FINAL SCORE: No. 17 Vermont 2, UConn 1
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Brody Hoffman stopped 21 of 22 shots as 17
th-ranked Vermont skated past UConn 2-1 at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Saturday night in the first Hockey East matchup between the schools. The Catamounts remain perfect at 4-0-0 (2-0-0 HEA) to continue their best start in the last nine years and have not trailed this season. The Huskies drop to 1-3-1 (0-2-0 HEA) with the loss.
"It was a very, very difficult game," said head coach
Kevin Sneddon. "I don't think we played our best tonight but in a good way we found a way to win an important hockey game and get the two points in conference play. Our guys have confidence in those tight game situations. We've had some close games already. There is no panic."
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Photo GalleryCatamounTV Highlights After a scoreless first period, UVM opened the scoring early in the second on the power play as
Mario Puskarich found
Brendan Bradley at the right point. Bradley slid a pass inside to the center point for
Alexx Privitera, who stepped into a wrist shot and beat Rob Nichols glove side. The goal came just 53 seconds into the frame and was Privitera's first tally in a Catamount jersey.
Near the five-minute mark of the second, Hoffman made a key save on Trevor Gerling after a giveaway in the Vermont zone. Gerling tried to beat Hoffman five-hole from the low slot, but the junior closed his pads to keep the Catamounts in front.
Vermont grabbed an insurance goal through its third line at the 6:20 mark of the third period.
Colin Markison gained control of the puck at the edge of the left circle on a feed from
Kevin Irwin. Markison's low shot trickled through the pads of Nichols, and
Mike Stenerson poked the puck across the goal line into the open net for a 2-0 cushion.
The Huskies pulled to within one with seven minutes remaining in the third period. Evan Richardson picked out Gerling in the low left circle, and he whipped a quick one-timer past Hoffman blocker side. Shawn Pauly grabbed the second assist on the play.
UConn called its timeout with 1:23 left in regulation and pulled Nichols for an extra skater, but UVM held on late for the victory. The Catamounts were 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill to remain perfect on the season through four games (14-for-14).
Vermont will fly to South Bend, Indiana next weekend for a two-game Hockey East series against Notre Dame. Friday night's 8 p.m. contest will air live on the NBC Sports Network, while the 7 p.m. game on Saturday will be available online via NBC Sports Live Extra. Both games can be heard on WVMT 620-AM and SportsJuice.com with pre-game coverage starting 30 minutes before faceoff.
