On Thu, 23 Feb 1995, Mike Machnik wrote:
 
> On Vermont, for people who have followed them more closely (I think I
> have only seen them twice this year - and one was the shellacking they
> took at BU), why have they struggled?  Have they underachieved, or did
> we expect too much of them?
 
Inconsistancy. They can play like National Champions one night and can't
even beat the worst teams on the next. They need to get in a groove, like
the one they had before Rob Pattison got injured. J.C. Ruid and a hot Tim
Thomas is helping to get them back in the groove.
 
Ted Ryan of the Burlingon Free Press did an article Tuesday on UVM. He
called them a "puzzling team". Here is the end of that article...
 
        "With two weeks remaining in the regular season, it is impossible
to say with any certainy what will happen, with regard to either Vermont
or ECAC Division I. It's been that kind of winter.
        The Catamounts may redeem themselves in the playoffs, if not the
regular season. But they could also wind up as just another pelt on some
other team's locker room wall, again the victims of an early-round
playoff knockout.
        Clarkson may win the ECAC Division I title. Brown might, or
possibly Harvard. Any of the three, plus Rensselaer, Colgate or Vermont,
or maybe St. Lawrence or Princeton, could reign at Lake Placid.
        No one knows.
        Not this year."
 
> I've noticed that the games Vermont has tended to lose have been ones
> in which they have trouble scoring goals - held to 3 or less in 11 of
> their 13 non-wins.  In games like that, the defense has to come up
> big.  I did believe before the season that defense would be Vermont's
> Achilles Heel...is this an accurate assessment?  Or has the offense
> not been as prolific as it needs to be for UVM to win?
>
Well, it's give or take, depending on how you look at it. UVM can score,
no doubt about that. But if Tim Thomas and the defense is flat, they will
lose. Defense is the key for UVM. If UVM can stop the oppenent from
"lighting the light", it relaxes the forwards and gives them more room to
work (aka Perrin and St. Louis) The only game where UVM had to really work
for a win was against RPI (2-1). If they want to be contenders, they must
be able to play in "crunch time".
________________________________________________________________________
Howie Mansfield                         66 Hayden Parkway
[log in to unmask]                  South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 864-3916
 
University of Vermont Hockey: Overall 15-11-2, ECAC 8-8-2
Home of the Dynamic Duo - Perrin and St. Louis
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