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

Women's Hockey - Dartmouth & Harvard (9/10 Jan)

With non-conference matchups out of the way, RPI returned to league play but their ECAC foes were not kind to them. Dartmouth and Harvard defeated the Engineers by 3-0 and 4-1 margins respectively at Houston Field House, bringing RPI's record to a dismal 4-15-3, and 2-8-0 in ECAC play.

Dartmouth

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Special teams cost the Engineers dearly as they went 0-for-4 on the power play but surrendered two goals to Dartmouth on the penalty kill en route to a 3-0 shutout loss Friday night.

Kelly O'Brien made 15 saves on 18 shots, but the Engineers' offense failed to threaten even with four consecutive power plays in the late second and early third periods. Kennedy Ottenbreit picked up a hat trick, scoring all three goals for the Big Green.

Dartmouth made the most of their chances, scoring early in each of two chances on the man advantage. The first came 20 seconds into their first power play and 17 seconds before the end of the first, when Kennedy Ottenbreit got the Big Green on the board with a 1-0 lead.

After killing two penalties in the middle of the second, RPI failed to convert on their four chances, and when Dartmouth was finally given another power play in the third, they converted it just 17 seconds in - with Ottenbreit again picking it up.

Ottenbreit completed the hat trick at 17:39 of the third with the RPI net empty in favor of an extra attacker. Despite pulling O'Brien again for some more 6-on-5 time, the Engineers couldn't score and were shut out for the fifth time this season and second time in three games - including back-to-back ECAC matchups.

Harvard

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

If a win over Dartmouth wasn't in the cards for the Engineers, one against Harvard was that much less likely, and RPI rather unsurprisingly fell 4-1 to the #6-ranked Crimson on Saturday afternoon.

Taylor Mahoney scored with the net empty and 38 seconds on the clock to avoid the shutout, but the Engineers couldn't muster any other goals against a Crimson defense that has been stingy of late. RPI pushed harder as the game wore on, which wasn't hard after being outshot 16-1 and outscored 3-0 in the first period.

Lexie Laing was responsible for the first two of those goals, coming exactly 10 minutes apart at 5:37 and 15:37 of the first period. The tallies were even nearly identical in execution, with Laing drifting in close to the net unmarked by the RPI defense for an easy tap-in off a feed from Mary Parker both times.

Sarah Edney made it a 3-0 lead in the final seconds of the first, taking advantage of a disorganized frenzy in front of Kelly O'Brien to fire a shot from the point through traffic and into the back of the net.

The 3-0 lead held up through the second period, in which the Engineers were outshot 12-5, and most of the third, where RPI finally started to mount a little pressure. However with the net empty in favor of the extra attacker, Parker fired the puck from outside the RPI zone into the open net.

Burke pulled O'Brien again leading to Mahoney's extra attacker goal, but at the end of the afternoon the Engineers were swept on the weekend. The only saving grace came from the fact that Yale (4 points ahead of the Engineers) and Colgate/Union/Brown (2 points behind the Engineers) were also swept, keeping the bottom 5 spots unchanged from last week and leaving RPI a glimmer of hope in their fight to make the playoffs.

RPI hits the road next weekend and things won't be any easier for them as they hit the North Country for league matchups against St. Lawrence (7pm Friday) and Clarkson (4pm Saturday).

-----

RPI vs. Dartmouth
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/9/15 - 7:00pm
Dartmouth 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wdarren1.j09
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4443

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/9/WICE_0109154846.aspx
Dartmouth: http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209842991
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SmWLfKDdvY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/889-womens-hockey-vs-dartmouth

RECORD: 4-14-3 (2-7-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Harvard
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/10/15 - 4:00pm
Harvard 4, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wharren1.j10
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4444

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/10/WICE_0110155922.aspx
Harvard: http://gocrimson.com/sports/wice/2014-15/releases/20150110311vzs
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGzsNphc2YY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/890-womens-hockey-vs-harvard

RECORD: 4-15-3 (2-8-0 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 16 - at St. Lawrence (7pm)
Jan. 17 - at Clarkson (4pm)
Jan. 23 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 24 - Union (4pm)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 24 pts. (11-1-2) (.857)
2. Harvard - 19 pts. (9-1-1) (.864)
3t. Clarkson - 16 pts. (7-2-2) (.727)
3t. Princeton - 16 pts. (8-6-0) (.571)
5. St. Lawrence - 14 pts. (6-3-2) (.636)
6. Cornell - 12 pts. (5-2-2) (.667)
7. Dartmouth - 11 pts. (5-5-1) (.500)
8. Yale - 8 pts. (4-6-0) (.400)
9. RPI - 4 pts. (2-8-0) (.200)
10t. Colgate - 2 pts. (1-8-0) (.111)
10t. Brown - 2 pts (1-9-0) (.100)
10t. Union - 2 pts. (1-9-0) (.100)

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.

