RCNJ

Please join the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey (RCNJ) and the Delaware Valley Chapter for the Rensselaer vs Princeton Men’s Hockey game on Friday, November 30, 2007. The puck drops at 7 p.m., but before we head to the Baker Rink on the Princeton University campus please join us for an informal dinner at the Nassau Inn starting at 4:30 p.m. in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room.

Tickets

We offer tickets to our alumni at $8 each. Please contact John Cloninger '96 by email at jpcloninger@gmail.com or phone at 908-578-3673 to ensure that tickets are still available, and then mail your payment to:

Phil Lurie '74
Rensselaer Club of New Jersey
P.O. Box 461
Paramus, NJ 07653-0461

Make checks or money orders payable to the "Rensselaer Club of New Jersey”. Please include your name, class year, guest’s name (& class year), mailing address, daytime and evening phone numbers, email address, and number of tickets requested. Tickets will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis determined by receipt of payment. In the event that we run out of tickets and cannot obtain more your money will be refunded. Tickets will either be mailed to you or left at the Will Call Gate at the front of Baker Rink. If we notify you that your tickets will be left at Will Call, please bring a government-issued photo identification card to get your tickets.

Continue reading "Men's Ice Hockey @ Princeton - 11/30/2007" »

Posted by John Cloninger at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to an article that appeared last week in The Times Union, the Rensselaer Womens' Hockey Team surprised the experts in its first year in the ECAC Hockey League by going 8-5-1 in its last 14 games and making the playoffs. The eighth-ranked Engineers faced off against the top-ranked Big Green of Dartmouth this past weekend in Hanover for a best-of-three game series.

RPI jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the game on Friday, only to later fall to Dartmouth 6-3. Dartmouth got a four goal performance from senior Katie Weatherston. Dartmouth extended their unbeaten streak to 11 straight by beating Rensselaer 3-1 in Game 2. Ashley Mayr stopped 74 of 81 shots she faced in the weekend, which is quite a bit of rubber to have to keep out of the net.

The womens' team had an outstanding year, particularly considering that they had only two seniors on the roster. Coach John Burke was quoted in the Times Union as saying, "We're a team; we don't have any one or two people that we rely on. We finished the regular season with 10 one-goal losses, so we're still trying to learn how to win those games. It's been a new experience for our kids."

The team finished with a 12-22-1 overall record, 8-15-1 in the ECACHL. On to bigger and better things next season.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Mens' Hockey Team needed three points in the last weekend of the 2006-07 regular season to clinch home ice for the first round of the ECAC Hockey League playoffs. It managed to get two points through its thrilling 6-5 victory over Brown at Houston Field House on Friday night. However, the Engineers lost to Yale 4-3 on Senior Night, forcing them to go on the road next weekend at Colgate.

Rensselaer finishes the regular season with a 10-16-8 record, 6-11-5 in the ECACHL.

The playoff games will be Friday and Saturday at 7:00pm at Starr Rink on the Colgate campus in Hamilton, NY. A third game will be played, if necessary, on Sunday, March 4 at 7:00pm.

CollegeHockeyNews.com published an excellent analysis of the tiebreakers necessary to determine the RPI - Colgate matchup:

The ECAC had to use its "infinite loop fix" to break the fourth-place tie between Cornell and Quinnipiac (which went down to record vs. the top eight) and the eighth-place tie among Colgate, RPI, and Yale (which went down to record vs. the top four).

Read the analysis for yourself and see if it makes sense to you.

Best of luck to the Engineers this weekend. RPI split with Colgate in the regular season this year, with each team winning on its home ice. Hopefully we'll have better luck at Colgate this time around.

Update: Rensselaer was swept by Colgate in the first round of the ECAC playoffs on March 2 and 3. The final scores were 3-1 on Friday night and 4-1 on Saturday. The Men's Hockey Team ended the season with an overall record of 10-18-8, 6-11-5 in the ECACHL.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Cloninger pointed out that RPIathletics.com now carries an announcement that Seth Appert has been chosen as the next men's hockey coach. According to the article "Appert is slated to become the 12th head men's hockey coach in RPI's storied hockey history."

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson said, "Rensselaer attracts the best of the best and once again we have done so with the hiring of Seth Appert. He is a proven teacher and a leader. His passion for the sport and commitment to education make him a perfect fit for the Institute and we enthusiastically welcome him into the Rensselaer family."

The article concludes by saying, "Appert has verbally agreed to, and is in the process of finalizing, a four-year contract with Rensselaer."

Update: RPI held a press conference at The Mueller Center on Friday, April 21, 2006 to introduce Seth Appert as the men's hockey head coach. The Times Union article about the press conference include quotes from Appert, his wife Jill, and RPI goaltender Mathias Lange.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A number of reports suggest that Seth Appert will be named the next head coach of the Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team at a press conference on Friday in Troy. Appert is an assistant coach for the University of Denver, a Division I hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Denver won the NCAA Division I Championship in 2004 and 2005.

