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University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

oGstaCoG said:
I just re-read the most recent posts, (including my own) and I just don't buy in to the "excuse" comments... We all know he needs to win. period.. But i really don't know where he, as a coach, has "run to the local media" to make excuses... My points were centered around that premise.. No excuses need to be made and none were.. The facts are the facts... Just win baby! There are many reasons to criticize the coach and their recent downfall but if the thought is generally accepted that he the coach is making excuses then he probably needs to go. I just don't think that's what has been happening.....
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We're just going to have to agree to disagree. Wonder how the assistant coaching search is going. I bet the Wallack and Patrick guys will be on staff, just my hunch. Will be interesting to see when its finalized. Also, just going through this NHL lockout stuff, hurts even worse that Girgensons never came if there's no NHL season (though could there be an AHL season?)
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

UVM Cat in Texas said:
I don't know how y'all are feeling, but after the loss of Girgensons (can you lose something you never really had?), and then the thing with the Roy brothers, the wind's kinda been taken out of my sails. Thus, I can't say I'm all that fired up about UVM hockey at the moment. I'm sure (I hope anyway) that'll change as the weather gets colder and the season approaches.
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I look it at like this, the past two years I have been really excited going into the season and that didn't get me much. This year, there are still some positives: McCarthy will be back, Brickley will be a junior, I still really like White, the D will be a year older and more mature.... I really don't believe the Cats will miss the playoffs this season. That said, fighting for 8th place and fighting for home ice IMO rests with Sneddon. If he is true to his quote and we return to old style, out work the other team, block shots, hockey then I think we can be an upper mid pack team with some halfway decent goaltending. If one of the two frosh turns out to be a stud then maybe even challenge for that 4th spot. If we have an anemic special teams, and make 28 passes to take a shot and no one gels, then we will be fighting for 8th....

But at least we can't finish worst then 10th. The Roys never bothered me. Zemgus was hailed as our savior, and although he was a huge part, he wasn't a make or break this team. We still have Lenz, Brickely, McCarthy, etc. This team still has talent and can do well, they need to put forth the effort though and that was missing much of last year.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

I am waiting to see if the team has "muscled up" during the off season. I will give them that in their freshman year, they probably did not hit the weights like they should in the off season. This year there should be no excuses for havng a scrawny team that gets pushed around. Added strength will go a long way into plaing the grinding style Sneddon has talked about.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

I think the Cats will be better if they have decent goaltending. What I don't like is that everyone else will likely be better also, well, except UMASS who now has our former PP.

Losing Gigensons is huge, while he would not be the entire team anymore than Stalburg was last year or Brickley could be this year, you are taking a probably a top 15 all hockey east player off the ice for 1/3 of the game, that is a huge lost opportunity. As is Stalburg's departure.

However, you do get McCarthy back - and hopefully a healthy Brickley. Add hopefully stronger Reynolds' and Markinson and you are starting to have a good core. I think the season kind of depends on the goaltending first, then good D, then what Fallon and Polleso (or whatever his name is) can add and whether Brett Bruneteau can get to a higher level. Lenz and White are good players but we want them on a third or fourth line, not top two.

The other darkhorses are the two new D. I think we may like what they add.

I really enjoy hockey so I'm looking forward to the season. Hey, this year we are at the bottom so expectations are low (see UML last year) and hopefully the team will come together and surprise us. Stranger things have happened. If we are competitive every game and 10 or more games I will be happy.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

VermontFan said:
The two new assistant coaches have been announced:

http://www.uvmathletics.com/news/2012/8/14/MHOCKEY_0814122603.aspx

In other news, another UVM recruit has de-committed. Dennis Kravchenko ('13 recruit) has decided to break his commitment. It was announced by his junior team head coach. What a brutal summer...
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Where did you see the decommit? Would not be shocked if he ends up at UMass. Michelletto has surprisingly been less then I expected of him as a person. You don't go and take your old bosses other coaches when your old coach was supportive of you getting the job. But this might go to speak to UVM's old problem. As I stated earlier looking at our assistants in a MASSIVE upgrad in totality. Michelletto goes and hires an unproven guy who was just an easy hire. If Kravechenko goes to UMASS, the Michelletto's recruiting starts very lazy. Not a huge loss for UVM, opens up a spot for a player who proven recruiters like Patrick and Wallack can fill.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

The kid committed nearly two years ago as a 16 year old. A lot of things have changed since then. Perhaps the culture change from SoCal and Iowa, without the AC who recruited him, made him reconsider. Having two new ACs is almost as radical as getting a new Head Coach. It's probably a good thing for them to be able to bring in their own players as soon as possible.

This could be an addition by subtraction. The first decent thing that has happened to your program all summer. There are a lot of us NU Husky fans who empathize with your plight. We had our nightmares last summer. Hopefully we'll see UVM improve this season despite all of the bad breaks you've had in the past year.:)
 
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Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

HOCKEYGUY23 said:
Where did you see the decommit? Would not be shocked if he ends up at UMass. Michelletto has surprisingly been less then I expected of him as a person. You don't go and take your old bosses other coaches when your old coach was supportive of you getting the job. But this might go to speak to UVM's old problem. As I stated earlier looking at our assistants in a MASSIVE upgrad in totality. Michelletto goes and hires an unproven guy who was just an easy hire. If Kravechenko goes to UMASS, the Michelletto's recruiting starts very lazy. Not a huge loss for UVM, opens up a spot for a player who proven recruiters like Patrick and Wallack can fill.
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..or this is another player who sees a sinking program and wants something better. Kravchenko had a good 2nd half in the USHL last season and is a promising forward with speed & skill. Hard to spin this as any kind of positive. If he is following Micheletto the best you can say is this is bad luck.

