So... this was due yesterday, and it's late. A thousand apologies. Busy as can be on Thanksgiving weekend.
Yesterday afternoon, the Engineers defeated St. Cloud 4-1 in a game you should have been able to hear on WRPI, except for the fact that Public Safety apparently wouldn't let anyone into the station to turn the transmitter on and start broadcasting. What you missed were two point efforts from Lauren Wash, Jordan Smelker, and Alexa Gruschow as RPI defeated the Huskies, although the Tute did need a goal with just over two minutes left, followed by an empty netter, to sew things up tight.
St. Cloud is a struggling team, but they're by no means pushovers. They managed a one-goal loss to a then-still unbeaten Minnesota, and they took three points out of four from Minnesota-Duluth in their best weekend of the season, a decent accomplishment even if the Bulldogs aren't world-beaters right now.
RPI, as well, has had their own struggles completing a full weekend. It's been nearly a full calendar year since the Engineers swept a weekend that wasn't Union - when they hosted Brown and Yale on December 7 and 8, 2012. For the last road weekend swept, go all the way back to January 22 and 23, 2010, against Harvard and Dartmouth, and the last non-conference road weekend swept was November 17/18, 2006 at Sacred Heart.
So when you consider that it was still a one-goal game late in the affair yesterday afternoon, the repeat showing this afternoon could be a real... dogfight? Wow, that was lame. But anyway, this time, you've got a pumpup to get you motivated for hopefully being able to actually listen to the game on WRPI - a treat, since most women's road games aren't broadcast, especially not from Minnesota (we can thank Minnesota native Perry Laskaris, home for the holiday, for this).
Puck drop, eastern time, is about 4:07pm. Let's pump it up with a short one from the mid-90s, quick enough to get the blood flowing in the short time we've got left this weekend.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving from WaP
From all of us here at Without a Peer, have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Men's Hockey - at Mercyhurst (22/23 Nov)
Road splits are usually acceptable, especially in league play, where averaging a split on the road and better at home is usually going to be enough to finish a team in the top four in the ECAC. A road split against an Atlantic Hockey team, if you're going to be one of those teams in the top four at least, is a lot less desirable, especially when you play especially poorly in the game where you lose. Mercyhurst may be expected to be one of the best teams in Atlantic Hockey this season, but the split the Engineers picked up in Erie still stings. Even though two of the goals on Friday night were empty-netters to account for the 5-2 loss, it was still a very rough game for the Engineers, even with their mirror-like 5-2 bounceback the next night.
Friday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Neal-Laliberte-Schroeder
Zalewski-Miller-Bubela
Fulton-McGowan-Bourbonnais
Leonard-Bradley
Saturday
Neal-Higgs-Haggerty
Wood-Rogic-Tinordi
Zalewski-Miller-Bubela
Laliberte, Bourbonnais
Leboeuf-Leonard
Curadi-Hampton
Bradley-Dolan
Bokenfohr
RPI rolled an unusual 11-forward, 7-defenseman look on Saturday, with Zach Schroeder, Mark McGowan, Travis Fulton, and Parker Reno coming out of the lineup and Ryan Haggerty, Jake Wood, Guy Leboeuf, and Craig Bokenfohr entering.
The returning players wasted no time in making up for their absences, as Leboeuf notched his third goal of the year three minutes into the game to put RPI up 1-0, then later in the period Haggerty upped his national goal scoring lead with his 14th of the year to make it 2-0 heading into the first break.
The lethargy looked like it was coming back in the second, as the Engineers registered just three shots on goal in the period, against 13 for Mercyhurst. The Lakers did score twice in the second period, bookending Haggerty's second of the night and 15th of the year (on the power play), the latter of which came in the waning moments of the second to cut the RPI lead to 3-2, a goal that looked like it could be a momentum swinger given the Engineers' difficulties and the Lakers' opportunism.
An early penalty to Mercyhurst allowed the Engineers to settle back in, however, and they turned the offense back on, peppering 15 shots in the third, two of which hit paydirt as Curtis Leonard notched his first goal of the year at 8:05 and Jacob Laliberte hitting his 3rd of the season at 13:50, both at even strength, to make it a 5-2 RPI edge. Scott Diebold made 23 saves on 25 shots in the game to pick up his 6th win of the season and salvage the weekend split for a team still striving to put together a complete 60 minutes of top-level hockey.
Other junk - For the second straight week, the Engineers dropped in the USCHO poll by four spaces, moving this time from #14 to #18 ahead of their idle week, where they are tied with Minnesota-Duluth. Other ranked ECAC teams this week are #5 Quinnipiac (split with Princeton, down one), #9 Yale (beat Colgate, lost to Cornell, no change), #10 Clarkson (idle, up one), #14 Cornell (swept Brown/Yale, up four), and #15 Union (idle, up two). St. Lawrence (3) also received votes. Other ranked teams on the RPI schedule include #1 Minnesota (no change, with just 22 first-place votes, fewer than #2 St. Cloud State, who they beat for the top spot by 1 vote), #6 Ferris State (up four, with one first place vote), #7 Boston College (no change), and #20 New Hampshire (no change). Boston University (14) and Denver (13) also received votes.
With two more goals on the weekend, Ryan Haggerty extends his national lead in total goals to 15, his nearest competitor for that title is Boston College junior Johnny Gaudreau, who has 12. Although Haggerty's goals per game total has slipped a bit - as was to be expected - he still leads the nation there with 1.15 per contest, Robert Morris junior Cody Wydo is the only other player in the nation with at least one goal per game with 11 in 11 games. Haggerty's 7 power play goals is also tops in the country, he is trailed by Northern Michigan senior Stephan Vigier with 6, then a whole slew of players who are tied for third with 4.
