Happy Thanksgiving

On USCHO, there is a thread about what in College Hockey we are thankful for. This is what I posted:

I'm thankful for being DI. When I grew up, I wanted to be a fan of a big time school and go to lots of games. Granted, that was supposed to be football and basketball, as those were the games that were on when I grew up. When it came time to choose a college, I chose RIT after 4 years of Community College (2 degrees). While I would get to go to a couple AHL games a year, I really developed my love for hockey at RIT from the get go. I went to practically every home game in my years there even though the team went through some of their leaner years. They started getting back to some of their successes of yesteryear my senior year when they made it to the DIII Championship game, only to lose. I got a job in the area, and kept going to the games. RIT had many wonderful seasons and was big time for DIII.

Then the day came when it was announced that RIT was joining Atlantic Hockey. There was a lot of discussion regarding that on USCHO. I admit I was on the fence on how I felt. RIT was going from a team that was generally a force in DIII but never good enough to win the National Championship to a completely new level. The press conferece reasurred me that steps would be taken that would make sure that RIT was going to be more than DI in name only and planned to be competitive. After that, I was excited and hoped that RIT would end their season with a bang and take the DIII title. The team fell apart that year after the announcement and didn't get to the conference tournament finals for the first time in 12 years.

Last year was amazing as RIT held it's own in every game and never really got blown out. But the high point was October 28, 2006. The day that RIT announced that they had arrived. RIT beat then #18 St. Lawrence 3-2. I think the rest of the teams on the schedule took notice. But RIT played hard even though they only won 1 other DI game the rest of the year. I saw a game at the famed Lynah Rink. Even though the students were on break, it was still a fun experience.

Now RIT enters their first year of conference play in Atlantic Hockey. RIT cannot play in the conference tournament yet, even though the tournament will be held at the Blue Cross Arena. Coach Wilson wants to win the regular season title. RIT has already matched their DI win total from last year this year and are 5th in the confernece standings. They have a good chance to double if not triple their DI win total with arguably some of the best goaltenders in the conference. I feel that RIT will soon be a top program in the conference. While many of you don't feel that the AHA is big time, consider this perspective.

In essence, I am thankful to have seen this dream come true.

Happy Thanksgiving. For the first time in a couple years, RIT does not play the weekend after Thanksgiving, giving them time to prepare for Holy Cross. For those travelling, drive safe.

First Quarter Grades

We are about a quarter of the way through the season and it's time to hand out some grades. So here we go.

Offiense: A
This area is where there has been the most improvement has been shown. Even if you consider that RIT scored 16 of their 34 goals against AIC, they have generated much more chances and have scored more goals than they were last year. Another encouraging sign is that the scoring is more evenly distributed. Last year, Simon Lambert was great - but he really was the only consistant scorer and only double digit goal scorer last year. This year, there are several players that look like they will get to double digits. Matt Smith leads the team with 5 goals. Steve Pizizzotto, Anton Kharin, and Jeff Hofstetter have 4 goals. Having more weapons means that RIT's opponents have more lines to worry about than just Lambert's line. If this trend keeps up, RIT will have a very successful season.

Defense: B
The defense is still giving up a quite a few shots - almost 37 per game. However, they are doing better in conference play, where it is 32.4 shots allowed per game. They are getting better in blocking shots as well. They make good effort in making sure that the shots allowed have not been quality shots for the most part. One thing that has been the stalwart of the defense in the penalty kill. The Tigers have excellant in that department. They allow goals on only 13.5% of the opponent's chances - and only 10.4% during conference play. Considering RIT has been taking a lot of penalties, that has been huge. On the +/- side, RIT as a team is +24, with defensemen Al Mazur, Matt Harris, and Bobby Ramond leading the way with a +4. Only 6 players are in the negatives, so this definately has been a team effort.

Goaltending: A
What more can be said about Jocelyn Guimond that has not been said before. He may be the best goaltender not on a "Big 4" conference team. About the only thing he has not yet done is get a shutout. He has a sparkling 2.68 GAA and a .929 save percentage. He has allowed only 9 even strength goals on the season. Louis Menard seems to have been a solid backup. He did have a bad game against Cornell, but he was sharp in games against Clarkson and AIC. He has even stopped a penalty shot and has a shutout. Overall, he has a 3.02 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. This tandem could be pretty formidable as the season goes on.

Things to improve on: Obviously, things are not perfect for RIT. There are some things that do concern fans and I'm sure Coach Wilson as well. RIT is losing more faceoffs than they have been winning. Only a handful of players have won more faceoffs than they lost. Another major concern is the penalties. It's true that the game is being called tighter in general. However, RIT is averaging 12.4 penalties a game for a whopping 30.3 PIMs per game. That number must go down for RIT to be competitive against better teams.

Overall grade: A Nobody really knew what to expect this season. Being 3-1-1 in conference is a good start. Also, the Tigers have only had 2 home NCAA games. They have a chance to boost their record when more of the home games kick in. RIT looks to be on their way to a successful season and possibly becoming a force in the AHA. The next stretch of 8 games against Bentley, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, and Army will go a long way towards determining where RIT is competitively with the rest of the AHA.