Can't Stand Losing

It's far easier to write game recaps and write about the team when they're being successful, or at least having some ups and down. It's not as easy when the losses begin to mount. But there's a very different reason why, for the last couple of weeks, I've had a hard time sitting down and adding content here at WaP.

Saturday, after the Engineers fell for the 8th time in a row, I politely listened as a gentleman I don't know but who apparently knew who I was talked my ear off for a good 10 minutes about how much the Institute needed to can Seth Appert. I listened and nodded to be polite but it really was just putting me in a worse and worse place the longer I listened to it.

It was then that I came to the full realization that the only thing worse than having to watch our team lose game after game is to hear people whining and complaining about the team losing game after game - and that this was really the exclusive reason why all of this has been a lot less fun lately.

For years now, both in cyberspace and in the arenas of the ECAC, especially Houston Field House, it's hard to get away from the constant moaning by armchair athletic directors who have the perfect solutions for all of the team's ills. They know exactly why the team struggles and they know how to fix it. They've got rationales for every minor event that happens.

(Oddly, they were seldom heard from in 2010 and 2011, and again were rather silent during the 2012-13 season, up until the end.)

It came to a serious head over the weekend, when conspiracy theories and wild speculation ran rampant over the suspension of the team's four captains for the Miami series.

Once more, there were people who seemed to know exactly what was going on and what it meant for the team. Clearly, one tweeter told WaP, there was some kind of player revolt against the coaching staff and the captains were being punished for it. The gentleman I met at the game on Saturday insisted that the suspensions were proof that Appert had lost control of the team.

On top of this, WaP had a Union fan hurling tweets our way accusing us of some kind of double standard, since we'd dared to mention that something smelled funny at Union when they hit some of their upperclassmen with suspensions. Of course, there's a big difference between being asked if there was a legal matter involved and saying "no comment" like Rick Bennett, or being able to flatly deny it like Seth Appert did this past weekend.

Since we don't know exactly why the suspensions happened, accusations like these are basically just ways for people who already hate the coaches to fuel their own agenda. The suspensions are over, and no one left the team over the incident, but that's not going to diminish the shouting at all.

I've long been hesitant to level criticism against the coaching staff in part because the hysterical, foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Appert crowd has for so long been so over the top that any rational, even-handed criticism will ultimately come off looking either weak or pseudo-sycophantic.

That's because it hasn't just been directed at one person. I've seen people try to blame the athletic trainers for the team's rash of injuries. I've seen gripes leveled at the assistant coaches, whose precise areas of expertise aren't well known outside of what has been passively mentioned in interviews, whose sole fault it is that certain parts of the Engineers' game aren't perfect. I've even seen those who for some odd reason save a special level of vitriol for the athletic director (who's apparently so awful and bad at his job that he's leaving to take a job offered to him at a Division I school).

Long ago, before I was even a student at RPI, I followed the RPISPORT-L discussion listserv, but I abandoned that not too long into my tenure at the Institute because it eventually degraded into a complete cesspool of people lashing out at Dan Fridgen, his staff, and worst of all, student-athletes themselves. I tried joining up again a few years back to see if anything had changed - it hadn't. RPI threads on the USCHO Fan Forum seem to have devolved into a similar mess in recent years.

I can deal with losing streaks. I can even find ways to endure them with at least a fake smile on my face. If you're following WaP on Twitter (and if you're not... why not?), you've seen that our band of loyal twits have even been willing to poke fun at the team's struggles from time to time. It doesn't mean we want the team to fail, it means we're trying to continue deriving enjoyment from something we all love. But now, we're starting to see some folks practically rooting for failure, just to buttress their own positions on things that need to change.

Watching and covering this team on the radio is something that I enjoy - so much so that I have been blogging without pay for six seasons now. But the end of the day, it's still just a game. We all have far more important things to be worked up about in our lives. If I allowed myself, as a fan, to get so consumed by it that I had nothing but bile for the people who run the team, I'd be losing a big part of why I watch the team play in the first place.

