Last week (Dec. 29 and 30, to be exact), our local rag, _The Ithaca
Journal_, ran a pair of articles by assistant sports editor Tom Fleischman
on two senior goaltenders who have recently left their college teams. Both
departures have previously been mentioned on HOCKEY-L, but since the two
have ties to the Ithaca area (Andy Bandurski played for Cornell, and Jason
Gates, formerly at Colgate, was an Ithaca Youth Hockey product), Fleischman
was able to come up with a bit more background on their situations.
Firstly, Bandurski left the Big Red on December 5 (OK, so the Journal is a
little late, but there was never any official university announcement of his
departure), after meeting with head coach Brian McCutcheon for about an
hour. In explaining his decision, Bandurski cited "personal reasons" and
said the decision-making process was "long, hard, [and] drawn-out," taking
"over a year." Despite leaving the team, he will stay at Cornell to earn
his degree in business management and marketing.
Gates was in virtually the same situation as Bandurski was, having to watch
an underclassman (two, actually -- freshman Dan Brenzavich and junior Matt
Weder) get all the playing time. Unlike Bandurski, who got the start in
Cornell's game against York, Gates did not play at all in Colgate's first 13
games. Gates left the team on December 14 and had a fair amount of dirty
laundry to air.
In the Journal article, Gates expressed his belief that he was denied the
chance he deserved, and he blamed politics and "a problem with the coach"
for his lack of playing time. Through the first 13 games, Colgate went
6-6-1, and 1-5-1 in ECAC games, and Gates says, "We weren't playing well, we
weren't winning, and he wasn't playing me." Of head coach Don Vaughan,
Gates says, "I wasn't recruited by Donny, and right from the get-go, I
didn't get along with him." Vaughan saw the situation differently, saying
that Gates would have gotten his chance, but "I guess it just wasn't
happening fast enough for him."
There is, of course, more to the story. When Gates went to pack up his
equipment after last season to bring it home for the summer, it was gone.
Gates says that Vaughan told him he didn't know where it was; Vaughn says
that "standard procedure" was followed and the equipment was sent to the
reconditioner. Gates also says that the equipment personnel told him they
didn't know where the gear was either, and adds, "It was my understanding
when I was recruited that the equipment was mine to keep. [Presumably he
means 'over the summer' -- BF] I didn't think that policy had changed under
the new coach." The equipment was finally sent to Gates last August.
We'll probably never know what the real story was, but the whole incident
did little to ease an already tense relationship between coach and goalie.
Gates is not returning to Colgate for the spring semester, and he has said
he is seriously considering transferring.
Now, I can understand Gates' frustration about his lack of playing time,
especially if he has had difficulty with the coach, but IMHO, he's not going
to win a lot of converts by complaining in the media like this. I strongly
suspect that Bandurski had similar difficulties with his coach, but so far
he hasn't said much of anything on the subject (which, though I'd be inter-
ested in hearing the gossip, I think is the best move). I also don't see
how Gates can support his claim that he deserved more of a chance this year;
from reading the article, it seems to me he felt it was his right to start
simply because he was a senior. Well, Vaughn's job is to field a team that
gives Colgate its best chance to win, and he apparently felt that Weder or
Brenzavich could handle the goaltending duties better than Gates. When you
consider that Gates' career GAA in 40 appearances was 4.20, you might begin
to see Vaughn's point.
Also, this "transferring" business has got me a little confused. Aside from
the question of whether Gates has used up his eligibility (I believe he
has), he is one semester short of getting his degree from Colgate, a highly
competitive school where he is presumably getting a good education. I could
see where he might want some time off after so much stress in dealing with
the coach, but it makes no sense to me for him to let the situation goad him
into going somewhere else, especially now that he is no longer with the
team. And if he hasn't used up his eligibility, I doubt he will see much
more playing time anywhere else than he has seen at Colgate, unless he opts
for a Division III school.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
strictly those of:
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and '94.5 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!! DJF 5/27/94
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