2023–24 Vermont Catamounts men's ice hockey season explained

The 2023–24 Vermont Catamounts men's ice hockey season was the 68th season of play for the program, the 51st at the Division I level and the 40th in Hockey East. The Catamounts represented the University of Vermont, played their home games at the Gutterson Fieldhouse and were coached by Steve Wiedler in his 1st season.

Season

During the summer, Todd Woodcroft was fired after an internal investigation by the college determine that the coach had exchanged inappropriate text messages with a student.[1] Because the investigation had taken four months, by the time it concluded there was relatively little time to conduct a hiring search before this season. The Athletic department chose simply to promote Steve Wiedler to interim head coach and keep the rest of the staff in place.

With off ice issues settled for the moment, the team set about fixing their biggest problem; the lack of offense. The '23 Catamounts were one of the worst scoring team in the country, averaging less than 2 goals per game for the season. With that in mind it was perhaps a good thing that there were so many new faces for the program in '24. The team had trouble out of the gate with the new roster and coach struggling to find consistency. Vermont, too, was hampered by the vast strides for the rest of the conference as Hockey East was the top ranked league in college hockey that season.[2] However, despite the difficulties, the Catamounts were able to take a step forward and climb out of the cellar.

The offense saw a slight improvement as the year went on with Jens Richards making huge strides in his game. The forward went from 4 points as a freshman to leading the team in his sophomore season. While the overall numbers weren't outstanding, the more-than 5-fold improvement was not something to be discounted. In goal, Gabe Carriere held the fort and kept Vermont in the game on most nights. Even when facing nationally ranked teams, the Catamounts proved to be a tough team to beat and they managed to win their fair share of games. By the end of the season, Vermont was 9th in the standings but, with how difficult their schedule had been, they were in the middle of the PairWise rankings. While the dearth of offensives punch cost them in the playoffs, the team had progressed and looked better than they had in years.

Departures

Oskar Autio Goaltender Graduation (signed with Allen Americans)
Jacques Bouquot Forward Graduate transfer to Penn State
Finn Evans Forward Graduation (signed with Indy Fuel)
Eric Gotz Defenseman Graduation (signed with Krefeld Pinguine)
Cole Hudson Goaltender Transferred to American International
Joe Leahy Defenseman Graduation (signed with Greenville Swamp Rabbits)
William Lemay Forward Graduation (signed with Trois-Rivières Lions)
Carter Long Defenseman Graduation (signed with Savannah Ghost Pirates)
Luke Mountain Forward Transferred to Augsburg
Porter Schachle Defenseman Transferred to Alaska Anchorage
Robbie Stucker Defenseman Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Jesper Tarkiainen Forward Left program (retired)

Recruiting

Eli Barnett Defenseman 20 Ottawa, ON
selected 195th overall in 2022
Jérémie Bucheler Defenseman 23 Montreal, QC
graduate transfer from Northeastern
Matt Cato Forward 20 Whitby, ON
Mateo Dixon Forward 21 Toronto, ON
Zach Dubinsky Forward 23 Highland Park, IL
graduate transfer from Michigan State
Mario Gasparini Defenseman 20 Lakeville, MN
Connor Mackenzie Goaltender 21 Toronto, ON
Jack Malinski Defenseman 21 Lakeville, MN
Axel Mangbo Goaltender 20 Höganäs, SWE
Ryan Miotto Forward 24 Thorold, ON
graduate transfer from Canisius
Duncan Ramsay Defenseman 19 Halifax, NS
Daniel Sambuco Forward 20 Springfield, PA
Chris Théodore Forward 25 Beaconsfield, QC
graduate transfer from Union

Roster

As of July 18, 2023.[3]

Schedule and results

|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |

Scoring statistics

32 10 11 21 10
33 6 12 18 27
35 9 8 17 18
35 7 7 14 6
30 8 6 14 0
24 5 7 12 6
35 3 9 12 14
32 5 7 12 17
32 2 10 12 60
25 3 8 11 8
30 2 9 11 20
30 6 4 10 2
26 4 5 9 35
32 5 4 9 8
14 1 5 6 10
29 2 4 6 12
26 2 4 6 16
24 0 5 5 16
18 2 2 4 2
32 1 2 3 51
9 1 2 3 2
22 1 1 2 22
34 0 2 2 0
13 1 0 1 12
26 0 1 1 6
11 1 0 1 4
6 0 0 0 17
3 0 0 0 0
Total 86 133 219 401
[4]

Goaltending statistics

34 2017:25 13 18 3 93 897 0 .906 2.77
3 83:55 0 1 0 7 42 0 .857 5.00
Empty Net - 16:10 - - - 6 - - - -
Total 35 2117:30 13 19 3 106 939 0 .899 3.00

Rankings

See main article: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

PollWeek
Pre 1 234567891011121314151617181920212223242526 (Final)
USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NR
USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.[5]
Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: UVM Hockey Coach Todd Woodcroft Fired amid Alleged 'Inappropriate' Texts with Student . Bleacher Report . July 19, 2023 . August 18, 2023.
  2. Web site: Men's Division I PairWise Rankings . August 16, 2023.
  3. Web site: 2022–23 Men's Ice Hockey Roster . UVM Athletics . July 21, 2017.
  4. News: Univ. of Vermont 2023-2024 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . March 7, 2020.
  5. Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.

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