WOMEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Undefeated in seven of its last nine games, the Vermont women's hockey team wraps up the Fall 2016 semester at home on Saturday (Dec. 10), playing host to twin state rival Dartmouth at 2 p.m. The tilt is also part of a Gutterson Fieldhouse doubleheader as the 12th-ranked UVM men's squad will conclude the weekend at 7:05 p.m. against No. 5 Boston University.
Fans unable to make it to the game can watch from afar through free streaming video in high definition via CatamounTV.com. Rob Ryan will handle play-by-play duties. Live stats will also be provided through SIDEARM Stats.
RELATED LINKS
Video | Live Stats | Tickets
GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS
Franklin County Day: All residents of Franklin County are invited to Saturday's game at a discounted rate of $2.
ALUMNAE WEEKEND SCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 3-4
All women's hockey alumnae are invited to save the date for Alumnae Weekend, taking place Feb. 3-4, 2017 around Pack the Gut presented by The Windjammer. Details will be announced shortly. To ensure that you receive updates on this and other alumnae events, please contact the Victory Club office via phone at
(802) 656-0956 or email at Victory.Club@uvm.edu with your updated contact information.
CATAMOUNTS RECAP
UVM is coming off of one of its biggest weekends in recent memory, picking up a pair of overtime wins to sweep No. 10 Northeastern on the road at Matthews Arena in Boston. Last Saturday (Dec. 3) the Catamounts rallied back from a 1-0 deficit in the final minute of regulation, using
Victoria Andreakos' tally with 52 seconds to play to send the game into overtime.
Alyssa Gorecki then lit the lamp in the extra frame to give UVM its first ranked road win of the year.
A similar sequence ensued on Sunday (Dec. 4) in a back and forth affair.
Rachael Ade and
Bella Webster buried pucks to give UVM respective 1-0 and 2-1 leads before the Huskies ultimately tied the score at two-apiece midway through the third period. The Catamounts went into celebration mode, however, when freshman
Ève-Audrey Picard scored at 1:46 of overtime to lock up the four-point weekend for UVM. Sophomore
Melissa Black finished the pair with a .942 save percentage after making 49 total stops.
SCOUTING DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth (2-9-0, 1-6-0 ECAC) makes the trip up Interstate 89 after a Wednesday night setback against No. 6 Boston College. Christina Rombaut scored in the third period for the Big Green but three goals over the game's first 21 minutes were enough to cement a win for BC, despite 32 saves by senior Robyn Chemago.
The squad has faced some offensive challenges of late, averaging just 1.36 goals per game in comparison to opponents' figure of 3.00 in the same category. With a pair of goals and five assists, senior Eleni Tebano stands atop the Big Green with seven points. Classmate Kennedy Ottenbreit and freshman Christina Rombaut follow close behind with five apiece. Chemago has seen the majority of time in goal, working a .924 save percentage which ranks fourth in the ECAC.
First-year head coach Laura Schuler arrives in Hanover following a season behind the bench with the Canadian women's national team. At the collegiate level, she was previously an assistant coach at Minnesota-Duluth (2008-15) as well as head coach at Northeastern (2004-08) and UMass Boston (2001-04). She played at Northeastern, graduating in 1994 and captaining the Huskies as a senior.
The Big Green are 1-4-0 against common opponents with UVM, having split a series with Maine and also facing Northeastern, St. Lawrence and Clarkson.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Vermont has emerged victorious in two of its last three meetings with the Big Green in an all-time series that dates back to 2001. Last season,
Mackenzie MacNeil (1-1-2) and
Molly Depew (31 saves) paced UVM to a 3-2 decision at Thompson Arena.
Casey Leveillee and
Victoria Andreakos also added goals of their own as the squad staved off a late comeback attempt by Dartmouth.
UVM's first win in the series came on Dec. 11, 2013 following overtime heroics by
Amanda Pelkey. In the latter stages of the frame
Gina Repaci fed a perfect pass to Pelkey, who walked in alone and went to her backhand to finish a 1-0 thriller.
Roxanne Douville was credited with her eighth career shutout.
BIG CATS
On the heels of the Northeastern sweep, two Catamounts were honored this past Monday as recipients of weekly awards.
Alyssa Gorecki was tabbed the Hockey East Warrior Player of the Week, while
Melissa Black picked up TD Bank Student-Athlete of the Week laurels.
GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!
Vermont received a vote in this week's USCHO Division I Women's Poll, announced on Monday afternoon. It is the third time in program history that the Catamounts have been featured.
UVM previously received a vote in the poll during the weeks of Nov. 3, 2014 and Oct. 26, 2009. The former came in the aftermath of the Green and Gold's best start in program history (6-2-1), while the Catamounts first were mentioned shortly after upsetting No. 4 Clarkson at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Oct. 17, 2009.
WE'RE PULLING RANK ON THIS ONE
Sunday's results locked up the Catamounts' third win of 2016-17 against a ranked opponent, the first time in program history that UVM has reached that mark. In addition to last weekend's victories, Vermont knocked off then-No. 9 Boston University on Oct. 9 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
The team last pulled off two ranked wins during the 2014-15 campaign, upsetting No. 7 North Dakota on the road to open the season and later topping sixth-ranked BU.
QUITE THE BAKER, WE HEAR
Senior
Bridget Baker pocketed her first career hat trick on Nov. 25 against St. Cloud State as the Catamounts picked up a 5-1 win over the Huskies. The California product used shorthanded and power play tallies in the second period to help UVM to a 3-0 lead, then sealed her third goal on an empty netter in the final frame. It was the first hat trick by a Catamount since
Dayna Colang accomplished the feat on Feb. 1, 2015 in a 7-3 win over Providence at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
She became the first player in the program's Division I history (beginning in 2001) to light the lamp in the same period on the power play and while shorthanded. The last time a Catamount did so in the same game was on Jan. 18, 2009, when
Brittany Nelson scored in the second (power play) and third (shorthanded) periods, respectively in a 5-2 win at Providence.
NEXT UP
Exam week sits next on the docket for the Catamounts, who will then rest briefly for the holidays. The squad is back in action on Friday, Dec. 30 to host Yale at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
The Windjammer and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 women's hockey season