Haggerty is 4th in the nation in points per game at 1.54, Brock Higgs is tied for 27th in that category with 1.21. Haggerty's 20 points is tied for third nationally, trailing Gaudreau and SLU senior Greg Carey, tied with Quinnipiac freshman Sam Anas.
The Engineers are idle for Thanksgiving weekend, they return to ECAC play in two weeks hosting national runners-up Quinnipiac and then Princeton in a pair of key league matchups, the final two of the 2013 calendar year for the Engineers, who are in need of league points after dropping five of the last eight of them.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 13 points (6-1-1)
2. Union - 10 points (5-1-0)
3. Colgate - 10 points (5-3-0)
4. Cornell - 9 points (4-3-1)
5. Clarkson - 8 points (4-2-0)
6. Yale - 8 points (3-1-2)
7. St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-2-2)
8. RPI - 6 points (2-3-2)
9. Harvard - 5 points (2-4-1)
10. Princeton - 4 points (2-6-0)
11. Brown - 3 points (1-4-1)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-6-0)
By winning percentage
1. Union - .833
2. Quinnipiac - .812
3. Clarkson - .667
4. Yale - .667
5. Colgate - .625
6. Cornell - .562
7. St. Lawrence - .500
8. RPI - .429
9. Harvard - .357
10. Princeton - .250
11. Brown - .250
12. Dartmouth - .000
#14 RPI at Mercyhurst
Non-Conference Game - Mercyhurst Ice Center (Erie, PA)
11/22/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Mercyhurst 5, RPI 2
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
Upcoming games
06 Dec - #5 Quinnipiac
07 Dec - Princeton
13 Dec - Denver
14 Dec - Denver
15 Dec - US Under-18 Team (exhibition)
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Neal-Laliberte-Schroeder
Zalewski-Miller-Bubela
Fulton-McGowan-Bourbonnais
Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Hampton-Dolan
Hampton-Dolan
Diebold
A number of changes came to the RPI lineup on Friday night, not all of them based on injury or poor play. Jake Wood and Guy Leboeuf, both of whom picked up bad penalties against Union on Saturday night the previous week, were out of the lineup, while Ryan Haggerty had a legitimate excuse for not being in the lineup - a death in the family had him home in Connecticut, and his flight to Erie was canceled, so he did not arrive in time to suit up.
Regardless of the lineup, RPI certainly came out of the gate flat and paid for it four-and-a-half minutes in by giving up the first goal of the contest to the homestanding Lakers. The Engineers got things straightened out enough to take the lead into the first intermission, however, as the first collegiate goals for defensemen Phil Hampton and Chris Bradley, coming at 8:08 and 17:30 respectively, put RPI ahead. Hampton's goal came just one second after RPI's first power play of the game had expired.
Unfortunately, the Engineers' flat play that started the first period would return in the second period, and it never seemed to go away. Despite gaining the first power play of the second period, RPI managed just five shots on goal in the middle stanza. Meanwhile, Mercyhurst scored the tying goal about 13 minutes into the second on one of 15 shots they took during that same period.
Despite the rough play from a lethargic Engineers squad, the score remained tied until there were just five minutes left in the game. As a hooking penalty to Bo Dolan expired, Mercyhurst took the lead back, putting RPI in a hole that would only get worse with the extra skater, as the Lakers added empty net goals at 18:41 and 19:42 to ice things up, 5-2. Although RPI was certainly in the game on the scoreboard until very late, this was one of those rare occasions where the inflated final tally from the empty netters may have actually better described the flow of the game.
A number of changes came to the RPI lineup on Friday night, not all of them based on injury or poor play. Jake Wood and Guy Leboeuf, both of whom picked up bad penalties against Union on Saturday night the previous week, were out of the lineup, while Ryan Haggerty had a legitimate excuse for not being in the lineup - a death in the family had him home in Connecticut, and his flight to Erie was canceled, so he did not arrive in time to suit up.
Regardless of the lineup, RPI certainly came out of the gate flat and paid for it four-and-a-half minutes in by giving up the first goal of the contest to the homestanding Lakers. The Engineers got things straightened out enough to take the lead into the first intermission, however, as the first collegiate goals for defensemen Phil Hampton and Chris Bradley, coming at 8:08 and 17:30 respectively, put RPI ahead. Hampton's goal came just one second after RPI's first power play of the game had expired.
Unfortunately, the Engineers' flat play that started the first period would return in the second period, and it never seemed to go away. Despite gaining the first power play of the second period, RPI managed just five shots on goal in the middle stanza. Meanwhile, Mercyhurst scored the tying goal about 13 minutes into the second on one of 15 shots they took during that same period.
Despite the rough play from a lethargic Engineers squad, the score remained tied until there were just five minutes left in the game. As a hooking penalty to Bo Dolan expired, Mercyhurst took the lead back, putting RPI in a hole that would only get worse with the extra skater, as the Lakers added empty net goals at 18:41 and 19:42 to ice things up, 5-2. Although RPI was certainly in the game on the scoreboard until very late, this was one of those rare occasions where the inflated final tally from the empty netters may have actually better described the flow of the game.
Saturday
Neal-Higgs-Haggerty
Wood-Rogic-Tinordi
Zalewski-Miller-Bubela
Laliberte, Bourbonnais
Leboeuf-Leonard
Curadi-Hampton
Bradley-Dolan
Bokenfohr
Diebold
RPI rolled an unusual 11-forward, 7-defenseman look on Saturday, with Zach Schroeder, Mark McGowan, Travis Fulton, and Parker Reno coming out of the lineup and Ryan Haggerty, Jake Wood, Guy Leboeuf, and Craig Bokenfohr entering.
