Category: News

VU Heads To SEC Tourney With Poor Record, Great Grades, High Hopes

The Vanderbilt Commodores Ice Hockey Club (9-12 overall, 3-5 in the SEC) will take the ice this evening for the last official weekend of the 2012/13 season. The stage, the Southeastern Collegiate Hockey Conference Tournament, will feature a tough battle for Vandy in the opening round as they face SEC power Arkansas (24-9-1 overall, 7-1 in the SEC) at 9:50pm CT at the IceComplex in Huntsville, Alabama.

The match-up between the two teams could not be more contrasting in terms of cultures, records, grades, mascots, history, dues, hometowns, favorite colors … the list goes on. To gain some perspective on the cavernous divide, one need look no further than last season and the two interactions the clubs had with one another, one on-ice and one off.

In a December 2011 showdown in Fayetteville, the last time Vandy and Arkansas played, the Commodores faced the Ice Hogs in a road battle that resulted in what doctors might call, in technical terms, an annihilation. Arkansas systematically peppered the net en route to an impressive 13-0 drubbing, a loss that now-junior Jack Delehey labeled the worst he had experienced in his life. “The worst part was that we drove 9 hours to the middle of nowhere for that,” Delehey recalls. “We had a bus with WiFi though, so it wasn’t a total disaster.”

That experience was then followed by a second event that took place far away from any arena or scoreboard. It turned out that five of the Arkansas players were ineligible for much of the 2011/12 campaign due to issues with their class credits and transcripts, including one player who submitted a fake registrar’s report to the league. At the time the number one team in the southeast and a lock for nationals, Arkansas subsequently had to forfeit the remainder of the schedule which opened up a spot for Vanderbilt in the regional tournament and also paved the way for the Commodores to make a run at the SEC tournament. Vanderbilt would finish third in the event. It was good fortune for Vanderbilt who, ironically, often leads the SECHC in All-Academic honors. (On that note, FYI for VU hockey parents – Vanderbilt once again logged terrific grades this year with more than 70% of the club maintaining a 3.2 or better cumulative GPA. < INSERT_SLOW_CLAP >)

With Arkansas eligible and back in the mix for this year’s tournament, it will be a tall order for the ‘Dores to make another run at equaling or topping last year’s finish. In order to do so, Vanderbilt will have to beat not only the Ice Hogs but also Ole Miss and Alabama. All three teams made the regional tournament with the latter two advancing to next month’s national tournament.

For more information about the tournament’s game times and information, be sure to visit SECHC.com or check out information about the event dates and times. The club would love to see some black and gold in the stands throughout the weekend so be sure to drop in, enjoy some hockey, and introduce yourselves if you’re in the area. Anchor down!

Game on.

Newsflash ladies and gentlemen. Hockey is in fact not locked out here in Nashville, Tennessee, as the newspapers would suggest, not by a long shot. The Jr. Preds are back in action, the GNASH high school hockey league is prepping to shake off its summer rust and start another campaign, and your Vanderbilt Commodores ice hockey club is just hours away from dropping the puck in Memphis versus SECHC rival Ole Miss. The 2012/13 season is upon us and the boys in black and gold couldn’t be more excited to kick things off.

Back with the Old

Returning for the upcoming campaign is senior captain, club president, two-time club MVP, part-time scholar, and full-time dangler Kyle McCann, a.k.a James Earl Jones. McCann is joined by fellow seniors Mackie Anderson, Ryan Blatt, and Scooter McLaughlin plus a host of juniors who are too uniformly distinguished to single out by name.

Despite a bum wing and the dreaded chore of cramming for the LSATs over the next several weeks, McLaughlin says he’s particularly fired up for the season.

“It’s the last time I’ll play competitive hockey pretty much ever,” McLaughlin said, noting that, “While I’m sure I’ll enjoy beer league well into my 80s, there’s just something about popping on those shoulder pads and firing into a legit game that I know I’ll miss.”

