Coach Sneddon obviously had Cullity on a short leash and Patrick responded by being on his best behavior. Credit the coach for pushing all the right buttons, master manipulator that he is. This is obviously a perception of just on your part. Short leash or long leash, it does not seem to matter. Cullity is a cancer on this team. Could not believe the comment in the BFP from Sneddon - “Our power play...,” said Sneddon. “Patrick’s working his tail off out there, but two penalties are not a good sign and that unfortunately negates all the good things he did.” - Wow, what is Sneddon seeing? Cullity working his tail off? Good things...like what? Sorry, but this kid should not be playing...
Rest assured, fans, Patrick Cullity WILL be in the lineup Friday night in Providence. Unfortunately, you will probably be proven to be accurate. When you watch him, you tend to think he can not make anymore mistakes, that he has used up his quota for the game and then the blind faith that Sneddon shows in him, more times than not, comes back to haunt the team...and the faithful fans of the team.
One thing I love about Kevin Sneddon, and I mean this sincerely, is his willingness and enjoyment at throwing the players under the bus. In his post-game comments, the professional coach stated that it was the "inability to EXECUTE our penalty kill," among other failings of the players, that killed the team against Maine. Seven PPGs against in 2 games, 10 in the 3 UVM-UMaine games, is the fault of the players, not the coaches. The coaches, of course, devised a brilliant PK system that Maine would have been helpless against, except that the players misexecuted it, because it really was a brilliant PK plan the coaches devised that the players were unable to execute.
Having not yet viewed the videotape, Sneddon was unable to hand out credit where credit was due immediately after each game, so take a bow, boys. On Friday, when Maine scored 4 PPGs in 7 attempts, Wahs Stacey was on for all 4, Brian Roloff and Johnathan Higgins were each on for 3 of them, and Josh Burrows was on for 2. On Saturday, when Maine's PP efficiency dropped to only 50% (3 of 6), Roloff was on for all 3 (6 for the weekend as well as being a vital cog on the team's 1st PP unit), MacKenzie and Medvec were on for 2 each (3 each for the weekend), and Brayden Irwin was teamed with Higgins (3 for the weekend) on the unit that gave up the PPG that tied the game for Maine. These are the main culprits, not including Irwin, who were unable to execute the brilliant penalty kill that Sneddon had devised that was sure to shut down the UMaine powerplay had the players not been unable to execute it as brilliantly as it was devised. Having looked at the box scores, you are correct. This is a very good point. The penalty killers, in particular the forwards are not doing so well. From what I can tell, the only forwards that do not kill penalties are Milo, Stalberg, Nilsson-Roos and Pacan. Maybe these guys should get a shot. If nothing else, maybe they can create some shorthanded chances.
And I am positive the coach will address any problems his scrutinizing eye can detect in the power play units, because we know the systems work. A few guesses, not prophecies, bench Wahs Stacey (a proven good idea), move Wahs to the 1st PP unit, reinstate Matt Marshall. Even Kevin Sneddon, who I am not a huge fan of, cannot revert to the Barry Melrose-approved 'roll the lines' PP rotation. I know the argument for that Sneddon-concocted idea is that they can't do worse than the 2 current PP units. That may be true, but they WILL be as bad, and that's the idea of a solution, isn't it? It seems to me that if a team prepares against another team's PP unit in practice and that PP is as potent at Maines, why would a coach not scrap his crappy PP and "copy" the PP that actually works? Is it ego?
....If the players were only able to do justice to the incredibly brilliant special teams schemes Sneddon and his crack staff devise while the players go to class and concentrate on all the other things college kids concentrate on on weeknights. Are you implying that coaching staffs actually work during the day?...while the student athletes attend school? I have often wondered how hard it is for a coaching staff to come up with something that works. Perhaps they should be watching the PP units of say, maybe Maine (30% PP efficiency), Merrimack (26.2%), Colorado College (23.7%), UMass (22.7%) and on and on... I mean, football coaches go to other team's camps to learn other versions of offenses and defenses, why can't Sneddon and his staff go do the same? His PP and PK haven't been working for the last 3 years or so...
So, let's recap. Patrick Cullity, the new, disciplined Patrick Cullity, will be in the lineup on Friday. The PK will right itself against Providence. And we're so lucky to have Kevin Sneddon as our coach, not just because he can devise unstoppable PP systems and inpenetrable PK systems but also because he is a master at pointing out how the players are responsible for all failings. Nice summary...however, in that same BFP game article, the following quote appears - "We’ve got play with that energy all the time,” Sneddon said. “I vowed to the guys I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure it happens." - could actually happen...
How did that happen being he is a Canadian??
. Looks to be a pretty solid player from what I have read