The returning players wasted no time in making up for their absences, as Leboeuf notched his third goal of the year three minutes into the game to put RPI up 1-0, then later in the period Haggerty upped his national goal scoring lead with his 14th of the year to make it 2-0 heading into the first break.
The lethargy looked like it was coming back in the second, as the Engineers registered just three shots on goal in the period, against 13 for Mercyhurst. The Lakers did score twice in the second period, bookending Haggerty's second of the night and 15th of the year (on the power play), the latter of which came in the waning moments of the second to cut the RPI lead to 3-2, a goal that looked like it could be a momentum swinger given the Engineers' difficulties and the Lakers' opportunism.
An early penalty to Mercyhurst allowed the Engineers to settle back in, however, and they turned the offense back on, peppering 15 shots in the third, two of which hit paydirt as Curtis Leonard notched his first goal of the year at 8:05 and Jacob Laliberte hitting his 3rd of the season at 13:50, both at even strength, to make it a 5-2 RPI edge. Scott Diebold made 23 saves on 25 shots in the game to pick up his 6th win of the season and salvage the weekend split for a team still striving to put together a complete 60 minutes of top-level hockey.
With two more goals on the weekend, Ryan Haggerty extends his national lead in total goals to 15, his nearest competitor for that title is Boston College junior Johnny Gaudreau, who has 12. Although Haggerty's goals per game total has slipped a bit - as was to be expected - he still leads the nation there with 1.15 per contest, Robert Morris junior Cody Wydo is the only other player in the nation with at least one goal per game with 11 in 11 games. Haggerty's 7 power play goals is also tops in the country, he is trailed by Northern Michigan senior Stephan Vigier with 6, then a whole slew of players who are tied for third with 4.
Haggerty is 4th in the nation in points per game at 1.54, Brock Higgs is tied for 27th in that category with 1.21. Haggerty's 20 points is tied for third nationally, trailing Gaudreau and SLU senior Greg Carey, tied with Quinnipiac freshman Sam Anas.
The Engineers are idle for Thanksgiving weekend, they return to ECAC play in two weeks hosting national runners-up Quinnipiac and then Princeton in a pair of key league matchups, the final two of the 2013 calendar year for the Engineers, who are in need of league points after dropping five of the last eight of them.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 13 points (6-1-1)
2. Union - 10 points (5-1-0)
3. Colgate - 10 points (5-3-0)
4. Cornell - 9 points (4-3-1)
5. Clarkson - 8 points (4-2-0)
6. Yale - 8 points (3-1-2)
7. St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-2-2)
8. RPI - 6 points (2-3-2)
9. Harvard - 5 points (2-4-1)
10. Princeton - 4 points (2-6-0)
11. Brown - 3 points (1-4-1)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-6-0)
By winning percentage
1. Union - .833
2. Quinnipiac - .812
3. Clarkson - .667
4. Yale - .667
5. Colgate - .625
6. Cornell - .562
7. St. Lawrence - .500
8. RPI - .429
9. Harvard - .357
10. Princeton - .250
11. Brown - .250
12. Dartmouth - .000
#14 RPI at Mercyhurst
Non-Conference Game - Mercyhurst Ice Center (Erie, PA)
11/22/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Mercyhurst 5, RPI 2
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
RECORD: 6-5-2 (2-3-2 ECAC, 6 pts)
#14 RPI at Mercyhurst
Non-Conference Game - Mercyhurst Ice Center (Erie, PA)
11/23/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 5, Mercyhurst 2
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
Non-Conference Game - Mercyhurst Ice Center (Erie, PA)
11/23/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: RPI 5, Mercyhurst 2
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
RECORD: 7-5-2 (2-3-2 ECAC, 6 pts)
Upcoming games
06 Dec - #5 Quinnipiac
07 Dec - Princeton
13 Dec - Denver
14 Dec - Denver
15 Dec - US Under-18 Team (exhibition)
Friday, November 22, 2013
Show No Mercy
Last year's series against Mercyhurst came when RPI was at absolute rock bottom. They'd lost five games in a row and were winless in seven. Two of them were bad losses to Union. The last two were win 4-0 losses on the road to Dartmouth and Harvard, the latter of which included a "message sending" game in which a number of players were healthy scratches.
Then, the Lakers. A weekend before Thanksgiving. Two wins heading into a two week break for the holiday. It was the start of a 5-2-2 stretch through New Year's, the start of a fire that eventually led to a 2nd place finish in the ECAC for a team that was 0-4-0 in league play at that point. The Saturday game against Mercyhurst was the first start for a young goaltender named Jason Kasdorf, who made 30 saves on 31 shots.
Let us hope that, for this year's version of the Engineers, their rock bottom is now - because where they are now, as rough as last weekend was, is quite far ahead of where they were this time last year.
If nothing else, the hijinks that ended Saturday's game against Union did reveal one key fact about RPI. They're ticked off. Woe be to the team that has the misfortune to go up against a team that has shown at minimum, a competent defense, and an offense that has had the ability to score in bunches, that's PO'd to boot.
That team happens to be Mercyhurst once again. This time, it's on their ice, and this time, they come into this game as one of the favorites in Atlantic Hockey. There are always teams in that conference that are pushovers, but the top teams now invariably present a solid challenge to most teams from the more established conferences.
Nonetheless, for a team ranked in the Top 20 looking for a response to last weekend, these games are important - for the soul as much as for the national jockeying for position.
If this team is going to reach its goals for the year, last weekend needs to be a hiccup instead of a trend. Getting back to it and picking up wins right away is important for that to be true. Let's get to it.
