Inside College Hockey | 2005 IIHF World Championship

Aaron Miller

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With more than two dozen former collegians slated to participate in the 2005 IIHF World Championship, our former college hockey heroes will be trying to make memories on one of the sport's biggest stages. With that in mind, Inside College Hockey takes this opportunity to reflect on some of those players' memorable college moments.

Many of us here at the University of Vermont have fond memories of Aaron Miller, who was inducted into our Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

We still see quite a bit or Aaron, as he lives in nearby Colchester in the off-season and married the daughter of longtime UVM ski coach Chip LaCasse.

This past summer, Aaron skated quite a bit at Gutterson, often playing individual games for hours on end with Lindsey Tilbury and other members of our women's hockey team while also skating with Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin and Team USA teammate Tim Thomas in big-time games of pick-up.

Kind and gracious, Aaron was a rock during his four-year career at UVM. I remember going to a game early in his senior season, and noticing how much he played. He hardly ever came off the ice. Even strength, every other shift. Every power play. Every short-handed situation. You could bet Miller was on the ice.

I asked Coach Mike Gilligan about it. He kind of shrugged his shoulders as if to say: "What would you do? He's my best player and I'm going to play him
as much as I can!"

So, a couple of weeks later, I decided to log his minutes. I would watch when he skated on, and when he left, and added up the numbers. I was amazed. In one game, he logged nearly 40 minutes of playing time. And he was as effective late in the game as he was on the opening face-off.

We have much to be proud of here at UVM, with the wonderful legacy of great players we have been blessed with: John LeClair, St. Louis, Perrin, Patrick Sharp, Ian Boyce, Christian Soucy, Andrew Allen and Thomas (who I used to help with the printing of his English papers on occasion as he was on the way to class after a road-trip weekend).

Aaron Miller is one of the best ever at Vermont, and his continued commitment to USA Hockey gives us all another reason to be proud of him.

Gordon Woodworth, the long-time Director of Athletic Communications at Vermont, is leaving his post with the Catamounts at the end of this school year.