Appert, Myopia

Before I get to the Appert interview in this week's USCHO ECAC roundup, let's get to the games this weekend.

RPI vs. Yale/Brown

If I had not watched the games last weekend I would have thought this was a split. However, its clear to me that the problems that RPI faces this year will not be overcome and I foresee a bunch of back to back losses. Brown should be a win but until RPI actually wins (and scores more than 1 goal doing it) I am penciling in 2 losses for this weekend.

USCHO Article:

Here are some selected quotes from SA in USCHO.

Right now we need to be consistently focused on being a better defensive team,” said the coach, reiterating past assessments that RPI is not “a four-goal-a-game team” right now.

Really? No kidding? The defense was terrible last weekend at the HFH but you couldn't escape the feeling that RPI would be in it if they had the potential of scoring more goals to counteract the bad D. When you are only capable of scoring 1-2 goals a game you can't be giving up 3-4 in the first period. However, I see potential on the offensive side. There are scorers, there are passers, they are just not converting. I think it is going to be more difficult to fix this defense than to get the offense going and there has to be a way to increase the GAA of opposing goaltenders.

“When looking at our record, it’s frustrating, no question about it … but we’ve played five league games. We have more than 75 percent of our season ahead of us.”

Past results indicate future returns. If RPI can't beat Bentley and can't beat the current incarnation of Mercyhurst, what chance do they stand against the ECAC teams? Sure the ECAC is traditionally one of the weaker conferences in the US (compared to the CCHL and the WCHL) but there has been nothing to indicate RPI can rise up against in-division competition. Of course Appert can't bag on the season but there has to be some indication of change. I don't know if RPI fans can take "75%" of the remaining season to go like the first 25%.