In with the New

There are a slew of new faces in the mix for 2012/13, including sophomore goaltender Andrew Keen who will be making his debut between the pipes for the ‘Dores tonight. A transfer from Connecticut College, Keen is a Massachusetts native who Coach Bernstein describes as “the most freakishly normal goaltender [he’s] ever met.” Says Bernstein, “I’m used to this kid from Texas who used to listen to Taylor Swift on repeat before games and pass around orange-flavored smelling salts between periods. Keener is the opposite … which, to be honest, worries me a little.”

Keen will have some fellow newbies holding down the ice in front of him including two defensemen from New Jersey, Michael Hite and Greg Kirk. Interestingly enough, the two played together a decade ago on a Jr. Devils team tournament team that traveled to Quebec. “I’m not sure if Kirk even remembers that,” says Hite. “Guess I’ll have to make a bigger impression on him this go around.”

Freshmen Jack Gibbons and Chad Wyatt will provide some firepower upfront, as will sophomore not-so-newbie Daniel Hogue. Hoagie was a freshman last year and skated with the club in the spring but unfortunately was too late in signing up to come out for the team. He’ll now be looking to make up for lost time starting with tonight’s match-up.

Asked to comment on his debut, Hogue was succinct if not vague. “Dangle, cheddar, top-shelf, cele. All night.” We suppose that means he’s ready to play.

It All Starts Tonight

The festivities kick off tonight against a formidable Ole Miss team that the Vanderbilt club has lost to four straight times. The last trip to Memphis landed two players in the hospital so it is safe to say that the club is in for all it can handle and more.

Bring the wife, the kids, the Nanas and Grampys because the NHL is locked out, the SECHC is open for business, and it’s hockey night in Memphis!




Vanderbilt @ Ole Miss

Game starts at 9:15pm CT

Mid-South Ice House | Map
10705 Ridgeway Industrial Drive
Olive Branch, MS
(901) 881-8544

VU Hockey Turns Down First Ever Invitation To Regionals, Remains Humbled By Honor

With strong play and loads of luck, the Vanderbilt Commodores Ice Hockey Club qualified for regionals for the first time in its 20-year history. The team will have to wait to actually play its first regional tournament game, however, because the club turned the invitation down 36 hours later for a variety of reasons.

To sum up the situation, including the various inputs that factored in to the final decision not to make the trip to Columbia, South Carolina, here is the response Coach Bernstein provided to HockeyYall.com’s Jim Davis who was anxious to learn about the details behind the update.

– – –

HockeyYall.com’s Jim Davis inquiring about the decision
I just find out that Vandy is not going to the regional. Why not? When was this decision made? How are the boys dealing with this? Would this have been your the club’s first regional appearance? Is the I-40 Classic still on?

Our response
Regarding our status with regionals, we voluntary opted to turn down the invitation for several reasons, including…

Resources. As you know, we have been building the program up from the ground up over the past two years. Part of that effort has included booking a more ambitious schedule and, subsequently, finding ways to fund those additional commitments. Because we have played 6 additional games this season, scheduled charter buses for multiple road trips, and invested in the foundations of a merchandising operation, we simply don’t have enough money available to cover what would likely be a $4,000 (or more) expenditure for the club with bus, food, and accommodations.

Player Schedules. Several players (nearly half the team) had booked non-hockey travel plans for this upcoming weekend prior to receiving the news about regionals last Friday. Most of the plans were non-refundable reservations and the prevailing sentiment was that they’d prefer to follow through with their existing schedules.

School Schedules. We made a commitment to the boys’ professors that the Pelham Showcase weekend would be the last time we’d ask to have them be excused from class this semester. Recognizing that we’d have to leave for South Carolina at 4am CT on Friday to make the 4:30pm ET game and in turn miss an entire day of classes, the boys and I felt it was inappropriate to once again go back to the professors at this late juncture to ask for additional excused absences.