Then, the Lakers. A weekend before Thanksgiving. Two wins heading into a two week break for the holiday. It was the start of a 5-2-2 stretch through New Year's, the start of a fire that eventually led to a 2nd place finish in the ECAC for a team that was 0-4-0 in league play at that point. The Saturday game against Mercyhurst was the first start for a young goaltender named Jason Kasdorf, who made 30 saves on 31 shots.
Let us hope that, for this year's version of the Engineers, their rock bottom is now - because where they are now, as rough as last weekend was, is quite far ahead of where they were this time last year.
If nothing else, the hijinks that ended Saturday's game against Union did reveal one key fact about RPI. They're ticked off. Woe be to the team that has the misfortune to go up against a team that has shown at minimum, a competent defense, and an offense that has had the ability to score in bunches, that's PO'd to boot.
That team happens to be Mercyhurst once again. This time, it's on their ice, and this time, they come into this game as one of the favorites in Atlantic Hockey. There are always teams in that conference that are pushovers, but the top teams now invariably present a solid challenge to most teams from the more established conferences.
Nonetheless, for a team ranked in the Top 20 looking for a response to last weekend, these games are important - for the soul as much as for the national jockeying for position.
If this team is going to reach its goals for the year, last weekend needs to be a hiccup instead of a trend. Getting back to it and picking up wins right away is important for that to be true. Let's get to it.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Monkeys Trying to Hump Footballs
Thought about posting this on Wednesday. Wrote most of it then, but wanted to sleep on it to see if it was still feeling right - and it does, so here it is.
The hockey that we saw for the first 55 minutes or so on Saturday night was tremendous. Two teams with a healthy dislike of each other going at it, toe to toe, without an awful lot of give. The first period featured no scoring but a helluva good 20 minutes of hockey from both sides. RPI deserved credit for staying in a game where they weren't getting a lot of good looks. It was a point of pride, at least, that the same 2-1 deficit wasn't ballooned early in the third period as it had the night before, not before getting plenty of chances to tie things up first.
Union, to their great credit, found the seams they needed to lock things up. If you were a neutral observer as a fan of the game, you'd have stood and applauded for both of Shayne Gostisbehere's goals on Saturday. Both were just outstanding. The first was an impressive fake-out that fooled basically the entire RPI defense. He'd tried it a couple of times before without finding the back of the net. That was NHL-level good, and other than the fact that it was coming against RPI and for Union, was amazing to see. The second goal had impressive pinpoint accuracy from the blue line, making its way from basically the farthest point you could shoot it and still be in the zone, crossing the crease in the process, without hitting the ice or touching anyone in front on its way in, top-shelf. That's incredible. Hopefully, Philadelphia was watching - heck, if they want to take him now, no one in Troy's going to argue.
But after that, neither team had anything whatsoever to be proud of. Both squads should be ashamed of themselves for the way things transpired once the game was out of hand. They should know how fortunate they are that none of their players are suspended for tomorrow night's games, and know equally as much that both deserve to have players suspended.
There's a big difference between playing with pride and being sore. When Ryan Haggerty launched himself at Mat Bodie behind the Union net shortly after Gostisbehere's second goal, there was no purpose behind it. It was a frustrated player taking his frustrations out on the captain of the team that has had RPI's number in the last couple of seasons.
But it crossed the line. You want to beat someone, you do it on the scoreboard. If you can't, you take your licks and you move on, as difficult as that can be sometimes. We're tired of losing to Union too. But there's going to be a next time, as much as we wanted this time to be that win we're looking for.
That was the prime example of a team that couldn't lose with magnanimity, and there were others that would be guilty of it in the game's final minute. But unfortunately, Union couldn't manage to find a way to win with any grace, either. Again, you can understand Bodie's frustration with being hit in such a dangerous way - there should have been an immediate whistle. There wasn't any. He chose the wrong option too - by immediately pursuing Haggerty and jumping him from behind. His response to a cheapshot was a bigger cheapshot.
The two rained blows upon each other. That wasn't hockey.
Beyond Bodie jumping Haggerty, Union's further retaliation continued later with Matt Krug and Kevin Sullivan blowing up Mark Miller, followed quickly by Matt Wilkins shoving Jake Wood hard into the boards after words between the two well after play had ended, with Wood retaliating with his own cheapshot. Wilkins, for good measure, grabbed his crotch in the direction of the RPI bench on his way into the penalty box.
By the last 10 seconds, even legal hip-checks were cause for starting things, as Charlie Vasaturo dumped Mike Zalewski after an open-ice check on Nick Cruice, then gave the crowd a "salute" as he departed.
Rodger Wyland, before the weekend series started, commented that the RPI-Union rivalry was the most heated in the Capital District, and he was certainly right about that. Siena-Albany in basketball gets talked about with some frequency, but there's no fire on the court when the teams play. They're friendly with each other away from the game. There's none of that between RPI and Union. It's just pure, unadulterated hate. And that's OK.
But at the end of the day, there's still winning the right way, and losing the right way. Both teams, through their late game actions on Saturday, proved that they didn't know how to handle their assigned roles of the evening. That's sad. Union, you would think after winning so many games in a row against their rivals, should have known how to act like they've been there before. RPI, despite the continued frustration, is old enough as a team to know better than to goon it up.
And so as a hockey fan, I have just one thing to say to both teams.
Grow up.
As for the Engineers... well, perhaps instead of a pumpup, they could use a climbdown instead. So here's a little something to react to the weekend with in preparation for a non-conference series on the road...
