Last weekend, RPI got a split at home against Yale and Brown. They fell to Yale 8-3 on Friday night but bounced back to beat Brown 4-1 on Saturday night. As you can tell by the scores, it was certainly an up and down weekend. Let’s quickly review it.
Yale
I honestly don’t think that the Yale game was as bad as the 8-3 score. It wasn’t like the team got thoroughly dominated all game. I’d say this game is more indicative of RPI’s roster and the way it needs to win games than the way they played. What do I mean by that?
Well, in the first period, I actually thought RPI outplayed Yale. They held the advantage on the shot clock 13-8 and had some really good looks. Yale was very opportunistic and scored on 2 out of their 8 shots to go up 2-0, but despite that, RPI had been outplaying them in terms of possession and scoring chances. Luc Wilson was able to score to bring it back to 2-1.
The second period is really where things went awry. The shorthanded goal they allowed that put Yale up 3-1 seemed to be where things turned. This is where the roster and the way RPI needs to win games comes into play. Basically, this RPI team lacks natural scoring talent as we all know. They have had struggles scoring all year because they don’t possess the puck enough, and they have struggled finishing their chances. Because of that, the way the team needs to win games is 2-1 or 3-2 games where they control the puck enough, play well in transition to move the puck quickly up the ice, stay in the lead, and get good goaltending. They are not built to come back in a 3-1 game. They don’t control the puck enough to get enough scoring chances naturally to come back from that deficit. This meant that once they got down with that back-breaking shorthanded goal, they tried to open things up to generate more offense, but that sacrifices the defense. In this game, the floodgates opened quickly once they did that because of the defensive sacrifices, and they did not get the saves they needed.
The score looks bad because of how the game devolved when RPI tried to make a comeback, but the shots and scoring chances were practically even. Sometimes that’s the way a game can spiral out of control for a rebuilding team.
Brown
The Brown game went much better for RPI with a 4-1 win. This was also a game that I thought was closer than the score, but this time RPI was on the right end of it.
The first period was pretty even until about halfway through when RPI went to the power play. Off of a zone entry, Dovar Tinling had the puck in the middle of the ice and saw a streaking Rainers Rullers, who was headed right to the net. Tinling made a beautiful pass just behind the defensemen, and Rullers easily got by them with a full head of steam to get to the puck first. With him all alone against the goalie, he made a great deke to get the goalie to commit to the backhand, then went back to his forehand and wrapped it around the goalie’s outstretched pad. It was one of my favorite goals of the year.
RPI made it 2-0 off of another really good move, this time from Brad McNeil. Ian Scherzer started the play by forcing a turnover on the forecheck. McNeil was then able to collect the loose puck and drive to the net since the defense was out of position after the turnover. McNeil drove on his backhand then cut to his forehand and elevated his shot over the glove of the Brown goalie for another nice finish from RPI. Brown scored less than 30 seconds later to cut the lead back to 1, so RPI went into the 3rd up 2-1.
Even though the 3rd was another pretty even period, RPI was able to put it away. Trevor Russell got a timely goal 7 minutes into the period to give the Engineers some breathing room, and from there it was smooth sailing. Tyler Wallace sealed the deal with an empty netter to get the 4-1 win.
Takeaways
The players they need to score who have disappointed so far are starting to come around. This is really important if RPI wants to make any sort of postseason run. The biggest issue offensively has been the lack of production from the top 6, but recently, they have gotten going, which is a great sign. Rullers had 2 points on the weekend and has 3 points in his last 4 games. Tinling also has 3 points in his last 4 games. Wilson had 2 points on the weekend and has 5 points in his last 4 games. Wallace had 3 points on the weekend and 4 points in his last 4 games. Tapper had 2 points on the weekend and finally got the monkey off his back with his first goal of the season. They need these players to keep it up in the second half.
I know Krawchuk has had a generally rough past two weekends, but I’m glad they’re sticking with him. He has clearly outplayed Bruveris the whole season, and he has earned the right to be the #1 the remainder of the year. Despite the struggles, it’s worth noting that Quinnipiac is obviously a top 10 team, and Princeton has had a pretty good year out of nowhere and is 4th in the league currently. What I liked most was the way he bounced back after 3 rough games including getting pulled during the Yale game. The night after getting pulled against Yale, he started again and bounced back in an awesome way with 30 saves on 31 shots and a big win. That shows excellent mental toughness. I’m glad the coaching staff stuck with him, and he certainly showed their confidence was well placed. Going forward, his development is key for RPI in this rebuild. Right now, there are no committed goalies, so he seems to be the main option for the future. He has the potential to be a #1 if he keeps improving his game, and even though he’s not at that level right now, continuing to start him will only help more down the line.
The young defensemen also continue to get loads of ice time, which I love. Sobieski has been leading the team in time on ice all year, and he’s averaging about 22 minutes a night currently. While he still has work to do defensively and he’s probably not ready to handle true #1 minutes yet, he has tons of talent and skill, and I think he’s done an admirable job in that role this season. Similarly, Klassek has a similar skill set, and he’s had a solid freshman year. His skating always stands out, and he has the skill and passing ability to go with it to be a great player. The two of them are great building blocks on the back end for the future, and I’m glad they’re getting the chance to develop with lots of ice time right now even though they weren’t fully ready for it. It’s really going to benefit them in the future. Going forward, I hope to continue to see them among the ice time leaders, and I’d also love to see Lemieux, Hilditch, and even Jovanovic get more run for development purposes. Their skill sets all vary but all have the potential to be good players that can fill roles on a good team, in my opinion.
The Mayor’s Cup is coming up on Saturday, and we can’t wait for that rivalry to be renewed! We will have a preview later this week. Let’s Go Red!
Now let's get Krawchuk an RPI mask!
Good job as always.