All that said, it’s important to our team that you and your readers know that the boys and I were thrilled and humbled to finish the season in the top 10 in our region. Even with the circumstances surrounding the result (i.e., the unfortunate end to Arkansas’s season), the accomplishment remains a huge point of pride for everyone, especially seniors Brenden Oliver, Thomas Trepanier, Jack McCallum, and Matt Kaminsky who over their four years have taken the club from the depths of SECHC probation to securing the program’s first ever invitation to regionals. It provides us with huge momentum heading into next season as the boys will now have the goal of making regionals on their radars from the very first kickoff meeting in August. It’s been a terrific year in so many respects, and even though we will not be making the trip to Columbia to actually play in the game we remain extremely excited about the end result of this season.

Thanks for checking in and looking forward to keeping you updated on the remainder of our schedule, notably the SECHC tournament where we’ll be facing off against Auburn on Friday, 2/24, and the second annual I-40 Face-Off versus UT which will be played at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, 3/31, at 1pm before the Nashville Predators game versus the Chicago Blackhawks.

Giving Thanks On Turkey Day

Thanksgiving Wishes from Coach Bernstein

As another Thanksgiving holiday nears completion, I wanted to take a moment tonight to both extend my warmest holiday wishes to everyone in the Vanderbilt hockey family and also share with you the many things I remain thankful for in 2011. It continues to be my pleasure to coach, manage, and learn from our group, and because this is the season for sharing thoughts of appreciation with those that you respect I thought, “Why not proclaim our good tidings from the social media mountain tops … or at least VanderbiltHockey.com?” So here I sit in front of my computer ready to do exactly that. (Caution: Anything that follows that you find objectionable, whether it be on the basis of grammar, vulgarity, incoherence, or some combination of the three, can be blamed on my present tryptophan-enhanced state of moderate obesity. My mother- and father-in-law did tremendous work in the kitchen today … thanks Mr. and Mrs. B!)

In no particular order, …

I am thankful first and foremost for the players who have come out for the team this season. As you know, participation this year has been unprecedented with nearly 50 players initially showing interest in the program and approximately 40 committing to be a part of the club. Throughout the tryout period and into the heart of our season, you guys have continually demonstrated class and leadership beyond your years. Across the ranks of both the Vandy Black and Commodores squads, I want to thank you for making coaching this team such a pleasure.

I am thankful for the stars, moons, asteroids, comets, suns, blackholes, etc. conspiring and aligning in such a way that we’d have the pleasure of welcoming such a tremendously talented group of sophomore transfers to campus this fall. Eliot, Ben, Kyle, and Brad – it’s been great having you on the team and I look forward to a phenomenal rest of the season with you guys on the ice.

I am thankful for a large crew of sophomores and our resident senior citizen MBA getting wise to the virtues of Vanderbilt hockey and deciding to come out for the team after sitting out last year. Joey, Teddy, Connor, Jim, Mike, Henry, and Mr. Weekes – smart move boys, life is always better with a little hockey sprinkled in. I know I speak for the rest of the club when I say the experience is better for everyone with you guys in the mix.

I am thankful for the delightful musings of Mr. Cory Reno, (soon-to-be) Esq. Nothing more to say, the man is an inspiration.

I am thankful for the contributions of our parents, including (but by no means limited to) Mr. and Mrs. Oliver for supporting the team in a number of ways including a special surprise that they have in store for next semester, Mr. Kaminsky for taking part in said stealth undertaking, Mr. and Mrs. McCallum for covering the cost of the charter bus to Arkansas in two weeks, Mr. McCann for designing and printing helmet decals for our players, and the many others who have found ways to support what I call our “little boot-strapped start-up on ice.” You are the angel investors making this tremendous experience possible (keyword: angel) and words cannot express how much the boys and I appreciate your support.