Appert has also worked as an assistant coach at Mercyhurst College. He was a goaltender at Ferris State who graduated from that school in 1997. He also has a master's degree in Sports Management from the University of Denver that he was granted in 1999.

Media reports indicate that former Los Angeles Kings coach Andy Murray was offered the job and turned it down before it was offered to Appert. This is an unfortunate disclosure because no one deserves to enter a high-pressure job like this with the public knowing that he was the second choice.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dan Fridgen announced his resignation today as head coach of the Rensselaer Men's Hockey team. Fridgen was head coach for 12 seasons, compiling a 211-193-38 overall record. He spent the previous five seasons as assistant coach to Buddy Powers.

Fridgen said, "Rensselaer has offered me a tremendous opportunity over the past 17 years. My family and I are very thankful for all the experiences we have shared with some tremendous people in the program, on the campus and in the community. I wish the team nothing but success."

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson said, "I applaud Dan for his hard work and dedication to the Institute and for the compassion and commitment he has exhibited to his players. We wish him all the best. Rensselaer has a great hockey tradition, and we will now take the necessary steps to begin a new chapter in our program’s history."

Dan Fridgen was considered an excellent recruiter when he served as Buddy Powers' assistant. The program continued to find many excellent student athletes during his tenure as head coach, but the team never achieved the success that it had under Powers. Critics point to Fridgen's 116-116-31 overall record in ECAC/ ECACHL league play and only one league championship in 12 seasons as indications that he wasn't cut out for a head coaching role in a program like RPI's. This isn't exactly a fair criticism, since Fridgen also amassed more victories than any other hockey coach in school history.

USCHO's report on Fridgen's resignation said: "The last four years have been difficult for Fridgen as his team’s finished 11th, 5th, 11th and 6th. This past season the Engineers battled through injuries to finish in a tie for 6th place in the ECACHL, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to Quinnipiac in two games."

According to the press release issued by the Athletic Department, Assistant Coach Frank Bretti will manage day-to-day operations of the program while the search for a new head coach takes place.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team was swept by Quinnipiac in a best-of-three game series in the ECACHL playoffs last weekend. This was Quinnipiac's first playoff series victory in the ECACHL.

• Friday, March 3, Quinnipiac 2 - RPI 1: Quinnipiac Claims First ECACHL Playoff Victory with two goals in the first four and a half minutes of the game, and held off a strong challenge from Rensselaer in the third period. Oren Eizenman had the lone goal for the Engineers.
• Saturday, March 4, Quinnipiac 4 - RPI 2: Rensselaer's season ends when it fails to come from behind for the second consecutive night. Oren Eizenman picked up where he left off the night before, with a goal 0:41 into the game. This was followed by a three goal Quinnipiac barrage. Kevin Broad scored in the second period to make it close, but this was followed by a goal by John Kelly that put an end to the comeback.

Rensselaer ends the season with a 14-17-6 overall record (8-8-6 in the ECACHL).

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It would have been a good weekend to be in Troy, as the Rensselaer men's hockey team split with Cornell and Colgate on the last week of the ECAC Hockey League regular season.

• Friday, February 25, RPI 2 - Cornell 0: Mattias Lange got his first ECACHL regular season shutout in a significant upset. Matt Graves said that there was a "playoff feel in Engineers' upset" in his article in the Times Union. Oren Eizenman and Kevin Croxton scored the goals for RPI about a minute and a half apart in the first period.

• Saturday, February 26, Colgate 2 - RPI 1: The USCHO headline says what you need to know about this game: Lucky Bounces Lift Colgate to Victory. Rensselaer dominated, outshooting Colgate 36 to 18. Colgate benefitted from a rule change that occurred this year, because the game winning goal at 6:19 of the third period deflected off their own player's skate into the Engineer net. The NCAA changed the rule this year so that a shot deflecting off an offensive player's skate counts as a goal as long as the puck is not intentionally kicked.

  Rensselaer lost the potential tying goal about a minute and a half later. With about 12 minutes left in regulation, Keith MCWilliams long shot appeared to enter the goal and bounce straight back out. Referee Alex Dell didn't see the puck enter the goal, and neither did the Goal Judge, so play was allowed to continue. Video replay is not used during the regular season of ECACHL Division I games.
  

Comments on the Colgate Game: From the descriptions I've read of this game, Colgate was extremely lucky to come away with the win. However, I can't blame the officials for RPI's loss in this case.

