Sneddon's really phoning it in for a school that used to be known for it's prestigious hockey program
Vermont Catamounts are 1-11-2, 0-8-1 in HEA
Vermont Catamounts are 1-11-2, 0-8-1 in HEA
Vermont Hockey
c00per
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It's imperative they make sure Kessler and Strand stay on and don't portal. They'll lose a lot of points to graduation beyond those guys and Lombardi. They have a bunch of goalie commits backed up in the pipeline so they have to figure out if any of them are ready to come in and challenge Mangbo, who hopefully gets better himself.
Of course, next year, the roster could be a lot different if UVM is actually opting into the NCAA legislation for new roster limits. In that case, they're going to have to cut some guys loose, push back recruits/see some decommitments/drop some guys for portal adds/CHL guys, since the new roster limit will only be 26, regardless if the team uses up to 26 scholarships that they'd get allotted under this arrangement. Right now they're parceling out the 18. Usually teams are running with at least 30 guys.
But, that's for next year. Army and St. Lawrence are not strong teams. Hopefully those are wins. From there, just try and get at least split weekends, but as much points as possible with the likes of Northeastern, UNH, Merrimack. That one-off game with UConn at the end of the season might be a big one. Do your best to get points against BU, BC and Maine. A home ice first round series (7-8 seed realistically) really should be the target expectation of this team.
Of course, next year, the roster could be a lot different if UVM is actually opting into the NCAA legislation for new roster limits. In that case, they're going to have to cut some guys loose, push back recruits/see some decommitments/drop some guys for portal adds/CHL guys, since the new roster limit will only be 26, regardless if the team uses up to 26 scholarships that they'd get allotted under this arrangement. Right now they're parceling out the 18. Usually teams are running with at least 30 guys.
But, that's for next year. Army and St. Lawrence are not strong teams. Hopefully those are wins. From there, just try and get at least split weekends, but as much points as possible with the likes of Northeastern, UNH, Merrimack. That one-off game with UConn at the end of the season might be a big one. Do your best to get points against BU, BC and Maine. A home ice first round series (7-8 seed realistically) really should be the target expectation of this team.
The hockey team has ripped off 5 straight wins to close out its non-conference slate outscoring its opponents (who admittedly aren't that good) 27-9. Still, winning games they should be winning is a good thing. The key is to remain competitive now that the second phase of the conference schedule starts. A top 6 finish I think is definitely in play. Everything I said in the previous post still applies...especially the part about keeping Strand and Kessler. They're the first cornerstone building block guys they've had in a while, I think.
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Need that confidence heading into a tough slate for the rest of the season. Love what I’ve been seeing from the two star first-years. Completely agree that we need to keep them in burly to build something great; hopefully hockey NIL doesn’t exist for them at other schools.
Even with the recent recruitment opportunities in the CHL, our Minnesota guys are making real noise, hopefully we can continue recruiting from the land of 10,000 lakes. Looking forward to next weekend’s games against BU to distract me from Patriots disarray.
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5 Hockey East teams in the Pairwise Top 10....and that doesn't even include BU. It's been a very good OOC season for the league....and now they start eating each other.
I know the 5 wins are against weak teams (how LIU is 21st in Pairwise makes no sense, they’re taking advantage of a flaw in the model), but they are scoring a lot of goals and have four solid lines for the first time in years. I’m cautiously optimistic the program may have turned the corner. But now 15 games in a very strong HE, nine on the road. This weekend vs BU may tell us a lot.
Lost in the shuffle of the basketball team getting embarrassed, the hockey team was swept at BU, 6-1 on Friday and 7-4 on Saturday. The goalie situation is just bad. It's going to be an interesting situation. They have 3 goalie commits in the pipeline, but it feels like they will need to see what's in the portal or CHL. Also, the new roster rules are capping rosters at 26, which could lead to teams only carrying 2 goalies...UVM is already up against it, and there will likely be a few non-contributing guys asked to portal out/maybe some recruits will get de-committed or deferred another year if they've still got time to burn in juniors.
In other news, while it does mean very little, NHL Central Scouting midterm reports came out. Caeden Harrington, committed next year and from Manchester, VT, is 105 overall among North American skaters for a 4th-round grade. Incoming defenseman Jonathan Kapageridis is 178th (6th round grade).
In other news, while it does mean very little, NHL Central Scouting midterm reports came out. Caeden Harrington, committed next year and from Manchester, VT, is 105 overall among North American skaters for a 4th-round grade. Incoming defenseman Jonathan Kapageridis is 178th (6th round grade).
