Brian Goff writes: > Does Vermont have anything besides goaltender Tim Thomas this >year? Yes, definitely. 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. The Catamounts don't have much in the way of offense from their defensemen, but they may be able to get away with it with the set of forwards they have. Overall, their defense played pretty well in front of Thomas from what I saw, and they have 7 regulars returning. 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. My sleeper team in the ECAC is Colgate, if G Matt Weder can stay healthy and if he and fellow dufflebag Jason Gates become more consistent. > What is in the plans for Jeff Kealty this year. He has great >hockey sense but needs to put on about 40-50 pounds to be a good >defenseman. Will he get much playing time for BU this year? Somehow, I doubt BU wants him to put on that much weight - he's already 6-4/190. :-) If O'Sullivan does play up front as projected, that leaves 7 quality defensemen, and although I haven't seen Kealty play yet, I have to think he will step in immediately as one of the starting six. Parker has apparently said that he thinks this year's group of defensemen is the best ever at BU. 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. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93 <<<<< Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors (station TBA for 94-95) >>>>>