Just a quick, belated update here on this past weekend.  Thanks to everyone who made it back up to Vermont for our game and to celebrate Erin's career, it was a special weekend indeed!

Saturday promised to be a great game with two evenly matched teams facing off, a sun drenched and enthusiastic crowd, not to mention the 75 degree weather!

The game itself was a clash of two different styles of defense, Wesleyan sat in a zone the entire game while we played aggressive man to man, often times shutting off with short sticks or making it tough for them to get the ball against our shorties.  Our game plan going in was to possess the ball the entire game as they wouldn't be able to do much about our possession time by playing zone.  We ended up doing that and outshooting Wesleyan 37-29.  The part of the game plan that didn't pan out was our ability to put the ball in the back of the net.  We had some excellent opportunities in transition and in our zone offense to can a few shots but simply didn't do it.  I give Wesleyan's team defense as well as their goalie credit for making our guys think they had to take a perfect shot to score instead of just letting them fly.

Alex Palmisano was fantastic in goal for us on the day and came up with a number of big saves to keep Wesleyan off the board.  Alex and our defense played well enough for us to win the game on Saturday.

Now to the fun part of the weekend.  As you know on Saturday night we had a dinner honoring Erin's coaching career and we ended up with over 250 people at the event.  Some notable parts of the evening were Charlie Whinery's presentation of a gift for Pam, Jim Grube's introduction of former players, speeches by Scott Leach '00 and JP Coviello '06 and probably the most memorable part of the evening came from Brad Corrigan '96.  Brad initially said a few words about Erin that were well spoken and from the heart, then after Scott and JP finished up their remarks he ran back up to the stage with his guitar and treated us all to a song he wrote about Erin and Pam.  I believe it was titled Yeah Blue, and it brought the house down!  With Brad being a performer by trade, it was obvious to everyone who had gathered in Pepin Gym Saturday night as to why he's been so successful!  To end the night we had a video tribute that was put together by David Gaynes and Jim Grube which stirred up some emotions for everyone.  Erin was presented with a book full of photos and letters from former players, parents and coaches who had worked along side Erin over the years.  Lastly, Dan Thomsen, Erin's first captain led us all in 3 claps for Erin.

On Sunday morning we capped off the weekend with an alumni game that consisted of over 40 players from teams dating back to the 70's.  Some performances worth noting were the lethal combination of Charlie Whinery and Gerry Pearce at attack, it looks like they've been working on their timing at family barbeque's these last few years.  DT still has some great moves at x and was shaking defenders all day long.  Andrew Giordano took at least 20 shots on the day, hit a few pipes, hit a goalie in the head and still came away with no goals.  Jed Raymond looked great on defense and then took his typical strole up field and shot the ball from the restraining line, a move that those of us in his class have seen enough times that I should have known better than to be running down on offense along side him, it would have saved me a trip back on d!   And as always, looking like he belongs out there with the current players was Ian McCray who dazzled the crowd with his fake behind the back, drop the ball by his ankles shot which unfortunately got kicked away.

Overall it seemed like everyone had an amazing weekend and that it was a perfect way to send Erin off to his new role as athletic director.  One thing I wanted to mention to everyone is that while we were charging $30 for the banquet, that was really to cover the cost of the food at the event.  This didn't include the cost of the photographer or the gift for Erin.  Obviously we would have liked to treat everyone to such an event but there really isn't a budget to pay for these kind of special events.  Having said that there were a few people who may not have remembered to send a check in or to pay at the door, if you could send a check along at some point to help us make up the difference or to help defer the cost of the photographer/gift for Erin it would go a long way!

Ok so this really wasn't a quick update, as I got writing I realized that there was a lot that needed to be recapped from the weekend.  Now I really feel like Erin!  Although I have to say, after hearing everything that was said about him as a person on Saturday night, I really do have some big shoes to fill!

Thanks again to all of you who made it back up to Middlebury this weekend and for all of those who couldn't but sent along their thoughts and well wishes.  We hope to catch up with many of you again soon!