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Earlier in the week, we reported that Neil Little would start for the Flyers for the first time in eight years with the organization. He started against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Unfortunately, the Flyers only had one shot on goal in the first period, and it didn't get much better, as the 'Canes cruised to a 4-1 victory.
[ Additional reports: Ticker | Associated Press ]
Sandeep Nandy '94 writes, "I just found out from my brother Sumon that Rensselaer has chosen Dennis Tito '64 as its 2002 commencement speaker. Commencement will be held for the 196th time at RPI on May 18, 2002."
"According to an article on the Campus.News web site, Tito is the founder and chief executive of Wilshire Associates and is the first civilian space traveler. He will be awarded an honorary doctorate of Engineering. In addition to the degree Tito will be receiving, Rensselaer will also bestow honorary doctoral degrees on Bobby Farrelly '81, Claire Fraser '77, and Ruth Simmons."
Mike Brown '96 reports from Troy that Neil Little '94 is scheduled to start in goal for the Philadelphia Flyers in Thursday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes. He reports that "...tonight during the Flyers/Rangers game, Bill Barber, coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, has announced that Neil Little will start Thursday night's game...". This statement was allegedly made during the third period of ESPN's national broadcast.
Neil has had numerous instances where he has been called up from the AHL affiliate Philadelphia Phantoms. To this point, however, he has not been offered the starting goaltender position for an NHL game.
We enthusiastically rooted for him during his memorable days in the Houston Field House. In the years since, we've been waiting for this moment. Congratulations (in anticipatory advance) to Neil, if in fact his moment is soon upon us!
Reports indicate that the Washington Capitals have traded Adam Oates '85 to the Philadelphia Flyers for goaltender Maxime Ouellet and three draft picks. Oates has been the subject of trade rumors for more than a season, and was moved on the trade deadline to the Flyers, whose playoff status is virtually assured. The Washington Post indicates that the Capitals would have lost Oates without compensation at the end of the season had they not traded him by today's trade deadline of 3:00pm Eastern Time.
There wasn't much on the line in the ECAC Tournament Consolation Game on Saturday afternoon, except an opportunity for Rensselaer to get its 20th win of the season. Although the Engineers fell behind Clarkson 3-1 after two periods, they came storming back to tie the game with a little less than 12 minutes left. Senior Matt Murley put the game away for RPI with a power play goal with 0:32 remaining in the game.
By winning this game, RPI's senior class has left an enviable mark in the school record book: they won 20 or more games in three of their four seasons. RPI Coach Dan Fridgen said, "It was one of the years where we struggled at times, but we turned it around and it's a credit to the seniors on this team."
RPI went into the ECAC Semi-final game against Cornell as a prohibitive underdog, in spite of its surprising comeback victory against Dartmouth on Thursday night. The game turned out as expected, with Cornell cruising to a 3-0 victory and Cornell goaltender Matt Underhill facing only 21 shots. According to the USCHO article:
...This game was not about RPI playing poorly -- not at all -- it was about Cornell playing at the top of its game.
"It might get frustrating from a player's perspectiuve, but in no way did I sense a letdown on the bench with regards to our work ethic or with regards to guys continuing to dig down," said Fridgen. "There were times when we did put a lot of pressure on them offensively, they just find a way to [hold off] that pressure."
Paul Lizzul wrote, "I was able to find a sports bar that will put on the {RPI-Cornell ECAC Hockey Tournament} game on at least one or two TV's for us, even though the basketball tournament is on. The bar is called Draft Picks and it is inside the Hyatt Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ. They don't take reservations and it is crowded and will be for the tournament but I will go there with some friends and have put out open invitations to whoever would like to go. I even have a colleague who is a Cornell Grad, so we can hopefully have the upper hand."
"In any event, you can pass that along to others. The bar is pretty full already and is very close to Rutgers, so you have a college crowd, but it sounds like it could be a good time. They have common bar food for dinner."
There is a web site with information about the Hyatt Regency New Brunswick which includes directions to the site. Follow the link to "Area Guide", then "Maps & Directions" for more information. Game time is approximately 7:30pm, but the actual start time depends upon the end time of the Harvard-Clarkson game.
Scott Basiuk and Matt Murley scored goals in the last 2:36 of regulation time to give Rensselaer a 2-1 victory over Dartmouth in the play-in at the ECAC Championship Tournament in Lake Placid. RPI will play Cornell in the semifinals, tomorrow night (Friday, March 15), at approximately 7:15pm Eastern Time.
Update: USCHO.com posted a game recap late last night that provides a great deal more details on the outcome of the game. The article begins, "For 57 minutes, Thursday night's ECAC play-in game was utterly forgettable. But the final three may be the most memorable of any for those on the ice in legendary Lake Placid. Rennselaer scored two goals in the final three minutes of the game to turn a 1-0 deficit into a dramatic, 2-1 victory over Dartmouth in the play-in game held at 1980 Olympic Rink."
Of all of the participants quoted in the article, only RPI Coach Dan Fridgen pointed out a key historical fact about last nights game. Fridgen said: "The win also was a measure of redemption for us as Dartmouth was the team that eliminated us from the playoffs last year."
