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Nescac

Captains (list is incomplete)


Amherst- #14 Joey Verkerke

#22 Connor Merrill


Conn- #5 Rob Radochia


Hamilton- #9 Cade Groton

#10 Fred Allaire (2nd year as "C")

#15 Nick Hawkins (2nd year as "C")


Midd- #6 Billy Dobensky (2nd year as "C")

#18 Bret Pastor (2nd year as "C")

#23 EMack Bentley (2nd year as "C")

#19 Chris Garbe (A)

#98 Antoine Belisle (A)


Trinity- #11 Paul Selleck

#17 Riley Prattson

#20 John Campomenosi

#23 Andrew Troy


Tufts- #21 Mason Kohn



Top 3 Missing Underclassman Players from 21-22 (minus Trinity roster which is unavailable)


Hamilton- #44 Scott McKenzie


Amherst- #19 Christian Powers


Conn- #14 Jake Vaughan



-One more item- Half of the Nescac Assistant's left for better opportunities whether in compensation or level of play. Off the top of my head, I think Hamilton, Williams, Tufts, Trinity, Bowdoin and Wesleyan all lost their AC's. I think these guys deserve much better compensation from nescac schools in all sports especially with all the work they put in behind the scenes.
 
Nescac --- "Opening Night" ---3 Weeks late and jammed with non-conference opponents on Thanksgiving weekend (For those unfamiliar with calendars, that's next weekend) that have been out of the gates for over a month. Opening weekend in 2021 gave the league the most goals of any conference weekend last year and I would expect the same this weekend. Enjoy it while it lasts before we get bogged down in tactical systems and defensive organization.


FRI


Colby at Midd


Bowdoin at Williams


Conn at Wes


Tufts at Trinity


SAT


Tufts at Wes


Conn at Trinity


Colby at Williams


Bowdoin at Midd


Hamilton at Amherst


SUN


Hamilton at Albertus Magnus
 
The homophobia on display by the Colby College Men's Hockey team right before they jumped on the Ice at Williams on Saturday was disgusting. Classless. This Sport has a big enough problem as it is with this stuff without players needing to pile on. It's a cheap shot one that will most definitely provoke a response from yours truly. Maybe a Provost but if I'm nice probably just the AD. Obviously, the Colby Coaching Staff needs a reminder that when they hear this stuff, they need to stamp it out. Where there is homophobia and hate there is antisemitism, racism and just an environment of hate this hate that hate everything and everyone. That is what we call BAD CULTURE. More of these people need love. It will not deter me at all though as even with all this stupid crap I really enjoy watching the Sport.
 
Mr.Right said:
The homophobia on display by the Colby College Men's Hockey team right before they jumped on the Ice at Williams on Saturday was disgusting. Classless. This Sport has a big enough problem as it is with this stuff without players needing to pile on. It's a cheap shot one that will most definitely provoke a response from yours truly. Maybe a Provost but if I'm nice probably just the AD. Obviously, the Colby Coaching Staff needs a reminder that when they hear this stuff, they need to stamp it out. Where there is homophobia and hate there is antisemitism, racism and just an environment of hate this hate that hate everything and everyone. That is what we call BAD CULTURE. More of these people need love. It will not deter me at all though as even with all this stupid crap I really enjoy watching the Sport.
Click to expand...

Care to provide some additional details or context?
 
Usual crap....homophobic slurs mixed in with sexual innuendo. I'll save the details for this week's phone calls and emails to Colby admin and let them deal with it. The LGBT community is coming under greater and greater attack (mass shooting at a gay bar last night for example), so it is important to say something because most players and coaches do not realize what they are doing or saying. The few that do understand it plead ignorant but know damn well what they are doing. They just assume that not one of their teammates is in the closet or maybe has a brother who is gay, or whatever. People are very good at hiding who they really are in any kind of terms. Now see I am not afraid of who I am, I like who I am and while I maybe a little sarcastic at times it is all in good fun. I DO NOT take cheap shots on any player or coach and consider what happened on Saturday a cheap shot. Thanks for your interest though.
 
