>Last night RPI held a practice session at the Houston Fieldhouse and emerged a >11-2 victor over Air Force. Air Force appeared to have the make-up of a D II >team, and the score is not indicative of at the renaissance of the Engineer >team. This game proved to be just another example of the the fluffy schedule >that seems to be a trademark at RPI. > >The players obviously had a lot of fun--the game turned out to be a chance to >fatten up their individual statistics. No one did it better than Eric Healy, >who managed to score an impressive five goals, although they all game off >gorgeous feeds, most often from Chris Kiley > I simply can't believe that RPI schedules teams that looked as bad as AF. Likewise, it is very unfair for AF to schedule games against Div. I teams that blow them out, and RPI is not even a good Div. I team this year. Case in point. #7 on defense for AF had a terrible game. He directly contributed to 6 RPI goals through misplays in the corners, bad clearing passes that were intercepted and generally confused play. It got to the point that whenever he was on the ice, I knew there would be an RPI goal and often there was. When there wasn't, there was a near miss (off the post, great save, etc.). He clearly is not a Division I player. While the rest of the AF defense wasn't as suspect, the score tells you a great deal. Most of the goals were not goalie lapses. It's tough to make a lot of saves when there is no one in the slot clearing the RPI forwards out or preventing the quick pass to the wing at the post. Come on RPI. The win was nice given the performance of the team this year. But I would rather see the team play hard and respectably (and perhaps lose) against a Hockey East team than fatten their stats up against Air Force. Are we snubbed so much that we can't schedule more games against BU, BC, UNH, Providence, etc. Before the Hockey East/ECAC split, fans loved these games and would kill for more of them. Enough of the slaughters. Scheduling Air Force is not going to teach a young RPI team how to play better. Respectfully submitted before the end of the Sunday night game against Air Force (I may eat crow yet). -Ken Johnson HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.