Vermont 2022-23: New Jerseys, New Attitude

[KennyCat]

OMG, seriously?!? What’s Sneddon up to these days?

Come on. Give Woodruff a chance. Unfair to jump on him so early. Let his top Minnesota recruits come in next year and we will see an improvement.

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Come on. Give Woodruff a chance. Unfair to jump on him so early. Let his top Minnesota recruits come in next year and we will see an improvement.

This is his 3rd season -- 2nd full season. I'd just like to see something, anything really, that would indicate this program is on the right track, or that he's part of the solution. I haven't seen it, just being honest. Have you? Good recruiting is just one cog in the wheel. Believe me, I want to believe, I desperately want to believe....

[KennyCat]

This is his 3rd season -- 2nd full season. I'd just like to see something, anything really, that would indicate this program is on the right track, or that he's part of the solution. I haven't seen it, just being honest. Have you? Good recruiting is just one cog in the wheel. Believe me, I want to believe, I desperately want to believe....

I have listened to his podcasts and have sipped the kool-aid, but I agree with you, the execution hasn’t been there. The unknown is what is happening in the locker room. Are they drinking the kool-aid or are they looking for the door? It’s even more frustrating since the traditional powerhouses in HockeyEast are struggling… this would be the ideal time to climb the ladder.

[GreenCat]

Woah! What happened? 5 goals, 35 shots! Did Dartmouth have a Covid outbreak or something?

[Cat lover]

They got to play the team second to last in the entire D1 in pairwise.

[j24vt]

When UVM hired Woodcroft I figured it was at least a 4 year process to de-Sneddon the team. Expect to see the grind it out team for a couple more years until the recruiting kicks in for real. Been encouraged by the year-to-year growth of some of the players this year. The overall lack of desire in some of the games has been disconcerting. It's a great sign to see upper classmen transferring into the program. Curious to see if we lose any players over the break.

[KennyCat]

Woah! What happened? 5 goals, 35 shots! Did Dartmouth have a Covid outbreak or something?

ok, got it. Dartmouth only has one win. But get over it. In the NHL or college hockey, anybody can beat anybody on a given night. Providence should beat Vermont 80% of the time. But just maybe Woodcroft will get them to believe and get 1 or 2 of the upcoming 3.

This should give us some confidence as we go back to HE games in 2023. And it was the first years who scored. Richards’s goal was Victor Stalberg like.

[TovarishchLisa]

When UVM hired Woodcroft I figured it was at least a 4 year process to de-Sneddon the team. Expect to see the grind it out team for a couple more years until the recruiting kicks in for real. Been encouraged by the year-to-year growth of some of the players this year. The overall lack of desire in some of the games has been disconcerting. It's a great sign to see upper classmen transferring into the program. Curious to see if we lose any players over the break.

Yup - we knew this was going to take time. I get being upset in the moment, I really do.

But for context, when Sneddon retired, this was our recruiting pool (from the 2020 Heisenberg list, and excluding those that are still committed) and where they are now:

Dovar Tinling - Currently in the BCHL, but appears to be uncommitted to a new team.
Jagger Benson - D3 SUNY-Plattsburgh.
Whim Stalberg - Appears to be out of hockey - transferred to D3 Plymouth State last year, but is not listed on their roster this year.
Ronan Walsh - UNH.
Azzaro Tinling - UNLV, a club team.
Dylan Finlay - Alaska-Anchorage.
Lucas Mercuri - Flipped to UMass.
Philip Waugh - Mercyhurst, like Burns transferring after one year.
Logan Cash - appears to no longer be involved in hockey
Vincent Salice - Flipped to Ohio State, but is once again uncommitted. Is teammates with Bump @ Omaha
Austin Cook - Albertus Magnus (D3 - actually coached by ex-UVM assistant Kyle Wallack)
Trevor Smith - Army
Brett Wieschorster - Alberta Augustana (ACAC, whatever that is)
David Paluch - Trinity (D3)
Kyle Mandleur - Wilkes (D3)
Mickey Burns - Mercyhurst, transferring after one year
Conner Hutchison - Sacred Heart (I believe this one was due to off-ice reasons, the rumor was COVID protocol breach)
Anthony Cipollone - Quinnipiac, following his brother.

