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Vermont Catamounts Season Thread 2025-2026: Go Cats Go or No Cats No?

C

Catamount93

Registered User
How is everyone feeling about the upcoming season? Are we taking advantage of the new rules allow former Canadian Junior players or are we falling behind? How is recruiting going in general? What do we think of the schedule?

Lets get some fan momentum going for 2025-2026!
 
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Do we know for sure who the new players are? I haven't seen anything on the website for newcomers or on social media. Haven't seen a schedule either. I did see they hired a new assistant coach who is coming over from Niagara. I think we did a good job to bring in some quality goaltenders in Oster and Wright which hopefully helps in an area that was certainly lacking last year. Herrington was on campus this summer I saw on social media. I saw pictures of Oster (based on his Oshawa helmet) in a post. The players I've heard about make me relatively excited plus I think we've been heading in a positive direction over last couple years, but without a definitive list and where we finished last year .... who knows??? Hopefully, we hear something soon on newcomers officially and schedule to generate a little late summer excitement. but always GO CATS!
 
We certainly have several promising players coming in but I think Guindon will be most important by far. We haven’t had serious offensive firepower in a while and losing Alex bump two years ago hurt terribly (look at his western much numbers). Also, going back many years, too many players start to look good then take steps back (what happened last year to Jens Richards?) Let’s get someone in the Gut who can make things happen
 
FWIW I'm optimistic. Our goaltending looks strong, without that the rest doesn't matter much. I think between Guindon, Strand, the Merrimack transfer and a few others we have more offense than I can remember in a long time. Other teams have obviously recruited up as well, but my hope is this opening of so much talent helps level the playing field for a team like ours and brings more parity. Time will tell.
 
As you say I don't feel like soft is accurate, there are some very good teams on there. No different from the SEC in football. When you are hard scheduled with 15-20+ conference games with top 20 teams per year, you can't be going out looking for more top ten teams to play if you expect to be successful.

We play BU and BC 5 times. No one else on Hockey East schedule is bad, and some will be top 5-10 by year end. St Cloud is a legit program with recent success. Harvard is strong most years. Our SoS will be above average by end of year for sure.

Playing in Hockey East is no joke, as tough as any league in the country.
 
Looking at this coming year, we are losing Matta, Jellus, Spitserov, Walther and Zapernick, in other words, 5/9 of our top point producers from last year. It also means that Kessler and Strand our #2+3 producers will be back as something more than rookies, presumably with Guindon centering at least one of them.

Our most productive defenseman in Tornqvist is back, hopefully with Herrington making a difference as well.

My question for the group today is, the OHL and NCAA are seen as similarly talented but obviously very leagues by hockey talent evaluators and talking heads. We know Guindon had 85 points in 66 games in the OHL, good for 19th in scoring last year.

What are realistic expectations for him as a 21 year old freshman? For comparison, last year Ethan Leyh, Charlie Cerrato and Mac Gadowsky were tied for 19th in scoring at 42 points each in 38 games averaging 16 goals and 26 assists.

On one hand, you hope that an older player with a track record of success and another year of development will easily break 30-35 points but then its easy to remember the last decade of Catamounts hockey and that the last guy to come close to 30 was Mario Puskarich when he got 29 in 2016-2017, and the last person to break it were both Michael Paliotta and Shaw in 2014-2015.

So what is the appropriate expectations + over/under for points this year?
Guindon at 33?
Kessler at 27?
Strand at 26?
 
I'd be over on Guindon at his age, skill and experience. I'd be over on strand and kessler as well. I think this is the year we finally score more.
 
Looks like UVM is stepping up their social media content this season, wonder if they got more resources for it or a new manager, or just realized it would be a great source of drumming up attention. Nice of them to do it immediately after they lose both Sharks draft picks :cautious: but a good development nonetheless.

This video of PJ Forgione blind ranking Tom's goals is fun. Also Jens Richard has nicknamed him Private Jet?

VermontfaninNY said:
My question for the group today is, the OHL and NCAA are seen as similarly talented but obviously very leagues by hockey talent evaluators and talking heads. We know Guindon had 85 points in 66 games in the OHL, good for 19th in scoring last year.

What are realistic expectations for him as a 21 year old freshman? For comparison, last year Ethan Leyh, Charlie Cerrato and Mac Gadowsky were tied for 19th in scoring at 42 points each in 38 games averaging 16 goals and 26 assists.
Click to expand...
It's tougher to compare when Leyh and Gadowsky were older, taller, and stronger in a much weaker conference. Cerrato could be a good comp besides add 2 cm and the vast difference in... eh, constitution(?) on the ice. Guindon had 4 PIM in 66 games last season. Cerrato had 58 in 38 and can safely be described as a massive pest. Penn State is also a shot volume off-the-rush team, not sure what system you guys are putting in place.

Lots of unknowns here honestly. I expect younger players especially to struggle, but for overage players, adjusting from being the oldest guy to a younger guy is tricky. I wish I knew how to handicap it more, but I'd put it at 15-20. I think eventually he'll get to point per game and above, but the learning curve here is steep than people expect. His defensive foundation should help him gain trust quicker than other high scorers but converting is another story entirely. I'd guess his second half could be more productive when he adjusts to the game style, which happened with Cerrato (though his team on the whole had very different halves of their season). Guindon should be there for a few years and I wouldn't panic if he doesn't immediately put up numbers.

tl;dr 15-20 is reasonable, most of it in the second half of the season.