• The ruling on the Colgate winning goal was correct according to the NCAA rules. (Rule 6-18a on page 60 of the 2006 NCAA rules.)
• Any hockey referee will tell you that you can't call what you don't see. If Alex Dell didn't see the puck enter the goal and the goal judge and the linesmen didn't either, it shouldn't be called a goal.

Rensselaer's tying goal in the Princeton game last Friday night is an excellent example of how hard the officials try to get into position to see the puck enter the goal. Assistant Referee Dave Brown was in perfect position on the goal line to call Kevin Croxton's shot a goal after it trickled over the goal line.

The Assistant Referee's normal position is at the blue line, not the goal line. Dave Brown was on the goal line in that case because he was covering for the Referee who had been caught behind the play due to a Princeton turnover in the neutral zone. If the Assistant Referee didn't get to the goal line in that case to see the puck cross the line, RPI probably would have lost that game by one goal instead of tying.

That's why I think that luck still plays a factor in hockey, even at the Division I level.

Playoffs against Quinnipiac next week: The Engineers will take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats in ECACHL playoff action this weekend at Houston Field House. Quinnipiac finished tenth in the ECACHL this season, lost to Rensselaer on Black Friday in Troy back in November, and tied us in Connecticut last weekend. This is a best-of-three game series. Games games begin on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary) at 7:00pm.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer men's hockey team stormed back with two goals in the last 12 minutes of the third period to tie Princeton 4-4 last night at Baker Rink. Both teams played well throughout the game, although the momentum clearly swung from RPI to Princeton and back to RPI over the course of regulation time.

The Engineers took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Oren Eizenman and Chris Hussey. Patrick Neunborfer scored for Princeton with 2:53 left in the first to narrow the Tigers deficit to one goal. Princeton increasingly had the momentum in the second period, with goals by Kevin Westgarth and Darroll Powe-- both in the last three minutes of the period.

It looked bad for RPI when Sebastian Borza scored his first goal of the season with 17:57 left in regulation to make the score 4-2 Princeton. But Keith MCWilliams scored a power play goal about six minutes later to make it close.

With about six minutes left in the third period, Kurt Colling picked up the puck off a turnover, and fed it to Kevin Croxton who sped in on a semi-breakaway. Croxton's shot rebounded off of Princeton goalie Eric Leroux and went high in the air before landing in the crease area behind the goalie. The puck trickled over the goal line after it hit Leroux a second or third time. The linesman actually made the call that the puck had entered the goal, because the referee had been caught behind the play due to the Princeton turnover.

The remaining six minutes of regulation time and five minutes of overtime were scoreless. The teams played even hockey and aggressively tried to score on each other. Rensselaer arguably had the best chance in overtime when it was down a man due to a penalty late in the third period that carried over. A Princeton defenseman picked up the puck behind his own net and rushed a pass intended for a teammate that went off an agressive Engineer forechecker and nearly went into Princeton's goal.

Both goalies played very good games. Eric Leroux made 25 saves for Princeton. Mattias Lange saved 33 for RPI.

The Engineers remain in seventh place in the ECACHL, one point behind Union and one point ahead of Clarkson. They move on to play Quinnipiac tonight at 7pm

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Rensselaer takes on Princeton University in men's ice hockey at Baker Rink on Princeton's campus on Friday, February 17, 2006. Faceoff is at 7:00pm. Come join members of the RCNJ and the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Rensselaer Alumni Association at the RCNJ's best attended event of the year:

• Records: Rensselaer 13-14-4 overall, 7-7-4 in ECACHL, 7th place. Princeton 9-15-1 overall, 6-11-1 in ECACHL, 10th place.
• Game notes: from Rensselaer Sports Information (PDF) | from Princeton Sports Information
• This Week in the ECACHL: Feb. 16, 2006 from USCHO.com
• Driving Directions to Baker Rink may be found on the Princeton Athletics Web Site. Baker Rink is part of Sports Complex 2.
• Mass Transit: Take Amtrak or New Jersey Transit to the Princeton Junction train station via the Northeast Corridor Line. From there, change to the rail shuttle for the Princeton Station.
• Campus Map: Princeton University's Main Campus, map in PDF format.
• After the Game: Join us at Super Star East Buffet, 311 Nassau Park Blvd, Princeton, NJ, (609) 987-9168 for a post game meal and socializing (Chinese food). Directions via Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team has swept the weekend series with Yale and Brown at Houston Field House.

• Friday, February 10, RPI 2 - Yale 1: RPI Holds Down Yale as Matt Angers-Goulet scores two goals for the Engineers.
• Saturday, February 11, RPI 4 - Brown 2 in the Big Red Freakout. The men's team is now undefeated in the last 15 Freakouts. USCHO reports that Mathias Lange stopped 21 of 23 shots to cement the win. Campus.News reports that the team raised $10,000 for cancer research.

