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/

 

Well they lost 8-3 to BC yesterday. Still haven't one a conference game. Cool.

Honestly hope they're putting together their search committee and shortlist now. Everyone knows the outcome, so might as well get a head start to kick off the new year.

 

Everyone knows the outcome, so might as well get a head start to kick off the new year.

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.

 

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.

 

Vermont Hockey?

Still nope.

 

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.

 

Maybe that flannel jersey could be the head coach next season

 

I'm drafting a Save Sneddon campaign, because listening to people shit all over UVM hockey is inherently more interesting than a future where they just come in 6th all the time.

 

 

What would UVM need to do to compete for a HE title every season?

 

Move to Boston, then rename itself Boston College or Boston University.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Time to pack it in.

 

Tonight, UVM blew a 2 goal lead over Merrimack after 2 periods, giving up the tying goal with 10 seconds left in the 3rd period. Then, lost in OT, 4-3

 

"I thought my life was a tragedy but then I realized it's a comedy" - UVM Hockey 2019-20

 

Raze the Gut and bring back baseball?

 

I was selling counterfeit 50/50 tickets at the basketball game tonight to raise money for Sneddon's contract extension.

Four! More! Years! Four! More! Years!

 

I'm starting a "Lock Him Up!" chant directed toward you next game.

 

Well now the "people have no idea" and "these people have never coached in their lives" takes are coming from Sneddon. Kevin, I don't think you need to be a coach at all to know if you haven't won a single league game in nearly a year, there's a problem and it starts with you. It is not that complex. Also it totally does bother him and he totally does read it. I have that on very good authority.

Prediction: he's starting this now and is going to try and make it as messy as possible by taking shots on the way out so he can save face and try and get some sympathy because he was dealing with a "tough situtation" and "toxic fan base" while then trying to place some blame on the administration too.

 

Also it totally does bother him and he totally does read it. I have that on very good authority.

Prediction: he's starting this now and is going to try and make it as messy as possible by taking shots on the way out so he can save face and try and get some sympathy because he was dealing with a "tough situtation" and "toxic fan base" while then trying to place some blame on the administration too.

I mean the dude called me out (without naming names but you could tell it was me) during a presser in like 2017 lol. This entire thing's a mess, season can't end soon enough

 

Juicy rumor on campus is Martin St. Louis is interested in coaching. His Son is 16 and in prep school. Just a rumor. If UVM could convince him to return as coach and possibly coach his son how cool would that be. I’ve heard this from several people but it’s only a rumor. Just a straight up rumor.

 

St Louis is somebody fans would get behind in a heartbeat.

 

It's over. It's finally over.

Kevin Sneddon to Retire from College Hockey Coaching and Step Down as Vermont’s Coach at End of Season - University of Vermont Athletics

BURLINGTON, Vt. – University of Vermont Director of Athletics Jeff Schulman and Men's Hockey Head Coach Kevin Sneddon announced Wednesday afternoon that the 2019-20

uvmathletics.com

 

Why do the good ones always leave us so soon?

 

Sneddon announced his retirement on Wed.

 

Obviously this is going to be a process but the one thing I hope Schulman does in this search is to surround himself with smart people who know what they need to find and don't select a Chris Day type who told them everything they wanted to hear just to get the job and then turned into a disaster and set the program back further. Really, please just make sure your bullshit detectors are on during the interviews. This is his legacy so don't mess up. Tick tock.

 

Schulman has been involved in college hokey for 30 years, as a player, in the ECAC office, as asst AD with hockey as his primary sport, and now AD; so he has the pedigree and contacts. He better not screw this one up.

Mixed bag on his big hires so far. Seemed to hit on the men’s soccer and lacrosse coaches, big miss on Day, and TBD with Kresge (though she was really the only option after the Day disaster).

 

I don’t know much about the Day search process and where that may have gone off track, but I’m a big believer in ”less is more” in these types of situations. Put together a small group of people who a) understand the sport, b) have been in leadership positions themselves and c) have successfully chosen leaders in whatever field they are part of.

One problem I see in many institutions (especially in the public sector) is the tendency to overload decision making bodies with too many people and the desire to try to make everyone happy.

