UVM 2026-27: Is This Our Year, When We Finish 8-10 in HEA?!?

[UVM Cat in Texas]

With the season fast approaching, thought I'd start a season thread.

Regarding my question, one can only hope. After looking at last season's thread, and the post about Liam Lefebvre, I kinda doubt it. We suck, and in all likelihood, will continue to suck. But hey, you never know, Cubs fans began every season with hope for decades upon decades. Maybe this is OUR year! That's right, the year we record an 8th place finish in HE! Yeah, why not us?

All joking (actually, reality) aside, anyone have thoughts, good or bad? Can anyone finger our decline to a specific event?

 

[Engineers]

With the season fast approaching, thought I'd start a season thread.

Regarding my question, one can only hope. After looking at last season's thread, and the post about Liam Lefebvre, I kinda doubt it. We suck, and in all likelihood, will continue to suck. But hey, you never know, Cubs fans began every season with hope for decades upon decades. Maybe this is OUR year! That's right, the year we record an 8th place finish in HE! Yeah, why not us?

All joking (actually, reality) aside, anyone have thoughts, good or bad? Can anyone finger our decline to a specific event?

Leaving the ECAC is your starting point.

 

[rufus22]

Who do we think will be in goal? I'm guessing the Quinnipiac transfer

 

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Leaving the ECAC is your starting point.

Good thought, but I don't think so, particularly since we made a Frozen Four appearance after moving to Hockey East. At the time, I thought we were really gonna be a juggernaut. Great coach (it seemed), FF appearance, big uptick in recruiting based on FF, etc.

Of course, none of that happened. I do wonder sometimes if we would have been better off staying in the ECAC.

 

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Who do we think will be in goal? I'm guessing the Quinnipiac transfer

Yeah, that'd be my guess. We've also got Wright, who played a ton and was decent at times, and Oster who was pretty hyped going into last season. Didn't Mangbo have another year? What happened with him?

 

[rufus22]

Mangbo was in the portal and apparently didnt get picked up because he's playing professionally in Sweden now. I wasn't that impressed with Wright but agree about Oster he seemed promising

 

[Go Cats]

This is actually a great post, I don’t mind leaving ECAC, I like the hockey east competition, I hate to point the finger at coaching and recruiting, Wiedler got thrown into year one, his first real class are juniors now but not impressed with what’s been brought in thus far. I don’t like the building excuse, look at what PVD has done, they used to be doormats, they hired Leaman and PVD is a perennial top 10 team in the nation, fantastic recruits, and their building is nothing special, Wiedler seems like a nice guy but they are not bringing in the talent, it’s not the building, Burlington is great, great hockey history and had a great fan base, the culture and recruiting needs to change!

 

[Jim F.]

I was tempted to boycott a thread with such a gloom and doom disparaging name. But, I need to put in my three cents on some of the topics discussed.
ECAC has had success in NCAA's with Union, Yale and QU winning in recent years. But, they've also had more teams at the other end of the spectrum. Hockey East has had more parity and is overall a stronger league usually. I worry about NIL and the deep pockets of the Big Ten.
I'm expecting Oster to be the #1 goalie this year and all three to compete for playing time. His being injured all last year was a big loss.
I disagree about bringing in talent. It's much improved and I believe Wiedler when he says going after the "one and dones" will not work at UVM. I'm happy to see so many quality QMJHL players coming this year. Hopefully that's the beginning of a trend of getting top players from our backyard. Disappointing to see Lefebvre poached by BU after he had said the decision to commit to UVM was a "no brainer". We'll see Oster and a new recruiting class in less than a month. I hope the good recruiting continues with Moser gone.
We finished 11th last year again, but it was a much better season. A 7-7 regular season record against ranked teams (wins vs. BU, BC & UConn once, Maine & Northeastern twice) compares to 3-11-2 the year before. We ran into Providence and HE playoff champion Merrimack during their hot streaks and the HE Player of the Year stopped 64 out of 64 UVM shots one weekend.
I'm optimistic for the current season. Goaltending and scoring depth should be better and defense should be solid despite the transfer losses.

 

[rufus22]

I was tempted to boycott a thread with such a gloom and doom disparaging name. But, I need to put in my three cents on some of the topics discussed.
ECAC has had success in NCAA's with Union, Yale and QU winning in recent years. But, they've also had more teams at the other end of the spectrum. Hockey East has had more parity and is overall a stronger league usually. I worry about NIL and the deep pockets of the Big Ten.
I'm expecting Oster to be the #1 goalie this year and all three to compete for playing time. His being injured all last year was a big loss.
I disagree about bringing in talent. It's much improved and I believe Wiedler when he says going after the "one and dones" will not work at UVM. I'm happy to see so many quality QMJHL players coming this year. Hopefully that's the beginning of a trend of getting top players from our backyard. Disappointing to see Lefebvre poached by BU after he had said the decision to commit to UVM was a "no brainer". We'll see Oster and a new recruiting class in less than a month. I hope the good recruiting continues with Moser gone.
We finished 11th last year again, but it was a much better season. A 7-7 regular season record against ranked teams (wins vs. BU, BC & UConn once, Maine & Northeastern twice) compares to 3-11-2 the year before. We ran into Providence and HE playoff champion Merrimack during their hot streaks and the HE Player of the Year stopped 64 out of 64 UVM shots one weekend.
I'm optimistic for the current season. Goaltending and scoring depth should be better and defense should be solid despite the transfer losses.

Smart post and I agree with a lot of what you say but I don't see much real high-end talent. Our top three goal-scorers got 10, 7 and 5 goals respectively last year.