Saturday, February 27, 2010

Can RPI rebound?

ITHACA -- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute head coach Seth Appert says he will not rest goaltender Allen York's still tender ankle and play backup Bryce Merriam in tonight's regular-season finale at Cornell.
Though the game-winning goal by Colgate's Nick Prockow was a soft one, York played well.
Before RPI tied the score 1-1 in the second period, York made point-blank, brilliant saves on David McIntyre and Austin Smith.
Alex hurting: Alex Angers-Goulet missed practice all week with a leg injury and did not make the road trip.
Paul Kerins moved back from left wing to center, replacing Angers-Goulet in the circle, centering for Josh Rabbani and Bryan Brutlag and Kerins responded with one goal and one assist.
Appert said there will be no "dramatic" lineup change tonight.
Despondent locker room: Except for their dismal penalty killing, the Engineers played well at Colgate.
The feeling in the locker room was one of failure, however. They had an opportunity to earn an opening-round playoff bye -- it was right within their grasp -- but they couldn't to it.
Literally, Prockow's goal came just seconds -- 10 or 12 -- after it was announced in the Starr Rink pressbox that St. Lawrence had lost its game to Dartmouth, meaning the RPI-Colgate winner would earn the final opening-round bye.
Resiliency will be tested: Should the Engineers lose tonight, and that's quite likely since Cornell will be playing for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth, they will enter the playoffs having lost four of five.
Resiliency, perhaps their best positive trait, will be uppermost as the playoffs begin next week at Houston Field House againt Dartmouth, Princeton or Brown. (Should RPI win tonight, it will host last-place Clarkson).

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

York ready to play

Sophomore goaltender Allen York says his injured ankle is nearly healed, he's "near 100 percent" healthy and he's ready to play in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's games at Colgate and Cornell this weekend.Rensselaer can nail down the fourth and final bye in the preliminary round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs by by beating Colgate if St. Lawrence loses one of its (home) games against Dartmouth and Harvard.
Should the Engineers beat both the Raiders and Big Red, they clinch the fourth spot."I'm ready to play," York said after Wednesday's practice. "I'm almost 100 percent. Good enough to play."
York was injured late in the first period of the Engineers' 4-3 loss at Dartmouth in which they blew a 3-1 lead after York had left.
Bryce Merriam was in goal last week and did well in a 5-3 victory over Quinnipiac but not as good in RPI's 7-0 blowout loss to Princeton, though the play in front of him was not stellar.
While York expects to start on Friday, Rensselaer coach Seth Appert won't confirm that he will."
We still have another day of practice (Thursday) and there are a lot things that can happen in the next 48 hours," Appert said. "So, I'm not going to say it's written in stone."

York ready to play

Sophomore goaltender Allen York says his injured ankle is nearly healed, he's "near 100 percent" healthy and he's ready to play in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's games at Colgate and Cornell this weekend.
Rensselaer can nail down the fourth and final bye in the preliminary round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs by by beating Colgate if St. Lawrence loses one of its (home) games against Dartmouth and Harvard. Should the Engineers beat both the Raiders and Big Red, they clinch the fourth spot.
"I'm ready to play," York said after Wednesday's practice. "I'm almost 100 percent. Good enough to play."
York was injured late in the first period of the Engineers' 4-3 loss at Dartmouth in which they blew a 3-1 lead after York had left.
Merriam Bryce was in goal last week and did well in a 5-3 victory over Quinnipiac but not as good in RPI's 7-0 blowout loss to Princeton, though the play in front of him was not stellar.
While York expects to start on Friday, Rensselaer coach Seth Appert won't confirm that he will.
"We still have another day of practice (Thursday) and there are a lot things that can happen in the next 48 hours," Appert said. "So, I'm not going to say it's written in stone."

Friday, February 19, 2010

Helfrich returns to top line

For the first time in weeks, junior right winger Tyler Helfrich is skating on Chase Polacek's 'A' line, with Jerry D'Amigo on the left for tonight's game with Quinnipiac at Houston Field House.
Brandon Pirr's second line remains intact, with Paul Kerins at left wing and Marty O'Grady on the right.
Alex Angers-Goulet centers for LW Patrick Cullen and RW Bryan Brutlag, while Joel Malchuk's fourth line had Patrick Cullen on the left, C.J. Lee on the right.
Bryce Merriam is in goal, with Allen York dressed as the backup.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

York practices but Merriam will play

Allen York practiced on Thursday but will not be in goal when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hosts Quinnipiac on Friday night.
“Bryce is going to play,” head coach Seth Appert said in reference to freshman goalie Bryce Merriam.
York injured his ankle late in the first period of Saturday’s 4-3 loss at Dartmouth and was on crutches through Tuesday.
“Allen did about 70 percent of practice,” Appert said. “He took a step forward again (Thursday), not a full practice (for him) but he practiced. He was pretty good. He didn’t overly test it but signs indicate he’s moving in the right direction. We’ve got to be smart about not tweaking it and keep rehabbing it. Push him to a certain extent and then let him back off it.
So, certainly there’s a possibility for Saturday (vs. Princeton) and things look much better for next week (Colgate and Cornell) than they did a few days ago.”
“It’s close,” York said. “That’s the best way to put it. Probably not this weekend but good enough to dress probably and if something happens … but we’ll be good with Bryce.”

