MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Vermont (1-4-0) opens Hockey East play this week with a home-and-home series against the Northeastern Huskies (1-4-0) on Thursday (Oct. 29) at 7 p.m. in Boston and Saturday (Oct. 31) at 7:05 p.m. in Burlington. Free video streams are available at GoNU.com on Thursday and CatamounTV.com on Saturday. Pre-game radio coverage begins each night at 6:30 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM and SportsJuice.com with Alastair Ingram on the call.
 
RELATED LINKS
Thursday: CaTV Preview | Video | Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes (.pdf)
Saturday: Video | Audio | Live Stats | Tickets

PRE-GAME ALUMNI RECEPTION
The UVM Alumni Association invites all alumni, parents and friends to cheer on the Catamounts as they take on the Northeastern Huskies on Thursday night. A pre-game reception will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. at Our House East (52 Gainsborough St., Boston, MA 02115) before the 7 p.m. game at Matthews Arena. Fans can click here to register for the pre-game event.

TICKETS
Tickets are still available for Vermont's first Hockey East home game of the season on Saturday 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. The Gutterson Ticket Office opens at 6 p.m. prior to the game.

PROMOTIONS
Saturday is Halloween at the Gut. We will have pumpkin decorating in the Hall of Honor, Rally will be walking around with candy for trick or treaters courtesy of Capital Candy, and we will have an on ice musical chairs contest for students dressed in the best costume. Thundersticks will also be given away courtesy of Party City.

HANDY TOYOTA COACHES SHOW
The Kevin Sneddon Coaches Show, presented by Handy Toyota, will air at 6 p.m. on Thursday night on WVMT 620-AM prior to the Northeastern broadcast. This week's edition features special guest Jarrid Privitera, who scored twice against top-ranked North Dakota last Saturday.

SETTING THE SCENE
Vermont was swept by No. 1 North Dakota last weekend by 2-0 and 5-2 finals as UND made its first-ever trip to Gutterson Fieldhouse. Both teams are trying to snap four-game losing skids as the schools meet for the 59th time in the all-time series on Thursday. UVM has won four of its last five games overall at Matthews Arena, including a four-goal victory in last year's season opener.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northeastern enters Hockey East play with an identical 1-4-0 record to the Catamounts and was swept by Minnesota 4-0 and 4-3 on the road last weekend. John Stevens has scored a team-best three goals in five games and shares the lead in points with his brother Nolan Stevens and rookie Eric Williams. Junior Derick Roy has started four of the five contests in net with a 1-3-0 record, 3.80 goals against average, and .792 save percentage. Jim Madigan begins his fifth year as the head coach at NU with an overall record of 58-71-17. He was an assistant coach at Vermont for one season in 1985-86.

SERIES HISTORY
The series between the schools dates back to 1969 as UVM leads 29-23-6 all-time. Vermont has won five of the last nine meetings overall as the teams split three meetings last season 1-1-1, with two coming at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts earned a convincing 6-2 win in last year's season opener at Matthews Arena on Oct. 11, 2014 as Jonathan Turk scored his first career hat trick. UVM is 16-10-1 all-time in Boston against the Huskies and has won four of the last five overall, allowing just five goals in those four victories.

LAST WEEKEND AGAINST NORTH DAKOTA
Matt Hrynkiw stopped 27 shots for his first career shutout as top-ranked North Dakota posted a 2-0 shutout on Friday night. Mike Santaguida finished with a career-high 39 saves in the Vermont net, including 33 stops in the first two periods combined. On Saturday, UVM tied the game 1-1 and 2-2 before UND netted the game's final three goals to post a 5-2 victory and sweep the series. Jarrid Privitera had both tallies for his first career multi-goal game, and Liam Coughlin posted his first multi-point game with two assists. 

CATAMOUNT NOTES
Mike Santaguida will make his 50th career appearance on Thursday night, while Mario Puskarich has at least one point in four of his first five games. UVM had out-shot its opponents (No. 8 Minnesota, No. 3 Omaha, and No. 1 North Dakota) by a combined total of 42-21 in the third period before being out-shot 16-4 in the third last Saturday by UND. Vermont begins a five-game homestand this Saturday and will have played nine home games at Gutterson by the middle of November.

WHO'S NEXT
Vermont continues a five-game homestand next weekend with a two-game series against No. 7 UMass Lowell at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts and River Hawks face off on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7:05 p.m.

Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2015-16 men's hockey season. Short on time? Shop online at HandyCars.com.