Is also hard to see even with stellar goaltending how UVM can finish much higher than 7th or 8th. OK, should be better than UMass and maybe Mack, but who else in HE can the Cats really beat on any more than a blue moon basis? I hope I'm wrong and everything comes together beautifully this season ala UML, but if this turns into another <10 win season I think the administration needs to take a hard look at the entire program (not just or excluding coaching) to see what needs to be upgraded to be competitive. I may be wrong, but seems that the recruiting "novelty" of being in HE has worn off for UVM..
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

Yikes! It's hard to put any kind of positive spin on that tweet. It's more like further evidence of the rats abandoning a sinking ship. I tend to agree with VTinNY--I don't see this team doing much more than competing for a playoff spot. I don't think it's a stretch to say the program's in a state of disarray right now. :(
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

Have some faith all you non-believers. I remember when HE fans were distressed that UVM was joining the conference coming out of low seedings in the lowly EZAC pack but other than last year they have helped the SOS for all other HE schools I believe.

They will be fine if they get some goaltending, have some leadership, and don't get decimated with injuries like they did last year. They have as much skill as half the league and if they play as a team they can finish in the middle of the pack somewhere.

I'm not going to form an opinion on the new assistants yet but they are surely an upgrade on Gaspirini and probably a net upgrade. Need to give them some time to prove themselves. I like the base that we have in Coach Sneddon. He's been successful enough over time that I think the results of his efforts will show progress. He took over a program that was in shambles and developed it to where we expected success year in and year out and a season like last year felt disasterous. That's an improvement, prior to that nearly every year in D1 since 1990 had low expectations except when there was a St. Louis and Perrin on the roster.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

snwbrdr said:
Have some faith all you non-believers. I remember when HE fans were distressed that UVM was joining the conference coming out of low seedings in the lowly EZAC pack but other than last year they have helped the SOS for all other HE schools I believe.

They will be fine if they get some goaltending, have some leadership, and don't get decimated with injuries like they did last year. They have as much skill as half the league and if they play as a team they can finish in the middle of the pack somewhere.

I'm not going to form an opinion on the new assistants yet but they are surely an upgrade on Gaspirini and probably a net upgrade. Need to give them some time to prove themselves. I like the base that we have in Coach Sneddon. He's been successful enough over time that I think the results of his efforts will show progress. He took over a program that was in shambles and developed it to where we expected success year in and year out and a season like last year felt disasterous. That's an improvement, prior to that nearly every year in D1 since 1990 had low expectations except when there was a St. Louis and Perrin on the roster.
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That's a lot of ifs. The expectation at a minimum should be to secure a playoff spot. If they can do that, and look like there might be signs of hope, I think you'll find people will feel better about the state of the program. Otherwise, you might find yourself on an island come March. Also, posted in the SMC thread, but Damian DiGiulian was named the head coach at St. Mike's. I never heard anything bad about him, which is a good thing.
Will be interesting to see how the other assistants help. I hope they bring a unique prospective to tactics and recruiting. Also, Ted Ryan said that Ryan Rosenthal is coming to campus this year instead of going USHL.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

HOCKEYGUY23 said:
Where did you see the decommit? Would not be shocked if he ends up at UMass. Michelletto has surprisingly been less then I expected of him as a person. You don't go and take your old bosses other coaches when your old coach was supportive of you getting the job. But this might go to speak to UVM's old problem. As I stated earlier looking at our assistants in a MASSIVE upgrad in totality. Michelletto goes and hires an unproven guy who was just an easy hire. If Kravechenko goes to UMASS, the Michelletto's recruiting starts very lazy. Not a huge loss for UVM, opens up a spot for a player who proven recruiters like Patrick and Wallack can fill.
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This is no loss at all. I hope he does go to UMASS..it will be the line in the sand. This kid is Very and I mean VERY average. We need goal scorers no more of what we got.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

i think it's time to stop talking about all the things that happenned over the summer and start talking about the players that are here and ready to go this year--i would love to see an uptempo,hard forechecking exciting team this year.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

dwb said:
i think it's time to stop talking about all the things that happenned over the summer and start talking about the players that are here and ready to go this year
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I agree. Time for everyone to move on, myself included.

dwb said:
i would love to see an uptempo,hard forechecking exciting team this year.
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Disagree strongly. While it sounds sexy, we don't have the skill level to play this type of game. That's sort of what we tried the last several years to absolutely no success. I think we need a gritty, slow the game down, puck-possession type of game, which Sneddon has indicated will be the plan for this year.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

it doesn't take a tremendous amount of skill to apply a strong forecheck in the offensive zone.it does however ,take alot of hard work and determination.i see other teams do it to uvm the last several seasons.i hope we don't go back to the rope-a-dope this year.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

I have no problem with applying a strong forecheck, it's the idea of an uptempo style that worries me. The teams that are able to do it successfully, like BC for example, will absolutely eat our lunch. We can't beat them at their own game. Again, I just don't think we have the skill level to pull it off, at least right now.
 
Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

"i think it's time to stop talking about all the things that happenned over the summer and start talking about the players that are here and ready to go this year--i would love to see an uptempo,hard forechecking exciting team this year."

.........Agreed!

Can we get another thread started that puts the problems behind us and focuses on the current and future. We need a new one started and I don't know how to start on. Anyone know how to start one?
 
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Re: University of Vermont off-season thread, ( Let the Zemgus Girgensons Era Begin! )

nopuckluck said:
UVM fans should not mourn the loss of Kravchenko. Watched him at a USHL tryout this summer and was not overly impressed. Lazy and one dimensional.
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You might want to think of his defection, along with the defection of the AC, to be "additions by subtraction". Luck seems to run in cycles. Perhaps these are the first many positive for the program.
 
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