2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

[grantfan]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

The nagging injury that is keeping Wahs Stacey's out of the lineup is Kevin Sneddon. That's crystal clear and making up things like nagging injuries is balogna.

[jcarter7669]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

The nagging injury that is keeping Wahs Stacey's out of the lineup is Kevin Sneddon. That's crystal clear and making up things like nagging injuries is balogna.

That's crystal clear???? How exactly is your conspiracy theory "crystal clear?" I suppose you have clear and convincing evidence that Dubya blew up the world trade center too?? He probably even remotely detonated them from FLorida while he was reading to the kiddies?

[jcarter7669]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

Hey look at it this way, they could be UML and fighting to just remain a TUC.

[grantfan]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

I actually do NOT believe the United States was involved in the September 11, 2001 tragedy in any way other than as the victim of Muslim terrorists. I do NOT believe that President Bush was involved and I specifically do NOT believe that our president detonated anything that caused that tragedy.

As for Kevin Sneddon, who reminds me much more of the current president in that his words are completely meaningless and he seems to enjoy the sound of the importance of his own words, his use of the words, "coach's decision," has meant one thing, benching. Ask Dan Lawson, ask Josh Burrows, ask Justin Milo, ask Wahs Stacey, listen to his words on the youtube of his post-Northeastern game comments.

There is no conspiracy. Coach Sneddon is easy to understand. "Coach's decision" means the player in question was benched. Now, for his words that Wahs will "be back," that just means, "I'll do it again."

No conspiracy, but I'm also not going to make stuff up like people must in order to defend the coach. He's allowed to bench any player he wants. It's just that a benching is a benching and he sure knows how to bench Wahs Stacey.

[jcarter7669]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

I actually do NOT believe the United States was involved in the September 11, 2001 tragedy in any way other than as the victim of Muslim terrorists. I do NOT believe that President Bush was involved and I specifically do NOT believe that our president detonated anything that caused that tragedy.

As for Kevin Sneddon, who reminds me much more of the current president in that his words are completely meaningless and he seems to enjoy the sound of the importance of his own words, his use of the words, "coach's decision," has meant one thing, benching. Ask Dan Lawson, ask Josh Burrows, ask Justin Milo, ask Wahs Stacey, listen to his words on the youtube of his post-Northeastern game comments.

There is no conspiracy. Coach Sneddon is easy to understand. "Coach's decision" means the player in question was benched. Now, for his words that Wahs will "be back," that just means, "I'll do it again."

No conspiracy, but I'm also not going to make stuff up like people must in order to defend the coach. He's allowed to bench any player he wants. It's just that a benching is a benching and he sure knows how to bench Wahs Stacey.

Grantfan I have a question for you. Do you go to all the practices, sit in the locker room, have Sneddon's office mic'd? Do you think Sneddon and the other coaches may have a bit of knowledge and insight that you do not? I'm just curious.

[grantfan]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

I do not go to the team's practices, I do not sit in the lockerroom, I do not have the coaches' offices mic'd. And I am not impressed with the coach's insights.

He may be a Harvard graduate, but he is a hockey coach. His product is not very complicated. I believe I am able to recognize his team's forechecking system when it appears on the ice. I believe I can recognize what his team is trying to do on its powerplay (other than when he uses 3 D and 2 freshmen) when they come on the ice.

What I cannot figure out is why he is unable to get Wahs Stacey to do what he wants him to do. Without the great intellect or insight of a Harvard-educated hockey coach, I see that Wahs is a productive player, he puts points on the scoreboard and his +/- rating is better than many forwards, so I am not able to understand, and it seems that Wahs is unable to understand, what that boy must do to play in a darn game!

So, the coach cannot get Wahs to understand, he has struggled getting Lawson to understand and has failed at getting Lawson to contribute, he failed ultimately with Josh Franklin and Chris Atkinson, his team is underachieving miserably, but he's got tremendous insight.

I would not stand silent if he ever looked for ideas.

[sterlippo1]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

why is grantfan taking so much abuse?

[observer85]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

why is grantfan taking so much abuse?