And worst of all, I'd be ruining the experience for others.

Everyone's got an opinion. I've got my own, incidentally. There's a serious number of people out there who need to realize that not everyone wants to hear it, especially in detail.

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)

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.

Men's Hockey - at Harvard, Miami (30 Dec, 2/3 Jan)

Having a schedule rife with the nation's top teams is a challenge under the best of circumstances, but when you're having to deal with continuing injuries to some of your most important players - and then having a team issue that ends with the suspension of the team's captains - it's a pretty tough row to hoe. Returning to play after a break of over two weeks, the Engineers briefly took a lead against #4 Harvard in ECAC play, but fell 6-2 after giving up the game's last five scores. Then, with a seriously depleted roster due to the aforementioned suspensions, RPI fought bravely twice against #6 Miami, but couldn't break out of their losing streak, dropping 3-2 and 3-0 games at home. RPI's losing streak is now at eight.

Harvard
McGowan-Bubela-DeVito
Wood-Neal-Bourbonnais
Melanson-Schroeder-Laliberte
Fulton, Gillespie

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Prapavessis-Wilson
Bell

Kasdorf

The big question coming into the unofficial start of the second half of the season revolved around the health of several Engineers. The return of Drew Melanson from a bout with mono, of Travis Fulton and Zach Schroeder from shoulder and ankle injuries respectively, and of Jason Kasdorf from a lower-body injury were certainly big, but they came with a couple of disappointing caveats - Lou Nanne's shoulder was still bothering him, and the injury he appeared to have aggravated against BU apparently wasn't even the same injury that he originally suffered. Mark Miller, who had been playing with bruised ribs, suffered a freak ankle injury in practice, and Viktor Liljegren, previously unhurt, was out with a back injury.

The optimism that sprung with the return especially of Melanson and Kasdorf was dashed pretty quickly. The Engineers have been giving up the first goal of the game with some frequency this year (they've only scored first three times), but on Tuesday night in Boston, it took just 1:21 of game time for RPI to be trailing 1-0 as Luke Esposito scored unassisted after only 81 seconds to open the scoring.

RPI did not back down, and actually turned the game around rather quickly. As part of a fairly dominant first period performance, the Engineers netted a pair of goals from returning players to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Melanson scored his second of the season from Jacob Laliberte and Matt Neal about three minutes after Esposito's goal, and Schroeder hit his second of the year all alone at 11:39. RPI outshot the home team 13-4 in the opening 20 minutes.

However, that was definitely the peak of the evening for the Engineers. They'd caught Harvard flat-footed in the first, and the Crimson rebounded in the second while RPI seemed a bit off from where they'd been to start the game. Harvard's Jimmy Vesey tied the game just 21 seconds into the second, then about three minutes later got a pair of goals nine seconds apart to break the game open at 4-2.

We've seen the Engineers struggle to come back from a bang-bang turn of events like that in the past, but a great deal of their problems came from the fact that the Harvard that played the last 40 minutes better resembled the one that's accrued only one loss all season and has arguably become the best team in the country. Steve Michalek stopped 22 shots in the final two periods, and the Crimson picked up two more goals, including a power play tally, in the third to cruise to the 6-2 victory and pick up another two points in ECAC play.

RPI, meanwhile, dropped their fourth straight league game after starting the ECAC schedule off with a 4-1-0 record.

Miami (Friday)
Liljegren-Bubela-Bourbonnais
Melanson-Schroeder-Wood
Laliberte-DeVito-Fulton
Bokenfohr, Gillespie

Bradley-Hampton
Prapavessis-Bell
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

Viktor Liljegren, one of three very important freshman forwards who have been part of giving the offense what life it's had this season, returned to the lineup for RPI's non-conference series with Miami, but the story of the weekend wasn't who was playing, but rather, who wasn't. With Lou Nanne and Mark Miller still nursing injuries, the team's four captains - Curtis Leonard, Luke Curadi, Matt Neal, and Mark McGowan - were pulled out of the lineup as well, leaving the Engineers with just 10 forwards and 7 defensemen available to play - meaning it was literally an "all hands on deck" moment.

