Recap: RPI takes down UMass 2-1 in OT
Whose stock is up and down, key takeaways, and thoughts from around the ECAC
RPI had a good start to their season in Sunday’s exhibition against UMass. John Beaton scored with less than a minute left in overtime to give the Engineers a 2-1 victory. I was told that this wasn’t broadcast on ESPN+ or anywhere, so I’ll try to give as detailed a breakdown as I possibly can for you guys!
What Happened?
RPI played a pretty good game overall. The first period was pretty even. UMass scored after a bit of a neutral zone breakdown that led to a 2 on 1 one timer. Watson had no chance on it. RPI stuck to their game though and continued to generate good possession and chances. Eventually they struck on the power play. Smolinski shot the puck from the point and Lee redirected it in front. Lee then pounced on his own rebound right in the crease to make it 1-1.
The second period was tilted even more to RPI’s favor with a 12-4 shots on goal advantage. They had numerous good chances that they could not convert. This was easily their best period in the game, and they looked in control of the game.
The third period was a bit of a step back for RPI. They started to look tired out there, and UMass started controlling play more and getting more scoring chances. The team was able to hold strong though, so regulation ended at 1-1.
In overtime, both teams traded chances back and forth. Eventually, it was John Beaton who ended the game by taking the puck into the slot, protecting it, and firing it 5-hole to win the game.
Stock Up, Stock Down
This section is going to be mostly stock up because this was a good game for RPI.
Stock Up
Jeremie Payant - Payant made numerous things happen all game. He was forechecking very well, possessing the puck well, and playing well with his linemates. Most importantly, he was creating numerous chances. He had a couple breakaways with his speed, played well on the cycle, and he even drew a penalty shot that he did not end up converting.
Jagger Tapper - Tapper played very well and looked like a freshman ready to play. He combined quite well with Payant, and he also made things happen with his speed and skill. He was noticeably positive the entire game.
Mathieu Bourgault - Bourgault started out well with his forechecking, compete and grit and looked like he was another freshman ready to play. He got a chance higher up in the lineup, and while he didn’t necessarily shine up there, he still played hard and didn’t look out of place.
John Beaton - Beaton wasn’t as noticeable throughout the game as the others listed here, but he was consistently making small, effective plays to keep offensive zone time and also forechecked well. Then, he had his moment in overtime with a high effort play to hang onto the puck and shoot it through contact to score.
The Goalies - Watson and Giesbrecht split the game with each getting half. Watson started in net, and he was very effective. He had no chance on the one timer goal, and that was all he let up. He was consistently in the right position for his stops. I will say though that RPI’s defense made it challenging to really judge Watson. The defense was great while he was in, and he faced so few grade A chances that there wasn’t much to take away from his performance.
Giesbrecht took over halfway through and was outstanding. That’s kind of a given when you don’t allow any goals, but in the third period and overtime, RPI’s defense started to crack a bit and surrendered more high danger chances. Giesbrecht stood tall on every single one and had a couple outstanding saves. He was a big reason they won despite slowing down at the end of the game.
Stock Down
There’s no player that I would say had a truly bad game, so this section is more about comparing to expectations.
Brad McNeil - McNeil got a chance in the top 9 this game and was pretty quiet overall. He didn’t do too much offensively, and we were hoping that he would be taking a step there. He was still good on the penalty kill and effective defensively though, so it’s not like he had a bad game.
Nick Strom - Strom is a player that is hurt by the addition of Bergmanis because it pushed him to the 3rd pairing. Given RPI’s defensive depth now, he’s going to have to play well to keep his spot in the lineup with Ozolins, Goffredo and Agnew all being close to him on the depth chart. Strom had a couple of bad turnovers in his own end, one of which led directly to a grade A chance right in the slot for UMass. Overall, he wasn’t bad; he was just okay, but that’s enough to be listed as a stock down for this game.
Key Takeaways
Improved depth - RPI’s depth is much improved. A lot of the players highlighted in the stock up section are guys who were playing at the bottom of the lineup. While missing some players expected to be in the lineup, RPI’s depth looked outstanding and was consistently controlling play, generating chances, cycling in the offensive zone, and forechecking well. The defensive depth was noticeable as well. RPI was defending well on all pairings, which brings me to the next takeaway
Strong defense - The defense was great. Players were in the right positions in the defensive zone, they disrupted passing lanes, and they had good sticks to separate players from the puck. All pairings were effective in their own end, and until the 3rd period, the defense was pretty much lockdown the whole time. This shows in the shot counts. RPI only allowed 12 shots on goal through 2 periods, and they only allowed 22 through regulation, 26 including OT. Those are great numbers and bode well for the season.
Puck possession - The puck possession was night and day from last year. RPI won the shots on goal battle 35-26 overall. They cycled well in the offensive zone in addition to the strong defense and forced turnovers. A huge reason for the difference in my opinion was the transition game. Chris broke down last week how RPI added numerous defensemen who can skate and move the puck in an attempt to control play more, and boy did that work as we all hoped. RPI broke out pucks efficiently all game due to their defensemen, and they were truly outstanding in transition. They also were able to skate pucks out when the passing lanes weren’t there. The top 4 all shined in this area in particular. Bergmanis joined the rush a few different times when he played and was playing very well. Sadly, he got ejected halfway through the game as part of his major penalty. Smolinski, Gilson, and McDermott all made smart passes and good reads on the breakout and were capable of taking it themselves when needed. This might have been my favorite part of RPI’s game yesterday.
