By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Wayne Wilson concedes that he could be kicking garbage cans. Or breaking sticks. Or bellowing unpleasantries in the dressing room for an entire intermission.
When you’ve won just three of your first 17 games, any of the above expressions of anger from the long-time Rochester Institute of Technology coach would be understood.
This is, after all, RIT’s men’s hockey team. A program coming off an Atlantic Hockey championship. A team that gave national powerhouse Boston University a scare or two in the NCAA Regional in March. A team that perennially challenges for the league title.
Sitting at the bottom of the standings with seven points through 10 conference games is foreign territory. Yet after a 6-4 loss on Tuesday night at the Gene Polisseni Center, that’s the plight of the Tigers (3-13-1 overall, 2-7-1 AHA).
So, seeing a trash can flying down the hallway outside the locker room certainly wouldn’t be a shock.
Wilson, however, would rather see it from his players.
“Someone with pride has to say enough is enough,” Wilson said.
There is talent within the group, he knows that. While the top two scorers from last season, Carter Wilkie and Cody Laskosky, along with all-league goalie Tommy Scarfone, exited via the transfer portal, eight of the top 12 forwards are back, along with five of the top seven defenseman.
Yet winning has been a monumental challenge. The Tigers have lost six of the past seven, with a tie mixed in. They have allowed five or more goals six times already. There were just four such occasions all of last season.
“Everybody in that room still believes we’re a great team,” defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis said. “We know what we can bring to the table.
“I just think we have to start with the little things, because when we do those well, that’s when we have success.”
On Tuesday against Canisius, the Tigers played well in spurts. They fell behind 2-0 in the first period but twice were within a goal, at 2-1 after a tip-in goal by Philippe Jacques 3:30 into the second period and 3-2 when Matthew Wilde converted the behind-the-back circus pass from linemate Christian Catalano at 13:05 of the second.
But then there were times when they were disengaged and rather impartial to defense. Like when Canisius winger Alton McDermott scored a pair of goals 22 seconds apart in the third minute of the third period, giving the Golden Griffins a 5-2 lead.
“We showed some really good things,” Wilson said. “But when we’re bad, we’re bad. We make it count for the other teams.”
And it’s their own doing. There’s no misfortune, no bad bounces, though they’ll be a better team when forwards Grady Hobbs and Kevin Marx-Noren along with defensemen Xavier Lapointe and Crossley Stewart return from injury in January.
“This is what we are,” Wilson said. “We’re not very good right now.”
His players acknowledge that fact but say they’re determined to create a turnaround.
“This is just a part of our story,” Wilde said. “It sucks to go through this but every team has a story and this is part of ours, but it’s not the whole story.”
He’s confident there will be a plot twist, maybe starting in this weekend’s home series against Robert Morris, which is playing equally as poorly (2-13-1 overall, 2-9-1 league). Otherwise, perhaps the rebound begins after the holiday break when the Tigers resume their Atlantic Hockey schedule at Canisius on Jan. 10-11.
Since every team participates in the league playoffs, how you finish is far more important than how you start.
“We’ve got a whole second half to correct this,” Wilson said. “Two years ago we won a (regular season) title and didn’t get anywhere with it (losing in the semifinals).”
Said Wilde: “The season doesn’t end today; it goes until playoffs.”
One thing is certain: The rest of Atlantic Hockey is pretty happy to see RIT playing the role of bottom feeder.
“That’s just going to make it that much sweeter once we climb our way back to the top,” Mikrogiannakis said.
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