Not too fast… this really isn’t the Tennessee that is same team final period. After acquiring a fresh advisor, the IceVols have completely turned around their system.

Do you realize: The Tennessee Ice Volunteers’ may be the hockey program that is oldest into 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 straight period, the Tennessee IceVolunteers will likely be going into the SECHC Tournament given that 8th-seed.

They are going to aim to replace their very early removal they encountered this past year at the fingers of Georgia into the tournament-opener, where they destroyed 14-0.

The Bad News:

Unfortuitously for the IceVols, they will certainly yet again be harmonized against a powerhouse squad that appears 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 soon be dealing with is not just an united group that may get, however they have actually level in their whole roster. Among ACHA DIII, the Razorbacks’ have actually 6 dudes into the Top-50 scoring.

The Good Thing:

Along with of this being said, the IceVols aren’t the exact same group these were final period. The club went to work in the offseason and acquired Johnny Scotello as their Head Coach after finishing the year with a disappointing 2-14 record.

The previous University of Tampa Assistant Coach has expertise in assisting because of the turnaround of the fighting 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 look for such outcomes with a team that is new once again, the tradition of this IceVols program needed seriously to considerably change. For the head that is new, all of it began with a gathering that has been held at the start of the growing season. “I asked everybody just exactly 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 a year ago, and for me, i desired to possess an excellent winning record and move on to look at playoffs at a really minimum.”

The prospect of making the SEC-showdown was even more difficult for the young IceVols team with the expansion of the conference. Once they destroyed a few assets that are key graduation, Scotello had been kept with a group mainly comprising freshman.

Many would understand this being a drawback going in to the biggest hockey tournament that most of them is ever going to play in, your head mentor really sees it as a benefit. 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 like to push them towards things they will haven’t done before. Whenever that objective is not dictated by their past successes or problems, it is a complete lot easier [to achieve that goal].”

Johnny Scotello, mind mentor for the Tennessee Volunteers

To carry out the unthinkable and knock the#1-seed out when you look at the 1st game, Scotello thinks their young squad has got to “come out flying and now have a truly strong very very first period.”

Beyond that, Scotello thinks that the group has got to be aggressive for the complete 60-minutes and stay out from the penalty package into the process–something he states the IceVols have now been improving at.

Tennessee may 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 part that is big of 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, I presented just what my plans were–our system that we’ve been developing for Georgia as well as this tournament.”

The redemption game for Scotello https://datingmentor.org/australia-trans-dating/ is founded on the 10-4 loss that Tennessee suffered within the fifth game associated with the period. “We were really for the reason that game until we began getting racked with penalties. And it also had been those types of games in which you have one penalty–and another–and another.” A thing that Scotello blamed on “having lot of feeling.”

The double-edge blade of the team that may provide a competitive advantage in serious times, also can harm these with expensive rookie-mistakes that enable them to slide out of the hockey game.

The IceVols game this Friday resistant to the Bulldogs should be a proving ground for exactly exactly how prepared this team that is young, and also for the first-year mind advisor, it must be a judgement to exactly just just how he’s able to jump right back from defeat.

Johnny Scotello on mentoring within the SEC:

Knoxville is very much indeed a soccer city. People live and die when it comes to game of soccer. We attempted to snap off of that as much as we could and obtain visitors to comprehend that Tennessee features a hockey group, and also the ice hockey group is not any laugh at this time. As soon as the ice hockey group had been winning and also the soccer group had been losing, it provided the players plus the educational college lots of pride, also it’s gradually trickling out into the city too.

The Arm-Chair Scout

View these 2 objectives from Captain, Drew King:

THE CAPTAIN GETS THE ICE VOLS REGARDING THE BOARD REGARDING THE charged power PLAY!!

These 2 objectives had been very nearly 1 12 months aside from one another. The distribution therefore the execution will be the very same. Walk-in, upstairs…

The leadership and shooting capability from captain, Drew King, makes him the X-Factor with this Tennessee team. 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 just How King and linemate, Mike Wasson, is able to do will figure out set up IceVols can pull from the upset when it comes to many years.