Next week: Rensselaer travels to Princeton on Friday night at 7pm. Hope to see you there at the best attended RCNJ event of the year. Saturday night Rensselaer vs Quinnipiac at 7pm at Northford Ice Pavilion in Northford, CT.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RPIAthletics.com reports that the Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team will raise money for cancer research in honor of Kirk MacDonald at Saturday's 29th Annual Big Red Freakout. This gives the hundreds of alumni and thousands of students who will attend the game another opportunity to make a donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation in Kirk's honor.

Why are members of the team shaving their heads and asking for donations to benefit testicular cancer awareness and cancer research? Kirk was diagnosed with metastatic testicular cancer right after the end of the 2004-05 hockey season. He endured four rounds of chemo therapy, an extended hospital stay, and several operations in order to rid himself of the disease. For more information, check out Background on Kirk MacDonald's Testicular Cancer Ordeal elsewhere on RCNJ.org.

The team has raised over $6,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation so far this season and hopes to double that amount this weekend.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kirk MacDonald: Senior forward
for the RPI Men's Hockey Team.
[ Photo: Rensselaer Athletics ]

Some Rensselaer alumni are only now hearing the story of Kirk MacDonald, the Rensselaer senior who lead the RPI Hockey team in scoring in 2004-05. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer just after the season ended last spring and had extensive medical treatement to fight the metatisizing cancer.

I wrote this email to members of the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey leadership committee on October 21:

Guys:

An article appeared in yesterday's Albany Times-Union headlined Cancer orderal sidelines RPI star that caught my attention. Kirk MacDonald, a senior who lead the men's hockey team in scoring in 2004-05, had a press conference on Wednesday to announce that he would not play this season because he is recovering from a serious case of metastatic testicular cancer.

According to the article, he had an orchiectomy at Albany Med in April, had four chemo cycles, and ended up in the hospital for 65 days in Vancouver BC for procedures to remove metastisies and deal with complications. He got out of the hospital two weeks ago, but was down to 160 pounds when he left:

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=410767&category=SPORTS&newsdate=10/20/2005

A member of my family had testicular cancer three or four years ago, so this is a personal thing for me. Testicular cancer is a terrible shock to a man in his 20s or 30s. Most men who get it have never seriously contemplated their own mortality.

I will make contact with the Hockey Office at RPI and try to get more details. Please respond if you want me to provide you with more information. I'm at least going to send Kirk a note telling him I'm raising money for cancer research and offering any help I can provide.

-- Dave Aiello '89

[ Note: I would have published this note on RCNJ.org, but our publishing system wasn't working at that time and didn't come back on-line until December 13. ]

Other articles that appeared on Internet about Kirk's cancer treatment:

• RPI's MacDonald Diagnosed With Testicular Cancer RPI's MacDonald Decides to Wait
• RPI's MacDonald To Apply For Medical Redshirt
• Black Friday Lives On (MacDonald's return to campus after treatment, RPI vs Quinnipiac, November 11, 2005)

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

RPI Hockey fell to 11-14-4 (5-7-4 in the ECACHL) by losing and tying games against crosstown rival Union College this weekend. On Friday night, Scott Seney's key goal and assist spoiled Kevin Croxton's return to the Engineer lineup in an extremely tight 3-2 game in Schenectady. Croxton had been out for almost a month with an ankle injury and said as late as Thursday that he doubted he'd be able to play this weekend.

Keith MCWilliams and Jake Luthi each scored second period power play goals for Rensselaer. Freshman goalie Mattias Lange made 19 saves. This was, unfortunately, RPI's fourth consecutive loss. They've played their last five games on the road.

On Saturday night, Mattias Lange and Union goaltender Kris Mayotte put on a show at the Field House. They stopped 57 of 59 shots and kept the game scoreless until five minutes into the third period. The game ended in a 1-1 tie after a five minute overtime.

Andrew Lord scored the Engineers only goal on a two-on-one about five minutes into the third period. Lane Caffaro scored about two and a half minutes later on a one-time that snuck through Lange's five hole.

RPI is now tied with Yale in seventh place. These two teams will face each other on Friday night. Saturday, Brown University will face Rensselaer in the 29th annual Big Red Freakout.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've fallen a bit behind covering the 2005-06 men's hockey season, but that shouldn't surprise anyone given our early season infrastructure problems. Late last week John Cloninger and I were discussing how to bring readers of RCNJ up to date on what's been going on at Houston Field House. I said that we just need to summarize the season so far and move on. So here it is.

The Men's Hockey Team is currently 8-8-3, which means they have a .500 record. They are doing well in home games (6-3-0) and less well away from home (2-5-3). The Engineers record in the ECAC Hockey League is 2-1-3 for 7 points, placing us 7th out of 12 teams.

