Since my system was down last night, this is my first opportunity to post some
thoughts.  Jason has already said much of it, but I'll continue.
 
Lines as I had them:
 
1. Garver/St. Hillaire/ Riva
2. Battaglia/Gardener/Shepherd
3. Riva/Gosselin/Murphy
4. James/Lyons/Caley
 
Defensive Pairings
(With Cory Bilodeau out, these seemed to change repeatedly. But some seem set.)
 
1. Brownlee/Murray
2. Aldous/Pothier
3. Tapper/whoever--even saw him with Aldous a couple of times.  Quite a pair!
4. Reigstad/whoever
 
In general I have a feeling that RPI will have difficulty finishing this year.
Outside of Healy, there isn't anyone who has the credentials to be a force
in front of the net.  Healy's stuff shot for the second RPi goal was a big
surprise.  I haven't seen that play in the Engineer repertoire in quite a while.
Matt Garver has got to put up some points to match his hyper play.  He does
everything but put it in the goal.  St. Hillaire looked pretty solid.  Riva
didn't have a good initial outing.
 
It really seemed like the offense just didn't know each other yet.  There were
dozens of missed passes, and the puck carrying through the center zone didn't
really work until the third period.  Freshman Gardener was the big surprise.
Huge, and mobile.  Also like Caley, who had limited time but seemed like a
Garver clone.  I would hope he gets moved up to the third line.  There is lot
of room for improvement in this bunch, but they don't seem to have the egos to
inhibit progress, which was present in the Buddy years.  This is Fridgen's
philosopy on the ice, big, truly NHL-sized, defensively oriented, solid skating.
Again the litmus test will come in the finishing department.
 
The defense is good.  It may become overpowering.  This is by far the most
physical group I have seen at the Fieldhouse since the glory days of '85.  The
juniors are playing well.  I thought Bryabn Tapper was just outstanding.  He
leveled BU forwards repeatedly in the corners, and made screening goaltender
Lang a painful proposition.  Aldous has usual was solid, almost error free.
Brownlee showed he has a shot from the point.  Something which is going to be
crucial for the RPI offense.  Freshman Pothier looked very mature and confident.
And one other thing: this group cleans out the slot.  Improvement is needed
in the break-out play and starting the offense through the center zone.  No
surprise, that's the most difficult piece of the defensive puzzle.
 
The goaltending was OK.  I have to see if Lang develops and becomes the total
force that the Engineers must have to become successful.  Two of the BU goals
were soft, IMHO, particularly BU's fourth goal.  But Lang made a lot of stops,
and never got flustered when BU tried to put bodies in his face.  If Lang can
improve his concentration, RPI will be able to win the low scoring games, which
seems to be Fridgen's general plan for this year's squad.
 
The power play was almost non-existent, even though two of RPI
scores were power play goals.  The Gardener goal was a thing of beauty, with
Gardener sending the pass over to Battaglia on the wing, and Battaglia returning
the puck to Gardiner in front of the net.  But not exactly a classic power play
goal.  Healy's forementioned stuff was also not exactly classic power play
material.  Again the lack of familiarity is the bugaboo here, and someone is
going to have to become the quarterback for the power play.  Brownlee seems like
the guy, although Tapper has got the strong slap shot. But last night it was
nobody.
 
Teh officiating was lousy.  Emmian decided physical play was taboo, and that
hurt RPI's defensive style.  Therownlee hold was particularly egregious, since
t directly resulted in BU's second goal.
 
BU was not the team I have seen formerly.  Larocque was OK behind the pipes,
but he was severely tested.  Pierce had a pretty good game, and Drury was
consistent.  But BU shied away fro hitting.  Kealty in particular seemed to
rely exclusively on his stick.  I thought this guy was supposed to be NHL
material.  I have yet to see a good outing from him
 
Overall the game maintained your interest.  The result wa as expected.  The
play wa more even than anticipated.  The Engineers get something to build on.
The Terrriers get something to work on.
*********************************************************************************
Brian Morris               RPI Engineers--Big and Nasty
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