I am thankful for Brenden Oliver’s generosity in not only committing so much time and effort to the team as a captain and the club’s president, but also for offering me tickets to the Country Music Awards as a thank-you-for-coaching gift, tickets which I in turn gave to my wife and her friend Katie. As many know, “Mrs. Coach” is the one who makes the real sacrifices on behalf of the club (e.g., Honey, would you object to my floating money on behalf of the team to cover the cost of the charter bus to South Carolina?; Beautiful wonderful darling soulmate, would you be so kind as to give me a pass on going to ____________‘s engagement party so I can go to Atlanta with the boys? It’s a critical weekend for us, we’ve got UGA and Florida …”) so your contribution was both appreciated and strategic. Nice work.

I am thankful for seniors Matt Kaminsky, Tom Trepanier, Brenden Oliver, and Jack McCallum who have shepherded the VU hockey flock through a terrific fall 2011. Gentlemen, you have stuck with a program that has always had a powerful spirit but perhaps not always the strength in organization. Now that we have the infrastructure in place to keep the club on the tracks and chugging along in a positive direction, it makes me incredibly proud to see you working to help the younger guys raise the bar for years to follow. I look forward to making the rest of the journey even more exciting for you four in particular.

I am thankful for Coach Gatlin’s brilliant directorial efforts filming, editing, and producing videos for our home weekend games versus Memphis and Georgia State. Ben, talk about efficiency in planning, you were smart enough to pick the two weekends where the boys scored 39 goals in 4 games, thereby yielding a season’s worth of highlights in less than 6 cumulative hours of shooting. You’ve heard this many, many times already but it needs to be said again: tremendous work, I know the players and their families appreciate your working to archive such enjoyable moments and memories.

I am thankful for Coach Ware’s efforts to make our game days feel more like game events. Rusty has set up the operating system for an outstanding fan experience, complete with welcome announcements, starting line-ups, music, and goal reports throughout the game. He has also brought on an intern, current Middle Tennessee State student Shane Clore who we’re thrilled to have aboard, to help raise the bar even further. Rusty, particularly for your BCP (Business Continuity Planning), the team and I cannot thank you enough for your efforts.

I am thankful for Coach Holston deciding to move to Nashville to both (1) work for our company edo Interactive and (2) coach hockey at Vanderbilt … and because of those decisions catching a bit of flack for each. On the work front, he has been subjected to being called “Holstein” on account of our working together so closely day-in and day-out (i.e., when we’re not white-boarding UI designs for the development of new and innovative marketing technology products we’re white-boarding drills and systems for the development of new and innovative hockey strategies). Couple that with the heat he felt upon leaving his official positions with the University of Alabama Frozen Tide program and we should all take a moment to thank Jonathan for the sacrifices he’s made to be a part of our club.

And finally, I am thankful for being a part of a team experience that far surpasses the many I’ve enjoyed in my life. Stacked up against pee wee in-house leagues and high school varsity teams, consulting engagements and technology start-ups, Vanderbilt hockey sets the bar amongst all of them for three simple reasons: (1) We have outstanding people across the club; (2) as a team, we know who we are, we know what we want out of the experience, and we know how to meet and exceed our expectations for having fun and competing at a high level; and finally (3) we “go big” wherever, whenever, and however possible.

I’ll conclude with a word about this third item and, in doing so, transition from feelings of appreciation to those of anticipation. To players, parents, fans, coaches, staff, administrators, and citizens of Nashvegas – I thank you all for your efforts to help us go big in 2011. We certainly did achieve “bigness” over the last 11 months when you consider all that we’ve enjoyed: the I-40 Face-Off, an awards ceremony, Senior Night (starring Anderson Funk), feature film documentaries, founding a second team for the club … the list goes on. That said, we cannot and will not rest on our laurels folks, not when there is hockey to be played, genos to be scored, championships to be won, and incredible hockey excitement to relish next semester and beyond. I thank you for your continued commitment to the organization and, on behalf of the boys in Black and Gold, wish you and your families a very happy Thanksgiving!

Photo credit: Follow @pucksandpixels on Twitter (https://twitter.com/pucksandpixels), the author of the awesome “Hockey Turkey” image featured above. They have some awesome t-shirts and apparel which you can check out here!