PK - The PK went 5/5. Like the defense, the penalty kill did a great job being in the right position and had good sticks to block passing lanes. They battled hard for loose pucks and did a good job clearing the zone. All the RPI fans collectively groaned when RPI was killing off a major penalty and then took another penalty for a 1:53 length 5 on 3. They managed to kill that off too with Jack Agnew blocking 3 straight shots all one after another, which got the bench rowdy. A couple other blocks, a couple missed one timers, and a post got them through that kill.
Compete level - The grit and compete level was also noticeably better. Every line and pairing was battling hard all game. The forecheck was gritty and hard to play against. They outworked UMass practically all game. I hate to throw out all the clichés there, but it was easy to spot right from puck drop.
Fabulous freshmen - I mentioned a couple freshmen above as stock up based on having good games, and it’s noteworthy they were so impactful this game. For the others, Caron was a little quiet offensively but had some moments and some nice plays. Rullers was great defensively and on the PK and did exactly what you would expect from him. Ozolins looked good in limited time. He was strong defensively and on the PK. He doesn’t have the offensive skills of the dmen higher up in the lineup, but he certainly looked ready to play in a 3rd pairing/depth role. Maguire only came into the game halfway through, but he was solid defensively and looked good in his role too. Overall, I thought the freshmen were strong and performed very well in their first games.
Finishing chances - The finishing was not good this game. RPI had many partial breaks and odd man rushes that they did not convert on, and they even had a penalty shot that they didn’t score. They probably should have had another goal or two given their chances. Finishing chances was a strength of the team last year, and hopefully it was just poor luck and not a sign of things to come.
Injury woes - RPI already appears to be banged up at forward, and sadly that includes two top 6 guys. Muzzatti and Sullivan didn’t play at all, and on the radio, Coach Smith had said everyone healthy could play. Additionally, Tonelli was not on bench and didn’t play at all after the first period. Hopefully that was precautionary since it was just an exhibition as they cannot afford to be missing those guys for long. Tonelli looked good in his brief time, showing his grit and two way game. Missing him and Muzzatti may have been a reason they weren’t finishing chances.
Overall
This was a strong game for RPI to open the season. It was nearly all positive with many significant improvements in areas that were struggles last season.
Another thing that I think is noteworthy is this didn’t come against some Canadian team. This was against a UMass team that made the NCAA tournament last year, and RPI was the better team for a solid 2/3 of the game in my opinion. RPI looked like a deeper team than UMass, and if you go look at their lines from that game and the talent they have, that should not be the case on paper. That bodes really well for the season; if they play like that every night, they will be winning plenty of games. I’ll get more into the ECAC in a bit, but I watched some of Colgate and Union this weekend too. RPI looked by far the best of those 3 when I watched.
I think it’s important to not get carried away by one exhibition game though. UMass’s effort level did not match RPI’s. UMass had played a real game against Bentley the night before, and it’s impossible to really know how much that affected their effort and energy. My guess is it did have some impact, so let’s not go crazy with our expectations just yet. Let’s see how they do when the games count.
Around the ECAC
Overall, the ECAC did about what I expected this weekend in terms of non-conference games, but I thought they’d be slightly better.
Colgate got swept by UConn. I watched a decent amount of the Friday game of that series, and UConn was in control basically the entire time even though the score was 4-2. Colgate didn’t look as good as I thought they would. It seems like Saturday night didn’t go any better with a 6-2 loss.
Union lost an exhibition to Providence on Saturday, which wasn’t surprising. What was surprising to me though was the way they got dominated in the game. It wasn’t close, and Providence was skating circles around them when I watched. Providence is a very good team though, and it’s just an exhibition. Yesterday was slightly concerning for Union too. They beat Army in OT, but I didn’t think Union would have trouble with them. Army isn’t expected to be a top team in the Atlantic, so I thought Union would take care of business more. However, that game seems like a case of bad goaltending since Union significantly outshot Army but allowed 3 goals on 18 shots.
Clarkson beat Canisius 2-1 on Saturday, and then, they lost to RIT 3-2 on Sunday. I honestly thought they would do better as well. Against Canisius, they were played pretty tight based on the box score. They did possess the puck okay but seems like they didn’t turn the possession into enough shots on net and chances. Against RIT, it actually appears that they played better; they significantly outshot RIT and appeared to control play. It seems like poor goaltending (3 goals allowed on 18 shots) on their side, and strong goaltending for RIT lost them that one. Based on the box score, they probably deserved to win both games though, so I think they will still be fine.
St. Lawrence scraped out a 3-2 win in overtime against RIT on Saturday, and then they beat Canisius 5-2 on Sunday. That’s a good weekend for them and better than I expected. I said in my ECAC preview I wouldn’t be surprised if they are better than where I have them, and through one weekend, that seems to be the case. They’re a team to watch as the season goes on.
Lastly, Quinnipiac lost 4-2 in an exhibition against Northeastern. I think Northeastern was underrated coming into this season, and I expect them to make the NCAA tournament. Quinnipiac is reloading with a lot of new faces and names after losing a lot this offseason, so I’m not really surprised they lost to a good team to start. They’re a team that I think especially is going to improve once they mesh and gel with all the talent they have.
It’s worth saying overall that it is just one weekend. Teams will improve over the course of the year, and are nowhere near finished products right now. It’ll be interesting to watch for sure.