Just saw a recent NCAA tournament projection, and Hockey East could get 7 out of the 16 teams in the field in. Based on Pairwise, the rating system for the tourney field, UVM, is 24th. This is despite being in 9th place in HEA. UMass, who is only 2 points ahead of UVM in the standings, makes the field. However, Merrimack, in a current tie for 5th on 28 points, does not and is one ahead of UVM in pairwise at 23. They are ahead of every AHA team, and, of course, one of those AHA teams will get an auto bid. A few ECAC teams ahead of UVM, but that's projected to be a one-bid league this year after being a 3-bid league the last few years, I believe.
Consider if they'd just come out on the other end of a couple of those one-goal games, and really, had a better goalie, they could be legitimately talking about being on the NCAA bubble. Sadly, the schedule the rest of the way is going to do them no favors (home vs. BC for 2, at Maine for 2, and home vs. BU and UConn, 3 of 4 who are in the top 3 of the league right now). Even with a few good results, the best they can maybe hope for is 8th to host a home playoff series.
You have to wonder what a better goalie situation might have done for this team, and, while unfortunately Maatta finally rounded into form and is a senior and will leave, Kessler, Strand and Lombardi are all frosh and 2 of the 3 have scored 20 points, with Lombardi at 17. That's promising. They'll lose a lot of forward depth to graduation but hopefully guys like Guindon (who is 10th in the OHL in scoring - 30 goals, 44 assists) immediately translate that ability (won't be that prolific, he does play against some 17 year olds), and they realize they need a significant upgrade in net, or at least someone who is going to push Magbo if they think he can improve.
So yeah, it becomes a real question for UVM because they hands down are playing in the best college hockey league in America, and if even 5-6 bids is a relative norm moving forward, shouldn't that be where the resources need to go? After all, that allows you to compete at a truly national level. Add in the fact it stands to reason that many of these Big 10 hockey schools perhaps outside of Minnesota and Michigan will likely be making budget cuts to their programs to fund football, so leapfrogging those schools isn't out of the question. Certain other head coaches of other sports teams can miss me with the "hockey doesn't need NIL to compete" take they're spreading to hoard it all for themselves...because hockey with solid NIL is likely a much better investment than many other sports the school sponsors.
Consider if they'd just come out on the other end of a couple of those one-goal games, and really, had a better goalie, they could be legitimately talking about being on the NCAA bubble. Sadly, the schedule the rest of the way is going to do them no favors (home vs. BC for 2, at Maine for 2, and home vs. BU and UConn, 3 of 4 who are in the top 3 of the league right now). Even with a few good results, the best they can maybe hope for is 8th to host a home playoff series.
You have to wonder what a better goalie situation might have done for this team, and, while unfortunately Maatta finally rounded into form and is a senior and will leave, Kessler, Strand and Lombardi are all frosh and 2 of the 3 have scored 20 points, with Lombardi at 17. That's promising. They'll lose a lot of forward depth to graduation but hopefully guys like Guindon (who is 10th in the OHL in scoring - 30 goals, 44 assists) immediately translate that ability (won't be that prolific, he does play against some 17 year olds), and they realize they need a significant upgrade in net, or at least someone who is going to push Magbo if they think he can improve.
So yeah, it becomes a real question for UVM because they hands down are playing in the best college hockey league in America, and if even 5-6 bids is a relative norm moving forward, shouldn't that be where the resources need to go? After all, that allows you to compete at a truly national level. Add in the fact it stands to reason that many of these Big 10 hockey schools perhaps outside of Minnesota and Michigan will likely be making budget cuts to their programs to fund football, so leapfrogging those schools isn't out of the question. Certain other head coaches of other sports teams can miss me with the "hockey doesn't need NIL to compete" take they're spreading to hoard it all for themselves...because hockey with solid NIL is likely a much better investment than many other sports the school sponsors.
Funny how the year where UVM kinda gets it together with better offense production, their goalie contribution - which was always the one thing you could say was good when the offense completely sucked - now is terrible.
I think they're going to need to replace the entire goalie lineup next year...their incoming commitment has barely hacked it at the junior level and my guess is he'll be de-committed or already has been.
