TROY -- That didn't take long. With all the expectations -- and potential -- for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hockey (Sunday's blowout loss at Boston College notwithstanding), what could be a major injury to star goaltender Jason Kasdorf has caused some angst. A Winnipeg blogger, stating that Kasdorf is "out for the year with a shoulder separation/fracture," has caused outright despair among some RPI followers.
   Renssealer coach Seth Appert stated flatly that the info in the Winnipeg blog "is not accurate" but did confirm that the injury was to Kasdorf's left shoulder.
   "(We) don't have all the informtion in one day," Appert said. "We have to see that he gets the necessary MRI. You can't make that (out for the year) determination after one day."
   Losing Kasdorf for any length of time will certainly hamper the Engineers and I say that with no disrespect aimed at backup goaltender Scott Diebold.
   Kasdorf, however, is certainly one of RPI's biggest assets.
  Missing him for even two months would definitely make the Engineers' goal to finish at or near the top of the ECAC Hockey standings much more difficult to achieve. Rensselaer will have to be much more consistent in its defensive zone play and increase its goals output to well over three per game. To deny that is to shrug off reality.
  "We recruited Scott Diebold to be a No. 1 goalie," Appert has often said.
  Diebold has proved he can win at the college level; now he may have to prove he can do so over a long period of time. But again, the rest of the team will all have to step up -- big time.
   Next weekend, the Engineers have just one game, another non-league game against another Hockey East power, New Hampshire, but they open ECACH play on Tuesday, Oct. 29 against Harvard, then travel to Harvard and Dartmouth three days later.
    Then Cornell and Colgate come to Houston Field House -- followed by the two league games against rival Union, games which RPI has rarely won over the past nine seasons.