UVM hockey coach Kevin Sneddon tries to pump up his team during a loss against Colgate on Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Brian Jekins/For the Free Press
- Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon tries to pump up the team from the bench during the men’s hockey game against Colgate at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Friday night. Brian Jenkins/For the Free Press
In the face of mounting defeats, University of Vermont men’s hockey coach Kevin Sneddon is striving mightily to maintain an optimistic demeanor for his young Catamounts.
At this time, it’s the right approach, just as he’s previously been candid about Catamount failures, especially those of veterans.
Consequently, it’s understandable why Sneddon, while acknowledging a costly failure to convert scoring chances, seized upon the positive in UVM’s 4-1 loss to Colgate on Friday.
Of the 19 Catamounts who played, 12 are freshmen or sophomores. They still need seasoning, especially the freshmen, and they must understand they are making progress even if it has yet to show up in ‘Ws’.
“ This is all valuable experience as difficult as it is to go through. (The freshmen) are playing in a lot of key situations; they’re getting better and better and it’s just a matter of time,” Sneddon said Friday night. “We have to maintain our positive mentality. It’s working; I think everybody’s trying to be positive and we’re playing better hockey than we were two weeks ago.”
Speaking of the entire team, Sneddon said, “They did so many good things. They really, really did a great job. I felt after two periods that you know what? This is the best I’ve seen our team play. Unfortunately the scoreboard didn’t reflect that and that’s hard for a team to accept.
“It’s easy for everybody to get down and our message was, ‘Don’t wallow in self pity right now’. There’s no time for it, no need for it. They played hard, they gave it their best and as a coach, that’s all I can ask. We’re continuing to see better and better play and the results will follow at some point.”
Unfortunately for the Catamounts, the improvement has been incremental and it hasn’t been in terms of scoring goals. Too many second and third chances dematerialized Friday without tough shots.
Now comes Dartmouth on Sunday afternoon. The Big Green is 4-4-1 overall, 3-3-1 in ECAC.
“They’re a team that plays with a lot of energy. I think we’ll see a lot of similarities, some good offensive players. They’re aggressive, they’re physical. We’re not going to spend too much time, just their tendencies,” Sneddon said. “It’s more about us right now in a short turnaround rather than trying to put too much in their heads.”
In 2004, Vermont and Dartmouth waged a fierce ECAC quarterfinal series. The Big Green won the first game, 3-2, but UVM bounced back with victories of 3-2 and 2-1. The next season, the Catamounts joined Hockey East.
The one-time travel partners have continued their rivalry, playing six times since that playoff series. Vermont has won four times, each by a goal including the past three, while the Big Green has two wins, one by a goal and the other by two.
If nothing else, it should be a tight game, one Vermont desperately needs to go its way.
