Road to Nashville, Elite 8 Countdown: #8 IceVols Not Settled on Another One-and-Done After Turnaround Season
Not very fast… that isn’t the exact same Tennessee group from final season. The iceVols have completely turned around their program after acquiring a new coach.
Are you aware: The Tennessee Ice Volunteers’ may be the earliest hockey system within the Southern U.S. (courtesy: IceVols Twitter)
Past Championships: 2009 SECHC Championship
(8) Tennessee Volunteers 9-5-1 (5-6 SEC Record)
The Tennessee IceVolunteers will be entering the SECHC Tournament as the 8th-seed for the second straight season.
They are going to turn to replace with their very early removal they encountered year that is last the arms of Georgia into the tournament-opener, where they lost 14-0.
The Bad News:
Regrettably when it comes to IceVols, they will certainly yet again be harmonized against a powerhouse squad that seems like the championship that is early towards the Bulldogs’ group that continued to win the SECHC Championship final period, Arkansas is averaging over 7-goals per-game.
The Arkansas team that Tennessee will undoubtedly be dealing with is not just an united group that will get, however they have actually level in their whole roster. The Razorbacks’ have 6 guys in the Top-50 scoring among ACHA DIII.
The Good Thing:
Along with of this being said, the IceVols aren’t the exact same group these people were final period. After completing the season 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 expertise in assisting using the turnaround of a fighting hockey club. In Scottelo’s very first year, when you look at the 2015-16 period, the Spartan’s completed at 27-8-2 making their first ever ACHA DIII National Tournament appearance–a extreme enhancement through the group that went 15-13-3 the entire year before.
So that you can look for such outcomes with a team that is new once more, the tradition of this IceVols program needed seriously to considerably alter. When it comes to new mind advisor, all of it began with a meeting which was held at the start of the period. “I asked everybody exactly what their objectives had been. Some stated they wished to have an absolute season, many stated they wished to have definitely better outcomes than this past year, and in my situation, i desired to own an excellent winning record and move on to begin to see the playoffs at a tremendously minimum.”
The prospect of making the SEC-showdown was even more difficult for the young IceVols team with the expansion of the conference. If they destroyed a few key assets after graduation, Scotello had been left with a group mainly comprising freshman.
Many would understand this as a drawback going in to the biggest hockey competition http://datingmentor.org/couples-dating that nearly all of them is ever going to play in, the top mentor really views it as an edge. While a mature group settles in and battles to try out out of the rut, a new group can rise into the occassion, Scotello explained.
“You wish to push them to things they usually haven’t done before. When that objective is not dictated by their past successes or problems, it is lot easier [to achieve that goal].”
Johnny Scotello, mind advisor associated with the Tennessee Volunteers
To do the unthinkable and knock the#1-seed out into the initial game, Scotello thinks their young squad has got to “come out flying and also a very strong very very first period.”
Beyond that, Scotello thinks that the group has got to be aggressive for a complete 60-minutes and remain from the penalty field into the process–something he states the IceVols have already been improving at.
Tennessee could have an opportunity that is perfect observe how prepared they truly are for the competition this Friday if they meet up with the 4th-seeded Georgia Bulldogs (12-9-2) in Athens.
“Georgia is a big part to build for the competition. We’ve discussed [this game] for the past weeks that are several” Scotello explained. “In the practice that is first from break, we organized exactly what my plans were–our system that we’ve been developing for Georgia as well as for this tournament.”
The redemption game for Scotello is founded on the loss that is 10-4 Tennessee suffered within the fifth game of this period. “We were really for the reason that game until we started getting racked with charges. Also it had been those types of games where 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 will give you an edge that is competitive serious times, also can hurt all of them with expensive rookie-mistakes that enable them to slip far from the hockey game.
The IceVols game this Friday contrary to the Bulldogs are going to be a proving ground for just just just how prepared this team that is young, and also for the first-year head mentor, it must be a judgement to how he’s able to bounce straight right back from defeat.
Johnny Scotello on mentoring when you look at the SEC:
Knoxville is certainly much a soccer city. People live and die when it comes to game of soccer. We attempted to snap off of that just as much as we could and obtain visitors to comprehend that Tennessee includes a hockey group, plus the ice hockey group is not any laugh at this time. If the ice hockey team had been winning additionally the soccer group had been losing, it offered the players plus the college plenty of pride, also it’s gradually trickling out into town aswell.
The Arm-Chair Scout
View these 2 objectives from Captain, Drew King:
THE CAPTAIN RECEIVES THE ICE VOLS REGARDING THE BOARD REGARDING THE charged power ENJOY!!
These 2 objectives had been nearly 1 year aside from one another. The distribution additionally 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 How King and linemate, Mike Wasson, may do will figure out set up IceVols can pull from the upset when it comes to many years.