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Aiden Wright is committed and he's been pretty solid for Sioux Falls, that's probably the one to keep an eye on. And yeah I agree the other goalie commits are not good
Yeah, I can never keep track which year some of these guys actually will arrive anymore. They'll really need him to push Mangbo if Mangbo is coming back...if they're opting in and doing the new roster limits next year, at 26, it's pretty likely that you can only afford to carry 2 goalies. So it's a matter of whether they're confident in both those guys doing well enough to elevate them at least into the convo to be around 6-7th place with more growth. Can't keep finishing 9-10th.
Heroux probably is de-committed, and McKenna is told to do another year or two in juniors to see if he turns it around.
Portal open. Forward Nick Ahern and Mateo Dixon are in, as are defensemen Eli Barnett and Mario Gasparini. Somehow, Keenan Rancier also has another year and is portaling, but given he was pretty average between the pipes, he, like the rest of these guys, isn't a big loss. Barnett had some upside, but he just slid down the depth chart. Jellus, Maatta, Walther, Munzenberger, Zapernick, and Spitserov are graduating. The good sign, as of now, Strand/Kessler/Lombardi and guys like Seb Tornquist haven't entered.
However, with my best guess of what's coming in as freshman next year, plus what's returning, there are 30+ guys on the roster. While UVM is opting into revenue sharing next year and can hang at that limit, I gotta think they're going to want to pair down the roster to around 28; plus, probably a few guys are going to be de-committed or pushed back since after that, they're only going to be able to carry 26. It'll be interesting to see how it all works out, because if I'm UVM I'd want to play the portal too to try and shore up some better depth and maybe pull a higher talent to get out of the gutter, and having this many guys doesn't necessarily help matters.
Some reasons for optimism: incoming frosh Caeden Harrington (from Manchester, VT) had a very productive year in the USHL with 17 goals and 17 assists as a defenseman and is ranked 105 in NHL Central Scouting, which means he projects as a 3-4th rounder. Incoming goalie Aiden Wright was in the top 10 in USHL in GAA and SV%. Cedrick Guindon finished in the top 20 in scoring in the OHL (lotta points in that league in general), but among NCAA-bound players currently in the league, he's 2nd, behind Pano Fimis, who is going to Notre Dame, but his brother Adoni is committed to UVM for 2026 (he just started suiting up in the OHL recently too).
However, with my best guess of what's coming in as freshman next year, plus what's returning, there are 30+ guys on the roster. While UVM is opting into revenue sharing next year and can hang at that limit, I gotta think they're going to want to pair down the roster to around 28; plus, probably a few guys are going to be de-committed or pushed back since after that, they're only going to be able to carry 26. It'll be interesting to see how it all works out, because if I'm UVM I'd want to play the portal too to try and shore up some better depth and maybe pull a higher talent to get out of the gutter, and having this many guys doesn't necessarily help matters.
Some reasons for optimism: incoming frosh Caeden Harrington (from Manchester, VT) had a very productive year in the USHL with 17 goals and 17 assists as a defenseman and is ranked 105 in NHL Central Scouting, which means he projects as a 3-4th rounder. Incoming goalie Aiden Wright was in the top 10 in USHL in GAA and SV%. Cedrick Guindon finished in the top 20 in scoring in the OHL (lotta points in that league in general), but among NCAA-bound players currently in the league, he's 2nd, behind Pano Fimis, who is going to Notre Dame, but his brother Adoni is committed to UVM for 2026 (he just started suiting up in the OHL recently too).
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Looking like UVM has landed David Sacco of Merrimack College and Dylan Gratton of Omaha out of the transfer portal. Don't know much about potential, but both players looked to have some tangible impact on their squads last year.
Also looking like UVM is headed to St. Cloud State for a pair on October 17th and 18th.
Also looking like UVM is headed to St. Cloud State for a pair on October 17th and 18th.
Gratton probably slots in as a starting defenseman. Sacco scored 9 goals, but those were his only points last year. He's a 23-year-old sophomore, so to me, he's a bottom 6 type.
It's never easy trying to figure out which newcomers will come through or not, but as of right now, they have 29-31 players on the roster. They're not opting in this year, and some of the house agreement stuff is being held up due to a few congresspeople objecting to the roster limits, but, something will have to give there next year, whether that's de-committing incoming guys or lots of cuts to guys currently on the roster who aren't contributing. That includes 4 goalies...someone has to be canceled out or isn't coming. Can't keep dead weight around and need to have roster flexibility to add guys via the portal especially if you're serious about getting respectable again (this is debatable).