Because he says things that tend to contradict themselves. With his feelings toward the hockey coach and his Ivy league background, I want to think grantfan is a highly educated college professor - maybe even teaches at the university.

He understands the game of hockey at a level few of us do but more than that, he understands the deep roots of the psychology of the game and how how those actions impact the players. He is not afraid to voice his feelings, and has said he wants to be taken seriously.

Hope that makes sense...

[snwbrdr]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

My assessment is that Grantfan is an outlier in his opinions and just has some kind of personal bias against the excellent UVM head coach

Grantfan likes Gilligan better, which is fine, each person is entitled to their opinion. Although it would be nice if the opinion were based on fact rather than a bottle of JD or whatever grantfan fuels himself with

I personally prefer finishing in the top half of HE over finishing in the bottom half of ECAC each year and the only explanation for that significant improvement in the program is the coach who has made it happen.

[jcarter7669]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

So, the coach cannot get Wahs to understand, he has struggled getting Lawson to understand and has failed at getting Lawson to contribute, he failed ultimately with Josh Franklin and Chris Atkinson, his team is underachieving miserably, but he's got tremendous insight.

Grantfan, you left out one important possibility, maybe its not Sneddon's fault. Maybe for example, Atkinson has never been able to physically recover to the level that he once enjoyed and that due to that he realizes that focusing on education is of more importance then playing half the season the fourth line.

Maybe Franklin realized that with a strong freshman class he too was going to be relegated to the part time play that he has endured since he started at UVM, that there was not going to be a break out season and that academics needed to take priority.

Maybe Lawson just hasn't played the way Sneddon has wanted to. Maybe that blast in the NCAA tourney made his head a little big and he is has become more concerend with what he did then what he needs to do.

And maybe Wahs has a nagging injury.

I have no special insight, but those maybes are just as likely as Sneddon just can figure out how to get his players to play. In fact I would argue that they are more likely since most of the players are playing just fine. If the whole team was having "issues" I would be more likely to agree with your assessment.

As for the Gilligan v. Sneddon issue, Gilligan was a great coach, right up until St. Louis, Perrin, and Thomas finished up. Then realizing he was never going to have a team like that again he gave up. That was followed up by the hazing scandal and then he went through the motions. Recruiting was horrible, play was horrible and this team went to the bottom of the ECAC. Sneddon has right the ship and built a team that will be a contender for years. I will take nothing away from Gilligan he was a good coach when he was interested in coaching. But he should have retired a few years early a la Brennan realizing that once Sorrentine and Copenrath left his time was up.

[grantfan]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

I am not the UVM coach's biggest fan. With that said, why not just respond to the points I try to make as they are often hockey-related. Disagree if you disagree.

I appreciate jcarter's last post as it simply addresses the points I was making. That he resorts to many maybes doesn't convince me of anything, but that's fine. At least he addressed the points I was making.

Remember, someone who doesn't like the coach can sometimes also be right about what he thinks, just as he could be wrong.

Through January 19, 2010, I think the coach has led either a severely overrated team or an underachieving one. Right now, mine will probably be Sneddon's only Penrose Trophy vote, as it will probably be Brayden Irwin's only Walter Brown Award vote.

via

[snapdog2]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

[QUOTE=grantfan;4562596]I have done a great amount of soul-searching to try to determine why I seem to butt heads with my fellow UVM hockey fans. What better time to do such soul-searching, I thought, than as the last thread wound down and this new thread began? In that search of self, I welcome any suggestions from my fellow hockey fans who know me best, including from those of UM-Lowell, BC, Notre Dame, and any others.

There is something about ridiculous overstatement that continues to get me. With all due respect, the incoming recruits representing "one of the best classes ever" and invoking the names of St. Louis and Perrin is, well, enough for me to look at a bit more closely.

First off, such statement is to diminish the very freshman class we are enjoying this season - McCarthy, Roos, and Stalberg, to say nothing of Franzon. Despite being an early member of the UVM All-Decade Team for the 2010s, McCarthy does not yet look like a reincarnation of either St. Louis or Perrin.

