RPI Men fall to 0-3 against Huskies
TROY - The RPI Engineer’s one game this weekend ended with a loss at the hands of the University of Connecticut Huskies 3-1.
Now 0-3, frustration sets in for RPI, but RPI Head Coach Dave Smith is adamant that the team is almost there.
“There’s a continued belief that if there is a way to measure a game and it takes a 90 percent grade to win, we’re damn near close. We’re damn close to scoring,” said Smith. The Little Engine that Could RPI Hockey is the little engine that could at the moment. They are climbing up a steep hill, trying to rebuild a program that was 8-28-1 in the 2016-17 season and 6-27-4 last season, and this season has started off 0-3, but not for the lack of effort.
“Consistently we’re doing the right things, but tonight it came down to thinks like, we’re squeezing a little bit, we lose a face-off it finds its way in. There’s no danger in the dzone, puck squirts out, bang goal goes in, and that’s the game,” said Smith. “We just need to get from where we are to just a little bit better in all areas.”
Smith said “more” following Saturday’s game, and that’s what that little engine needed. Just a little bit more. A little bit more strength, for a little bit longer, and then start again.
“We just need to keep pushing. We are on the right path,” said Smith. “We can see it, we can taste it, we can feel it, and that’s what makes it hurt just a little bit more.”
Line Shuffling
Last week against UMass, Smith noted that his fourth line of Jaren Burke, Jake Morello, andDonovan Ott stood out to him. The line put pressure onUMass below the circles and really caused chaos around the net.
“For us we need to score by committee, we need to roll lines,” said Smith last week.
With the absence of Jakub Lacka in the lineup, lines needed to be shuffled and different combinations need to be tested to find what works.
Against UConn, the top two lines looked strong and cohesive. Line one was centered by Brady Wiffen, with Tommy Lee and Patrick Polino on the wings. Line two had last year’s leading scorer, Jacob Hayhurst, at center, with Ottoville Leppänen, and Todd Burgess on the wings.
“I thought Wiff’s line and Hayhurst’s line were our two best lines tonight,” said Smith after the matchup with UConn. “Brady, Lee, and Polino I thought played really well, both on the power play and the five on five. We just need to keep adding to that, that’s the goal when we shuffle lines. Let’s keep what we had and add to it.”
Line one generated five shots on net and line two seven shots. Hayhurst and Burgess assisted Willy Reilly’s goal Saturday, which was the first even strength goal for the Engineers this season.
Leppänen’s stand out moment was in the second period when he blocked a shot with the inside of his skate, limped off the ice, and found himself back out on the ice minutes later, speaking to the commitment of Leppänen and, one would assume, the team.
To the Net!
RPI needs to be a score by committee team this year. Coach Smith has noted that, and it matches the tempo and grinding ability of the squad.
Because of that, a lot of RPI’s shot’s have come from the perimeter, in search of a big rebound off the goal.
“It’s frustrating obviously that we are having some trouble scoring right now,” said Reilly. “I think that just comes with hard work and getting the bounces.”
Those high slot shots above the circle are getting to the net, but like Reilly said, it’s now about getting the bounces there way.
11 RPI shots from above the circle got on goal Saturday, only four were blocked by UConn.
“We have to score by committee and that means we need everybody getting to the net,” said Reilly. “Our high skill guys are getting to the net. It’s going to come, we just need to keep chipping away and hope it comes.”
Perfection in Net
Linden Marshall is in a tough position, both on the ice and in general. Marshall made 29 saves on 31 shots against UConn, bumping him to a 3.81 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
Those stats won’t jump out, but it is so easy to put the goalie under the microscope.
“There’s so much pressure on the goalie when you don’t score a lot and when you haven’t won,” said Smith. “One of the ways to win is the goalie to stop them all, and that’s what it feels like right now— Right nowwe’re asking everybody to be perfect, Linden included, and he wasn’t perfect and neither were we. So we just keep trying because if it turns and we find what perfect feels like then we are going to fight to hang onto it.”
The Moe’s Minute
For those who don’t know, the Moe’s minute is the final minute of the second period at the Houston Field House.
If RPI scores in that minute, fans in attendance get a free taco at Moe’s down the street on the RPI campus
Saturday, RPI controlled a man advantage going into that final minute. The odds of scoring were quiet good, but nothing came of it.
RPI is 0/2 during the Moe’s Minute this season, and that is, personally, the most important stat to come out of this weekend.