Last weekend saw RPI get their lunch handed to them at the Denver Cup with a 6-2 loss to BU and a slightly closer 4-3 loss to Holy Cross. RPI did manage to outshoot HC 13-4 in the opening frame which has not happened often this season.
The HC game was also notable in that Appert pulled a "Paul Maurice circa 2007" and pulled York with 2+ minutes to go in the third period. For those who don't remember, when Toronto was trying like hell for the last playoff spot, Paul would pull the goalie about 5 minutes to go in the game. It worked in a few games but ultimately a lot of empty netters resulted.
Has Appert gotten desperate? What are we to make out of these 2 games? As one commentator of this blog noted, it is good to play top level talent and see where you are at. If that is the case, then RPI is certainly not in the same league as BU and kinda close to HC. I think they should challege themselves via scheduling (although I think it directly led to last year's midseason meltdown) but clearly the results are that RPI is a mid to lower level ECAC team.
Can we expect similar results in the second half of the season? Let's take a look at RPI's upcoming sched...
| Fri. | 1/9/2009 | @ | Quinnipiac | 7:00 ET | |
| Sat. | 1/10/2009 | @ | Princeton | 4:00 ET | |
| Fri. | 1/16/2009 | Colgate | 7:00 ET | ||
| Sat. | 1/17/2009 | Cornell | 7:00 ET |
They lost 5-1 to the Q and 4-1 to Princeton in previous matchups. They will play the 2 C's again later in the season so we don't know how well they will do then. Clearly, if there is going to be any second half turnaround, RPI needs to score more than 1 goal and probably win a few of these games. I think the C's will be a lost cause if RPI can't step it up against the Gotham area teams. It was good to see Angers-Goulet turn it on as it is an affirmation of Appert's recruiting skills. He basically WAS the scoring out there in Denver and if the underclassmen can start turning it on, RPI might have something to build on for next year. Time will tell.
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