The following comment startled me and led to a nostalgia attack --
 
On Thu, 7 Dec 1995 Deron Treadwell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
> Walsh normally keeps around 30 players, while most schools keep
> only 22 or 23 players.
 
Boy, times have changed since old farts like Tony (Buffa), Ralph (Baer), and
I were undergrads at RPI! Particularly in Tony and my senior year ('63-'64),
just before Ralph arrived, RPI had just lost Ned Harkness as coach and Rube
Bjorkmann was there for his one-year tenure. He regularly skated only two
lines, three defensemen (that's defenseMEN, not defensive units) and one
goalie. The Troy Record dubbed them RPI's "Ten Iron Men".
 
But for all their lack of depth, they didn't do too shabbily. Their first
line -- Bobby Brinkworth, Jerry Knightly (both All-Americans, dubbed by the
Troy Record as the "Gold Dust Twins"), and Pete Russell -- was the highest
scoring line in the nation. They upset an excellent BC team (3-2, I believe,
with Brinkworth doing an amazing job of stick handling to single-handedly
kill off 1:30 of a 2:00 penalty) in the first round of the ECAC playoffs, and
wound up accepting a bid to the NCAA playoffs in Denver (after St. Lawrence
turned down a bid), where they beat Providence for the number 3 spot (again,
if I remember correctly).
 
Also contributing to my nostalgia kick was Tony Buffa's post the other day
wherein he commented:
 
> At any rate, I recall one heckuva game, I think my senior year,
> against the Larries, in which action was up and down the ice,
> ended RPI winning 1-0.
 
I also clearly remember that game -- one of the best played hockey games I've
ever had the privelege of watching. Both teams were setting up great, well
executed offensive plays, but it turned out to be a duel between the two goal
tenders -- RPI's tall, lanky Bill Sach and the Larries short, squat Bob
Perani. Perani could do the most amazing things with his stick, even when he
was flat on his back on the ice! I seem to recall that Perani may have made
All-American, although I'm not certain about that.
 
With the way college hockey seems to have evolved, I doubt that there will
ever be another group of "Ten Iron Men" who could fare nearly as well as that
"63-'64 RPI team.
 
Bob Stagat
RPI '64 & '68
 
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