Vermont Catamounts’ coach Tim Bothwell optimistically asserts that he has hired a regular talent bloodhound by reeling the likes Grant Kimball onto his coaching staff.
Kimball, originally from Massachusetts, noted in a recent North Dakota press release that he was hastily motivated to land a job closer to home owing to family concerns. With his new gig at the Gutterson Fieldhouse, he has that invaluable luxury along with the task of recycling an old pattern from his stints at Wayne State and UND, both of whom steadily –if not suddenly- picked up their winning percentages on his watch.
Naturally, Bothwell’s statement on the Catamounts’ web page accentuates the gradual ascension those two programs saw with Kimball’s input.
The core of the head coach’s Thursday assessment of his new colleague: “He has a proven track record on the recruiting trail as he played an integral role building both Wayne State and North Dakota into playoff teams contending for championships.
“We are excited about Grant employing his talents at Vermont while helping us be a better more effective group on the ice. He is certain to inject a good measure of excitement and enthusiasm in our program.”
Well, to be fair, when Kimball settled in Detroit in 2003, opposite then-newcomer head coach Jim Fetter, the Wayne State Warriors were coming off four years of existence and four years of floundering miles below the poverty line. Their yearly transcript subsequently improved, though they remained a sub-.500 team until the year after Kimball transferred to Grand Forks. Still, right after he left, a 2007-08 roster largely laden with his pick-ups would pilot Wayne State to a 22-9-3 overall record, though they still couldn’t surpass almighty Mercyhurst when the time came to decide the College Hockey America championship. This past season was a basic reprise (21-9-2, and another loss to the Lakers for the conference pennant).
Meanwhile, in Kimball’s next domain, the 2007 Fighting Sioux were in a Category Five Frank Costanza “Serenity now!” mode, having gone through all of 10 wins and three coaching changes in a span of two years. But last winter, their first with any firsthand Kimball recruits, they spiked from a record of 4-26-6 to 13-19-4. And their freshman crop –piloted by Alyssa Weibe and Sara Dagenais- accounted for a cool 33-percent of the team’s 84 goals.
Oh, and UND now has a terrifying tandem named Lamoureux coming over from rival Minnesota in the near future.
So, ultimately, there sure is genuine credibility behind Bothwell’s buoyancy, though one would assume that is coupled with a few dollops of patience. Any real Kimball-induced improvement to the Catamounts’ posture in Hockey East is bound to take at least a full season to kick in.
But as it is, Vermont –which has won no more than four league games and eight games overall in any of its first four Hockey East seasons- is ever-so gradually padding on the productivity and will presumably return five of its top six point-getters (Peggy Wakeham, Erin Barley-Maloney, Teddy Fortin, Molly Morrison, Kyleigh Palmer) for both this year and next.
More importantly, though, established starting goaltender Kristen Olychuck has but one year remaining in her collegiate tenure. This means Kimball’s first major task ought to be pursuing someone who can put up a good, clean, healthy battle with Caitlin Whitlock and Ilana Friedman for the right of succession come 2010-11. You can never have too much keenness in your crease.
By then, we will have the right to begin measuring up the Catamounts’ progress with that of the Warriors circa 2003-07 and the Sioux circa 2007-present. If all goes according to plan, at a bare minimum, they will be making their first conspicuously assertive swings at a WHEA tournament bid.
No comments:
Post a Comment