Game Gab - Nightly Post-Game Analysis
Come here after the games for analysis and insights from CHN Staff members.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Rensselaer 6, Brown 2 - Saturday, March 16, 2013
After a scoreless first period, RPI busted loose finally, forcing a Game 3. Mike Zalewski scored twice in the third to help the Engineers finally break free. “I didn’t think we were very good,” Brown coach Brendan Whittet said. “I think we were just a little off. RPI played great. It was still a 3-2 game, a one-goal game, going into the third. They took it to us in the third and they got a big win, which is what they earned.”
Friday, March 15, 2013
Brown 3, Rensselaer 1 - Friday, March 15, 2013
Michael Juola scored with 1:44 left in regulation to give Brown the win on the road against second-seeded RPI. "I thought it was a great game,” Brown coach Brendan Whittet said. “We stuck to what we needed to do defensively and that allowed us that opportunity at the end. It was a great shot. (Juola) buried it and Borelli played tremendous from the get go. They had some good, good chances.”
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Rensselaer 4, St. Lawrence 1 - Saturday, March 2, 2013
RPI swept Clarkson and St. Lawrence to solidify its spot in second place, and take a nice leap in the Pairwise. The Engineers now get the bye for the ECACs, and can rest up. A quarterfinal series win should be enough to get them to the NCAAs for the second time in three years, which would be a huge accomplishment. Not many thought RPI was ready to rise back towards the top of the league again after last year's dropoff.
St. Lawrence is in the opposite boat. It was looking good after a nice streak, in position for a bye, in position for the NCAAs. Then it went out and got swept this weekend. It didn't help that star senior captain Kyle Flanagan was forced to miss the weekend after his emergency appendectomy on Tuesday. The double whammy is that now, without the bye, the Saints will probably be without Flanagan again next weekend when they face Colgate in Canton.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Rensselaer 3, Colgate 2 - Saturday, February 23, 2013
Colgate got an inspirational win over Union on Friday, as Spiro Goulakos scored the game winner in his first home game since returning to the lineup. Last month, Goulakos was diagnosed with cancer, and has started treatment, but has been able to return to the lineup. ... It was followed up, however, with a heartbreaking loss, as Matt Neal scored in the closing seconds of overtime. That helped RPI go back into second place, because St. Lawrence lost, and made up partially for Friday's loss at Cornell.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Rensselaer 4, Yale 1 - Saturday, February 16, 2013
RPI keeps things rolling with two more wins, running its ECAC winning streak to eight straight. And this one leaped the Engineers into second place in the tight ECAC standings -- tight except for first, which is already locked up by Quinnipiac. There's still a ways to go in this season, but what Seth Appert has done with this team is already deserving of praise. He helped build the team back to the NCAA tournament a few years ago, then saw his roster get depleted, but has since built things back again. There's not as much pure talent as that team had, but they have come together slowly and steadily as a team. RPI is right on the Pairwise bubble, along with fellow ECAC teams Dartmouth and Union. "Gutty win tonight against very good Yale," Appert said. "We weren't great but we battled (and) found a way to win together."
The weekend marks a big setback for Yale, losing both games to drop into a tie for fifth in the ECAC. But it's managing to hold onto its at-large bid spot for the NCAAs, at the moment.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Rensselaer 6, Clarkson 2 - Saturday, February 9, 2013
Two points separate third from eighth in the ECAC right now, but with a sweep in the North Country, RPI is on the top end of that, tied for third. That's six straight league wins, with the only blemish in there, a non-league loss to Union in Albany. With Jason Kasdorf back in net, it feels like anything is possible for RPI right now. ... Friday, RPI cooled off a hot St. Lawrence when CJ Lee scored in overtime. Clarkson had also been playing well before the Engineers came to town. Ryan Haggerty scored twice as RPI scored three goals in the first and second period to take a 6-0 before cruising in the third. ... "We had good purpose to what we wanted to do," RPI coach Seth Appert said. "We had a good will to not be cute in the neutral zone, get pucks deep and cycle. But I also think we were fortunate. I don't think it was as lopsided as the score. ... The second period, we had a power play to start. If they kill that, they get momentum and all of a sudden they get a goal, it's 3-1 in their building. And I thought we did a good job on that power play coming out with urgency and getting a goal right away."
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Rensselaer 3, Dartmouth 0 - Saturday, February 2, 2013
At the annual Big Red Freakout, Rensselaer showed up with a determined effort and got a sweep of its weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard. Friday, it held hapless Harvard to just 11 shots. Saturday, it faced a Dartmouth team that got a strong tie on Friday, but sorely needed a win to keep itself on the NCAA bubble. Instead, the Engineers took charge, getting 28 saves from Jason Kasdorf, who was back from injury this weekend and picked up where he left off. RPI has won 4-of-5, and has moved within a game of .500.