Best I can tell the incoming class is as follows (most these guys have to show up under the age rules at least):
G Aiden Wright (looks like he will push for the starter's job right away, top 10 in GAA/SV% in USHL)
G Daniel Heroux (this feels like a guy we're gonna learn isn't coming...pretty unimpressive junior stats)
D PJ Forgione (originally from South Burlington/brother of former Cat Tom, played 4 seasons in OHL, 69pts in 226 games, a +13)
D Dylan Gratton (Penn State/Omaha - 38pts, +10 in 105 NCAA games)
D Caeden Herrington (from Manchester, VT, likely NHL 3-4th Round pick next month, had a 34pt season - 16g, 18a - +18 in USHL this year)
D Matej Teply (19pts in BCHL this past season)
F Cedrick Guidon (85 points - 33g, 52a - in 66 games in OHL +30, former 4th round pick of the Canadiens, 270pts in 270 career OHL games)
F Zak Filak (48pts - 14g, 34a - in 41 games in OHL - 148 points in 252 OHL games in career, -35)
F David Sacco (9 goals for Merrimack last season, 11 career points)
F Jonah Aegerter (27pts in 58 USHL games this season)
F Tyler Dysart (7pts in 41 USHL games this season)
Kristofers Krumins (1 pt in 6 NAHL games - I sense he may have been de-committed but nothing official)
The most important recruit in that group is probably Wright, because they need a better goalie situation the most, followed by the defenders. They were 10th in the league in goals against, and 6th in the league in goals scored...but, they'd often let things completely unravel and lose 7-1 one night and score 4+ goals the next night. To me, the goal is to hit a comfortable home-ice first-round game (8th place or better), but not being that far off 5th-6th. The league is super competitive, but either way there needs to be some pretty stark improvement otherwise we're left with having a coaching change conversation. Not counting the shortened Covid season, Alisa Kresge turned the corner in her 3rd full year. Since Schulman lauds her as the benchmark for internal hiring, I hope he's keeping similar expectations for Wiedler.
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Awesome intel, thank you! Kind of off topic but I really hope they get new sweaters. Whatever green they have on the away kits doesn't seem very UVM-like and confuses my colorblind eyes on television.
4th leading scorer on his team, from Texas originally. This year was a breakout season for him as a 19 year old (turning 20 next month) so hopefully he has upside/provides more depth.
Still a bit strange they're riding with a larger roster even if not opting into roster limits/rev share until next year. It'll be interesting to see if they pair it down/who gets deferred de-committed (still think at least 2 have been/will be). I also wouldn't be shocked if they weren't done adding guys, especially a CHL guy.
Interesting assistant coach hire on the women's side...
uvmathletics.com
Has had a decent amount of success at the D-3 level with UWEC. Not to read too much into this but...possible unofficial succession plan? Plumer is getting up there (mid-60s), and just as a casual outside observer the last couple of years he's looked...tired of it. The on-ice product probably plays into that a bit, but regardless of whether this is coordinated or not, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to hang them up.
Also, I looked but I don't think he's related to Max Strand. At least not in any meaningful way.
Strand Named Assistant Coach for Women’s Hockey - University of Vermont Athletics
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont women's hockey Head Coach Jim Plumer announced on Thursday afternoon that Erik Strand has joined his staff as an Assistant Coach. Strand
uvmathletics.com
Has had a decent amount of success at the D-3 level with UWEC. Not to read too much into this but...possible unofficial succession plan? Plumer is getting up there (mid-60s), and just as a casual outside observer the last couple of years he's looked...tired of it. The on-ice product probably plays into that a bit, but regardless of whether this is coordinated or not, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to hang them up.
Also, I looked but I don't think he's related to Max Strand. At least not in any meaningful way.
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Looks like a good hire. The guy they hired last year Kevin Dessart isn't listed anymore so I guess he has moved on. I believe his daughter is the WHOC coach at MCLA.Interesting assistant coach hire on the women's side...
Strand Named Assistant Coach for Women’s Hockey - University of Vermont Athletics
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont women's hockey Head Coach Jim Plumer announced on Thursday afternoon that Erik Strand has joined his staff as an Assistant Coach. Strand
Has had a decent amount of success at the D-3 level with UWEC. Not to read too much into this but...possible unofficial succession plan? Plumer is getting up there (mid-60s), and just as a casual outside observer the last couple of years he's looked...tired of it. The on-ice product probably plays into that a bit, but regardless of whether this is coordinated or not, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to hang them up.
Also, I looked but I don't think he's related to Max Strand. At least not in any meaningful way.
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