Hamilton College on Twitter: "Men's hockey team takes part in the holiday parade in the Village of Clinton. @HamCollMHock @HamCollSports @ClintonCCNY https://t.co/SKWflkMKti" / Twitter




This is good stuff from Hamilton MHockey....It is always beneficial to get your team involved in the local community somehow. The easiest thing to do is a hockey clinic for the local kids on your Ice. Followed by handing out your schedule which in turn might get more people to your Home games. Either way you have done your good deed of the day. Time is thin during the season, but not if you manage your time well.
 
Slight Detour / Off Ramp


I wanted to give a big shout out, gas em up, and congrats to the Williams College Men's Soccer team. They defeated Mary Washington University 1-0 last night in the NCAA D3 Final Four to advance to Saturday's NCAA D3 Final against the University of Chicago at 12pm in Roanoke, VA. Williams lost one of its Captains and leaders #13 Will Felitto in mid-October to a season ending injury and I had assumed that would really put a damper on anything the team was trying to accomplish for 2022. The opposite happened as its other Captain #6 Nick Boardman and HC Steffen Siebert refused to let these guys hang their heads. Williams became one of the hardest working teams in the country as everyone on the field was running as hard as they could whenever they got on the pitch. They believe in the system that Steffen has installed and have beaten some of the best teams across the country to get to this ultimate Final match. I am just so proud of these guys and hope they read this. #6 Boardman has shown remarkable courage and resilience for the Ephs as he got the lone Goal in the 81st minute. He also showed immense bravery and solidarity by wearing the Captain's Pride Armband during the Game. He is a Straight man that is comfortable enough in his own skin to show solidarity with his LGBT brothers and sisters especially because of what is going on at the World Cup in Qatar, a nation where same-sex relations are illegal, to promote inclusion and diversity in soccer and society. He was the best player on the field all night, scored the GW'ing Goal, 2nd team All-American(should be 1st) and most importantly has shown an unbelievable amount of courage and character that will only help him as he moves into his career of choice. Good luck Boys on Saturday as I will be watching and hope you bring that monster NCAA trophy home to Williamstown, MA. #Boardo

Ephs blank Mary Washington 1-0, advance to NCAA championship game Saturday at 12:00 PM - Williams College
 
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On Ramp / Back on Thruway:


Act II: "The Flying Wisco Brothers"(minus one brother) -NO you cannot get a discount.

-Nescac Friday Feature - Midd Senior Goalie #1 Adam Wisco. Never met the kid but my take is that most Goalies are analytical, and he is no exception. Still, I would consider him based on his answers more of a free thinker. Either way a sharp kid with personality and character. If I had to put a $100 on a minor drawback my guess would be that with his gregarious personality, he is just up in everyone's business. Being inquisitive and having curiosity is good, excessive hockey busybody not so good. Very good read so take a look.

https://nescac.com/news/2022/12/4/nescac-friday-feature-adam-wisco-middlebury-mens-ice-hockey.aspx
 
Random Thoughts:


Amherst- Amherst is 4-1-1 and playing pretty well to start the year. They have a good mix of veterans and I think maybe the best Frosh class in the league. #9 Josh Burke 2-2-4 is a fast winger with skill and can beat D-men 1v1 to open up some good scoring looks for his linemates and himself. He is a fun player to watch. #18 Andrew Carmody and #2 Ben Ritter are two legit D-men. You can tell Carmody has a High Hockey IQ as he knows when to either body up the opponent or get him quickly on his backhand. Amherst is scoring goals as well with stud #20 Ben Kuzma 7-3-10 leading the way. He got Amherst on the scoreboard late in the 3rd v Wesleyan with a sick goal. His change of gears in open ice and nasty stickwork helped him absolutely blow by Wesleyan D-man #28 Liam Donelan and then beat Wes G #30 Erik Voloshin. Occasionally, Kuzma can disappear from games for stretches but then he reappears with an effort like that. Amherst Top Line was LW #20 Kuzma- C #41 Toporowski- RW Frosh #13 Ryan Corcoran. On Saturday they flipped Corcoran for #19 Bobby Luca on the wing v Trinity and they looked even more dangerous. They have two solid Captains in #14 Joey Verkerke and #22 Connor Merrill. The one minor issue with Merrill were his two penalties against Wesleyan on Friday night. They were both 200 feet from his own goal and completely out of frustration of not finishing an earlier chance. These were just gifting Wesleyan PP opportunities in the 2nd and unnecessarily wearing down your own PK. He has to remember he now has a "C" on his shirt and his teammates, especially all these good Frosh, are looking at him for leadership in all areas of the Game. #33 G Alex Wisco has played very well to start the year and you can tell his teammates have full confidence in him back there. Congrats to HC Jack Arena on 500 Wins which is mind blowing in any Sport and in any Division. I like though what he did in his 499th Win. Wes was up 2-0 going into the 3rd period and playing very well with Amherst struggling to find a Goal even with plenty of sniffs against Voloshin. So, Arena flipped the lines up to either take advantage of a matchup he liked or to just see if some different combinations would work better for the 3rd. He switched Nescac POW #24 Quint Fox onto #12 Tyler Bourque's line replacing another Frosh #6 Oscar Smink to go along with Frosh #9 Burke. He then created a more veteran line of LW #23 Evan Lichman- C #21 Michael Pitts- RW #22 Merrill. These two lines along with the Top Line is what made the difference in the 3rd Period. Amherst finishes with two Home Games against rival Williams and Middlebury before heading out on break. MIA #16 Connor McGinnis and #25 Ryan Tucker

