Whose stock rose the most in the exhibitions?
Plus a recap of other games around the league from this past weekend
Chris: Max Smolinski (RD) will be leaned on heavily to lead the defense this year, which he showed his ability to do this weekend. His most noteworthy moment of the weekend came in the first period against Guelph, where he snuck his way into the slot, before picking up a pass from Jérémie Payant and sniping it home. He quarterbacked the top powerplay unit all weekend, which struggled to convert but generated solid chances both days. Expectations for Smolinski were high coming into the year, and he proved exactly why this weekend with a performance that should get Engineer fans excited.
Moving right along to Smolinski’s D partner, Nick Strom (LD), who showed off his puck-moving skills and shutdown defense this weekend. These two have built up a lot of chemistry, and I expect them to play together for most of the season. Strom looked even more comfortable in his 2nd year in Troy, and he and Smolinski should make a solid pair this season.
Finn Brown (RW) struggled to transition his game to the college level last year, but he showed significant progress this weekend that should lead to more playing time. Brown scored the first goal of the season off a broken 2-on-1 with Payant, where he flipped a backhander by Union netminder Kyle Chauvette. He even saw some powerplay time, which may have been because of the unique lineups this weekend, but nonetheless is a good sign for Brown. This weekend was a huge step in the right direction for Finn, who has the size and skill to make a solid contribution in the bottom 6 this year.
As far as stock goes, there is none more important than Jack Watson’s (G) this year, and this weekend was a positive start. After giving up a goal a little over a minute into his game action, Watson steadied for the rest of the Union game, and was solid in his action against Guelph. He made several breakaway stops late against Union including in overtime and he didn’t allow a goal during the shootout win. Guelph did not test him nearly as much as Union did, but they were unsuccessful at getting anything past him. Rebuilding his confidence was something we highlighted as a major focus of the offseason, and it seems to be off to a good start.
Brendan: Tyler Hotson (LW) looked like RPI’s best player against Union on Saturday. Not only did he hit the post twice and score in the shootout, but he was also noticeable nearly every time he was on the ice. Here’s a compilation of all of his shifts from that game (I recommend watching the video at 2x speed – you save some time and still get a good picture of what is happening):
We don’t often see players have such an impact on a game this early into their college career. If we rewind back to the start of last season, Muzzatti stood out in the early games, but it still took him some time to get in full gear. Hotson looks set to make a big impact now.
Another guy who was noticeable on nearly every shift was Jérémie Payant (C). His speed on the forecheck caused some real problems for both Union and Guelph. He also showed off the offensive side of his game, using his speed to quickly transition from a loose puck in the defensive zone to a 2v1 rush chance ending in a Finn Brown goal. RPI has good depth at the center position and Payant can play on the wing, but with Lee out at the moment, Payant slots in nicely as the fourth-line center behind Sutter, Tinling, and Beaton. He definitely earned it these two games.
Altti Nykanen (LW) looks like he has taken another step forward from last season. His passing was strong, he won puck battles, and played a big part in the second goal. Nykanen is a guy who I think flies a little under the radar because of his quiet first season, but he has some legitimately exciting offensive upside. Let’s not forget that this is the guy who nearly scored a Michigan last season:
Brendan Budy (LW) was one of players who only played the second half of the Union game, but who got the full run-out against Guelph. He played on a line with Ciccarello/Nykanen in the Union game and with Beaton/Brown in the first half of the Guelph game. He had solid shifts, including some on the penalty kill. Good forechecking in the offensive zone in particular.
Where he really stood out for me was when he paired up with Muzzatti/Heidemann in the second half of the Guelph game. It started with a Budy goal 7 seconds into their first shift together, but they created quality chances throughout the rest of the game.
Last season, Budy had decent underlying numbers when he was on the ice, but it never translated it into big point production:
He will get time in the top-nine to start the season, and if he keeps playing like how he did in the second half of the Guelph game, he will stay there.
Around the ECAC and the Rest of College Hockey
Stephen: The ECAC teams in action this weekend had pretty solid weekends for the most part.
Clarkson split with the #20 ranked team at Notre Dame. That’s a pretty good start to the year. Going on the road and splitting with a great Big Ten team isn’t easy. It could be an indication that Clarkson will indeed bounce back this season into the top 4 like I predicted.
St. Lawrence beat RIT in a single game on Saturday. Last year, RIT was the top team in the Atlantic, and they were picked 1st in the preseason poll. That’s a pretty good win despite it coming against an Atlantic Hockey team.
Colgate lost and tied to UConn. UConn was a bubble team for the NCAA tournament last year, so that’s about the result I would have expected. They were competitive in both games, which is a good sign for them.
Quinnipiac lost in OT to BC on Saturday. With both teams in the preseason top 10, this isn’t too surprising. Everyone knows both teams will be really good. It’s worth noting that Quinnipiac lost its two best players in the first period; Graf was injured and stayed out the remainder of the game while Lipkin was ejected for slew footing.
Union beat Army 6-0 on Sunday. I don’t think there’s much to take away from this. Army is expected to be towards the bottom of the Atlantic (and thus the country), so beating up on them isn’t anything crazy. We saw what RPI did to them and other Atlantic teams last season and what they ended up doing the rest of the season.
Maine beat UNH 3-2 in an exhibition. We’ll have more on Maine in our preview for this week.
Providence split on the road against Michigan. This is a big result for them and shows they should be taken seriously as a possible NCAA tournament team. That BC/PC weekend on the road next week is going to be brutal.
Northeastern beat Stonehill 7-0 on Saturday. Stonehill is in their first year of real competition, so there’s really nothing of substance that can be said after that result.