Vermont Division 1 Poll
| Rank | Team | [tooltip text="PR*" gravity="ne"]Previous Ranking[/tooltip] | W | L | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spaulding | 13 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2 | BFA St. Albans | 19 | 2 | 2 | |
| 3 | Essex | 16 | 4 | 2 | |
| 4 | Champlain Valley Union | 8 | 7 | 5 | |
| 5 | U-32 | 16 | 2 | 1 |
It’s a deeper, beefier division this season with the addition of four programs – 2016 Lakes champion U-32, 2016 finalist Stowe, Middlebury and Woodstock. U-32 and Stowe accounted for the last five Lakes championships and all four teams seem suited to make the step up.
Based on the responses by coaches to our pre-season survey, No. 1 Spaulding gets the pre-season nod. The Crimson Tide returns a talented senior core, including goalie Cody Gosselin.
No. 2 BFA-St. Alban’s, the defending champion, graduated 13 but, rebuilding or re-loading, the Bobwhites are never to be discounted.
Will No. 3 Essex, last year’s finalist and a State Champion in 2015, reach a fourth straight title game? Development on defense will provide that answer.
We’ll ride along with the consensus of our informal coaches’ survey and open with No. 4 Champlain Valley Union.
No. 5 U-32 rounds out the pre-season list. As a group, the coaches expect all of the programs moving up from D2 will compete favorably.