Trinity- For the League's sake let's hope Trinity takes out its frustration of this past weekend on both its non-conference opponents this week before heading out on break. Starting with Babson today at 4pm. Will take a look at them when I have a chance to rewatch some of their games over the break.

Colby- From 4th Line to Top Line. Good to see Nepotism alive and well.

Wes- This team I completely got wrong in my predictions. I felt they had lost a ton of Senior leadership from last year and might drop a spot or two. I was wrong because they are playing in front of an improved and confident Goalie #30 Erik Voloshin. They have veteran D-men that can move the Puck with skill. #15 Cobb had a great Goal against Amherst. I want to get into this team over the break as well when I have some more time because if they can continue to put the Puck in the Goal, they are going to be successful. Not sure they can roll 4 lines yet like last year, but they were missing a key player #11 Alex Giummo. They finish with Endicott on Wednesday before heading out on break so hopefully they are fully focused for that Game.

Tufts- Tufts coming off a dominating 5-0 rout of Middlebury. Their Captain #21 Mason Kohn "Kohner" with some after game thought's: I literally spit out my coffee in laughter. Was this seriously done on the first take? His nickname should be "brain". He is like half human / half bot with blue eyes and a sh*t eatin' grin. Good kid. Now can this team go up to Maine and get 2 Wins? I can promise you both Bowdoin and Colby are overconfident right now and will be looking past both Tufts and Conn and assuming 2 "dubs". Is this how you want to be thought of? An assumed "dub". This is a good opportunity for both schools to get some results.
Tufts Jumbos on Twitter: "HOCKEY | Big win for the boys today, as @TuftsMensHockey blanks Midd 5-0 at home. Here’s Kohner talking about the win! #JumboPride // #GoJumbos https://t.co/wS6zlnHaTM" / Twitter
 
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I’m back in the States and saw a hockey game in person for the first time in five years last week. It got me thinking about Middlebury, this weekend’s games, and the USCHO forums. Not spent time here in years, hope old friends are doing well.

Almost five years ago I asked here about the drastic downfall of Midd hockey. A real cocktail of issues – institutional support, recruiting challenges, coaching, more competitive league, and more. It seems like after another half decade of mediocrity and more since then. Hard to imagine a Midd program with only 4, 8, 10 and 6 wins in a season, barely competitive against some of the historically weaker teams in the NESCAC and country.

I’d be curious for thoughts on what’s happening at Middlebury now, as I’m not connected to the hockey program at this point.

Has the college simply decided that men's hockey isn't a priority? Is that a choice from President Patton, or elsewhere?

Is there any pressure on Sinclair, who has clearly failed to deliver any success over six-plus seasons?

Has recruitment fallen off that drastically, or is it a question of not getting the best out of players?

Is there a sense of anyone fighting to restore or revitalise the Middlebury traditions and culture? What's the alumni environment like now?

And are other NESCAC schools seeing any similar issues, given hockey is expensive, resource intensive, etc.?

Realise it’s quite quiet here so thought it would be interesting to prompt a discussion.
 
