Absence of Cooper Marody, UVM captains illuminates hope for integrity

Nonpartisan observers should root for as close an arm-wrestling match as possible at the Gutterson Fieldhouse this Friday. Maybe an indicative, textbook tie for good measure.

That way, someone or other will silently watch from afar, wondering whether his input could have tipped the scale. That could be sophomore striker Cooper Marody of the visiting Michigan Wolverines, or it could be four of the five host Catamounts sporting a letter of leadership.

Or it could be all of the above. To the ears of those who crave integrity in college sports, the best-case scenario would be a clairvoyant, musical medley of If I had just nabbed a slightly higher score in that course and If we had only conducted ourselves better that weekend.

Come what may, Marody, along with Vermont senior captains Brendan Bradley and Mario Puskarich, plus assistant captains Chris Muscoby and Anthony Petruzelli, will all be conspicuous by their absence Friday. The reasons behind their respective exclusions should thus garner more attention as positive representations of an NCAA member institution faced with inconvenient realities.

The four Catamount captains will serve the last installment of a five-game suspension stemming from a hideous hazing incident. They are on tap for reinstatement as early as UVM’s trip to Northeastern on Sunday.

Less than a week before the fallout from that late-September incident broke in Burlington, Marody was deemed academically ineligible for one semester in Ann Arbor. The earliest he can don his winged helmet again will be for the Great Lakes Invitational semifinal against Michigan Tech on Dec. 29.

Explaining Marody’s circumstances to Orion Sang of the Michigan Daily, Wolverines bench boss Red Berenson noted that an illness had tripped up the then-freshman’s academic trek last winter. But the report plainly verified that there will be no preferential treatment for the Philadelphia Flyers prospect.

Berenson elaborated, as quoted by Sang, “He’s a good student and he was preparing himself for the Ross Business School, but he got affected by one particular class that really cost him. I can’t tell you anymore than that except he’s ineligible. He’ll have to work hard and he’ll be anxious to play the second half (of the season).”

Remember that this is coming from an alumnus and the 33rd-year coach of the most accomplished program in NCAA hockey history. It is also coming from a man who barely veils and muffles his disappointment each time an A-list player signs out of school early.

Berenson makes the right mark on every checkbox. He maintains a powerhouse that is bigger than one player and refuses to test the peeving precedent that some of his hardwood and gridiron equivalents have gotten away with.

Five years ago this month, The Atlantic ran an in-depth study with a self-explanatory title: “The Shame of College Sports.” Besides covering such chronic debate topics as compensation for student-athletes, the piece fetched a host of anecdotes on academic cheating scandals in men’s basketball and football.

Earlier this year, the Final Four field proved the latter menace was anything but extinct. Both the North Carolina and Syracuse hoops teams entered their semifinal tilt in Houston under various charges and confirmations of cutting corners to ensure their on-court assets made the grade.

Not so with the maize-and-blue icers. Not one course on one transcript is subject to manipulation among Berenson’s capstones. Not even for the second-leading scorer among returning players on a team that lost six of its top eight reigning point-getters over the summer.

And not even if, as Berenson suggested to Sang, one’s academic shortcomings were in spite of an honest commitment. As far as Michigan hockey’s example states, results are results in every field, and the team can wait for a more rabid Marody to seek his sophomore surge post-Christmas.

In terms of the intent-to-outcome ratio, the Catamounts are mending a more egregious black eye. But in the aftermath, the overall disciplinary message is the same.

With Bradley and Puskarich, UVM went ahead and banned its co-captains and top two returning scorers from 2015-16. Experience, track records and senior status gave them no right to impose their will on their greener teammates in a mortifying manner.

As such, those teammates will venture out sans their experience once more Friday. They will do so hoping they can manage to exploit a Michigan strike force that is missing a primary prodigy.

While there is more room for debate over whether a tougher penalty was in order here, the university’s decision to resort to team probation makes for sound restrictions going forward. It creates a fair middle ground for those who believe in second chances and those who want as slim a margin for behavioral error as possible.

And as anyone who grew up on ice should understand, the thinner that margin, the less above it one feels.