 

The gist of the Day thing was, as I understand it Day "wowed" in the interview and told people everything they wanted to hear, so those who have bad BS detectors didn't see this guy wasn't anything more than that and if you did your homework you'd have seen (and he admitted when he got the job) he was just applying to a bunch of head coaching jobs in hopes he'd get one. That's not the kind of guy I want. It's one thing if someone applies because they think they deserve the opportunity (and I can be more forgiving to college hockey because there's only 60 jobs, not 353 like basketball)...it's another when someone is just trying to get the title on their resume and clearly, clearly didn't do their homework on fit. The committee not only fell for it to make him one of 2 finalists, the other being Eddie Benton, but they also gave too much say to the returning players, who Day conned as well and Eddie was honest with them. Of course, Day proved to be the complete opposite of what he was in the interview, and this is where we're at.

That was a long "gist" but, I agree about the committee part. I know they need a faculty person and whatnot but you've got resources. Torrey Mitchell lives in town. He should be a no brainer to talk to as he's a recent pro/younger and has his pulse on the modern game. The CEO of the Blues is an alum; the owner is a Middlebury grad. One of the biggest agents in the game is a Middlebury guy (Kent Hughes)...the Rangers' director of scouting is from Middlebury. Ask Mike McShane for help consulting. His insight would be immeasurable. These are people Schulman knows and I'm sure he knows to contact them...there's not a lot of excuses to not be as thorough as possible especially giving themselves a head start already on the process.

 

I don’t know anything about hockey, but there’s only 60 D1 hockey programs in the entire country, right? So the universe of actual candidates has to be tiny. Maybe some NHL assistants(?). I really don’t know. Given I’m sure everyone involved in the decision making has known Sneddon is gone since likely end of last year, I would hope a short-list is already compiled.

 

They'll get well over 100 applicants for this from the NHL and AHL/ECHL levels, college levels with assistants, sitting college head coaches possibly at D1, definitely at D3, junior hockey coaches in highly regarded Junior A Leagues. You'd hope there's a short list, but they won't be short of options on this. They gave themselves a near 2 month head start on it. No excuses.

 

Someone I talked to who has a bit of insight at the basketball game last night said the school is still in the exploratory/research on candidates phase but that they are targeting some sitting head coaches at D1 schools though would likely wait for their seasons to be over out of respect for their programs, plus college hockey is a small sport at the D1 level, don't need to go pissing people off. Whether they end of taking one of these head coaches or not is one thing, and you could say the same about assistants waiting somewhat until their seasons are over, but here we are.

And if you want the take with the slightest grain of salt, maybe even split that grain in half take from said person it's that they think UVM could lure away a current Hockey East head coach. I'll give you a hint: he has a connection to a very famous alum and his current job's fans hate him despite him doing quite well this year. Again...I don't buy it for a number of reasons that should be rather obvious, but that's out there.

 

And if you want the take with the slightest grain of salt, maybe even split that grain in half take from said person it's that they think UVM could lure away a current Hockey East head coach. I'll give you a hint: he has a connection to a very famous alum and his current job's fans hate him despite him doing quite well this year. Again...I don't buy it for a number of reasons that should be rather obvious, but that's out there.

God I hope you mean Red Gendron. He sucks.

 

not related to the coaching search, but UVM is assisting with St. Louis's bid for a Frozen Four between 2023-2026. The link is Chris Zimmerman, a former UVM hockey player who is the President and CEO of business operations of the Blues

With Bids In, Tampa, Vegas Remain Strong Frozen Four Site Hopefuls

It’s been a little while since we painted a picture of which cities might host a future Frozen Four. The bidding window for the next round of hosts, taking place between 2023 and 2026, closed on...

www.collegehockeynews.com

 

He better return the favor and assist in the coaching search too.

Also, Sneddon thanks the fans and gets the "such a class act!" tweets from the hockey media when it was what, 3 weeks ago he was telling them all they didn't know what they were talking about because they've never coached a game in his life? Funny enough an informed hunch is that those comments he made led to changing the narrative and his retirement announcement a week later because the school was sick of the bad PR. Thanks for the letter though...it could have used an apology in there, but it's nice.

 

Ralph Engelstad, a notorious North Dakota alumnus and donor, also had several business connections in Las Vegas.

Knowing Las Vegas history, that made me laugh.

I'm surprised, given its proximity, that the Las Vegas bid isn't getting help from Arizona St; especially given the UNLV club team's drive to promote themselves to NCAA and the Alaska schools finding themselves without a conference after next season, they'd want as much college hockey on the west coast as possible.

Also, I'm surprised Golden Knights owner Bill Foley isn't getting his alma mater involved, given how he's tied so much of the team to West Point.