Dartmouth, meanwhile, continues to struggle, relatively speaking, since its high-water mark -- a win over New Hampshire during its holiday tournament. Dartmouth lost the championship of that tournament, and has gone 3-6-1 since. Dartmouth needs to string together some wins to get a foot back in the NCAA picture.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Union 3, Rensselaer 2 - Saturday, January 26, 2013
Union has managed to stem the tide now, following an ugly 2-6-3 stretch with three straight wins, including this one in the inaugural Mayor's Cup against rival RPI at the Times Union Center in Albany. It was the eighth straight win for Union over the Engineers. Read more about it in our blog.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
New Hampshire 5, Rensselaer 2 - Saturday, January 5, 2013
RPI couldn't bounce back from a tough, overtime loss to Boston University on Friday, and New Hampshire pretty much controlled this game throughout. UNH didn't have to play Friday, making it extra tough on the Engineers. A solid win for UNH, which has a home-and-home with Boston College next weeks. The teams will face each other as 1-3 in the Pairwise. ... See more in our CHN Blog.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Rensselaer 2, Brown 2 - Saturday, December 8, 2012
Injuries, team-imposed suspensions, sub-par goaltending -- RPI has seen it all so far this season. But this weekend was a sign that perhaps things are finally back on track. With freshman Jason Kasdorf now manning the net on a seemingly full-time basis, with five straight starts, RPI got a rousing 6-1 win Friday against Yale, then followed it up with a solid 2-2 tie. Senior goaltender Bryce Merriam has not been doing that well in net, and sophomore Scott Diebold was also ineffective. So RPI coach Seth Appert turned to the freshman a couple of weeks ago, and there has been a marked difference. ... Meanwhile, Brown also must feel like it's making some progress, and also in net. Remember, this was a team that was left short a goalie after the Roy brothers bolted for Northeastern during the summer. Anthony Borelli has recently been getting the starts. Despite being a senior, Borelli appeared in just seven games prior to this season, and none last year. Marco DeFilippo has been struggling, however, and Borelli has stepped in, going 1-0-3, including ties against Union and RPI this weekend.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Harvard 4, Rensselaer 0 - Saturday, November 10, 2012
RPI coach Seth Appert tried to send his team a message by dressing only 16 skaters following a bad performance against Dartmouth on Friday. But it didn't help, as Harvard controlled the game from start to finish, as the Crimson bounced back from Friday's loss to Union. Brian Hart, a highly-touted freshman, scored his first career goal, and fellow phenom Jimmy Vesey scored twice, including an empty netter, as his strong collegiate start continues.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Union 7, Rensselaer 3 - Saturday, November 3, 2012
Sophomore defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been banged around quite a bit so far this season, but it hasn't stopped him from being a force. He returned this weekend, missing no time after suffering a knee injury last weekend, and then had three assists Saturday after taking a cut to the nose on a hit from RPI's Luke Curadi. (Curadi received a game DQ for a hit to the head, and will miss next Friday's game against Dartmouth, though no one thought it was a dirty play.) In the process, Union steamrolled over its cross-town rival, getting wins in its first two ECAC games of the season.
There was a time when Union was the mildly-annoying baby brother to RPI, but the tides have turned over the last few years, and RPI showed it has quite a ways to go right now to get back among the ECAC elite. This may be taking a toll on RPI coach Seth Appert, who got into a shouting match with Union coach Rick Bennett after the first period. But he wasn't alone -- things got worse in the third period when a hit from behind by RPI's C.J. Lee caused him to get ejected, and set off a melee.
Brown 3, Rensselaer 2 - Sunday, March 17, 2013
Brown won Game 3, in a tough series that may have crushed RPI's NCAA hopes. Brown got out to a 3-0 lead, then had to hold on as RPI outshot the Bears 13-4 in the third period. Anthony Borelli stopped 40 shots, including all 13 he faced in the final period. Matt Lorito scored his 20th of the season, as he became the first Brown player since Damian Prescott in 1997-98 to get at least 20. “I thought we started off pretty good,” Brown coach Brendan Whittet said. “We were pretty decent for a period and a half and then the tide turned pretty quick. Not only did it turn; we were holding on for dear life. It’s nice to get the win and move on and it is a huge tribute to our guys. But, that was not easy. RPI has a great team. Seth does a wonderful job. Their team is really good and they’re going to be really good for a long time.” ... For a program that faced the trauma of losing big-time recruit Kevin Roy to some ... interesting recruiting, then saw Roy have a stellar year for Northeastern -- it's nice to see Brown move on. But it's heartbreak for RPI, which had a great stretch run that took it all the way to second place and into NCAA contention. RPI needs a lot of help to make the NCAAs now, kind of like what happened two years ago.
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