>Posted on 13 Oct 1994 at 23:57:49 by Mike Machnik
 
>Vermont had one of the top freshman classes in the
>country last year; besides Thomas, who finished fourth in the league
>in GAA (3.11), they placed forwards Martin St Louis and Eric Perrin on
>the All-Rookie Team.  Perrin was the ECAC Rookie of the Year with
>24-21--45, while St Louis led the team in scoring with 15-36--51.
>Senior Dominique Ducharme (12-31--43) also returns along with three
>other forwards who had 15 points or more.
>
>Vermont is experienced at all positions and pretty well balanced
>except for the lack of proven production on D.  But I think that will
>be enough to at least place them among the top teams in the ECAC.  I'm
>surprised that they haven't gotten more mention in the pre-season
>polls than what I have seen so far.
 
I'll go even further, and say that I wouldn't be surprised if Vermont
won the ECAC this year. In fact, in voting for the Hockey-L Pre-Season
Poll, I placed Vermont right after Clarkson, and before Harvard, Brown,
and RPI. In addition to having good talent, Vermont has excellent
coaching. I was VERY impressed with Vermont last year. Although Brown
beat them four out of five, they gave Brown the fits in the quarterfinals
of the ECAC playoffs. It'd be fair to say that Brown sneaked through to
the semifinals because it had a more experienced team than Vermont.
 
>On another note, I noticed that Ethan Philpott, who was a freshman at
>Harvard last year, has left the Crimson to spend a year in the Midwest
>in the USHL.  Philpott was highly touted last season but apparently
>had a rough first year.
 
Philpott is big, but slow and not very skilled. He certainly does not
fit the mold of your typical Harvard forward. Harvard will definitely
NOT miss him.
 
Luiz F. Valente
Brown University