In reaction to posts by Jimmy Page and Chris Moon--
 
The shortage of talent, actually the total absence of bodies, in the class of
'97 resulted from the NC$$ decreasing the number of scholarships in Division 1
to 18.  Last year's team was probably a defenseman and a sniper away from the
Frozen Four (note I didn't say Phinal Phour).  I'm sure Buddy had constructed
his team to add the final pieces to the championship puzzle with the addition of
some talented '93 freshman.  Instead, he was force to stand pat, and, unlike
Maine, RPI doesn't see a lot of walk-on hockey players who also aspire to become
electrical engineers. ( :-) )   Those two deficiencies prevented RPI from making
it to the upper echelon occupied by Harvard, BU, Minnesota, and, obviously, LS
LSSU.
 
This year's team was overachievers.  Mike Tamburro blossomed beautifully in
goal, making up for the disappointing play of the much-hyped Bryan Massotta.
Dan Fridgen matured as a coach to enable the team to go on a hot streak, and the
team ended up with an ECAC Championship.  Despite the media play on the En
Engineers at Madison, they were definitely light years behind Minnesota talent-
wise.  Tamburro came close to doing a Chris Terreri imitation.  But, the old
adage, if you don't put the puck in the net, you will never win a game.
 
So enjoy it while you can.  Face it, RPI is not an upper echelon team.  Once in
a while they might steal a championship.  But playing in the ECAC, with the
academic index to contend with, effectively decreases their chances of putting
on-ice a program like a Michigan, Maine, BU, Wisconsin, etc.  And we don't have
Jeff Jackson for a coach.  But it's not so bad.  We could have a program like
Notre Dame's.
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Brian Morris                        RPI Engineers--1995 ECAC Champions
[log in to unmask]           Tenth Anniversary of the '85 Championship