| BURLINGTON, Vt. – University of Vermont men's hockey assistants
Kevin Patrick and
Kyle Wallack have both been promoted to the position of associate head coach. Head coach
Kevin Sneddon made the announcement on Monday as Patrick and Wallack enter their fourth season with the Catamounts.
Last season, Patrick and Wallack helped the Catamounts post their second straight 20-win season for the first time since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 campaigns. Vermont remained one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking ninth nationally with a team goals against average of 2.22.
Led by Patrick, UVM continued its penalty killing success at a rate of 87.5-percent to rank 10th overall in the NCAA. As a team, Vermont was the seventh-least penalized team in college hockey and won the Charlie Holt Sportsmanship Award for having the least penalty minutes during Hockey East play.
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2015-16 SchedulePatrick had a major influence on senior captain
Mike Paliotta, who was named the 22nd NCAA All-American in program history after the season. Paliotta became the first Catamount to win the Bob Monahan Award as the best defenseman in New England and was also recognized as the Best Defensive Defenseman in Hockey East.
Wallack coached the power play to a 20.1-percent success rate for 13th in the country. It marked the first Vermont power play unit to eclipse 20-percent in a single season since 2005-06. UVM's power play clicked at better than 22-percent in Hockey East play to rank second in the league.
Over the last two seasons under Wallack, rising sophomores
Mario Puskarich and
Brady Shaw have each posted 19-goal seasons, the highest single season total at UVM since All-American Viktor Stalberg's 24 in 2008-09. During that time, Vermont has also out-shot its opponents by 246.
UVM has registered 53 wins during the three-year tenures of Patrick and Wallack, including 28 Hockey East victories. Vermont begins the 2015-16 season with an exhibition game against Acadia University on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
