Vermont Hockey
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Yeah but they won last night! Against a terrible Union team, and might win tonight against an equally terrible Lake Superior State team to win their precious little holiday tournament. The award ceremony will probably include a contract extension for Sneddon for the "strong finish to 2019."
As much as I'd love to re-hash all my points about the entitled asshat coaching the program right now and the AD who looks like a total doofus when talking about the sport he actually played at UVM, most the talk about that is here anyway: https://www.basketballforum.com/threads/ot-hockey-east-2019-20.685899/
As much as I'd love to re-hash all my points about the entitled asshat coaching the program right now and the AD who looks like a total doofus when talking about the sport he actually played at UVM, most the talk about that is here anyway: https://www.basketballforum.com/threads/ot-hockey-east-2019-20.685899/
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Agreed. Get a head start right before the fieldhouse reno is finished. I think Sneddon tried to pin his poor recruiting efforts on the barn, but, as has already been pointed out, Becker's done pretty well with the sub-par facilities the basketball team has dealt with.
Schulman's "PUT THAT COFFEE DOWN. Coffee is for closers" message for Sneddon probably happened a few years ago.
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I hear Gerrard Galant is looking for work.
He can take a ticket in line behind Mike Babcock.
In case you want another reason to show Sneddon the door the team had a kid's camp and he and his butt boy second in command no showed and sent Jeff Hill, the former 3rd string goalie turned coach because they weren't going to let Sneddon spend on another assistant with them running down his contract, to do it. He's been no-showing all athletic department functions all year apparently. To me tells me he knows he's done, but what a whiny little clown.
Sad that the thing that got them the most headlines all year was a special promotion flannel jersey for "Vermonter Night". The weekend series coming up at Merrimack might be their only opportunity to get a league win all year. If they can't get a win this weekend we might be looking at the Cats matching Merrimack's 1-win league season from 2005. I doubt it happens, because they'll probably get a few more results...but the coaches have given up and the players know it so it's a bad situation all around.
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Maybe that flannel jersey could be the head coach next season
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What would UVM need to do to compete for a HE title every season?
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Move to Boston, then rename itself Boston College or Boston University.
Just BC. BU is pretty PU right now, for their standards since Quinn left for the Rangers. Of course all things being relative I'd love UVM to be PU BU on most years.
To realistically answer your question "every season" isn't likely, nor totally realistic. However, it shouldn't be out of the question that a great class/group of players puts themselves in a position to do so every 3-4 years while being consistently in the "oh so boring" 6th place on down cylces or on average. But, considering Hockey East is a multi-bid league, it's not a matter of having to win the league every year, it's getting yourself in position for NCAA bids or going on a conference tourney run to the Garden.
But really...it starts with getting a new coach who can cliche alert change the culture, because the Fabreezing over Sneddon's garbage heap of a team dynamic and how he is as a human can't block the stench anymore. That's on UVM who waits until things are absolutely at rock bottom before making a change, and usually 2-3 years too late. See Mike Gilligan, Tim Bothwell, or even Hougton the old field hockey coach (5 years of not a single conference win and in her lame duck year the team went 0-19). But, better late than never and whoever comes in is going to need to be given some leeway with the roster because he's got a garbage pile of talent currently there, and based on results I think it's safe to assume most of the gazillion verbal commits they have are not really up to standard.
You also need a coach that understands modern hockey, and plays a style that will win but develop players. Two things Sneddon hasn't done since 2009 and that's honestly because just like college basketball, college hockey has changed a ton via influence from changes in the pro game, is more counted on to be a NHL feeder program as more top level guys are going to college even if just for 1-2 years (because it's way more fun playing hockey in Burlington than it is Rimouski, Quebec, at least I think. More "big city slams ferda boys" one would imagine)...so I think that will help elevate the talent who might want to come here. That or you gotta go full on Cornell which is like Virginia basketball of college hockey, but even they've tweaked their style to adjust...they're just committed to it and it works (they haven't won the national title, yet though).
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tbh, i never really rated Quinn as a coach. As a recruiter, you couldn't find better. As a tactician....not so great.
But yeah I'd be happy with consistent midtable finishes with the occasional jump. Last few years however have mostly been consistent bad seasons with the occasional midtable.
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187 Posts
UMass-Lowell has a great coach and they compete every year maybe not for the title, but top four. If your competing for top four in hockey east, you're in the top 20 in the country, so that's where UVM should be and is not unrealistic. Sneddon has dug a really deep hole, it will be a while before UVM recovers from this.
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Annually top 4 in HE would solidify UVM as one of the best hockey programs in the country. Seems like the absolute best case scenario and while remotely possible, somewhat unrealistic.
That being said, I’ve seen worse seasons-forfeited season via hazing- and it wouldn’t take long to get hockey back on track at all.
That being said, I’ve seen worse seasons-forfeited season via hazing- and it wouldn’t take long to get hockey back on track at all.
True. Not sure the career assistant guy they hired long term is going to be the answer for their set of standards, but we'll see. BU doesn't tolerate losing 4-0 to Sacred Heart...who are off to their best season maybe ever but still.
Agree. And, Lowell seems to just have a system that works either by who they bring in and how they develop it. Plenty of guys out there who if UVM does it right they can find to turn a program around I just hope they're open to everything and don't get stuck up on hurdles that are self-defeating when they try and hire. Carvel at UMass took the dumpster fire that UMass became under former UVM assistant Micheletto (good guy, just not head coach material) and they're among the best in the country now by year 3. That's probably an exception to the rule and my guess is it's going to take at least 2 more seasons potentially of very bad records...but there's evidence to show the right coach can fix this in short order.
Saw on twitter this morning that it's been like 350 days since UVM won a conference game. Blew a 4-1 lead last night against the second worse team in the league (Merrimack) and ended in a 5-5 tie. If they can't win tonight I say cancel the rest of the season. It's been visual hazing for all of us having to watch this unfold.
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