The hockey that we saw for the first 55 minutes or so on Saturday night was tremendous. Two teams with a healthy dislike of each other going at it, toe to toe, without an awful lot of give. The first period featured no scoring but a helluva good 20 minutes of hockey from both sides. RPI deserved credit for staying in a game where they weren't getting a lot of good looks. It was a point of pride, at least, that the same 2-1 deficit wasn't ballooned early in the third period as it had the night before, not before getting plenty of chances to tie things up first.
Union, to their great credit, found the seams they needed to lock things up. If you were a neutral observer as a fan of the game, you'd have stood and applauded for both of Shayne Gostisbehere's goals on Saturday. Both were just outstanding. The first was an impressive fake-out that fooled basically the entire RPI defense. He'd tried it a couple of times before without finding the back of the net. That was NHL-level good, and other than the fact that it was coming against RPI and for Union, was amazing to see. The second goal had impressive pinpoint accuracy from the blue line, making its way from basically the farthest point you could shoot it and still be in the zone, crossing the crease in the process, without hitting the ice or touching anyone in front on its way in, top-shelf. That's incredible. Hopefully, Philadelphia was watching - heck, if they want to take him now, no one in Troy's going to argue.
But after that, neither team had anything whatsoever to be proud of. Both squads should be ashamed of themselves for the way things transpired once the game was out of hand. They should know how fortunate they are that none of their players are suspended for tomorrow night's games, and know equally as much that both deserve to have players suspended.
There's a big difference between playing with pride and being sore. When Ryan Haggerty launched himself at Mat Bodie behind the Union net shortly after Gostisbehere's second goal, there was no purpose behind it. It was a frustrated player taking his frustrations out on the captain of the team that has had RPI's number in the last couple of seasons.
But it crossed the line. You want to beat someone, you do it on the scoreboard. If you can't, you take your licks and you move on, as difficult as that can be sometimes. We're tired of losing to Union too. But there's going to be a next time, as much as we wanted this time to be that win we're looking for.
That was the prime example of a team that couldn't lose with magnanimity, and there were others that would be guilty of it in the game's final minute. But unfortunately, Union couldn't manage to find a way to win with any grace, either. Again, you can understand Bodie's frustration with being hit in such a dangerous way - there should have been an immediate whistle. There wasn't any. He chose the wrong option too - by immediately pursuing Haggerty and jumping him from behind. His response to a cheapshot was a bigger cheapshot.
The two rained blows upon each other. That wasn't hockey.
Beyond Bodie jumping Haggerty, Union's further retaliation continued later with Matt Krug and Kevin Sullivan blowing up Mark Miller, followed quickly by Matt Wilkins shoving Jake Wood hard into the boards after words between the two well after play had ended, with Wood retaliating with his own cheapshot. Wilkins, for good measure, grabbed his crotch in the direction of the RPI bench on his way into the penalty box.
By the last 10 seconds, even legal hip-checks were cause for starting things, as Charlie Vasaturo dumped Mike Zalewski after an open-ice check on Nick Cruice, then gave the crowd a "salute" as he departed.
Rodger Wyland, before the weekend series started, commented that the RPI-Union rivalry was the most heated in the Capital District, and he was certainly right about that. Siena-Albany in basketball gets talked about with some frequency, but there's no fire on the court when the teams play. They're friendly with each other away from the game. There's none of that between RPI and Union. It's just pure, unadulterated hate. And that's OK.
But at the end of the day, there's still winning the right way, and losing the right way. Both teams, through their late game actions on Saturday, proved that they didn't know how to handle their assigned roles of the evening. That's sad. Union, you would think after winning so many games in a row against their rivals, should have known how to act like they've been there before. RPI, despite the continued frustration, is old enough as a team to know better than to goon it up.
And so as a hockey fan, I have just one thing to say to both teams.
Grow up.
As for the Engineers... well, perhaps instead of a pumpup, they could use a climbdown instead. So here's a little something to react to the weekend with in preparation for a non-conference series on the road...
Monday, November 18, 2013
Men's Hockey - Union (15/16 Nov)
The frustration continues to mount for RPI fans when it comes to their rivals from Union - no matter how promising the outlook, no matter who's hot and what the stats are, the Dutchmen continue to find ways to win games in the rivalry series. Although both games were closely played on the ice, once again RPI fell twice, 4-3 and 4-1, to fall behind in the race for the top of the ECAC.
Friday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Zalewski-Neal-Haggerty
Laliberte-McGowan-Schroeder
DeVito-Miller-Bubela
Leonard-Bradley
Diebold
Milos Bubela returned to the lineup on Friday, replacing Jake Wood. Otherwise, the Engineers went with the same lineup that had smoked Colgate on the previous Saturday.
If you're a believer in omens, Friday's game in Schenectady started off pretty well. With Luke Curadi in the penalty box on an interference call, Brock Higgs scored a shorthanded goal that was quite reminiscent of the double shorty slayings by Ben Barr on Union goaltender Kris Mayotte in the 2003 playoffs. After a clearance, the Union netminder played the puck basically into Higgs, who shot it into an open net to kick off the scoring for the Engineers and give them a 1-0 lead five minutes in.
That was the only lead the Engineers would ultimately enjoy on the weekend, as Union scored on their second power play opportunity of the evening about nine minutes later to tie the score. The Engineers took three penalties in the first period against none for Union, eventually being assessed the game's first four minor penalties in a row.
Union grabbed the lead a little over midway through the second period of what had been a very evenly played contest, then jumped on a lax RPI team in the first two minutes of the third period to build a commanding 4-1 lead, notching two goals in 44 seconds to take full advantage of an Engineer squad that came out for the final period very flat.
