The University of Vermont is saying goodbye to the head coach of its mens' soccer team.
Jesse Cormier announced he's leaving UVM after a 13-year tenure that included three NCAA tournament appearances and two years coaching the Catamounts into the second round, including last year's run propelled by the dynamic duo of Brian Wright and Bernard Yeboah. Wright was recently drafted to play major league soccer with the New England Revolution. Cormier is taking a head coaching position at Florida Gulf Coast University and leaves UVM with a win total the same as that of the man who coached him as a player, Ron McEachen, good for the most victories in program history. He told the Burlington Free Press it was a gut-wrenching decision to make but one that he did with the best interests of his family in mind. UVM athletic director Jeff Schulman said it's difficult to say goodbye to an alum who had such great success with the Catamounts, but that the program is in great shape coming off a tournament appearance and with a newly built facility. He said he expects a successor to be named within a month.
In girls' high school basketball a rematch of last year's division one title game did not disappoint, with BFA-St. Albans beating defending champions CVU by one point, 37-36 on a three-pointer by Andi Esenler with about two minutes left in the game.
In other high school girls' hoops action St. Johnsbury topped Essex 63-41, South Burlington got by Burlington 49-35, Rice routed Spaulding 65-20, and Montpelier edged Stowe 52-50.
NY Rangers fans are welcoming the return of Henrik Lundqvist. Not from injury, but from a rough patch of games in which the elite goaltender has not been up to his usual standards of excellence. The low point of a recent four game span saw him being lifted after two periods in a 7-6 loss to the Dallas Stars. But he shut out Detroit in his last start and last night turned away 36 shots in the Rangers 3-2 win over the L.A. Kings at Madison Square Garden. King Henrik as he's known in New York had to be sharp through two periods in which the Rangers were outshot by the Kings 22-9, but great goalies rise to those occasions and Lundqvist kept his team in the game long enough to rally behind goals by Brandon Pirri, Matt Puempel and Mats Zuccarello for the victory.
Patrick Marleau turned back the clock in Colorado last night. The 37-year old veteran scored four goals in teh third period of the San Jose Sharks 5-2 over the Avalanche, with all four goals coming on just four shots. The Sharks have now won five ina row and Marleau who's had a kind of quietly great career is now just three goals shy of 500 for his career and according to NHL stats, becomes the first player to score four goals in a single period since Mario Lemieux did it against Montreal in 1997.
At the Australian Open tennis tournament another wily veteran is having success. Roger Federer has punched his ticket to the semi-finals after a straight set victory over Mischa Zverev. Stan Wawrinka is also going to the semis, and on the womens' side two U.S. players are booked for the semi-final round with victories today in Venus Williams and Coco Vandeweghe. Those two will face each other in the next round and when Williams takes the court she will do so as the oldest woman ever to reach the semi-finals at the Australian Open at age 36. Her younger sister Serena is still alive in the tournament as well.
