Vermont Travels to #7 Boston U for Best-of-Three Hockey East Quarterfinals

VERMONT WOMEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont women's hockey team (15-17-2, 6-14-1 HEA) will face the seventh-ranked Boston U Terriers (21-8-3, 15-5-1 HEA) in the Hockey East quarterfinals this weekend at Walter Brown Arena in Boston. This is the first year in Hockey East the quarterfinals will be a best-of-three series.

The best-of-three series opens on Friday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m., with the second game set for Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. If a third game is required, it will be played on Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m.

Tickets for the games will be $6 for the general public. Fans can call 1-617-353-4628 to reserve their tickets now. The ticket office at Walter Brown Arena opens one hour before each game and tickets will be available at the windows.

LITCHFIELD NAMED DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Vermont sophomore Madison Litchfield was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week after stopping 76 of the 80 shots she faced last weekend as Vermont swept a two-game series at Providence. Vermont needed to win both games to ensure a seventh place finish in Hockey East.

Litchfield is 12-13-2 this season with a 2.79 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. Her 12 wins this season are the second-most by a Vermont goaltender in Division I history.

VERMONT POWER PLAY LEADS THE WAY
The Catamounts power play is converting 20.9% (27/129) of the time which is first overall in Hockey East and sixth in the NCAA. Vermont has scored at least one power play goal in each of its last nine games. Dayna Colang is tied for third in the NCAA with eight power play goals this season. Her eight power play goals are a single-season team record. Vermont is 11-7-2 this season when they score on the power play.

In terms of their quarterfinal matchup the Terriers are the most penalized team in Hockey East averaging 10.3 minutes a game. Vermont's power play was 2-for-15 in the three games against the Terriers this season.

ZUBACK SETS PROGRAM RECORD FOR GAMES PLAYED
In last Sunday's 3-2 win over Providence senior forward Brittany Zuback became the program leader in games played at 135. Over the course of her career at Vermont she has never missed a game. In her time at Vermont she has won a program record 45 games including 28 in Hockey East play.

CATAMOUNTS THRIVE IN FEBRUARY
Vermont is now 10-2-1 in the month of February over the last two seasons, including a 4-1-1 mark this year. February is the first month above .500 for Vermont since October.

COLANG LEADS TEAM IN SCORING
Junior forward Dayna Colang leads the team in scoring this season with 18 goals, 13 assists and 31 points. This season she made the full-time transition from defense to a forward. She is currently on a nine-game point streak in which she has picked up 12 points.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
No. 7 Boston U: Since the New Year the Terriers are 9-5-1, with their only losses coming to Vermont, No. 1 Boston College, No. 4 Harvard, and Cornell.

The Terriers top line of Sarah Lefort, Marie-Philip Poulin and Kayla Tutino has been together over that span of 15 games. The trio has combined for 27 of Boston U's 56 goals since they've been put together.

Poulin has led all scorers for the Terriers since the line was put together, totaling 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points. Only Boston College (twice) and Vermont on January 24 were able to keep her off the scoresheet in the last 15 games. The Terriers are 0-3-1 this season when Poulin dresses and doesn't register a point.

Poulin has been an impact player in the Hockey East tournament. She is tied for second all-time in tournament history with 12 points (5 Gl, 7 Ast).

The Terriers are 13-3 overall in Hockey East tournament history, they have won three consecutive tournament titles. Their 13 wins are tied with Providence for the most in league history.

Vermont was 1-2-0 against the Terriers this season. Boston U won the teams only meeting at Gutterson Fieldhouse 4-1 on December 6. On January 24 the Catamounts won their first ever game at Walter Brown Arena 2-0. Boston U came back the next day and won 9-2. Over the last two seasons Vermont has won three of the last five games against the Terriers.

The Terriers are 22-5-3 against Vermont all-time, including a 12-1-2 record at Walter Brown Arena.

GIVING UP THE BODY
Katherine Pate, a freshman defensemen, leads the Catamounts this season with 55 blocked shots. She is fourth in Hockey East in that category. Boston U's Shannon Doyle leads the way with 92 blocked shots. Dayna Colang is second on the Catamounts with 44 blocked shots.

VERMONT PLAYOFF HISTORY
This season the Catamounts will be making their third consecutive Hockey East quarterfinal appearance under head coach Jim Plumer. Last year Vermont won its first-ever playoff game in triple overtime over Maine 3-2 to advance to the semifinals for the first time. The Catamounts fell in Hyannis against Boston College 3-1.

In 2013 Vermont made its first Division I playoff appearance facing No. 10 Northeastern in the quarterfinals. Vermont held a 1-0 lead after the first period but fell 5-1.

As a Division III school the Catamounts qualified for the ECAC quarterfinals twice in consecutive seasons ('99-'00, '00-'01).

In 2001 the Catamounts led by first team All-American Tiffany Hayes finished second in ECAC with a record of 14-2-2. Vermont was upset in the quarterfinals at home by Colgate 2-1 in triple overtime.

In 2000 the Catamounts lost to RPI 3-1 at Gutterson Fieldhouse, in the program's first-ever postseason appearance.

Jenny Agnew (2001), Casey Bezamat (2000), Amanda Pelkey (2013), Victoria Andreakos, Rachael Ade, Brittany Zuback and Dayna Colang are the only Catamounts in school history to score a postseason goal.

SEVEN-SEED IN HOCKEY EAST HISTORY
In women's tournament history the seven-seed is 0-2 all-time. Last season Boston U defeated Providence 3-2, and the year before Boston College defeated Maine 2-1 in overtime as the two-seed.

All-time the two-seed is 11-8 in tournament history and has won three Hockey East tournament titles. No team lower than a three-seed has ever won Hockey East.

On the men's side, where a best-of-three quarterfinal series has been commonplace, the seven-seed has only ever won once. In 2012 the seventh-seeded Providence Friars upset UMass Lowell in a three-game series.

HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW
Quarterfinal Matchups
No. 8 Providence at No. 1 Boston College
No. 7 Vermont at No. 2 Boston U
No. 6 New Hampshire at No. 3 Northeastern
No. 5 Connecticut at No. 4 Maine

The four winning teams will be reseeded and will play semifinal games on Saturday, March 7 at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center's Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Rink in Hyannis, Mass. on Cape Cod.

The advancing teams will play in the 13th annual Hockey East Championship Game on Sunday, March 8th at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on tape delay on the New England Sports Network (NESN).

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