Notable results so far this season include:

• Victories over Michigan Tech in the Nye Frontier Classic Consolation and Boston University get the season off to a good start.
• Consecutive 1-1 ties against Colgate and Cornell on November 18-19.
• Losses in both November and December to a surprisingly strong Holy Cross in two different tournaments.
• A tie against Clarkson and one-goal loss to St. Lawrence on the North Country Trip.
• A home sweep of Quinnipiac and Princeton in the only ECACHL home weekend series so far this season.

The biggest surprise of the season is Matthias Lange, a Freshman goalie from Austria who played Junior B Hockey for the New York Apple Core of the Eastern Junior Hockey League last season. According to an article on CSTV.com written by Dave Starman:

One nice story this season is goalie Matthias Lange of RPI. Near the top in the stats column in the ECACHL, the rookie goalie has been surprised by the amount of playing time he has received. Through his eyes, he has had a great view of college hockey this season. A recent chat reveals the toughest player he has faced this season in the ECACHL is Cornell's Matt Moulson.... Pete MacArthur of BU is the best player he feels he's faced this year. Lastly, on his own team, he has high regard for Kevin Croxton. Lange said of his teammate: "He tries real hard...so I let him score a few times, to keep his confidence up." On a serious note, Lange says Croxton gives him fits at practice.

On the troubling side Kirk MacDonald is taking the season off from hockey after undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. This is one of the most serious cases of testicular cancer I've ever heard about. I urge you to read as much as you can find about his struggle, pray for Kirk and his family, and support organizations like the Lance Armstrong Foundation that are geared toward helping young cancer survivors deal with the changes that occur to their lives after cancer strikes.

I hope that this helps everyone catch up with the Men's Hockey Team's 2005-06 season so far. Please mark your calendars and join us for one of the RPI Hockey games in the Greater New York area:

• Saturday, January 21, at Yale University in New Haven, CT
• Friday, February 17, at Princeton University. Ticket information forthcoming on RCNJ.org.
• Saturday, February 18, at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team was swept in a Best-of-Three Game Series at Brown University this weekend. These losses end their season and leave their final record at 14-22-2.

On Friday night, Brown kept things fairly even despite several special teams goals from RPI, then jumped ahead for good with 7:35 to go in regulation. Brown won the game 7-4. On Saturday, Brown's Chris Poli scored at 5:33 of overtime to clinch the series.

The Engineers had their chance midway through the third period when Kirk MacDonald and Kevin Croxton scored in rapid succession, given RPI their only lead of the series. The game was retied by Brown's Gerry Burke, 1:33 later.

The Times Union article about Friday night's game indicates that Rensselaer easily could have won the game on Friday, despite the difference in the final score. As was the case in several games toward the end of this season however, our team gave up a quick flurry of goals that made the difference.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the critical final weekend of the regular season, Rensselaer came up short against Princeton and finished the season in eleventh place.

On Friday night, Princeton made it a regular season sweep with a 5-2 drubbing of the Engineers. Princeton scored five goals in under nine minutes. The best moment for RPI probably came at 5:16 of the third period, when Kevin Croxton scored his first goal in 22 games. Considering how many goals he scored in his career before this scoreless streak, it's been an amazingly frustrating period for him.

It's still hard for me to believe that Princeton beat RPI twice this year, considering how badly they played against other ECAC Hockey League opponents. We finished behind Princeton in the standings because of these losses.

On Saturday, last place Yale extended Rensselaer to overtime before Kevin Croxton scored a last minute goal to give RPI a 3-2 victory. That goal was Croxton's 100th career point-- congratulations to him on a significant achievement. Jonathan Ornelas and Kevin Broad scored the other goals for us.

RPI moves into the playoffs next weekend in a best-of-three series at sixth-ranked Brown University. There is hope in the series against Brown-- RPI tied and beat them during the regular season.

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team ends the 2004-2005 regular season with a 14-20-2 record. The final ECACHL record is 6-15-1, good for 11th place (out of 12 teams). This is a very poor record, particularly considering the prior year's offensive performance and the number of returning contributors. The Times Union pointed out that RPI has experienced the worst three-year slump in the history of the program. This year's seniors are the first class in history to play through two 20-loss seasons.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All you need to know about this weekend is what Men's Hockey Coach Dan Fridgen said to sum up the 1-0 loss to Colgate on Saturday night:

It's sad, but we've let rugby creep back into our game.

Friday night, RPI lost to Cornell 3-0. This game was unique in that it was the first NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Game started by two goaltenders from the State of Texas, Cornell's David McKee and RPI's Andrew Martin. According to USCHO, they've known each other since childhood. Probably true, since hardly anybody played hockey in Texas back then,.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Men's Hockey Team beat Brown University 3-2 on Saturday night, extending the team's undefeated streak in Big Red Freakout games to 15 (11 wins and 4 ties). Kirk MacDonald put a blistering shot in off the crossbar with 8.3 seconds left in regulation to seal the victory. The sellout croud of 5,152 went berzerk because most of them had already concluded that the game was going to overtime. Andrew Martin made 30 saves to get the win.

