Justin Milo Kicked Off UVM Hockey Team

I know this is late but I had collected notes when this story broke and I'm finally getting around to putting them into written form.

The Burlington Free Press's writer, Ted Ryan, did a nice job following this story and the following quotes are from his piece, "Milo is off Cats' roster".

"We obviously spent a lot of time as a staff, with the support staff, and with the leadership and just felt it was in the best interest to move forward without him as part of our team," said Sneddon - UVM Men's Hockey coach. Anyone else bothered by the fact that Sneddon mentioned "leadership"? Does this mean the captains didn't want him on the team? Did they sell Milo out? Awwkwaardd.

Coach Sneddon also eluded to the fact that Milo's "focus wasn't there". Here's another point that raised my brow. Please remember that Milo was a varsity athlete on two DI teams - Baseball and Hockey. Plus Milo was drafted by the Yankees - albeit in the 300th round but still. I can't imagine a scenario where a drafted athlete and two sport varsity college athlete would lack focus. It just doesn't seem like a trait that an athlete of that caliber would have, does it? 

Also, Milo said, "my attitude and level of play were not consistent" Well, if that was really the case, was Dan Lawson on the hot seat early in the year? Lawson's play early on was horrendous. As a fan, I need more than "inconsistent play" as a reason for dismissal. 

All in all Milo's dismissal confirmed that UVM hockey is no longer a small town team - UVM Hockey is a national program. For example, this story made headlines at USCHO.com, INCH.com and CollegeHockeyNews.com. I dislike saying that there's a cost of winning but at this level I think there may be. I just hope that the average Vermont fan realizes that UVM hockey has entered the big time and knows what they're dealing with from this point going forward.

Side Notes:
Since this story broke we have heard nothing from Milo's parents. In today's world of helicopter parents, silence sounds odd.

Milo handled his dismissal with a ton of class, "To the UVM fans, he said, "It was always fin playing in front of them at the Gutterson arena and I had hoped to help the team turn the season around and make a push for the playoffs. I'm disappointed I can't be a part of that".