FINAL SCORE: No. 14 Vermont 4, Maine 1
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Four different players scored a goal and Brody Hoffman stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced as 14th-ranked Vermont coasted to a 4-1 victory over Maine on Saturday night to sweep a two-game Hockey East series at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts improve to 6-1-1 (4-1-1 HEA), while the Black Bears fall to 3-6-1 (2-2-0 HEA).

"This was probably our best 60-minute effort in quite some time," said head coach Kevin Sneddon. "We asked our guys to come out with a better sense of urgency right off the start. We made some great plays. We got some timely goaltending and we weathered any of the storms very, very well."
 
Just over five minutes into the first period, Vermont opened the scoring on its opening power play. Jake Fallon fed Alexx Privitera at the right point and he fired a slap shot on target with Brendan Bradley providing a screen. The puck snuck under the arm of Sean Romeo and trickled over the goal line as Bradley picked up the secondary assist on Privitera's second of the season.
 
The Catamounts doubled the lead less than a minute later as they finished off a 2-on-1 in transition. Jarrid Privitera skated down the right side of the Maine zone and whipped a pass across the faceoff circles to Jonathan Turk. The junior directed a quick one-timer into the net before Romeo could slide across his crease for a 2-0 lead.
 
UVM began the second period strong and pushed the lead to three at the 1:31 mark. Bradley received a pass from Kevin Irwin in the low left circle and spun a blind backhand feed to the top of the circle for Mike Stenerson. The sophomore's high one-timer found the upper right corner and beat Romeo glove side for his second goal of the weekend.
 
Maine grabbed a goal back through Connor Leen at 12:07 of the middle frame as he beat Hoffman with a weak angle backhand from the right doorstep. The Catamounts held the Black Bears to just two shots on goal in the third and kept the two-goal advantage into the closing minutes. With Romeo pulled for an extra skater, Stenerson fed Brady Shaw for an easy tap in with 1:10 remaining in regulation to seal the win.

"I'm very pleased with our effort tonight, especially the third period playing with the lead when a team's going to come at you very hard and Maine certainly did," said Sneddon. "There was no quit in their game. We did a great job of just playing smart hockey, getting pucks deep, working them down low, creating some scoring chances but not taking any unnecessary risks."
 
Vermont finished the night 1-for-4 on the power play and was perfect on five penalty kills. Romeo registered 27 shots in a losing effort for Maine, which was out-shot by the Cats 31-18 on the night. Stenerson finished the weekend with five points and two goals and three assists.
 
UVM hits the road next weekend for a two-game Hockey East series against 10th-ranked Providence on Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15 at Schneider Arena. Both games will be televised on OSN in Rhode Island, and all the action can be heard on WVMT 620-AM and SportsJuice.com with pre-game coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m.
 
The next Vermont home game is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 25 against UMass Amherst on Military Appreciation Night. Tickets can be purchased online at UVMathletics.com/Tickets, in person at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office in Patrick Gym, or over the phone by calling 802-656-4410.