>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
 
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