You get what I'm putting down? These guys are better at hockey than I am, so don't mean to disrespect them, but for the most part we were recruiting D3/Atlantic Hockey level guys. That's not good enough for Hockey East. There's a reason Woodcroft basically cleared out Sneddon's recruit pile right away, but by that point we were already YEARS behind the curve. Not to mention how much COVID probably messed with recruiting, not only do you have basically nothing to work with, now you're also working somewhat blind.

Has this team laid some eggs this season, absolutely (that Maine series was brutal). But like...we're more than likely going to end the season with more wins than last season, the underclassmen have shown flashes, and I think Todd's done a solid job at utilizing the portal (Mullin two years ago, Lagunov last year, Stucker, Gotz). We knew this was going to be a multi-year build and we knew it was going to take time.

If we're still here in two years, I'll ask questions then. But for now I understand where we were and how thin the deck was.

[Catfantoo]

Lisa - great analysis and research. Alot of great points made over the past few months by other members regarding the rebuild. Some legitimate compares to UMASS, UMASS-Lowell, and Providence. But - their programs were not in the state of UVM's and arguably they picked up very high level coaches. Their rebuilds have gone well.

As Lisa points out the cupboard at UVM was below bare. You can see it in the recent yearly results as well:

22-23 - Current year 6 wins YTD - leading scorer - 10 points.
21-22 - 8 wins, leading scorer - 16 points (transfer).
20-21 - 1 win (covid year - 13 games) - leading scorer - 7 points.
19-20 - 5 wins, leading scorer - 15 points.
18-19 - 12 wins, leading scorer - 21 points.
17-18 - 10 wins, leading scorer - 23 points.
16-17 - 20 wins last season over .500 winning %

Last 100 point scorer - Chris McCarthy - 2009-2014. Current leading career scorer on roster - 43 points in 97 games. From the point totals listed you can see the skill level was not there. I didn't do a PP % analysis but from what I see it relates here as well. In my opinion its coming back as evidenced by the 2 recruiting classes and transfers, Todd W. has on current roster.

The skill level decline was going on for some period of time. Previous regime missed out on key recruits they targeted and were left with the scraps, and were basically picking whomever they could. The word was out on the street from a recruiting standpoint and others used UVM's decline to suggest - "why would you go to UVM?". As Lisa points out no disrespect to players who came or are here, as I've met many of them and they are good kids who are trying hard, but you can't have a team of 3rd, 4th, 5th liners...

There have been a few poor games this year (injuries/youth), but I see an upswing. Excitement and level of compete increasing. They are slowly learning how to win. I'd like to see a few more HE wins and we'll see what the boys have for 2nd half of year. Being told next years incoming class has good skill level.

[DLG]

looks like not waiting till next year to try to get some scoring
Massiminno Lombardi coming from BCHL for second semester- point a game producr this year

[UVM Cat in Texas]

looks like not waiting till next year to try to get some scoring
Massiminno Lombardi coming from BCHL for second semester- point a game producr this year

Sweet.

[SoucyWasNoSieve]

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ne...s-to-Life-.php

In case any one wants to read about Lindenwood

[TovarishchLisa]

assistant Scott Moser and Slovakia upset the US at WJC. This tournament has chosen chaos

[TovarishchLisa]

I know it's just Lindenwood, but that first period was probably the best all season until the penalties started to rack up.

...Not to mention some other schools in Hockey East forgot how to beat this kind of competition tonight.

[Catfantoo]

Win is a Win. Lemay and Spitserov back in lineup after recovery from injuries, good to have bodies. New guy Massiminno not dressed maybe today. Special teams real difference, as UVM goes 2 for 7 on PP and kills off 9 minutes of PK. Easy to overlook teams but UVM didn't do that tonight, now they can go get the sweep. Like the fact that UVM is developing a good home team advantage as our record is now 6-4 at the Gut.