Before a handful of the Engineer faithful at the Fieldhouse, the RPI Engineers
presented their annual Red/White scrimmage, with RPI emerging the victor.  Sinnce
the Engineers are due to open the season at home next Saturday against BU, it
does seem good to be able to say that at least once this year.
 
Chock full of freshman, and bereft of seniors, it seems obvious that this year
will be somewhat of a struggle for the Engineers.  With this year's edition it
truly becomes coach Dan Fridgen's team, with the dependable speedy forwards of
the last four years having departed, replaced by big physical bodies who seem
more inclined to think defense first than a quick breakaway.  The difference
from teams past is immediately apparent, there are some significant big people
out on the ice now, and wimpy play will be swept out of the rink with the       Z
Zamboni.  What it doesn't guarantee however is whether the puck will find its
way into the opposing team's net.  Scoring is going to be a premium, no Joe
Juneaus in the incoming crop of freshman, and with Eric Healy the only proven
goal scorer the Engineers look to be a low scoring bunch this coming season.
 
The lines and pairings for this morning's affair were as follows:
 
       Murphy/Riva/Gosselin
       Battaglia/Shepherd/Gardiner
       Healy/St.Hilaire/Garver  (this is the #1 Line)
       Lyons/Caley/James
 
       Murray/Brownlee
       Rozsa/Reigstad
       Pothier/Tapper
       Aldous Bilodeau
 
Golatenders: Pergolotti, Laing, Prekaski
 
The Red/White scrimmage is always more noteworthy for its quota of fun than
prediction, but I'll try some crystal ball gazing anyway.  Alain St. Hilaire
is THE MAN for the Engineers this year.  He was all over the ice and in fact
scored a goal.  His pairing with Healy is crucial--someone has to feed Healy
in front of the net because Healy doesn't have the skills to create his own
shots.  Coupled with his skills at the the face-off circle, St. Hilaire looks
to carry a lot of the offensive load.  The right wind spot was occupied my Matt
Garver, the fastest skater on the team.  I wouldn't be surprise however to see
Garver end up on a different line, replaced by one of the beefier forwards at
RPI's disposal.
 
Defense is going to be the Engineer's forte.  Led by returning juniors Bryan
Tapper, Pat Brownlee and Chris Aldous, the play at the blue line should be
very consistent.  If one of the three grows inot the point role on the power
play--both Brownlee with his wrister and Tapper with his slapper have the tools-
this group is going to be solid.  Strangely both of the freshman defenseman
were involved in the scoring with Rozsa knocking in the rebound of a big Doug
Battaglia shot, and Reigstag assisting on Battaglia's subsequent goal.  B
Battaglia also was involved in the games highlight squaring off with Bryan Ta
Tapper in the first period, with each drawing roughing penalties.  This marks
the second consecutive year Tapper has fought in the Red/White scrimmage, much
to the amusement of the crowd.
 
The forwards as a unit seem to have some legitimate puck handling skills.  It
remains to be seen whether they will have the scoring touch however.  The
freshman crop had a number of standouts, none more literally than DiPaolo who
looks to be around 6'3" and 220 lbs.  He seems to have skating ability as well,
although I was gushing over Kyle Ferguson at last year's Red/White.  Two other
freshman forwards looked skilled, especially Caley.  Caley has great speed and
nifty stick work.  I would expect that he will emerge as the big scoring
freshman.  Also notable was Gardiner, who showed good stick handling abilities.
 
Goaltending is the biggest question mark on a team full of enigmas.  I didn't
get much of a feel for either of the freshman goaltenders from Western Canada,
Laing and Prekaski.  I would expect that they will form a platoon for the seasson
however.  Last year's Anthony Pergolotti also played, but I would doubt that
he will be one of the starters.  It will be a case of throwing the greenhorns
into the line of fire next week against BU, regardless of who gets the starting
nod.
 
For those of you keeping track at home, goals were scored by Mark Murphy, Alain
St. Hilaire, Rozsa, Doug Battaglia and Jean Francois Gosselin, who also put
some good wood on net throughout the game.  The Red squad was coached by Ivan
Moore from the class of 1992, and the White squad was coached by Al Kummu, classs
of 1993.  Next week's game will be coached by Dan Fridgen.  :-)
 
My forecast for the Fieldhouse: the Engineers may not win a lot of games, but
their opponents will not look forward to the matchups.  The Engineers will play
a punishing defensive style with a lot of opposing forwards being introduced
to the boards.  The Engineers should be able to keep most of the games close but
will struggle to get a lead.  This year will be a time for building a team that
will contend next year--frankly Vermont and Clarkson are untouchable this year
anyway--and hopefully years to come.
*********************************************************************************
Brian Morris                 RPI Engineers--Big and Nasty
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