Vermont 2023/24: Stuck in the Wieds

[SoucyWasNoSieve]

really thought the guys played well last night after a slightly slow start, right up until that really soft penalty that led to the 2nd UConn goal. sad that the after letting some other things go felt he had to make that call. after that loss felt inevitable.

[Catfantoo]

I agree - I thought the Cats played a real good road game for 54 minutes. Won the 2nd period and up until the penalty were doing all the right things to win a road playoff game. I'm not complaining about the penalty call but rather the need to do what the defender did. It was a 1 on 2 and he stuck his stick into the hands of the UCONN player. The rush was under control, and we had players in position. Unfortunately, we lost the special teams battle badly and that was the game. UCONN goalie played well and shut down some of our pretty good looks on a few opportunities. If we score maybe the outcome is different.

[Catfantoo]

Looks like Gabe C has signed a AHL deal with San Jose. Wish him well on next chapter of career.

[Jim F.]

Took a look at +/- stats for the year. Might be heavily affected by the games they played in. But, Walther led the team by far at +11. Barnett quietly was #2 at +6. Richards third at +5.

[j24vt]

Very surprised to see that UVM is the host school for next year's Frozen Four. Wish that effort was going towards the Gutterson renovations

[Catfantoo]

UVM having a quiet transfer portal time-period. No pickups announced. 1 interesting name from UVM is Andre Buyalsky. I'm not surprised as he struggled this year. Wonderful skater (In my opinion) why he was a 3rd round draft pick. But he has had difficulty getting it going. Injured freshman year played 3 games, Soph year respectable 17 points. Followed up this year with 11 points. Easily frustrated at many times and didn't like to go to dirty areas. I believe he was a healthy scratch a few times this year. Unfortunate it didn't work out but probably for both parties time to move on.

[Catamount93]

Pretty good transfer portal pick up with Tornqvist from Umass.

[Jim F.]

[QUOTE=Catamount93;n3875461]Pretty good transfer portal pick up with Tornqvist from Umass.[/QUOT

Don't know if he had injuries, but he only played 14 games (8 HE). 3 assists, 4 penalties, +1, 2 or 3 blocked shots. Then again, UMass was loaded with upperclassmen at defense including Ufko and Morrow who just turned pro early. And they came the closest to beating Denver in NCAA's.

[Go Cats]

Any thoughts out there on Keenan Rancier?

[Bale]

He's a great leader. I actually thought he played better than our #1 goalie at the end of the year. Had hip surgery last summer and never really got off the ground this season.

[Catfantoo]

Hi Bale - thanks for the injury information. Was wondering why after previous years stats it appears he lost the #1 position this past year. That starts to make sense with the hip surgery. Anyhow - his history of stats seems very consistent. His 22-23 year in particular as he won 19 games with a 1.86 GAA and .914 SV%. The one thing it makes me wonder is something has changed at UVM in terms of bodies. We've got 2 goalies on roster supposedly returning, and another recruit from Montreal that currently looks like he's headed this way. Can't imagine we'd have 4 goalies so some other details must be out there. On surface getting Keenan looks like a good move. Will be a 24 year with NCAA experience next season. Going to have a goalie battle after Gabe has graduated, which is a good thing.

[Catamount93]

Bergmanis to portal.

[Catfantoo]

Interesting development, not sure if he's just looking around? 2nd leading Defensemen scorer in 23-24. Would be veteran Jr. returner with over >60 games played in college hockey. Interesting piece of this is that his 2 other brothers both play at U-Alaska - and all 3 brothers are in the portal. Not sure what it all means. Find it hard to believe that a school would offer all 3 scholarships $ to all come.

[Catfantoo]

Former Vermont forward Andrei Buyalsky has signed with Barys Astana in the KHL. This closes the chapter/book on this former player. I shared my feelings previously and time to move on from him.

[Jim F.]

Schedule isn't officially out yet. Here is what I've pieced together from other teams' schedules:
at St.Thomas 10/11&12
Clarkson 10/19
Providence 10/25&26
at UConn 11/2 in Hartford and 11/3 in Storrs
UMass 11/8&9
at UMass 11/24
at Union 12/13&14
at Army 12/29
SLU 1/4
at BU 1/10&11
NE 1/17&18
at UNH 1/24&25
at Lowell 2/7 (other V-Lowell games not yet listed)
BC 2/21&22
Maine 2/28&3/1
BU 3/8
Dartmouth's schedule doesn't show a UVM game, but it only lists 25 games. I'm guessing one will be added.
Merrimack schedule not on their website yet.