Ramelot (3rd period)
When RPI took the ice in Boston on Sunday, it looked as though the Engineers had given all they had on Friday and had nothing left in the tank. To be fair, Northeastern is an extremely skilled and fast team, which contributed to this appearance, but the Engineers lacked the crisp passing and strong penalty killing that had helped them compete in their several previous games.
Northeastern picked up an early lead on a goal from Casey Pickett which hit van der Bliek’s pads and tricked over the goal line in seeming slow motion. The Huskies would extend the lead to 2-0 late in the period when Katie Daniels was whistled for body checking after standing up a Northeastern forward at the blue line. Rachel Llanes redirected a shot by Julia Marty between van der Bliek’s pads to notch the goal.
The second period looked better for the Engineers despite several penalties, however a blatant dive by a Northeastern skater late in the period drew an RPI penalty and led to a Northeastern goal just nine seconds into the ensuing power play, making the score 3-0 with just 13 seconds left in the period.
Katie MacSorley made it 4-0 for the Huskies at 6:45 of the third when Claire Santostefano fed a perfect pass from behind the net to MacSorely who had an easy tap-in for the goal. Taylor Horton broke Northeastern’s shutout bid at 11:30 as she fired a shot from the point which deflected off a Northeastern defender, but the Engineers couldn’t build any momentum off the goal. Julia Marty gave the Huskies their fifth goal at 19:55 and sent the Engineers back to Troy with a 5-1 loss in the record books.
RPI opens ECAC play next weekend on the road at SLU and Clarkson. Both teams are off to surprisingly tough starts, with the Saints going 1-4-1 and the Golden Knights going 1-6-1 in the opening stretch. Clarkson has had particular trouble finding offense, being shutout three times already this season, while SLU has lost several close games in the recent going. If RPI can regroup from a tough loss against Northeastern, they could face the North Country trip at a prime time to sneak some points from a pair of teams who more than likely are going to see things turn around before we get too deep into the ECAC schedule. Clarkson and SLU can be expected to come out firing though, looking to put the early non-conference games behind them and set things straight in the games that matter.
Neither game will be broadcast by WRPI next weekend, however SLU and Clarkson both have pay-per-view video available through America One (formerly B2). Without a Peer will tweet updates during the games, but at limited intervals as online live stats will allow.
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RPI at Providence
Non-Conference Game – Schneider Arena (Providence, RI)
10/22/10 – 7:00pm
RPI 3, Providence 2 (OT)
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/wprvren1.o22
RECAPS:
RECORD: 1-3-2 (0-0-0 ECAC)
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RPI at Northeastern
Non-Conference Game – Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
10/24/10 – 1:00pm
Northeastern 5, RPI 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/wnoeren1.o24
RECAPS:
RECORD: 1-4-2 (0-0-0 ECAC)
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Upcoming Games
Oct. 29 – at SLU (7pm)
Oct. 30 – at Clarkson (4pm)
Nov. 5 – Princeton (7pm)
Nov. 6 – Quinnipiac (4pm)
Nov. 12 – at Yale (7pm)
Nov. 13 – at Brown (4pm)
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WOMEN’S HOCKEY
The Engineers went 1-1-0 last week, defeating Providence (3-2 OT) before losing at Northeastern (5-1). Sophomore Taylor Horton (St. Thomas, ON) had a goal in each contest, including the game-winner over the Friars. Rensselaer is back on the ice this weekend as it opens its ECAC Hockey schedule at North Country rivals St. Lawrence and Clarkson on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (4pm), respectively. Both games can be seen via pay-per-view at http://www.b2tv.com/partner_members.asp?id=27.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
It's a Win-Win
What's that you say? You haven't seen any stupid photoshops yet and you're getting worried?
Well, have no fear.
Taylor Horton scored a clutch overtime goal for the Engineers in overtime, scoring the ladies' first win of the season in dramatic fashion with a 3-2 upset victory at Providence. Meanwhile, Brock Higgs really punched the accelerator for the Engineers, scoring the first goal of the game (and the first of his career) in the first period, then scoring the game winning goal in the second period to lead the men to a 4-1 victory over RIT. On top of that, his folks won the 50/50 raffle. Some guys have all the luck.
Well, have no fear.
Taylor Horton scored a clutch overtime goal for the Engineers in overtime, scoring the ladies' first win of the season in dramatic fashion with a 3-2 upset victory at Providence. Meanwhile, Brock Higgs really punched the accelerator for the Engineers, scoring the first goal of the game (and the first of his career) in the first period, then scoring the game winning goal in the second period to lead the men to a 4-1 victory over RIT. On top of that, his folks won the 50/50 raffle. Some guys have all the luck.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Tough Weekend, We Can't Deny
Think these Atlantic Hockey weekends are a joke? Think again. Atlantic Hockey is improving yearly. Tonight's opponent, RIT, beat Denver and New Hampshire last year in the NCAA tournament, not in some throwaway game. Niagara, the Saturday night opponent? RPI hasn't beaten them in the last four tries, going back to 1997, the first time the two teams met. Still, this is a weekend the Engineers need to sweep - or at the very least, continue to have consistently decent outings - if they're going to be contenders in the ECAC.
The women continue their grueling opening schedule, still in search of their first win. They start off against 5-1-0 Providence tonight - the Friars have already shredded Clarkson 5-0 this season, so... yeah, another tough one. Sunday afternoon brings 3-1-1 Northeastern, but the Huskies did need overtime to beat Union... time will tell.
In the meantime, it's time to get psyched up for another weekend of great hockey. Here's a cover version of the best song ever released on an album of the same name by a band of the same name. The covering band is metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch, who toured Iraq earlier this year, so this pumpup doubles as a salute to our armed forces as we get ready to exercise one of our fundamental rights in a week or so. But for now... it's three days of what should be some great, great hockey.
The women continue their grueling opening schedule, still in search of their first win. They start off against 5-1-0 Providence tonight - the Friars have already shredded Clarkson 5-0 this season, so... yeah, another tough one. Sunday afternoon brings 3-1-1 Northeastern, but the Huskies did need overtime to beat Union... time will tell.
In the meantime, it's time to get psyched up for another weekend of great hockey. Here's a cover version of the best song ever released on an album of the same name by a band of the same name. The covering band is metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch, who toured Iraq earlier this year, so this pumpup doubles as a salute to our armed forces as we get ready to exercise one of our fundamental rights in a week or so. But for now... it's three days of what should be some great, great hockey.
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