Would love for Guindon to prove me wrong though!
 
CatsFan24-7 said:
Do we know for sure who the new players are? I haven't seen anything on the website for newcomers or on social media. Haven't seen a schedule either. I did see they hired a new assistant coach who is coming over from Niagara. I think we did a good job to bring in some quality goaltenders in Oster and Wright which hopefully helps in an area that was certainly lacking last year. Herrington was on campus this summer I saw on social media. I saw pictures of Oster (based on his Oshawa helmet) in a post. The players I've heard about make me relatively excited plus I think we've been heading in a positive direction over last couple years, but without a definitive list and where we finished last year .... who knows??? Hopefully, we hear something soon on newcomers officially and schedule to generate a little late summer excitement. but always GO CATS!
Click to expand...
Roster is out: https://uvmathletics.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster/2025-26
 
Will said:
Roster is out: https://uvmathletics.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster/2025-26
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting. I went through the roster and noticed a name I hadn't seen a commitment for anywhere. Ethan Burroughs https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=223507 Looks like he played with Guindon in 23-24 and actually out scored him. Played in the ECHL a couple games too? Before going to a Canadian university. Seems like a bit of an outside the box recruiting move by the staff, but maybe it pays off to add more offense?
 
CatsFan24-7 said:
Thanks for posting. I went through the roster and noticed a name I hadn't seen a commitment for anywhere. Ethan Burroughs https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=223507 Looks like he played with Guindon in 23-24 and actually out scored him. Played in the ECHL a couple games too? Before going to a Canadian university. Seems like a bit of an outside the box recruiting move by the staff, but maybe it pays off to add more offense?
Click to expand...
it isn’t that strange for OAs to sign an ATO after their last junior season is over, so 2 games in the ECHL isn’t that big a deal, esp compared to what bemidji state just did

usports transfers are good adds bc it bypasses the question mark of “can CHL players hold their own vs older players”. that transition has already happened for them. unh has two, maine and uml have one- maine’s is also from SFX. the school is in nova scotia so good to see UVM tapping into the geographical advantage here.
 
For comparison the Flyers took Jett Luchanko 13th overall in the first round after putting up 20 goals, 54 assists in 68 games the same year Burroughs scored 76.

Just looking at the numbers a top 6 that looks something like:
Steenerson - Guindon - Burroughs
Kessler - Lombardi - Strand

Seems like it might be the most exciting this team has seen in a very long time.

Combined Guindon and Burroughs had 161 points in their last OHL year (with Burroughs playing in Europe last year). Beckett Sennecke was drafted third overall by the Ducks in 2024 after he had 68 points, and had 86 in the OHL last year. Do I think that Guindon and Burroughs will play like future NHL All-Stars this year like you hope a third overall pick will be? Of course not. But looking at their multi-year history of excellent offensive production, these guys might be real difference makers like we haven't seen in a decade.

It also means that Stand and Kessler will hopefully be feasting on middle six minutes instead of going against the top lines of other Hockey East teams.
 
I thought that this was good, but also was written before Burroughs committed as well. He clearly thinks that we are getting a starting goalie, 2 top 6-forwards, 2 two-way forwards, and a starting defenseman.

I did not realize that Zachary Filak was a name to watch - with only 48 points last year, he actually led a VERY bad OHL team in points. We will see if he is a bottom-six guy on a bad team or has more talent than that but was held back by everyone else.

Also keep an eye out for Liam Lefebvre, a 2026-2027 recruit, he has started the year with 2 goals, 2 assists in two games for Rimouski, that seems pretty good!

substack.com

2025 NCAA CHL Recruiting Class: Hockey East

Welcome to the third part of my series on the CHL recruiting classes for all the NCAA schools.
substack.com substack.com
 
Looking into it a bit more, the hockey website Neutral Zone had Filak as a 4.5 star guy before he committed to Michigan State in 2019. In May of 2020 he decided to go to Michigan State instead. They called it "Utterly difficult to remove him from the puck". Thescoutingnews.com (Never heard of them before ) said Michigan State hit the recruiting bullseye by getting him.

Other people certainly seem to think that we might have something here ..
 
VermontfaninNY said:
I thought that this was good, but also was written before Burroughs committed as well. He clearly thinks that we are getting a starting goalie, 2 top 6-forwards, 2 two-way forwards, and a starting defenseman.

I did not realize that Zachary Filak was a name to watch - with only 48 points last year, he actually led a VERY bad OHL team in points. We will see if he is a bottom-six guy on a bad team or has more talent than that but was held back by everyone else.

Also keep an eye out for Liam Lefebvre, a 2026-2027 recruit, he has started the year with 2 goals, 2 assists in two games for Rimouski, that seems pretty good!

substack.com

2025 NCAA CHL Recruiting Class: Hockey East

Welcome to the third part of my series on the CHL recruiting classes for all the NCAA schools.
substack.com substack.com
Click to expand...
Great article thanks for sharing! Excited for home opener!
 
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