FINAL SCORE: No. 12 Vermont 3, UMass Amherst 1BURLINGTON, Vt. – Brody Hoffman made 27 saves and
Jarrid Privitera netted his first career game-winning goal as 12
th-ranked Vermont skated past UMass Amherst 3-1 in Hockey East action on Tuesday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts improve to 9-3-1 (7-3-1 HEA) and take over sole possession of first place in the league standings, while the Minutemen drop to 3-8-0 (1-7-0 HEA).
"I thought we got better as the game wore on," said head coach
Kevin Sneddon. "I don't know if that was our best game but we certainly found a way to win and that was an important two points for us heading into Hockey East break."
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Photo Gallery UVM lit the lamp just 47 seconds after the opening faceoff to take an early 1-0 lead.
Mario Puskarich curled into the slot and wristed a low shot that was kicked out by the pad of Henry Dill.
Colin Markison was lurking at the left doorstep to stick home the rebound as classmate
Nick Luukko grabbed the second assist on the play.
Jake Fallon nearly doubled the lead later in the frame on a one-timer from the low right circle, but Dill slid across his crease and made a key glove stop. UMass out-shot Vermont 12-9 in the first period as Hoffman was perfect between the pipes to keep the Catamounts on top.
Privitera extended the lead at 3:26 of the second period as he raced onto a feed from
Dan Senkbeil in the UMass slot. Privitera won a foot race to the puck and deked to his backhand to slide the puck past Dill's left pad. Midway through the frame,
Mike Paliotta fired home a slap shot low glove side on Dill from the right point on the power play to give Vermont a three-goal cushion.
UVM was called for back-to-back penalties late in the period but killed off 1:13 of 5-on-3 power play time to close the second. Hoffman made a right pad save on a one-timer from the high slot, and
Alexx Privitera blocked another slap shot near the right faceoff dot.
The Catamounts killed off the final 47 seconds of the UMass power play to begin the third and played strong with the lead in the final frame. The Minutemen pulled Dill for an extra skater in the closing minutes and Dennis Kravchenko drew one back with 31 seconds left as he slid a backhander five-hole on Hoffman.
UVM finished off the victory as Hoffman picked up his seventh win of the season and was named the game's No. 1 Star. The Catamount penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4 and the power play finished at 1-for-2, pushing its mark to 5-for-7 over the last two contests. Luukko registered two assists on the night.
Vermont hits the road over Thanksgiving for a two-game non-conference series against the Maine Black Bears at 7 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 28) and Saturday (Nov. 29) in Orono. Radio coverage on WVMT 620-AM and
SportsJuice.com begins at 6:30 p.m. each night with
Alastair Ingram and Andy Merritt on the call. The Saturday game will be televised on Fox College Sports and also by WVII and WPME in Maine.