4:40 was the moment on Friday when the usual 1-0 scoreline appeared on the board with the Engineers trailing, as Miami's Riley Barber put one home to give the Redhawks the lead. Miami held an 8-6 edge in shots on goal after one period, as there was plenty of good back and forth action.

Chris Bradley scored his second goal of the season on the power play just 22 seconds into the second period, getting a good screen from Riley Bourbonnais in the process, to tie the game up at one, the third time in four games that RPI had responded with the game's second goal after initially falling behind.

10 minutes later, Miami got their lead back, followed by a second tally from Barber, this time on the power play, at 14:36. That put the Redhawks ahead 3-1 heading into the second intermission. RPI's defensive miscues in the middle stanza put them in a hole that ultimately they would not be able to recover from.

Arguably, however, the Engineers did have the better of the play in the third period. Melanson's third goal of the season and second in as many games cut Miami's lead in half with about eight and a half minutes remaining, and RPI certainly had opportunities to complete the comeback, especially late when they were practically gift wrapped a lengthy two-man advantage, but the home team failed to uncork even a single shot on the power play, and a penalty to Jake Wood just as the second penalty expired scotched any chance the Engineers had to complete the comeback.

Miami (Saturday)
Liljegren-Bubela-Bourbonnais
Melanson-Schroeder-Wood
Laliberte-DeVito-Fulton
Bokenfohr, Gillespie

Bradley-Hampton
Prapavessis-Bell
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

The following night, it was learned that the Engineer captains had been suspended "indefinitely" for an unknown violation of team rules. That suspension continued into the back end of the Miami weekend, which resulted in RPI, out of necessity, putting the exact same lineup out the next night, dressing one fewer man than allowed.

The relative evenness of Friday night's game was not seen on Saturday, and a lot of that had to do with strong play from Miami netminder Jay Williams, who made 22 saves on 22 shots to shut out the Engineers. Meanwhile, the return from the World Junior Championship of Team USA's Anthony Louis injected a bit more life into the visitors. Louis set up Miami's first goal of the night by feeding Cody Murphy in the slot from behind the RPI net to put the Engineers in that oh so typical 1-0 hole.

RPI held their own during the first period, outshooting Miami 12-9 due in large part to a pair of power plays late in the period, but Williams was equal to the task. With RPI not coming terribly close to scoring, the Redhawks basically shut the door midway through the period with a quick burst of two goals reminiscent of RPI's experience against Harvard - this time, the goals were just seven seconds apart. In the blink of an eye, a one goal game was a three goal game.

Miami's physical play disrupted the Engineers all night long, and one RPI player who seemed to take significant umbrage was Milos Bubela. The junior was tagged for interference 18 seconds after the third Miami goal, and was fortunate not to pick up a major and a game misconduct (or more) for what ended up being a boarding penalty in the third period.

The loss extended the season-long losing streak to eight in a row (three in ECAC play), the team's longest drought since an eight-game losing streak in 2011-12.

RPI has now gone 11 consecutive games without reaching 3 goals scored. They also had 11 straight games of two or fewer goals in 2011-12 (which included the aforementioned eight-game schneid). One more would tie the school record of 12 in a row, set between 1912 and 1916 (when hockey was played rather differently).

It's all ECAC matchups from here on out (excluding the Mayor's Cup, played against league foes Union but not counting in the standings), so the time is now if the season is going to be salvaged. RPI does head into the meat of the league schedule with eight crucial points, but many teams have games in hand over the Engineers. It starts with another tough outing against nationally ranked Quinnipiac, followed by what absolutely must be a must-win game no matter what happens against a Princeton team that has been one of the worst in the nation in pretty much every category.

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

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.800)
2. Harvard (.778)
3. Clarkson (.714)
4. St. Lawrence (.571)
5. Colgate (.583)
6. Yale (.562)
7. Cornell (.500)
8. RPI (.444)
9. Union (.438)
10. Dartmouth (.438)
11. Brown (.125)
12. Princeton (.100)

RPI at #4 Harvard
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/30/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Harvard 6, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 6-13-1 (4-5-0, 8pts)

#6 Miami at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/2/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Miami 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 6-14-1 (4-5-0, 8pts)

#6 Miami at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/3/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Miami 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 6-15-1 (4-5-0, 8pts)

Upcoming games
09 Jan - at #15 Quinnipiac
10 Jan - at Princeton
16 Jan - #17 Colgate
17 Jan - Cornell
24 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)