The local (Albany/Troy,NY) newpapers both carried stories today about how flat
the RPI team looked last night in their 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the
Princeton
Tigers. Actually, I was quite pleased at what I saw most of the game. RPI was
soundly beaten through 2 1/2 periods of this game. They were beaten out in front
of the net, they were beaten along the boards and they were beaten in center
ice.
Yet despite this, the young RPI team never gave up. They hustled when the score
was 0-1 and they were still hustling when they were down 0-6. IMHO they
actually carried the play for the last 10 minutes of the game although they
couldn't score.
So why did the newspapers blast the RPI team? Because Princeton is a crummy
team.
Their season always ends in early March, right after the first round of the ECAC
tourney. Sure they made it to the finals a few years ago but RPI beat them
soundly and that year was a fluke.
 
WAKE UP ECAC. This Princeton team is no fluke this year. They outskated, out
shot and outmuscled RPI most of the game. While their defense doesn't look
spectacular, they
played the most disciplined defense I've seen in the Field House in years.
RPI looked flat because the Princeton defense was in their face all night
and RPI got off so few
quality shots through the 1st two periods you could count them on 1 hand.
Come to think of it, maybe their defense was spectacular.
 
So while it was heartening to see RPI play so hard from start to finish, the
rest of the ECAC better not presume that this is the same old Princeton
team. This team
isn't setting their target for early March; they aim to be playing right
through March
and on into April.  And they just might do it....
Mark Lewin
Class of '69
 
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