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Byrce Merriam is ready to "be the man" in Rensselaer Polytechnic's nets this weekend.
“I'm trying to be," the freshman goaltender said after Wednesday's practice. "I just have to step in and take over for Allen (York) while he's out and just go out there and compete as hard as I can."
Sophomore York, RPI's regular goaltender, suffered an ankle injury late in the first period of last week's 4-3 loss at Dartmouth and will quite likely miss this weekend's crucial games with Quinnipiac and Princeton.
Rensselaer head coach Seth Appert, noting the Institute recruited Merriam with the idea he'd be "a No. 1 goaltender," had confidence in him.
"What I like about (Merriam) in practice the past couple months is the same thing we like about him in games,” Appert said. “Except for Michigan State, he’s played well every time we’ve put him in net. He played good this weekend … he’s given us a chance to win – outside of Michigan State – every time he’s been in the net for us.”
York has a 3-3-0 record, 2.88 goals against average and 88.7 saves percentage in 291:46 minutes. Allowing two goals on nine shots in 14 and one-half minutes against Michigan State worsened the latter two numbers
Lack of work is his biggest problem at this point but Merriam was asked what else he needs to improve.
“Patience at the net,” he said. “Staying on my feet, having my feet underneath me, not going down too early and side-to-side as fast as I can.”
As for York, Appert said, “he’s better than expected. He took a big step forward from (Tuesday) night to today,” Appert said Wednesday. “He was still on crutches (Tuesday) and had a big, dramatic change for the better (Wednesday). So, we just have to balance it. We need to make sure. These are important games but if he get to 85-90 percent and we try to play him and we try to practice it and he tweaks it, all of a sudden he goes back to 70 percent and then you have to take another week to get it back to 90 percent, and then (maybe) he tweaks it again and we’re dealing with it (the rest of the season).
“I guess I would take more of an approach of let’s getting him to … 95-100 percent and then get him in to practice and whenever he’s ready to play, he’s going to play.”
Having said all that, Appert added that York is still not definitely out for this weekend’s games.“If he makes a big step tomorrow (today) like he did today, who knows,” Appert said.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Engineers will likely turn to Merriam

TROY -- Freshman Bryce Merriam is almost a certainty to be in the nets for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute against Quinnipiac and Princeton this weekend, two crucial games that will close out the home portion of the Engineers' schedule.
Starting goalie Allen York's tender ankle will "almost certainly" keep him sidelined this weekend, said head coach Seth Appert, as the Engineers seek to regain fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings.
York didn't practice Tuesday, won't practice on Wednesday and isn't likely to on Thursday.
It's a strong possibility York will also miss the crucial games at Colgate and Cornell on Feb. 25-26.
Holding out some hope, Appert said that "ankles sometimes heal quickly.
"But we don't want to rush him back to quickly," Appert added, "then have him tweak it and we don't have him for the playoffs."
The top four finishers in the ECACH standings receive a bye in the preliminary round of the playoffs.
The Engineers (9-7-2) share fourth place with St. Lawrence (8-6-4) with 20 points but the Saints hold the tie-breaker over RPI. Colgate is one point behind, Quinnipiac two back.
On the road earlier this season, RPI beat both Quinnipiac and Princeton by 4-1 scores.
Merriam has a 3-3-0 record, 2.88 goals against average and 88.7 percent saves percentage in six games.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

D'Amigo here for now; Kerins likely to play Friday

TROY -- Jerry D'Amigo likely won't play four full seasons at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs, who selected him in the sixth round of last year's draft, will probably call for him before the end of his senior season, 2012-13.
D'Amigo's coaches and teammates are well aware of that strong possibility and RPI fans need to get used to the idea.
The Binghamton native, however, vows to give Rensselaer everything he has in the meantime, no matter what length of time that may be.
"I don't know," he said. "For me, it's a case of how long it takes for me to develop. If it's two, three years, that's what it is. My goal is the NHL. This is just a stepping stone." That stepping stone will get 100 percent from D'Amigo, however."RPI is my team right now and that's my focus. I'm going to give my best every night to help us win, do my best in practice every day to help us win," he said.
Recent trades by the Maple Leafs, who dealt away three forwards to get a top-flight, two-way defenseman (Dion Phaneuf) and a starting goaltender (J.S. Giguere), getting only one low-scoring forward (Fredrik Sjostrom) in return, fueled speculation that Toronto has near-term plans for D'Amigo.
While he notes that he speaks with the Leafs weekly, D'Amigo says he has no idea if he fits in the Maple Leafs plans to as soon as 2010-11.
"People can (conjecture) all they want," he said. "But I'm in the same position (as they), not really knowing what's going on. "
He was also asked about the many hard hits, not all legal, he's incurred in the six games he's played since his return from the World Junior Championships tournament.
"I know I'm going to get run," D'Amigo said. "No doubt about it. I just have to kind of rub it off, or get out of the way if I can, and not let them get in my head."If they want to come after me, let them do it," added D'Amigo, who has only 12 penalty minutes all season.
What frosts RPI fans are a couple of minor penalties that probably should have been majors when D'Amigo was run and worse, several no-calls on hits that weren't clean.
A blatantly obvious checking from behind penalty -- it was also interference -- was overlooked, depriving the Engineers a power play at the outset of overtime against Harvard. Rensselaer had lost the lead with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation play.D'Amigo says he can't let the no-calls get to him; he has to play through them.
"I can't really do anything about what the refs don't want to call," he said. "I just have to play my game and not let it bother me."
Kerins skates, says he'll play: Paul Kerins, RPI's third-leading scorer (10 goals-13 assists-23 points), skated Wednesday for the first time since suffering a contusion near his left knee during last week's 4-0 victory at Yale.
The senior center/left winger is expected to play Friday night against St. Lawrence.
"He skated in orange (no contact) for the first 40 minutes today," head coach Seth Appert said. "He hadn't skated before today (but) he'd been getting treatment. I'd say he's 90 percent sure (to play).
"For sure," Kerins said after Wednesday's practice. "I skated for about half the practice and it felt good. I fell on it once in practice and it didn't feel so good when I fell on it but I was able to skate for another 10 minutes, then it was time to get off the ice and do the rehab work."