OK, I should have posted this earlier.  But better late than never.
 
Lines/Pairings
 
Red Team
E. Cavoisie/Dupee/Butterwick
Murley/Caley/Gardiner
Duffy/Siggins/Migliore
Munn/Coupal
Cunning/Pothier
Prekaski (G)
 
White Team
Shepherd/Henkel/McPherson
Graham/M.Cavosie/Tapper
Senez/Vickers
Eberly/Reigstad
Wiesel
Laing (G)
 
A larger crowd than usual turned up on Saturday to watch the annual
Red/White Scrimmage.  This year's version even includes lights, a live
scoreboard, music, and even the abridged version of the band.  And...free
cookies!
 
The following represents the scoring, recorded between beers.
 
1. Red Gardiner (??)
2. White Shepherd (Tapper, Cavosie) 9:37
3. Red Murley (Gardiner slides the puck across the crease, Cunning)
4. Red Dupee (penalty shot)
5. White Shepherd (penalty shot) 15:40
6. White McPherson with a nice tuck and shoot move (Henkel, Shepherd)
7. Red Caley (Murley, Coupal)
8. Butterick (Cavosie, Munn)
 
Second Half
9. Red Gardiner (Pothier, Murley)
 
The game was played in two halves, so the times were essentially
irrelevant.  No penalties were awarded, but if a significant enough
infraction was whistled a penalty shot was awarded.  Ex-Hockey-ler Kenny
Zalewski served as a linesman.
 
Obviously not a lot can be concluded from a game like the Red/White.  Nice
atmosphere though with the players lifting their sticks in salute to the
fans at the end.  Guys I liked: Carson Butterwick, big winger playing on
what I guess will be the fourth line; Marc Covosie, the younger half of
the two brothers from Cohoes via Albany Academy; Francois Senez a big hard
skating defenseman from Quebec; Dan Eberly, a little hesitant with his
footwork but a good bet to grow into the solid stay at home
defenseman-type.
 
Overall the game looked like, well, a scrimmage with a lot of one on one
moves and not much defense.  The defenseman, particularly Coupal and
Pothier, were deeper than I've ever seen them in a game situation.  Scott
Prekaski looked a little unsettled in goal, but again you can't really
draw any conclusions from this night of fun.  The first line of
Murley/Caley/Gardiner looks like a sure bet to put up a lot of goals.
Steve Caley will have to be more aggressive handling the puck with Matt
Murley next to him.  Pete Gardiner will have to improve on catching the
hot passes he is sure to receive from Murley, and will also have to adopt
an enforcer role to protect the small Caley and future Penguin Murley.
The second line I assume will be Graham/Covosie/Tapper, but this line
didn't look to have gelled yet.  Brad Tapper looked a little lost out
there, and he must emerge as the #2 scorer for the Engineers to have much
of a season.
 
This is quite a young and inexperienced team with only two juniors and 9
seniors.  Many of the sophomores didn't get a lot of ice time last year,
and one, Kurt Wiesel, is a complete mystery to me.  The defense as usual
will be the key to how far this team can go.  Pothier and Reigstad, who
really improved last season, are the obvious anchors; but the rest have
yet to distinguish themselves.  The only truly set positions are the
goaltenders which I think will continue to rotate throughout the season.
Hopefully this year each one will spur the other to upgrade their play,
with the guy with the hot hand getting the bulk of the work.
 
Dan Fridgen can look forward to a stable coaching situation having
received a $ubstantial contract extension.  All the members have now been
recruited in his mold, so there are higher expectations on his results.
Realistically I don't think this team can challenge the Golden Knights for
the auto-bid, but they have a pretty good chance to grab home ice for the
playoffs.
 
Season starts the weekend after next at the Pepsi with RPI meeting BU in
the inaugural tournament with Quinnipiac and Niagara also participating.
 
The off-season is over.
***************************************************************************
Brian Morris                  RPI Engineers--How Far Can They Go?
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