RPI did not back down, but they would be unable to overcome the three-goal deficit in full. Matt Neal scored a pair of goals, one coming two minutes after the Dutchmen had gained the three-goal edge, and a second coming with about eight minutes left in the third period, certainly giving RPI the time and the opportunity they needed to tie the score. A late power play for RPI was not converted, and despite some good opportunities with Diebold out of the net for the last two minutes of the game, the tying goal was not to be had.
Saturday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Zalewski-Neal-Haggerty
Laliberte-McGowan-Bubela
Wood-Miller-Schroeder
Leonard-Bradley
Leboeuf-Dolan
Bo Dolan and Jake Wood returned to the lineup on Saturday night, replacing Phil Hampton and Jimmy DeVito respectively, the latter of which sustained an undisclosed injury on Friday night.
The first period on Saturday was some of the finest back and forth hockey you'll see. Neither team broke onto the scoring sheet, but there was plenty of action both at even strength and on special teams, as both squads failed to score with two power plays in the opening 20 minutes. Shots were even at 8-8 in what was shaping up to be a tremendous game between a pair of heavyweight contenders.
If there was a major letdown for RPI in this game, it was on penalties early in the second period, as Union took advantage of a holding call against Parker Reno a minute and a half into the period to score the first goal, then scored almost right off the faceoff for a penalty to Milos Bubela two minutes later.
Brock Higgs scored his second goal of the weekend with just over five minutes left in the period to cut Union's lead to 2-1. The goal came at even strength, but was in part generated by a Union penalty since the Engineers kept the puck in the Union zone after their penalty had expired, and the Union goaltender was missing his stick. Ultimately, a scrum in front of the crease ended with the puck in the back of the net.
The 2-1 Union edge heading into the third set up the possibility for another classic finish. as the same scoreline had carried into the third period the previous evening. RPI even got two power play opportunities during the first half of the third, but both chances were abysmal. The Dutchmen then took advantage of a couple of bad penalties by Guy Leboeuf, both holding calls, to take a 4-1 lead in the third period for the second straight night. The major difference this time was when the 4-1 lead came - on Friday, it was early in the period, on Saturday, it was quite late, both goals by Shayne Gostisbehere on some very nice work at the blue line with under five minutes to play and just over a minute apart.
From there, things got very, very ugly. An uncalled charge behind the Union net by Ryan Haggerty led to Haggerty being clotheslined from behind by Union's captain, causing a scrum that saw Haggerty, Higgs, and two Dutchmen essentially tossed from the game with misconducts. In the game's final minute, two different scrums led to a further six players being given misconducts or game misconducts. A total of 151 penalty minutes were doled out in the final 3:13 of game time, as neither team finished the contest with really any drop of honor or respectability - Union proved to be less than humble in victory, the Engineers far from gracious in defeat.
Other junk - After three straight weeks at #10, being swept naturally caused a drop in the USCHO rankings for the Engineers, now down to #14. Also ranked from the ECAC this week are #4 Quinnipiac (swept Harvard/Dartmouth, up two with two first place votes), #9 Yale (beat Sacred Heart, no change), #11 Clarkson (beat Cornell and lost to Colgate, no change), #17 Union (previously unranked), and #18 Cornell (lost to Clarkson and beat St. Lawrence, up one). St. Lawrence (53 votes, ex-#17), and Colgate (4) also received votes. Ranked teams on RPI's schedule include #1 Minnesota (no change, up to 47 first place votes), #7 Boston College (no change), #10 Ferris State (up four), and #20 New Hampshire (previously unranked). Denver (11) and Boston University (4) also received votes.
Despite failing to register a goal on the weekend, Ryan Haggerty's 13 goals continues to lead the nation, with four players in second with 10 each. He has, however, been overtaken in total goals per game by Robert Morris junior Cody Wydo, who has 10 goals in 9 games to Haggerty's 13 in 12. His 6 power play goals is tied for most in the nation with Northern Michigan's Stephan Vigier.
Brock Higgs, meanwhile, is tied with four other players for 6th in the nation with 9 goals on the campaign, and tied for 7th in goals per game at 0.75.
RPI's team defense has plummeted from 10th to 20th at 2.25 GAA, and in a complete reversal of fortunes aided in part by the hijinks late on Saturday night, the Engineers, in the span of two weeks, have gone from the 2nd least penalized team in the nation to the 7th most penalized.
The Engineers have two weeks to lick their wounds before getting back into ECAC play - this week they travel to Mercyhurst for the first time in school history, an opportunity to bounce back from a difficult weekend before taking Thanksgiving weekend off and then welcoming one of the best teams in the nation to Houston Field House, undefeated in league play Quinnipiac.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 11 points (5-0-1)
2. Union - 10 points (5-1-0)
3. Clarkson - 8 points (4-2-0, 0 GD)
4. Colgate - 8 points (4-2-0, -2 GD)
5. Yale - 6 points (2-0-2)
6. St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-2-2)
7. RPI - 6 points (2-3-2)
8. Cornell - 5 points (2-3-1)
9. Harvard - 5 points (2-4-1)
10. Brown - 3 points (1-2-1)
11. Princeton - 2 points (1-5-0)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-6-0)
#10 RPI at Union
ECAC Game - Messa Rink (Schenectady, NY)
11/15/13 - 7:30pm
RESULT: Union 4, RPI 3
BOX SCORES
Upcoming games
22 Nov - at Mercyhurst
23 Nov - at Mercyhurst
06 Dec - #4 Quinnipiac
07 Dec - Princeton
13 Dec - Denver
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Zalewski-Neal-Haggerty
Laliberte-McGowan-Schroeder
DeVito-Miller-Bubela
Leonard-Bradley
Leboeuf-Hampton
Curadi-Reno
Curadi-Reno
Diebold
Milos Bubela returned to the lineup on Friday, replacing Jake Wood. Otherwise, the Engineers went with the same lineup that had smoked Colgate on the previous Saturday.
