UVM SPORTS
photo by Thom Kendall
Turning point
January gut check sparks run to the Garden
Coach Kevin Sneddon and the Catamount men’s hockey team staked their claim to a place in the top division of the powerful Hockey East conference this year. Over the course of the season, the Cats would rise from a January low point to rally for a third place finish in the regular season. In the post-season, they kept the victories rolling with a conference quarter-final win over Northeastern on the home ice of Gutterson. Then, on the strength of two quick second-period goals by Peter Lenes and Colin Vock and a twenty-five-save night by goalie Joe Fallon, the Cats put away Boston University in the semi-finals at the TD Banknorth Garden. The season finally came to a close with a loss to Boston College in the Hockey East championship game. The breakthrough season earned Sneddon conference Coach of the Year honors.
It was an earlier loss to BC, back on January 9, that would prove to be a turning point for the Cats. Disappointed in his team’s performance, Sneddon challenged his players, his coaching staff, and himself to renew their commitment to doing what it takes to build a winning program. At the time they were 4-9-5 overall, 3-5-3 in Hockey East, and very near to dropping into last place in the conference. The team would go 10-4-2 the rest of the way, scoot up the Hockey East standings from ninth to third, and rise to eighteenth in the national rankings. The Catamounts closed out the regular season with their first win over New Hampshire of the Hockey East era, earning the victory on the Wildcats’ home ice. UNH, the Hockey East regular season champs, had a twelve-game unbeaten streak going into the game and were ranked third nationally.
Sneddon is the first Vermont coach to earn Coach of the Year honors in Hockey East. During the ECAC years, Mike Gilligan was honored by that conference in 1988 and Jim Cross in 1975. In addition to Sneddon, three Catamount players were recognized at the Hockey East awards banquet. Senior Joe Fallon and sophomore Viktor Stålberg were each named Honorable Mention Hockey East All-Stars. Junior co-captain Dean Strong was runner-up for Best Defensive Forward in Hockey East.
Fallon’s play in the net was a key part of the Catamounts’ advance, posting an 11-4-1 mark, three shutouts, and a .937 save percentage in his last sixteen starts. Stålberg led Vermont in Hockey East scoring with ten goals and twenty-one points. Strong was one of Vermont’s top penalty killers while being among the team leaders in blocked shots.
Testimony to the team nature of the Vermont attack, the Catamounts were the first Hockey East team since Maine in 2000-2001 to advance to the Hockey East final four without a player on the team being named as a first- or second-team HEA All-Star.
HOCKEY ALUMNI SHINE
Tim Thomas ’97 of the Boston Bruins and Martin St. Louis ’97 of the Tampa Bay Lightning were named to the NHL All-Star Team in January. Torrey Mitchell ’07 of the San Jose Sharks and Patrick Sharp ’02 of the Chicago Blackhawks both received mentions in an NHL Half-Season Awards online column by Lew Serviss of The New York Times. Mitchell was named as an honorable mention for NHL Rookie of the Year while Sharp was named as a finalist for Breakthrough Player of the Year.
SPORT SHORTS
Cats sweep top basketball awards
Sophomores Courtnay Pilypaitis (above) and May Kotsopoulos teamed to take the top individual awards for the America East Conference. Pilypaitis was named Player of the Year, and Kotsopoulos took honors as Defensive Player of the Year, marking the first time in league history that players from one school have won the awards. The pair helped lead the women’s basketball team to a 23-8 record, second place in America East for the regular season, and the school’s first appearance in the WNIT since 2002. The Catamounts won their first-round WNIT contest over Dartmouth, where Vermont coach Sharon Dawley was an assistant for many years before taking the UVM job. There were connections across the benches in the second-round game, as well, when the Catamounts traveled to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College. The Eagles are led by Cathy Inglese, head coach during the years Vermont women’s basketball rose to prominence in the late eighties/early nineties. BC prevailed in the WNIT match-up, drawing an end to a strong season for UVM.
The men’s basketball team’s 16-15 season was marked by the emergence of Marqus Blakely (above). The sophomore forward earned the Kevin Roberson America East Men’s Basketball Player of the Year Award and was also named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. An outstanding athlete who often brought fans in Patrick Gym out of their seats with soaring slam dunks, Blakely led America East in points, rebounds, and blocked shots. He is the first AE player to win both of the conference’s major awards in the same season. In March, Catamount fans were already looking ahead to next season with high hopes. Blakely achieved his breakout season despite nursing a foot injury. At full strength next year, he’ll be joined by standout guard Mike Trimboli in his senior season; Maurice Joseph, a talented transfer from Michigan State; and a promising freshman class led by Jordan Clarke and Garvey Young.
The Vermont ski team finished sixth at the 2008 NCAA Ski Championships in Montana. Six Catamounts earned NCAA All-American honors: Kara Crow, Erik Gilbert, Greg Hardy, Lyndee Janowiak, Jilyne McDonald, and Juergen Uhl. The Cats finished third at the Eastern Championships, led in that meet and throughout the season by McDonald in the alpine events and Uhl on the Nordic side. McDonald won the women’s giant slalom at Easterns and took first or second in five of the six GS races on the EISA circuit. Uhl claimed his own Eastern championship in the classic race, completing an unbeaten EISA season in that event.
(for UVM staff)