{"id":26170,"date":"2004-01-08T15:30:16","date_gmt":"2004-01-08T21:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2004\/01\/08\/vermont-hockey-east-make-it-official\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:35","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:35","slug":"vermont-hockey-east-make-it-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2004\/01\/08\/vermont-hockey-east-make-it-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermont, Hockey East Make it Official"},"content":{"rendered":"
With an announcement commissioner Joe Bertagna characterized as “probably one of the worst-kept secrets,” Hockey East officially welcomed the University of Vermont to the league Thursday. Both the Catamounts men’s and women’s hockey teams will begin play in the 2005-2006 season.<\/p>\n
The announcement was made three weeks to the day after Vermont got the ball rolling with a letter of inquiry. Since then, things fell into place quickly, more quickly than anyone had originally envisioned. Hockey East athletic directors, along with Vermont AD Bob Corran and assistant AD Mike Gilligan, met on Tuesday in Andover, Mass., to discuss it. The plan was approved, and the school presidents ratified the idea.<\/p>\n
“We’re very pleased,” said Corran. “It enables Hockey East to get along with its planning. It certainly enables us to know where we are in terms of what we need to do and just direction the program is traveling in. The process didn’t become a very public spectacle.”<\/p>\n
Bertagna said things went quickly because there was no opposition.<\/p>\n
“I can’t say that I’ve gone through this process before, but I expected it would be something where you would hear plusses and minuses, and you’d have deliberation and make a decision,” Bertagna said. “I can say with all sincerity here, there wasn’t anything that remotely resembled a minus presented in our meetings and our deliberations.”<\/p>\n
Then Bertagna welcomed Vermont to the league, handing school president Dan Fogel a Hockey East cap.<\/p>\n
“Thank you very much,” said Fogel. “We will wear this proudly. We are thrilled at the wholehearted welcome we have received from Hockey East and the acceptance of the University of Vermont.”<\/p>\n
The Vermont men’s hockey has competed at the ECAC Division I level since the 1974-75 season. The program made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 1996 and 1997, advancing to the Frozen Four in 1996. The Catamount women are on the upswing as a program after being upgraded to varsity status in 1998-99 and ECAC Division I in 2001-2002.<\/p>\n
Vermont remained in the ECAC, despite the split by five schools to form Hockey East in 1984. For the ECAC, this is its first change since Army left in 1991, replaced by Union.<\/p>\n
Corran was hired this past summer, one year after Vermont brought in a new president. Gilligan retired just as Corran took over, making the new AD’s first move to hire a new coach. That’s when the internal deliberations began over what was the best course of action for Vermont hockey.<\/p>\n