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Mikemidd: The problem with Middlebury men's hockey does not lie with the college's administration. Support of athletics from the top is very solid. Facilities (already among the best in d3 sports and better than many d1 programs) continue to be upgraded. New men's soccer field, new women's soccer field, and new field hockey/women's lacrosse field have come on line in the past 6 months. National championships in multiple sports in the past year including an undefeated women's hockey team in then 21/22 season. Men's hockey is the anomaly and given some of their past successes it tends to stand out when it doesn't measure up. Baseball was in a similar situation to men's hockey a few years back, with years of mostly lackluster results. That turned around with a new coach not long ago which resulted in a NESCAC championship and NCAA tournament play this past spring. Men's hockey will be competitive at some point. As noted in another post, the program is celebrating its' 100th anniversary this season. There have been high and low moments in those 100 years. And many more to come, hopefully more high ones than have been in evidence recently.
 
--Sorry if it hurts: The coach was a comfortable, lazy hire who now has 2 winning seasons in 17 in D3 men's hockey. I'm not counting the 2003 season at Midd when Beaney went on sabbatical and briefly relinquished the keys to his assistant.
--The Knelman lawsuit hurt. Altho Beaney was exonerated it illustrated an intensity to the program that spooked some in the admin.
--Since roughly then, all the NESCACs have been under pressure to recruit less semi-qualified canadian juniors and others and play it by the book. Some have moved quicker than others, but if you look at the rosters now its mostly prep school and US HS kids. But here again Midd, with its facilities, history and unmatched money (save Williams) has no disadvantage or excuse.
--It's likely that that the Patton administration, like all the NESCAC and like minded schools, is more focused on diversity etc. than men's hockey. But that's across the board and no excuse for being 1-9 with a recent loss to SUNY Cortland, which I never though I'd see..
 
Agree that the Knelman lawsuit had a lasting and perhaps permanent impact on the Middlebury men's hockey program. Likely it was an indicator to the Middlebury administration that things were seriously out of whack with the men's hockey program, and a different more low-key approach to men's hockey was in order. Perhaps an over reaction but Beaney has been gone for close to 8 years now, and there is no sign that the ship is about to be righted. It seems to be a men's hockey specific problem for Middlebury since women's hockey has enjoyed huge success, and Middlebury generally performs well in most men's sports . . In fact, an argument could be made that Middlebury decided to replace men's hockey with men's basketball as its premier men's winter sport . .

Generally speaking, men's hockey seems to be down across the NESCAC, with Trinity the last national champion from the NESCAC in 2015. NESCAC teams have performed poorly in out-of-conference play, with the losses out numbering the wins. Some of the poor NESCAC performance may be attributable to tougher recruiting standards. That is hard to measure or prove but the NESCAC seems to have more players coming straight from prep hockey without any junior hockey seasoning than most other D3 leagues. Perhaps a trickle down impact of the Middlebury syndrome or a reaction to other bad episodes at other NESCACs like the sexual assualt allegations against a member of the Williams' hockey team a few years ago.
 
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In thinking back on this through memories, dimmed by time, of overheard conversations and hearsay I believe the Knelman lawsuit was a symptom of a deeper set of changes. And these changes resulted in the frustrations boiling over in the lawsuit.

Starting back in the bad old days where Middelbury was the dominate force there were two things coach Beaney was doing. First was recruiting the Junior College graduates, not many but enough to form a strong core of a team and bring the rest of the players along. Second was to teach a slightly unique style of play. And this worked beautifully; five national championships, and a unmatched winning record.

And then a few things changed concurrently. The number of D-I caliber and Junior College graduates willing to be recruited into playing for a D-III program increased. So the skill advantage used by Middlebury to dominate was no longer there. Second, the point at which players, even high school players, got into serious training became earlier and earlier. So now the kids were learning the "Hockey way" from age 5 or 10. But this was not Beaney's way and so he was having to spend more time getting the recruits to unlearn their old teachings and learn the "new" Beaney way.

Finally, Beaney's recruiting had to change. I heard (without anything to back these up) that either the new President of Middlebuy College, or NESCAC, or both, wanted to change the recruiting policy. The President reasoning was to focus on the Academic experience.

