Preview: RPI at Canisius
The Engineers hit the road for the first time this season for the rare mid-week game
RPI has the rare mid-week game coming up on Tuesday when they’ll hit the road to Buffalo to take on Canisius. The Engineers are looking to build on a 4-0 start, the best start to a season for RPI since 1999 when they went 6-0.
Canisius Team Outlook
Canisius has started out 1-3, but they are not a team to take lightly. To open the season, they were swept by a top 20 Penn State team, which isn’t anything to be ashamed of. This weekend, they split with Ferris State on the road.
Canisius’s main strength is their high-powered offense. They’re averaging 3.25 goals per game so far this season after having a great offense in the two prior seasons as well. Their power play is also outstanding with a 26.7% success rate. Expect them to try to generate a lot off the rush and use a quick, up-tempo transition game in addition to trying to capitalize on power play opportunities.
Defensively, the Golden Griffins have struggled, allowing 4.75 goals per game so far this season, but I expect that to improve a lot. Jacob Barczewski has had a 0.920+ SV% for two straight years, and he only has a 0.887 SV% this season. While it’s been a slow start, he is too good not to turn it around. Canisius also started backup John Hawthorne one game, and he really struggled that game with 7 goals allowed. You can expect that the goaltending will be a lot better than it has been so far this season.
Biggest Threats
RPI has a lot of familiarity with Canisius. Not just because Dave Smith coached there for 12 years, not just because they are playing them for the 3rd year in a row, but also because they have former RPI players on the roster.
Canisius’s two leading scorers are Danny DiGrande and Nick Bowman. Bowman has 5 points in 4 games, and DiGrande has 4 points in 4 games. The two of them make up 2/3 of the top line for Canisius. Keaton Mastrodonato and Randy Hernandez are two other big threats at the forward spot. Two years ago, Hernandez had a point per game for Robert Morris but had injury troubles last season. This year, he appears to be healthy and has 3 points in 4 games so far. Mastrodonato has produced at a near point per game rate for two seasons in a row now and seems just as dangerous this season. Those 4 have given the Golden Griffins a lot of their firepower.
On the back end, Michigan Tech transfers Tyrell Buckley and Brandon Datema have led the way so far and look for both to make an impact on Tuesday. The two of them along with the aforementioned Barczewski in net will make it tougher for the Engineers to score in this one.
RPI Keys to the Game
A lot of the keys to this game are just continuing what they did against Army because of how well RPI played that game. If they play at that level once again, they will win this game too.
Continue to get to the net
RPI did a great job of getting chances around the net against Army, and that is a key to producing dangerous chances and scoring a lot. The Engineers not only did a great job of getting pucks to the net, but the players also got to the net for rebounds, which they did a good job scoring on. If they keep it up, the offense will be tough to contain.
Shut down Canisius’s power play
Canisius has been dangerous on the power play like I mentioned before, and RPI had been perfect on the penalty kill before Saturday when they allowed two power play goals. The Engineers need to get back to having a strong kill on Tuesday because Canisius can really take advantage if they don’t.
Win the transition game
RPI has been using its improved speed and skill to be much better in transition, which has paid huge dividends this season. Canisius also likes to play an up-tempo style through the neutral zone and in transition. If RPI can continue to win in transition, it will lead to good results on the scoreboard.