Connor Brickley's performance - 27 points (13g) in 28 USHL games as a 6'2", 195 lb. 17 1/2year old - makes him an NHL prospect and a wonderful recruit.

With him comes the senior member of the recruting class, Anthony DeCenzo. Unlike snapdog (and coach Sneddon), who saw Anthony as a high school star, I see a 20 year old with 9g-12a in 32 games in this, his third (second full) USHL season. While he is close to being on pace to match last season's 44 points, he is, thankfully, not on pace to match his startling -44 rating of last season. I am not yet aware of anything that should prompt visions of St. Louis or Perrin, though I did not see him play as a high school star. Plus, was he as big a high school star as Matt Marshall or Josh Franklin?

Perhaps too big to remind of either St. Louis or Perrin will be Lance Herrington's 6'4", 205 lb. brother, Brooks. Now 19 years old, Brooks has crashed the net to the tune of 5g-13a in 22 games, 9th among forwards on an EJHL team that is 22-3-1 and the highest scoring team in the league.

Someone who theoretically could conceivably remind of St. Louis' or Perrin's passing abilities is Mike Montagna (1g-2a in 3 EJHL games). An assist machine (51 in 45 EJHL games) as a 16 year old, Montagna committed to UVM as a 16 year old and is scheduled to arrive in Burlington as an 18 year old in September, seemingly without the benefit of a second year of juniors (or any hockey for that matter). If he is what he seemed last season, he will fill a serious UVM void, a playmaking center!

Defensively, the incoming class has only Blake Doerring, an 18 year old D playing for the 22-9-1 Fargo Force in the USHL. In 23 of Fargo's 32 games, on the league's 2nd highest scoring team, Doerring has quietly put up 1g-3a while firing 10 shots on goal. His +4 is very good on his team, though he is not a tough guy (28 PIMs).

I guess there is something about ridiculous overstatement that continues to get me.

If anyone has any soul-searching ideas for me, please. Grantfan has absolutely no clue. DeCenzo will be a fine player for Vermont the next 4 yrs. That is a fact. Also Sneddon is a top notch D1 Coach. UVM is lucky in that respect. I do agree with snwbrdr UVM needs a new rink and weight facility badly.

[grantfan]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

Snapdog2, as I have no clue, please give me clues as to why Anthony DeCenzo is sure to be a fine Division I college hockey player. Please try to limit your clues to what we can expect of Anthony as a player and try to exclude from your clues how lousy his teams have been (he contributed). His junior career has not been stellar and has not held a candle to that of your other local hero, Corey Carlson, who brought to Vermont real credentials and rightfully was expected to be a star.

[uvmcats]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

My assessment is that Grantfan is an outlier in his opinions and just has some kind of personal bias against the excellent UVM head coach

Grantfan likes Gilligan better, which is fine, each person is entitled to their opinion. Although it would be nice if the opinion were based on fact rather than a bottle of JD or whatever grantfan fuels himself with

I personally prefer finishing in the top half of HE over finishing in the bottom half of ECAC each year and the only explanation for that significant improvement in the program is the coach who has made it happen.

Well said! Thank you.

[snapdog2]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread : The Sequel

Snapdog2, as I have no clue, please give me clues as to why Anthony DeCenzo is sure to be a fine Division I college hockey player. Please try to limit your clues to what we can expect of Anthony as a player and try to exclude from your clues how lousy his teams have been (he contributed). His junior career has not been stellar and has not held a candle to that of your other local hero, Corey Carlson, who brought to Vermont real credentials and rightfully was expected to be a star.

Grantfan Corey had leadership ability and some intangables that he needed to be a solid D1 player. He did not have the speed. Anthony will bring a very similar thing to UVM,s table. I watched his High School Career in Northern Mn. Being a D1 Players son and had his Father as his High School Coach he has a head start. He knows what it takes. I would be really surprised if he does not have a career that parallels Coreys. Nice hands, knows the rink and will score. Grantfan I just go off what I see. Sorry I said you have no clue. That was wrong! But I liked Carlson. I also like DeCenzo and Sneddon.