The NESCAC reasoning was to balance the teams within a sport. Having teams regularly blown out 9-0 isn't a learning experience, it's a humiliation. So NESCAC requested/required a change to the recruiting rules to allow the teams (not just hockey, but all sports) to be on equal footing.

For Beaney he looses the ability to have a core of highly skilled players to drive the team forward and is spending more time debating his players about how to play than actually coaching them. And I think he finally came to the realization that the world had changed and he wasn't able to change with it.

For NESCAC, the change has been hugely successful. Their goal was to eliminate having a league where there was one 15-0 team and two 0-13-2 teams, the same ones every year. You need to look a little deeper than the zero sum in-league records, but there are no teams being repeatedly blown out. The out-of-league records are less important. But, again, look deeper. Are the losses by one or two goals with the shots and zone times being about equal, or are they 5+ goal humiliations?

Which brings us to Coach Sinclair. Sinclair isn't a bad coach. He's not a national championship level coach but that not what either Middlebury nor NESCAC is looking for. There are better coaches, but finding one is time consuming (and expensive). And better coaches have requirements for their ability to recruit which may well clash with the requirements of Middlebury and NESCAC. So as long as hockey team is playing within the scope of what Middlebury considered acceptable, even if they're not winning a lot, I'm of the opinion Sinclair has the job until he wants to retire.

For Middlebury this year, I've say the team has improved except in one (utterly critical) area: Their shooting. In the game vs Cortland, Midd took 45+ shots on goal and scored once. This is terrible. But even with a slight improvement in this area the one or two goal losses become one or two goal wins.
 
Changes at the Helm

Middlebury men's ice hockey head coach Neil Sinclair '93 has stepped down from the helm of the program, Director of Athletics Erin Quinn announced on Wednesday, May 10.
"I have decided to step down as the men's ice hockey coach at Middlebury College," said Sinclair. "This is a decision that I have taken some time to come to, and I know this is what's best for me and the program. I want to especially thank Jack Ceglarski, Nick Bingaman, Brian Phinney, and Brad Schuler for their work as assistant coaches. I also want to thank my colleagues at Middlebury, and those in the larger hockey community for their support. This program has a rich tradition and proud history; I am grateful to have been a part of that tradition."

Quinn described Sinclair as "an important part of Middlebury men's ice hockey, noting that he was "an impactful player and leader, assistant coach, and head coach."

"Neil has worked tirelessly in his career to develop a strong team culture and has set the program and players up for success moving forward both on and off the ice," Quinn said. "He has been a supportive colleague and has led within our department with integrity. We wish Neil the best in his next chapter."

During his tenure at Middlebury, Sinclair has led the Panthers to four NESCAC Tournament appearances. He was also the interim head coach during the 2002-03 season after serving as the assistant for three seasons. During the interim year, Sinclair guided the squad to the NCAA Semifinals and a 22-5-2 record. Sinclair also served as an assistant women's golf coach during his time at Middlebury.

Prior to Middlebury, Sinclair spent 11 years as the head coach at Skidmore College, during which time he earned the 2007 Edward Jeremiah Award for National Coach of the Year and was tabbed the ECAC East Coach of the Year. Sinclair also coached at Williams and Middlebury Union High School.

As a student-athlete at Middlebury, Sinclair earned First Team All-American laurels and was a member of the 1991 ECAC Championship team.

Middlebury will share more information about plans to name the next head men's ice hockey coach once it becomes available.
 
Six weeks since Neil Sinclair stepped down as Middlebury head coach. Any sense of potential candidates for the job? Or when an announcement may come?

Even with the questions above about the college's commitment to hockey and the competitiveness of the league and wider landscape, I'd think this is a pretty attractive job.
 
MikeMidd said:
Six weeks since Neil Sinclair stepped down as Middlebury head coach. Any sense of potential candidates for the job? Or when an announcement may come?

Even with the questions above about the college's commitment to hockey and the competitiveness of the league and wider landscape, I'd think this is a pretty attractive job.
Click to expand...

We have an answer: https://athletics.middlebury.edu/ne...named-interim-head-mens-ice-hockey-coach.aspx

Jack Ceglarski, assistant coach for the past two seasons, has been named Interim Head Coach for the year ahead.

That "interim" bothers me a bit. Why is it not a permanent position? Were they not able to recruit a permanent head coach? Very strange.
 
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