Not too fast… it isn’t the Tennessee that is same team final period. After acquiring a unique advisor, the IceVols have completely turned around their program.
Do you realize: The Tennessee Ice Volunteers’ could be the earliest hockey program within the Southern U.S. (courtesy: IceVols Twitter)
Last Championships: 2009 SECHC Championship
(8) Tennessee Volunteers 9-5-1 (5-6 SEC Record)
For the 2nd right period, the Tennessee IceVolunteers should be going into the SECHC Tournament while the 8th-seed.
They are going to turn to make up for their very early removal they encountered year that is last the fingers of Georgia within the tournament-opener, where they destroyed 14-0.
The Bad Information:
Regrettably for the IceVols, they’ll again be matched up against a powerhouse squad that looks like the championship that is early towards the Bulldogs’ group that proceeded to win the SECHC Championship last period, Arkansas is averaging over 7-goals per-game.
The Arkansas team that Tennessee will undoubtedly be dealing with is not just group that will get, nevertheless they have actually level in their whole roster. The Razorbacks’ have 6 guys in the Top-50 scoring among ACHA DIII.
What’s Promising:
Along with of the being said, the IceVols aren’t the exact same group these were final season. After completing the entire year by having a disappointing 2-14 record, the club decided to go to work with the offseason and acquired Johnny Scotello as their mind Coach.
The former University of Tampa Assistant Coach has experience with assisting because of the turnaround of a struggling hockey club. The Spartan’s finished at 27-8-2 and made their first ever ACHA DIII National Tournament appearance–a drastic improvement from the team that went 15-13-3 the year before in Scottelo’s first year, in the 2015-16 season.
To be able to seek such outcomes having a team that is new once more, the tradition of this IceVols program had a need to considerably change. When it comes to head that is new, all of it began with a gathering that has been held at the start of the period. “I asked everybody just just what their objectives had been. Some stated they desired to have a fantastic season, many stated they wished to have definitely better results than just last year, and for me personally, i desired to possess an excellent winning record and progress to look at playoffs at a rather minimum.”
Utilizing the expansion of this meeting, the chance of creating the SEC-showdown was even more complicated for the young IceVols group. If they destroyed several assets that are key graduation, Scotello ended up being kept with a group mainly composed of freshman.
Many would understand this being a drawback going to the biggest hockey competition that nearly all of them will ever play in, your head mentor really views it as a bonus. A young team can rise to the occassion, Scotello explained while an older team settles in and struggles to play out of their comfort zone.
“You wish to push them towards the items they haven’t done before. Whenever that objective is not dictated by their past successes or failures, it is a complete great deal easier [to accomplish that goal].”
Johnny Scotello, mind advisor of this Tennessee Volunteers
To do the unthinkable and knock out of the #1-seed in the 1st game, Scotello thinks their young squad needs to “come out flying and also a very strong very very first period.”
Beyond that, Scotello thinks that the group needs to be aggressive for the complete 60-minutes and remain out from the penalty field within the process–something he states the IceVols were improving at.
Tennessee could have an opportunity that is perfect observe prepared they’ve been for the competition this Friday if they meet up with the 4th-seeded Georgia Bulldogs (12-9-2) in Athens.
“Georgia is a part that is big of for the competition. We’ve discussed [this game] for the past weeks that are several” Scotello explained. “In the first training right back from break, we organized exactly exactly just what my plans were–our system that we’ve been developing for Georgia as well as this tournament.”
The redemption game for Scotello is founded on the 10-4 loss that Tennessee suffered when you look at the fifth game associated with the period. “We were actually in that game until we began getting racked with charges. Also it had been some of those games in which you have one penalty–and another–and another.” Something which Scotello blamed on “having a complete large amount of feeling.”
The double-edge blade of the group that may provide a competitive advantage in dire times, may also harm these with expensive rookie-mistakes that enable them to slide far from the hockey game.
The IceVols game this Friday resistant to the Bulldogs may be a proving ground for just exactly how prepared this young group is, and also for the first-year head mentor, it ought to be a judgement to exactly how he’s able to jump right straight back from defeat.
Johnny Scotello on mentoring into the SEC:
Knoxville is very much indeed a soccer city. People live and die for the game of soccer. We attempted to snap away from that just as much as we are able to to get individuals to realize a hockey is had by that Tennessee group, additionally the ice hockey group is not any laugh at this point. Once the ice hockey group ended up being winning and also the soccer group ended up being losing, it offered the players therefore the educational college lots of pride, plus Greensboro escort girls it’s gradually trickling out into the city too.
The Arm-Chair Scout
View these 2 objectives from Captain, Drew King:
THE CAPTAIN RECEIVES THE ICE VOLS IN THE BOARD REGARDING THE charged power ENJOY!!
These 2 objectives had been very nearly 1 apart from each other year. The distribution plus the execution will be the very same. Walk-in, upstairs…
The leadership and shooting capability from captain, Drew King, makes him the X-Factor because of this Tennessee group. The Vols will need to score a lot of goals in order to keep up with the Razorbacks in the opening round in all likelihood. Just exactly How King and linemate, Mike Wasson, can do will figure out set up IceVols can pull from the upset for the many years.