This morning's T-U reports that junior Matt Garver, mainstay of RPI's top scoring line for the past season, will transfer to RIT for his senior year. Garver had 18 goals and 22 assists last season, skating for most of the year on RPI's #1 line with Alain St. Hilaire and Eric Healy on the opposite wing. With Healy graduating as well, the Engineers face a significant loss of scoring, not to mention leadership. Garver will transfer to Division III Rochester Institute of Technology, the second such transfer of a player from a D1 to a D3 team in recent weeks. Garver has renounced his scholarship at RPI and will take out a loan to pay for his final year of academics at RIT. According to RPI Athletic Director Bob Ducatte, Garver was in good academic standing. From the TU article "I'm sure everybody is going to want to find a specific reason or what the big story is," said Garver by telephone. "There is none." "I'm not saying I was unhappy with hockey. Sometimes you'll have a bad game and be unhappy about it. I'm talking more about the area--being around here. I need to be a happy kid to be productive." Garver grew up in the Rochester suburb of Pittsford. The transfer will return him closer to home and also reunite him with RIT head coach Eric Hoffberg. Garver has known Hoffberg since he was 5, and learned the game in Hoffberg's hockey camps. "I just feel that my personality and the coach's are very similar," said Garver. "We see eye-to-eye and he has a lot of views I agree with. I respect him as a person and he respects me as a person." Garver added that his relationship with RPI coach Dan Fridgen was "great". The loss of Garver, one of the fastest skaters on the Engineer team, will be severe. RPI will now be faced with re-constructing its #1 scoring line, probably to consist of Alain St. Hilaire centering freshman Matt Murley and sophomore Brad Tapper. The rest of their scoring depth is now depleted, and coach Dan Fridgen will probably be forced to adopt a conservative defensive style of play. RPI's defense will be expected to improve upon its less-than-stellar performance of the past season if the Engineers are to again gain a top five ECAC finish. It now seems apparent that Adam Wodon will stoop to any means to prove himself as the most reliable prognosticator of the ECAC. ( :-) ) *************************************************************************** Brian Morris RPI Engineers--Well, What? [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.