A congesting, claustrophobic crease crowd has hit Catamount Country. And the fans around those parts should crave nothing but that at this time.
With two returnees in Ilana Friedman and Caitlin Whitlock and two newbies in Roxanne Douville and Kelci Lanthier, Vermont has an overwhelming four candidates to succeed the sympathetic Kristen Olychuck, whose routinely valiant toils for four years in the cage amounted to too little in the standings.
Given the state of the program, which is lower-middle class at best, and a lack of evidence that one of the top six programs in Hockey East will suddenly recede to open a playoff spot, no one should expect a savory resurgence this year. But the undying adage that success on the ice “starts from the goal out” should instill some comfort and patience to the Green and Gold faithful.
If nothing else, depending on how fast one or more of Olychuck’s apprentices can settle down the reins, Vermont might be able to enjoy more frequent and competitive defensive bouts this year. From there, the next phase in the rebuilding process will simply be ripening a raw offense to upgrade more of those games from “more competitive” to “more winnable.”
Either that, or the coming year will just be a necessary, standard slew of growing pains for the young masked ladies.
Regardless, the offensive reload won’t take shape until at least sometime in the 2011-12 campaign –although it wouldn’t hurt the Catamounts’ cause to have a handful of their juniors and seniors bounce back from last year’s collective drop in productivity. For the moment, head coach Tim Bothwell should focus on doling out reasonable shifts to at least three of his four goalies.
Apart from Whitlock, a rising junior, all of these stoppers are underclassmen and the two new faces in particular sport resumes already chocked with the right preparatory training.
Lanthier, a sophomore transfer out of Mercyhurst, could turn out to be another Lucy Schoedel, who found better work in Syracuse after two years of backup duty in New Hampshire. Lanthier saw no game action with the Lakers last season, but she obviously accumulated innumerable and invaluable hours in practice staring down the nation’s most potent strike force. That counts.
Douville, the youngest of the bunch, is an even greater magnet for hype. She came within tasting distance of joining Team Canada for this week’s U22 series with the United States. This on top of a solid showing in the 2009 U18 World Championship, two silver medals in the Hockey Canada national tournament, and two Quebec Provincial championships with College Edouard Montpetit.
Unless somebody rapidly emerges as the no-doubt, no-risk starter, Lanthier and Douville should probably accumulate between 10 and 12 games apiece this season, with the rest of the crease time going to Bothwell’s returning letterwinners. If it can be done, keeping each player satisfied with the extent of her role will be crucial to keeping all four goalies at Gutterson Fieldhouse for the next two seasons. The resultant array of options and emergency survival stock will only sustain the rest of the progressive-minded program as it strives to improve on both sides of the puck.
Al Daniel is the BTD Hockey East contributor
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