Prior to the Freakout, the 1985 NCAA Championship Team was honored on the twentieth anniversary of their incredible season. Most of the players from the team were in attendance, including Mark Jooris, whose unusual professional hockey career in Europe was documented in the Times Union on Friday.

Earlier in the day, an alumni game was held, with about 40 players participating. This was the largest turnout of hockey alumni in the last 10 years, even surpassing last year's turnout for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1954 NCAA Championship.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team suffered two more defeats on the road this weekend at the hands of Vermont and Dartmouth. On Friday night, USCHO reports that RPI was utterly dominated by Vermont but only lost 3-2 thanks to the excellent play of goaltender Andrew Martin. Rensselaer's goals were scored by Brad Farynuk and Scott Romfro. The Engineers could manage only 15 shots on goal, versus the Catamount's 37.

On Saturday, the domination continued in Hanover, NH. Rensselaer was outshot 34-8 over the first two periods en route to a 4-2 loss to Dartmouth. Kirk MacDonald and Andrew Lord scored the goals for RPI.

Andrew Martin made 75 saves this weekend and ended up with a record of 0-2. That's got to be frustrating.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congratulations to the Men's Hockey Team who won both games on the trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson for the first time in 20 years. On Friday night, the Engineers snapped a five game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over St. Lawrence. Vic Pereira had a goal and an assist and Andrew Martin made 32 saves for the win. With this victory Rensselaer broke a five-game losing streak.

Saturday, RPI made Clarkson pay for backing out of the Satellite Hockey Game by beating the Golden Knights 4-3 in their own building. Four different players scored for Rensselaer. Andrew Martin led the way again with 20 saves.

Coach Dan Fridgen said of this weekend's effort, "It's a seven-goal weekend for us and with Andrew (Martin) playing real solid and with everyone pitching in we came up with two 'W's'.... We played six solid periods of hockey where we won every period...."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team had a difficult weekend at home. On Friday night, they lost a 4-2 decision to Colgate. The Engineers were never really in contention in this game after Colgate broke the 1-1 tie early in the second period. Jake Luthi and Brad Farynuk scored the goals for us.

RPI was blanked by Cornell 5-0 on Saturday night. The power play failed to convert on any of 10 chances.

The team has now lost five games in a row by a combined score of 23 to 4. They face a trip to the North Country for games at St. Lawrence and Clarkson next weekend. (Note: We are a bit behind on summarizing men's hockey results. I've been busy lately. --Dave Aiello)

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rensselaer Men's Hockey Team has played four games since our last report on RCNJ. On the weekend of December 3-4, RPI tied Brown 3-3 in Providence after losing a three-goal lead. This was followed on Saturday night with a 2-1 loss to Harvard, dropping Rensselaer into 10th place in the ECAC Hockey League.

The Engineers bounced back to break out of a number of negative streaks in a non-league game against Providence at Houston Fieldhouse on Wednesday, December 8. The 4-3 victory was the RPI's first one-goal win since late last season (March 6, 2004 against Princeton). RPI also broke a three-game winless streak by beating the Friars.

Rensselaer ended its December schedule with a 4-1 home loss to 14th-ranked Boston University on Saturday. Goaltender Jordan Alford, who has been playing a lot recently, was unavailable due to illness, as was defenseman Scott Romfro.

The men's hockey team's is back on the ice for two non-conference games on January 1 and 2 at Notre Dame.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Friday November 19, the RCNJ sponsored a trip to an RPI women's basketball game. The Lady Red Hawks were participating in the Stevens Tech Tournament in Hoboken, NJ. After Stevens Tech defeated Cal Tech in the opening contest, Rensselaer took the court against the John Jay Bloodhounds.

Senior forward Kaitlyn Saunders scored the first six points for Rensselaer, as they raced out to a 22-0 lead. The score at halftime was 41-2 in favor of the Lady Red Hawks. The blowout continued in the second half, as Rensselaer coasted to an 88-13 victory.

For the game, each Rensselaer player had at least four points. The leading scorer was Saunders with 17 points (chipping in 7 steals), followed by freshman Tory Lyons 12 points (five rebounds) and Brittney O'Neal 9 points (eight rebounds). For John Jay, guard Latrice Blakely had 11 of the team's 13 points.

The RCNJ attendees for this game were President Sandeep Nandy '94, Sudeshna Nandy, and James Alfonso (Sandeep's co-worker who did not attend Rensselaer).