If you're a believer in omens, Friday's game in Schenectady started off pretty well. With Luke Curadi in the penalty box on an interference call, Brock Higgs scored a shorthanded goal that was quite reminiscent of the double shorty slayings by Ben Barr on Union goaltender Kris Mayotte in the 2003 playoffs. After a clearance, the Union netminder played the puck basically into Higgs, who shot it into an open net to kick off the scoring for the Engineers and give them a 1-0 lead five minutes in.
That was the only lead the Engineers would ultimately enjoy on the weekend, as Union scored on their second power play opportunity of the evening about nine minutes later to tie the score. The Engineers took three penalties in the first period against none for Union, eventually being assessed the game's first four minor penalties in a row.
Union grabbed the lead a little over midway through the second period of what had been a very evenly played contest, then jumped on a lax RPI team in the first two minutes of the third period to build a commanding 4-1 lead, notching two goals in 44 seconds to take full advantage of an Engineer squad that came out for the final period very flat.
RPI did not back down, but they would be unable to overcome the three-goal deficit in full. Matt Neal scored a pair of goals, one coming two minutes after the Dutchmen had gained the three-goal edge, and a second coming with about eight minutes left in the third period, certainly giving RPI the time and the opportunity they needed to tie the score. A late power play for RPI was not converted, and despite some good opportunities with Diebold out of the net for the last two minutes of the game, the tying goal was not to be had.
Saturday
Tinordi-Higgs-Rogic
Zalewski-Neal-Haggerty
Laliberte-McGowan-Bubela
Wood-Miller-Schroeder
Leonard-Bradley
Leboeuf-Dolan
Curadi-Reno
Diebold
Bo Dolan and Jake Wood returned to the lineup on Saturday night, replacing Phil Hampton and Jimmy DeVito respectively, the latter of which sustained an undisclosed injury on Friday night.
The first period on Saturday was some of the finest back and forth hockey you'll see. Neither team broke onto the scoring sheet, but there was plenty of action both at even strength and on special teams, as both squads failed to score with two power plays in the opening 20 minutes. Shots were even at 8-8 in what was shaping up to be a tremendous game between a pair of heavyweight contenders.
If there was a major letdown for RPI in this game, it was on penalties early in the second period, as Union took advantage of a holding call against Parker Reno a minute and a half into the period to score the first goal, then scored almost right off the faceoff for a penalty to Milos Bubela two minutes later.
Brock Higgs scored his second goal of the weekend with just over five minutes left in the period to cut Union's lead to 2-1. The goal came at even strength, but was in part generated by a Union penalty since the Engineers kept the puck in the Union zone after their penalty had expired, and the Union goaltender was missing his stick. Ultimately, a scrum in front of the crease ended with the puck in the back of the net.
The 2-1 Union edge heading into the third set up the possibility for another classic finish. as the same scoreline had carried into the third period the previous evening. RPI even got two power play opportunities during the first half of the third, but both chances were abysmal. The Dutchmen then took advantage of a couple of bad penalties by Guy Leboeuf, both holding calls, to take a 4-1 lead in the third period for the second straight night. The major difference this time was when the 4-1 lead came - on Friday, it was early in the period, on Saturday, it was quite late, both goals by Shayne Gostisbehere on some very nice work at the blue line with under five minutes to play and just over a minute apart.
From there, things got very, very ugly. An uncalled charge behind the Union net by Ryan Haggerty led to Haggerty being clotheslined from behind by Union's captain, causing a scrum that saw Haggerty, Higgs, and two Dutchmen essentially tossed from the game with misconducts. In the game's final minute, two different scrums led to a further six players being given misconducts or game misconducts. A total of 151 penalty minutes were doled out in the final 3:13 of game time, as neither team finished the contest with really any drop of honor or respectability - Union proved to be less than humble in victory, the Engineers far from gracious in defeat.
Despite failing to register a goal on the weekend, Ryan Haggerty's 13 goals continues to lead the nation, with four players in second with 10 each. He has, however, been overtaken in total goals per game by Robert Morris junior Cody Wydo, who has 10 goals in 9 games to Haggerty's 13 in 12. His 6 power play goals is tied for most in the nation with Northern Michigan's Stephan Vigier.
Brock Higgs, meanwhile, is tied with four other players for 6th in the nation with 9 goals on the campaign, and tied for 7th in goals per game at 0.75.
RPI's team defense has plummeted from 10th to 20th at 2.25 GAA, and in a complete reversal of fortunes aided in part by the hijinks late on Saturday night, the Engineers, in the span of two weeks, have gone from the 2nd least penalized team in the nation to the 7th most penalized.
The Engineers have two weeks to lick their wounds before getting back into ECAC play - this week they travel to Mercyhurst for the first time in school history, an opportunity to bounce back from a difficult weekend before taking Thanksgiving weekend off and then welcoming one of the best teams in the nation to Houston Field House, undefeated in league play Quinnipiac.
ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 11 points (5-0-1)
2. Union - 10 points (5-1-0)
3. Clarkson - 8 points (4-2-0, 0 GD)
4. Colgate - 8 points (4-2-0, -2 GD)
5. Yale - 6 points (2-0-2)
6. St. Lawrence - 6 points (2-2-2)
7. RPI - 6 points (2-3-2)
8. Cornell - 5 points (2-3-1)
9. Harvard - 5 points (2-4-1)
10. Brown - 3 points (1-2-1)
11. Princeton - 2 points (1-5-0)
12. Dartmouth - 0 points (0-6-0)
#10 RPI at Union
ECAC Game - Messa Rink (Schenectady, NY)
11/15/13 - 7:30pm
RESULT: Union 4, RPI 3
BOX SCORES
RECORD: 6-3-2 (2-2-2 ECAC, 6 pts)
Union at #10 RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/16/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Union 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/16/13 - 7:00pm
RESULT: Union 4, RPI 1
BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO
RECORD: 6-4-2 (2-3-2 ECAC, 6 pts)
Upcoming games
22 Nov - at Mercyhurst
23 Nov - at Mercyhurst
06 Dec - #4 Quinnipiac
07 Dec - Princeton
13 Dec - Denver
Women's Hockey - Yale & Brown (15/16 Nov)
RPI remained a difficult team to pin down this weekend, as they once again failed to defeat a thoroughly-outplayed opponent on Friday in a 2-1 loss to then-winless Yale, before turning things around and handily defeating Brown by a 4-1 margin on Saturday.
While these should have been two winnable games for the Engineers, they will settle for the split and head into a short break with a 3-3 record in the ECAC.
Yale
Horwood/Gruschow/Smelker
Mahoney/Wash/Rooney
Sanders/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Missy Mankey/Walsh/Hylwa
Banks/Schilter
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Behounek/Godin
O'Brien
RPI outshot Yale 40-12, but went 0-6 on the power play and ended up losing 2-1 after being unable to put a second puck past goalie Jaimie Leonoff on Friday night at Houston Field House.
The Engineers fell behind early when Yale's Taylor Marchin scored her first goal of the season on a Bulldog 4-on-3 power play.
After winning the faceoff in the RPI zone, Yale controlled the puck and cycled for about 20 seconds, slowly collapsing toward the RPI net until Marchin fired a shot through traffic from between the faceoff dots to beat O'Brien for a 1-0 lead.
Marchin's goal would come on one of just two Yale shots in the first period. RPI went on to pick up a 12-2 edge in shots in that opening frame, but it wasn't until just a few minutes into the second period that Toni Sanders would knot the score 1-1.
Sanders' goal was certainly an odd one, as it featured Leonoff standing outside the crease watching hopelessly as the puck was fired through a big jumble of players who had fallen in and around the goal mouth.
Despite throwing another 16 shots at Leonoff in the middle period, another goal would not come for RPI, and instead Yale retook their one-goal lead at 14:16 of the second.
The goal came after a long period of sustained pressure by RPI when Yale was able to break into the RPI zone 2-on-1 with Krista Yip-Chuck and Janelle Ferrara. After a bit of back-and forth passing, Yip-Chuck pulled the puck around a sprawling O'Brien and tucked it past her for the 2-1 lead.
The 2-1 lead held for Yale through the remainder of regulation, although the Engineers once again outshot the Bulldogs in the third by a 12-5 margin. Several penalties limited RPI's comeback effort, including a late penalty on Ali Svoboda for shooting the puck after the whistle.
Svoboda had crossed into the zone and the whistle was blown on an offside call, but she then flipped the puck toward the Yale net, earning herself a minor and misconduct which put RPI on the penalty kill for most of the final three minutes of the game.
Brown
Sanders/Mahoney/Wash
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Rooney/Gruschow/Hylwa
Letuligasenoa/Horwood/Walsh
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek
O'Brien
Coach Burke scrambled most of the lineup after Friday's disappointing loss, and the result was noticeable as RPI struck three times in he first period, scored three power play goals on RPI's first three power plays of the game, and rode the momentum to a 4-1 victory that was never very much in doubt.
Taylor Mahoney and Alexa Gruschow scored 55 seconds apart at 7:17 and 8:12 of the first period to put the Engineers out to an early 2-0 lead. Mahoney picked up a rebound off a Svoboda shot for the first goal before Gruschow scored the eventual game winner off an assist from Katie Rooney.
Jordan Smelker, who had surprisingly been held without a goal through the season to date, finally broke through with a rebound on the Engineers' second power play late in the first to extend the lead to 3-0.
Sarah Robson cut RPI's lead to two at 2:47 of the second period, managing to beat O'Brien at close range to put the Bears on the board.
Mahoney notched her second of the game (fourth of the season) at 15:28 of the middle frame, keeping the Engineers perfect on the power play at 3-for-3 to that point.
The teams traded power play opportunities in the third, including what should have been a long Brown 5-on-3 but was cut short by a slashing call on Robson just over 30 seconds into the 2-man advantage.
In the end, the Engineers outshot the Bears 24-16, went 3-for-6 on the power play and were perfect while shorthanded en route to the 4-1 victory. It sends the Engineers into a short break on a positive note; they will not play next weekend, then will head to St. Cloud after Thanksgiving for a weekend non-conference series against the Huskies. Those games, on the 29th and 30th of November, will both feature 4:07pm start times.
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RPI vs. Yale
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/15/13 - 4:00pm
Yale 2, RPI 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1314/boxes/wrenyal1.n15
RECAPS:
RECORD: 3-8-1 (2-3 ECAC)
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RPI vs. Brown
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/16/13 - 3:00pm
RPI 4, Brown 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1314/boxes/wbrnren1.n16
RECAPS:
RECORD: 4-8-1 (3-3 ECAC)
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Upcoming Games
Nov. 29 - at St. Cloud State (4:07pm)
Nov. 30 - at St. Cloud State (4:07pm)
Dec. 6 - at Princeton (7pm)
Dec. 7 - at Quinnipiac (4pm)
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