RPI vs. Princeton
 
 
The RPI vs. Princeton debacle (from the RPI perspective) has gotten a
lot of coverage on Hockey-L for the last few days, and Brian Masotta
has been mentioned prominently.  I wish to clarify a few points.
 
Frankly, Brian Masotta is getting a bad rap from a number of people,
mainly because he was the goalie in the first ECAC loss suffered by
RPI.  He should not have been the losing goalie in the first ECAC loss.
It should have been Mike Tamburro.  No, I'm not saying that
Tamburro should have started (I'll get to that later), I'm saying the
Engineers should have lost to either St. Lawrence, Harvard or Union,
if not 2 or all of those teams.  What has been lost in the shuffle is the
quality of play exhibited by the Engineers.  It has been of fair to low
quality.  When the Engineers won, with the exceptions of the game
against Clarkson and the gimme against McGill, they have not
dominated play.  It was a balanced game in which the Engineers came
out on top.  When RPI lost, they lost big.  They were not in the games,
quality-wise, against Army, BU, Mass-Lowell and Princeton.  What
you have is a team that is playing, on average, sub-par hockey, but
winning all the close games.  RPI had to score in the last minute to beat
Harvard and Union, and the St. Lawrence game was a one-goal game
until an empty netter with about a minute to play.  That is hardly a
dominant team.  The Engineers could very well have lost all three of
those games.
 
Therefore, to make my point perfectly clear, I will shout it:  RPI
SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN 5-0 AFTER FIVE GAMES!!!
 
Taking that into account, what was to be expected against Princeton?
Well, I was certain the Engineers would lose.  I told that to Ralph Slate
that week.  Before the game I had dinner with another alum and told
her not to get too excited, because RPI would lose.  Why was I
certain?  No, I am not a Nostradamus and my prognostication skills are
no better than anyone else's.  I considered the way RPI had been
playing, which was below average, and the way Princeton plays at
home, which is quite good, and the quality of the Princeton team, for
which I have a great deal of respect.  Result:  RPI loses.
 
Now, who should have started in goal?  I say Mike Tamburro.  Not
because of the streak (Yes, I was in the broadcast crew, but I am not
the least bit superstitious, nor am I a hypocrite.  Jayson was referring
to others.), but because I anticipated a much closer game than most
everyone else, therefore I felt the goalie who was playing the best
should be in net.  That was Tamburro.
 
However, I do understand the opposing argument put forth by Jayson,
and I say his argument is sound.  I just happen to give greater weight
to my viewpoint.  But I do agree Masotta should have been pulled
earlier.  This is one aspect of hockey I just don't understand.  In
baseball (my first love), if your pitcher doesn't have the right stuff, you
get him out of there.  In hockey, if the goaltender is not doing
particularly well, there's this masochistic "play through the trouble"
attitude.  I say, if he looks shaky well into the game, get him off the
ice.  Jayson is right.  Masotta looked shaky early, then settled down.
But he looked like he was in shock after the second and third goals,
and he should have been taken out then.
 
Is Brian Masotta responsible for this loss?  No, it took a hell of a lot
more than Brian Masotta having a bad day to yield this result.  All 18
skaters, I do mean all of them, for RPI had horrible games.  Nobody
played well.  No defense, no offense.  Combine that with a hungry,
aggressive and talented Princeton team, and you have a disaster.  When
RPI made a big mistake, Princeton scored.  Every time.  The videotape
of this game can show you exactly how to play hockey (Princeton) and
how not to play hockey (RPI).  Put Mike Tamburro in net for this
game, and RPI loses.  Put Ken Dryden in net for this game, RPI loses
still.  This was a team loss all the way, not a Brian Masotta loss.  He's
just the one who gets the "L" on the stat sheet.
 
As a final comment, RPI is not as good as people may think.  Yes, it's
my alma mater and I want to see another national championship.  But
I'm not going to delude myself into thinking this will happen with the
current level of play.  I have not been at all impressed with the
Engineers' performances so far this year.  Winning games you
shouldn't makes you feel great, but it will catch up with you.  There
are a number of players on the ice, and I won't name names, who have
done nothing so far, and the season is 1/3 over.  This puts added
pressure on the ones who do work, like Jon Pirrong, Bryan Richardson
and Chris Maye, to produce every night.  No one can do that.  Unless
the others start picking up the slack, I'd advise Engineer fans not to
make plans for Lake Placid or beyond.
 
Kurt Stutt
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