As a result of this victory, Rensselaer advanced to the tournament championship game against Stevens Tech. Despite a strong effort by the Lady Red Hawks, Stevens Tech won the contest, 75-71. Saunders scored 30 points in the title game.

For her efforts in these two contests, Saunders was named the Liberty League forward of the week for women's basketball.

Rensselaer's season record stands at 1-1. They return to action on Tuesday November 30 with a road game at Williams College. The team's home opener is on Tuesday December 7 against Oswego State.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend, the RPI Men's Hockey Team hosted the 54h Annual Rensselaer/Bank of America Holiday Tournament, finishing second to a determined team from the Air Force Academy. On Friday night, the Engineers shut out the Robert Morris Colonials 2-0. Brad Farynuk and Kevin Broad scored power play goals for Rensselaer. Jordan Alford made 17 saves for his first collegiate shutout.

In the championship game, Air Force sophomore goaltender Peter Foster made 32 saves to shut out RPI 1-0. RPI went 0-for-11 on the power play.

Next week, Rensselaer is on the road in games at Brown and Harvard.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend, Rensselaer's Men's Hockey Team traveled to our area for games with Yale and Princeton. On Friday night, RPI traveled to New Haven and defeated winless Yale, 5-2. This ended a three-game Engineers losing streak. Five different players scored for Rensselaer. Andrew Martin made 17 saves for the win.

Saturday night, many RCNJ members attended the game at Hobie Baker Rink. RPI never led in this game, and ended up on the short end of a 3-2 score.

Keith MCWilliams had two goals for the Engineers. Andrew Martin made 22 saves but got stuck with the loss. Princeton goaltender B.J. Sklapsky made 18 saves for his first collegiate win.

A bizzare element in the game came midway through the first period when referee Frank Murphy signaled a delayed penalty on RPI. Princeton goalie B.J. Sklapsky was pulled in favor of an extra skater. A Princeton defenseman inadvertantly hit an RPI forechecker in the shin pads with the puck while attempting a long breakout pass. The puck rebounded off the Rensselaer player directly into the empty Princeton goal. Referee Murphy ruled that there was no goal. An official must blow his or her whistle in a delayed penalty situation if the penalized team gains "posession and control" of the puck.

The question is whether the deflection off the RPI player should have resulted in an immediate stoppage. The NCAA Delayed Penalty Rule (4-9.a) states that a "rebound off the goalkeeper, the boards, or any accidental contact with the body or equipment of an opposing player" shall not be grounds for the whistle to be blown. An argument could be made that play should not have been stopped and that RPI should have been awarded a goal in that case.

However, later in the NCAA Ice Hockey Rulebook, the Interpretations Section states that no goal should be credited to the penalized team in a delayed penalty situation if the "impetus for the goal" comes from a player on the penalized team. Some people interpret this to mean that in a delayed penalty situation, the only time a goal can be scored against the non-penalized team is if a non-penalized team player shoots or passes the puck into his own goal without the puck stiking an official or an opposing player.

The reason this was a critical play in the game is because Princeton scored on the ensuing power play and ultimately won the game by one goal.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The RPI Football Team wound up its season by losing to Union on Saturday, 18-13. The loss means that neither Rensselaer nor Union has successfully defended the Dutchman's Shoes Trophy in the last eight seasons.

RPI had the football with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and a lead, but quarterback Frank Catellier was intercepted on a third down-and-six play, and the resulting Union drive ended in the winning touchdown.

Rensselaer finishes the football season with a 5-4 overall records and a 4-3 record in the Liberty League.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The RPI Men's Hockey Team lost two games to Union College this weekend. On Friday night, RPI gave up goals in the last minute of the second and the first minute of the third periods en route to a 5-4 home loss. Saturday, Union jumped out to a 3-0 lead and hung on for a 3-2 victory.

There are two reasons that this sweep is particularly upsetting:

1. This is the first time since Union joined ECAC Division I that they have swept the season series from RPI.
2. Union College President Roger Hull voted against RPI, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, and the other Division I play up schools on Proposition 65-1. He showed a callousness toward our tradition that should be remembered each time we meet Union on the playing field.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RPI split two penalty-filled games at Houston Field House this weekend. On "Black Friday", the Engineers scored five power play goals to beat Clarkson 5-3. The game featured a ceremony honoring Adam Oates, the inaugural member of the RPI Hockey Ring of Honor. It also included a silent auction of the black RPI jerseys worn by the men's hockey team in this game only.

As you can imagine, a large, enthusiatic crowd turned out; Attendance was 4,980, just below a sell-out.

On Saturday night, St. Lawrence rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat RPI 3-2. Going into the weekend, St. Lawrence was ranked 13th in the USCHO/CSTV Division I Men's Hockey Poll, but lost to Union College on Friday night 6-5 before beating RPI for the weekend split.

