Building until a pop
TROY, N.Y >> RPI Hockey’s season ended nearly two weeks ago now at the hands of the Yale Bulldogs in a series sweep at Yale’s Ingalls rink in New Haven, Connecticut.
Not the fairy tale ending the Engineer’s had wanted, but that along with a 10-23-3 record does not paint the whole picture of the 2018-19 season for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Insitute Engineers Hockey Program.
“Wins are what you talk about now at this time of the year. We wanted more,” said Head Coach Dave Smith. “It’s important in season to talk about the process, but we were a way different hockey club at the beginning than we were at the end.”
A season filled with progress, RPI was not a team visiting programs took lightly when they entered the Houston Field House. Numerous teams cited RPI as one of the tougher teams to fight on any given night, especially at RPI’s home ice.
RPI’s season was filled with plenty of close calls, and ten wins was not where Smith wanted the season to end, despite being an upgrade on the 2017-18 total of six.
“Disappointed that we couldn’t get to 14 or 15 wins and there were a lot of close calls in there but col-
lege hockey is a game of close calls so there’s no feel good in that,” said Smith. “In order to get to our next step we have to be better than ever before.”
Smith’s plan to grow the program and be better is quite simple. Add, add, and add until there’s a player that pops.
“It’s about depth. You look at any of these teams, whether it is Harvard or Clarkson, they have a base level of depth, and then they have a couple guys that can pop, a couple special guys in the lineup,” said Smith. “You see the simple recipe of more good players help add depth.”
FRESHMAN
You can’t talk depth without starting with the most recent batch of freshman who finished their first year of college hockey.
Players like Kyle Hallbauer and Ottoville Lepännen found themselves leading the Engineer’s in the time on ice component, with Lepännen finishing the season second in points with 19.
“Those guys had a really good opportunity to learn college hockey,” said Smith on the whole freshman class.
“Those guys were put in a position where there was an opportunity and everybody took it to a different degree. They capitalized on their opportunity. Now, it is important for those guys to become more experienced and take those lessons into their second year.”
Along with Lepännen and Hallbauer, players like Nick Bowman, Tommy Lee, Jakub Lacka, Brady Ferner, Jake Johnson, and of course, Owen Savory, had highlights from the season.
“You return your juniors and they get better, and you add some freshman into the mix, now all of a sudden we are talking about depth,” said Smith. “We are talking about an understanding of how to take that next step as a program.”
The freshman class contributed 67 points this season, being led by Lepannen and Hallbauer, who had 11.
JUNIORS
Now to next year’s leaders. This years junior class enters their final year of college hockey soon, and this class, should be an exciting one to watch.
Jacob Hayhurst finished with 23 points this season, leading the Engineers.
Along with Hayhurst in the class is top defenseman and Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Will Reilly, Ottawa Senator’s fourthround draft pick Todd Burgess, and transfers Chase Zieky, Mike Gornall, and Shane Bear.
And that’s just to name a few.
“Expectations are very high for Todd Burgess as a fourth round pick of Ottawa. One thing he has done is continued to improve and play harder. Rather than anoint him as a savior, he has to get better, we all have to get better,” said Smith.
“Patrick Polino was by far our leading scorer before he went out [with an injury], still tied for second or third, the seniors that have been around the block need to improve — Hayhurst was on the path to that special season before he got injured, but our team depth wasn’t there.”
The junior class totaled 102 points to end the season. Hayhurst and Reilly, who had 18, topped that list.
TRANSFERS
They were brought up so we may as well talk about the impact that the transfers had on the outcome of the season.
Zieky, Bear, and Gornall made immediate impacts as soon as they joined the lineup.
Despite missing half the season, Zieky still finished fifth in scoring with 14 points, including eight goals.
Gornall’s bulldog attitude in the corners fit the Engineer’s personality of fighting for every inch of ice they earned this season, and Bear’s shear skill was added to an RPI blue line that desperately needed it.
“At christmas we added three division one players, and it increased our depth,” said Smith. “You see the simple recipe of more good players help add depth.”
Each transfer does something that Smith has discussed quite a bit. Not only are they talented Division One caliber players, but neither fall in the same archetype. They are different pieces to the puzzle of building a well rounded roster.
“We were different when we added those three transfers, three division one hockey players. Our power play went up five percent, Chase {Zieky} led our team in scoring the second half, it was a different team,” said Smith. “Priority number one is we have to make our current players better, and we have got to bring in more talent, and that’s what we are doing.”
Gornall finished the season with eight points; Bear with two.
GOALTENDING
The story of the year (talk about burying the lede) is the breakout year of Owen Savory.
The ECAC All-Rookie goalie and nominee for ECAC’s “Rookie of the Year” finished with a 2.46 goals against average and a .926 save percentage.
Though his 5-15-3 record is less than desirable, Savory’s emergence can be attributed with the late-January push the Engineer’s made.
“As soon as we had our transfers and made more depth, it started to turn. Owen’s play really coincided with our good play,” said Smith.
“I challenged him before the Lowell series. He looked comfortable being the back up and I thought he had a little more in them,” said Smith. “He competed, he seized the opportunity to make saves and help us win, and that’s good for him.”
Highlights from the season for Savory were a 43 save performance in the Mayor’s Cup shutout tie against Union and a season high 48 save performance against Vermont.
As is with most goalie stories, as one rises to the top, another sits back, and that was the story for Linden Marshall this year.
Marshall kicked things off strong, but early December pushes by Savory made the goalie battle into a war.
“They’ve got to show they have improved. Linden has had good days, Owen has had good days, and what it does it says we have competition,” said Smith on what next year holds in net.
“I like that we have two committed teammates who are working hard to push each other and they want to battle in the net and it is our job to get one of them or both of them hot. It helps us win.”
SMITH
Smith concludes his second season at the helm with just 16 wins under his belt, two more than his coaching years total, 14.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time — every team
is a little bit different,” said Smith. “We continue to build, the guys continue to be coach-able, and enjoyable to be around. They want success. We have already started on next year. They are lifting and training and continuing the habits they want to carry them to the success.”
Smith continues to build from the ground up. The additions of the transfers Zieky, Gornall, and Bear shows Smith has an eye for untapped potential and the ability to draw Division One hockey talent back to Troy.
But, the team simply needs to get better.
Quick statistics show that RPI finished the season 56th in the country in scoring (69 goals), 55th on the power play (13.3 percent), and tied for 40th with Ferris State on the penalty kill (79.5 percent).
“Do I think we could have done better? Yea,” said Smith. “We have some guys that can score and scoring is a team stat as much as we want to get that individual sniper. Our guys often look to make one extra play or often miss the net on really good scoring chances.”
Smith noted the power play went up five percent with the additions of Zieky and Bear to the unit, and the penalty kill was above 80 percent before the ECAC tournament series with Yale to conclude the season.
There’s a lot to focus on in the season. The emergence Savory, the late-January to late-February run where RPI went five games in a row with a conference point, and the quick progress of a team that had shown very little in a long time.
Like Smith said, you just need to grow depth, then you will see a pop.
“Everybody else is improving, now we have to do it again and improve at a greater rate,” said Smith. “In order to get to our next step we have to be better than ever before. We have got to collectively improve, as positive as the steps were, and as good as the chemistry feels, we have to take another step. We have got to be prepared for when the new freshman come in next fall.”