RPI looking for first road win
Engineers seeking better play in front of both nets this weekend
TROY — With eight games left in the regular season, the RPI hockey team needs to keep the focus on the future as it chases a top-eight finish in the ECAC and with it, home ice for the first round of the playoffs.
But first, coming off a stinging 6-0 defeat last weekend at the hands of arch-rival Union College in the Mayor’s Cup at MVP Arena, the Engineers need to move past the frustration of the loss, the second 6-0 Dutchmen win over RPI this season.
A road trip to Cornell on Friday and to Colgate on Saturday are on tap this weekend for RPI (10-15-1, 5-9-0 ECAC), currently tied with Union for ninth place in the standings of the 12-team league.
“Overall, our maturity and our demeanor needs to get back to where it’s been,” RPI coach Dave Smith said. “It got away from us on Saturday night. We were prepared but we weren’t ready for the Mayor’s Cup and all that goes with it, the hype, and it turned to frustration. We’ve got to make sure that is under control.”
As he does each week, Smith held a meeting with the team’s leadership group to address the Union game and moving forward.
“I do think reflection is important and we are going to look ahead. We can learn from the past,” Smith said. “I actually just finished our weekly leadership group meeting. We’re working on accountability and making our program better on a daily basis. Those guys are really important as leaders and the voice in the room. We’ve got a strong core of leaders, a good emerging core and I think we’ve got some good young guys.”
On a bigger scale, consistency is of greater concern for Smith as RPI has strung together victories just once since opening the season with a four-game winning streak.
RPI knocked off fourth-place Colgate in early January before losing the next night to thirdplace Cornell, a 6-4 decision against the Big Red.
“Since January first, we have a good game and a bad game, then a bad weekend and a good weekend and then we just had a bad game and now we are coming up on another road trip,” Smith said. “I think we are learning, like, why were we good against Colgate and then not Cornell? Our losses feel heavier, our little losses within a game feel heavier
than our little gains. We’ve just got to keep adding an awareness, understanding, readiness and performance.”
Smith is hoping his team gets more active in the net areas, both offensively and in its own zone.
“The net front and slot,” Smith said. “That would be the on-ice system piece that we can do better in our zone, keeping pucks out of that area, keep bodies out of that area and in their zone, getting more bodies there.”
The first round of the conference playoffs were changed from a best-of-3 series to a single-game format for this season as the chase for home ice intensifies.
RPI is winless away from Houston Field House in 12 games this season and though home ice may be a conversation in the locker room, Smith’s focus is on Cornell.
“It might be a topic with the guys. I want to play well on Friday,” Smith said. “The schedule is so far away, Saturday is a million miles away
from me right now. The guys, I know are talking about all those things. For me, let’s be good today at practice and let’s make sure we are ready. We’ll be prepared, but let’s make sure we are ready for Friday night.”
Union heads to Colgate
The Dutchmen play at Colgate on Friday before taking on Cornell on Saturday and come in with a conference record of 4-9-1 and 10-14-2 mark overall.
Union dropped both home games against its central New York foes last month, losing 6-1 to Cornell a night before the Raiders skated off with a 2-1 win at Messa Rink.
RPI coach Dave Smith said he's looking for consistent effort and better play in front of the Engineers' net, and more traffic in front of their opponents' net.