C Is For Cookie

Tonight, RPI kicks off their season against the double C's, Colorado College. Typically, when one steps out of the confines of the ECAC, one finds the level of competition increased regardless of that school's rank in its division. This of course, does not apply to the teams of Atlantic Hockey that RPI continues to schedule during tournaments to fatten up its record (Bentley, I am looking at you punk!).

Against, WCHA, CCHA and Hockey East opponents, RPI, more often than not, comes up on the short end of the stick. By my rough calculations, RPI over the last three years is a combined 3-13-1 against teams from those three divisions. Last year was certainly an improvement, going 3-3-1 against those teams so perhaps the Cherry and White are on a slight uptick.

Colorado College comes into this weekend's pair of games ranked in the middle of the WCHA. Apparently they are going by a score by committee approach this year backstopped by a very good goaltender in Howe. I won't profess to know as much about CC as some other WCHA schools but I do know that RPI is in for a tough test.

I think RPI is going to look for scoring from Chase but also from guys like Angers-Goulet and Halpern. There needs to be secondary scoring so good teams like CC don't key in on the top guys. There are also a lot of freshmen on the team and one wonders if they will start to make an impact. Maybe not this weekend but in the coming weeks of the season. Of course, with York backstopping the team, they will remain competitive no matter the contribution.

Predictions:

RPI will lose the first game by a score of 5-2 but will rally to win the second contest 3-2. In any event, I will be cheering on the lads tonight. Go Get Em RPI!