For a look back at last year, when Dartmouth eliminated RPI from ECAC and NCAA playoff contention, take a look at the RCNJ story from March 11, 2001.
Sandeep Nandy writes, "I received a letter in the mail from Rensselaer Alumni Association (RAA) President Lee Bishop '60 yesterday. Bishop informed me that I have been selected as one of this year's Alumni Key award recipients."
The Alumni Key was created in 1965 by the RAA Board of Trustees to recognize outstanding service, supporting the advancement of Rensselaer. The award (a certificate and medal) will be presented at the annual RAA Awards dinner on Friday, June 7, 2002.
RCNJ members who have previously been awarded the Alumni Key award include Dave Aiello '89 (1998), Dave Bressen '56 (1972), Ken DeGhetto '50 (1991), Howard Isermann '42 (1978), Betty Lurie '75 (1991), and Phil Lurie '74 (1991).
USCHO reports that RPI junior Marc Cavosie was named ECAC Player of the Year at the ECAC Awards Brunch, Thursday morning in Lake Placid. Cavosie led the league in scoring and has also been named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, the hockey equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy.
Senior Matt Murley, second leading scorer in the ECAC, was named to the ECAC first all-star team, joining Cavosie, Matt Underhill and Doug Murray from Cornell, Mike Maturo from Dartmouth, and Kerry Ellis-Toddington from Clarkson.
The Rensselaer Club of New Jersey, The Rensselaer Entrepreneur Network, and Rensselaer's Office of Alumni Relations will present Growing Early-Stage Companies: the Rensselaer New Jersey Technology Entrepreneurship Forum. This event will take place on March 26, 2002, from 7:30am to 1:00pm, at PSE&G's Corporate Conference Center in Newark. The agenda for the forum was posted previously.
Read on for directions to the forum location at PSE&G in Newark...
Dave Aiello wrote, "In February, The Washington Post reported that Adam Oates '85 recorded his 1,000th assist in the National Hockey League. The article reads, in part:"
Oates, who has spent the past six years of his 17-year NHL career with Washington, recently became the eighth player in history to accumulate 1,000 assists, in a season in which his team has struggled to a 20-26-8 record. He leads the Capitals in points (49), tied for 15th in the league, and is first in the NHL in assists (41) for the second straight season; Oates was the oldest player in history to lead the NHL in assists last season.
Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leader in points, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr are the only players in history to average more assists per game than Oates.... "Reaching 1,000 assists is an incredible milestone," Gretzky said. "Adam is a quality person on and off the ice and a first-class individual. He is an ambassador for how our game should be played."
Dave Aiello continued:
When I was in Troy for the annual Alumni Hockey Game, Dino Macaluso '82 was talking about Adam Oates scoring his 1,000th assist. Dino is very close to Adam personally and professionally. At the time, I made a note of the fact that Oates had passed the milestone, but it was not until about two weeks later that I stumbled across this article, when I was searching The Washington Post web site.
Sandeep Nandy also submitted a link to this article as a story suggestion.
USCHO.com reports that RPI defeated Princeton in a best of three playoff series, 2-0,at Houston Field House this weekend. On Friday night, the Engineers defeated the Tigers 5-3. Chris Migliore scored back to back goals 13 seconds apart in the second period to give RPI a commanding lead. Saturday, RPI jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period and rolled to a 6-0 victory. Six different players turned on the red light for Rensselaer.
All of the teams with home ice advantage in this round of the ECAC Playoffs won their series. As a result, Rensselaer enters the next round as the fifth seed. RPI will take on Dartmouth in the play-in game of the ECAC Tournament on Thursday, March 14, in Lake Placid. The winner of this game will advance to take on #1 seed Cornell.
RPI went into this weekend needing to win at least one, and probably two games, in order to finish high enough in the ECAC standings to play next weekend's ECAC playoff games at home. Things didn't look good for the Engineers after Friday night's 2-1 loss to Cornell. According to the USCHO report, it appeared that RPI had tied the game with about one minute to go in regulation time. But, the apparent goal was waved off by the referee, after a lengthy conference between the on-ice officials and the goaljudge.
On Saturday, RPI clinched home ice in remarkable fashion. They defeated Colgate 3-1 with goals by Carson Butterwick, Jim Henkel, and Ben Barr.
In order for RPI to gain home ice, Yale also had to defeat Brown on Saturday. The Yale-Brown game finished before the RPI-Colgate game, because Senior Night ceremonies at Houston Field House apparently took longer than expected. When it became clear that Yale would win, the RPI-Colgate game became more intense because the winner would get home ice for the first round of the playoffs.
RPI managed to hold on, and will host Princeton in a Best-of-Three series next weekend. Princeton had a great weekend, shutting out Harvard for the first time in 50 years. For more information about the final regular season standings, visit the ECAC page on USCHO.com. There is also a page which summarizes the ECAC playoff matchups.
The Rensselaer Board of Trustees has set undergraduate and graduate tuition
at $26,400 for the 2002-2003 academic year. This represents a 6.37 percent increase in undergraduate tuition compared to the current academic year.
The graduate school has not assessed a comprehensive fee in this fashion before. So, it is difficult to compare graduate school expenses for this year and next. As we reported two weeks ago, the Board of Trustees only decided to change the way graduate students pay for their education recently.