Nick Economakos had one goal and four assists for the weekend. Kirk MacDonald scored three goals and one assist. Kevin Croxton had one goal and three assists.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

D3Football reports that RPI ran away from Rochester, scoring 28 unanswered points en route to a 28-14 road victory. Quarterback Frank Catalier connected with Jon Branche for two touchdown passes. Jay Bernardo and Otis Williams scored on the ground for the Engineers.

Rensselaer now has an overall record of 5-3, with a 4-2 record in the Liberty League.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Albany Times Union reports that RPI Men's Hockey Coach Dan Fridgen won the 187th victory of his RPI career as the Engineers rolled over Mercyhurst 5-0. With the victory, Fridgen passes Mike Addesa to become the winningest coach in the history of RPI hockey.

Andrew Martin had his first shutout in goal for RPI. Chris Hussey, Kevin Croxton, Alexander Valentin, Kirk MacDonald, and Kevin Broad each scored once.

RPI opens the ECAC Hockey League regular season next week at Houston Field House against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Friday night will be the Black Friday game, where the Engineers' special black jerseys will be auctioned during the game. Also on Friday, Adam Oates will be honored on his induction into the Rensselaer Athletic Hall of Fame.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As published earlier, the RCNJ will attend the Rensselaer hockey game at West Point on Saturday, October 23rd.

We will begin the evening with an informal pre-game dinner at the Schades Restaurant at 4:30pm. Schades is located at 54 Main St. in Highland Falls, NY. A map to the restaurant is provided below. Some have asked me why we need to meet for dinner at such an early hour - I have found from our experiences at Princeton that 4:30 is the right time for dinner for a 7pm faceoff. Security concerns entering West Point will also be a consideration.

Due to time constraints, I will have to hand out tickets at the pre-game dinner or at the arena. Contrary to years past, you can pay me directly at the arena, either in cash, or by a check made out to the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey (RCNJ). If you need to receive your tickets at the arena, please retain my cell phone number (908-578-3673) on the night of the game.

Continue reading "Engineers Visit Army: Pre-Game Dinner and Game Details" »

Posted by John Cloninger at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Times Union reports that RPI gave up two power play goals to Merrimack en route to a 5-3 loss in the first game of the season. This was the opening game of the University of Nebraska-Omaha Maverick Stampede Tournament on Saturday night. Chris Hussey, Matt McNeely, and Nick Economakos scored for the Engineers. Goaltender Andrew Martin gave up five goals to Merrimack on 16 shots.

RPI plays its second game of the season Sunday night against Connecticut in the Maverick Stampede Tournament Consolation Game.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Albany Times Union reports that St. Lawrence's beat RPI 26-21 in football to end a 12-year losing streak against RPI. The Saints defense tightened up in the second half, stalling RPI's offense and stifling a comeback.

Jay Bernardo scored on a 28-yard run for the Engineers. Quarterback Dan Wysocki hooked up with Dan Stephens to put RPI up 14-7. The RPI defense yielded the next 19 points to the Saints, putting St. Lawrence up for good.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sandeep Nandy wrote, "Join fellow RCNJ members on a trip to West Point to see RPI's men's hockey team take on Army on Saturday, October 23, at 7 p.m. We are looking forward to cheering the Engineers to victory over the Cadets in this long standing rivalry. "

"A limited number of tickets are available for $10 each, so reserve yours today. If you are interested in attending this game, please contact John Cloninger at jpcloninger@alum.rpi.edu."

"Directions to the Rink can be found on Army's main web site, http://www.usma.edu/directions/."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

D3football points out that RPI won the Shotglass Trophy 28-7 over Coast Guard led by the rushing efforts of Jay Bernardo and Otis Williams. Bernardo scored three of Rensselaer's four touchdowns while rushing for 220 yards. Williams had 111 yards on the ground.

Freshman quarterback Chad Wysocki threw a 40-yard TD pass to Dan Stephens to close out the scoring for RPI in the fourth quarter. The Engineers are now 2-2 overall, 1-1 in the Liberty League, and will face St. Lawrence next week in Canton.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If it wasn't clear from last week's report, the RPI Football Team has lost strength on both sides of the line of scrimmage since the end of last season.

In their third game, the Engineers met the Hobart Statesmen on '86 Field. They jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead, converting two Hobart turnovers. Hobart answered with 54 points and 536 yards of total offense, doing to Rensselaer what Rensselaer did to many teams last year.

RPI Head Coach Joe King summed things up nicely:

We're not the same team. We don't have the same players; we don't have the same coaches. We need to find ourselves, and hopefully we can do it soon and win a couple of games.

Next week the Engineers take on Coast Guard for The Shotglass Trophy.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)