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With one month remaining in the regular season, Vermont comes off a bye to host the 10th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish for a two-game Hockey East series at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Friday (Feb. 5) and Saturday (Feb. 6) at 7:05 p.m. The series will be streamed live for free at CatamounTV.com, and radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM, SportsJuice.com, and the TuneIn app with Alastair Ingram on the call. Reserved tickets are still available for the premium series at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or by calling 802-656-4410.

GAME COVERAGE
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SKATING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER
Vermont will wear special pink jerseys on Friday night for the Hockey East Skating Strides Against Breast Cancer initiative. The team's game-worn jerseys are being auctioned off now at UVMathletics.com/auctions with all proceeds going to the University of Vermont Cancer Center. The jersey auction ends next Monday (Feb. 8) at 12 p.m. Otter Creek Awnings and Vermont Custom Closets will be tabling in the lobby along with representatives from the UVM Cancer Center with pink T-shirts and scarves. The UVM Bookstore will also be selling pink merchandise in the lobby of Gutterson. Entering its 10th season, the Hockey East Skating Strides program has raised over $300,000 for various breast cancer charities.
 
PROMOTIONS
On Saturday night, children 12 and under will receive a special "Go Cats Go" retractable banner courtesy of TD Bank.

SETTING THE SCENE
UVM has won six of its last eight games and enters the weekend in sole possession of sixth place in Hockey East with 12 points. During those six wins, Vermont has out-scored its opponents 19-9 and out-shot its opponents by an average of 7.5 per game. The Fighting Irish had its 12-game unbeaten run snapped last Friday night by No. 4 Boston College with a 4-0 loss in South Bend, Indiana. The schools' four league meetings have been decided by a total of three goals, including a weekend split two years ago in Burlington.
 
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH
Notre Dame (14-5-7, 10-2-2 HEA) is ranked 10th in both national polls and sits third in the league standings behind Boston College and UMass Lowell. Sophomore Anders Bjork leads the team in goals (10) and points (26), while fellow sophomore Jake Evans has collected a team-high 20 assists. January Hockey East Goaltender of the Month Cal Peterson has started all 26 games in net with a 2.22 goals against average and a .926 save percentage. Jeff Jackson is in his 11th season as the head coach in South Bend and enters the weekend with 240 career victories at Notre Dame.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday marks the seventh all-time meeting between UVM and Notre Dame. The Catamounts made their first trip to South Bend during the first half of last season, falling 3-2 before rallying for a 2-2 tie in the second game. The teams split their first Hockey East series two seasons ago in Burlington as Vermont earned a 2-1 victory followed by a tight 3-2 loss at Gutterson. The first two meetings of the series came on neutral ice in tournaments hosted by UNH (1999) and Dartmouth (2002).

FOUR-POINT ROAD WEEKEND
Vermont took four Hockey East points from road games at UConn and UMass Amherst on Jan. 22-23 with a pair of two-goal victories. Travis Blanleil registered his first two goals of the season to power the Cats past UConn 4-2 at the XL Center on Friday, Jan. 22. The following night in Amherst, UVM stormed back from 4-2 down with four unanswered goals in the third period to win 6-4 at UMass. Brendan Bradley finished with a career-high four points, while Alexx Privitera notched his first multi-goal game in a Catamount jersey.

SNEDDON'S DOUBLE MILESTONE
The come-from-behind win over UMass last time out for head coach Kevin Sneddon marked the 200th victory of his tenure at Vermont. It also represented the 250th win of his NCAA head coaching career, including his 50 wins at Union College from 1998-2003. Along with Jim Cross and Mike Gilligan, Sneddon is one of only three head coaches to lead UVM men's hockey over the last half century. He has led the Catamounts to three NCAA Tournament berths in the last seven seasons and back-to-back 20-win seasons.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Brendan Bradley is riding a five-game point streak and has scored eight goals in his last 13 games. He led the Catamounts with eight points on four goals and four assists in his six January games. Mario Puskarich is riding a six-game point streak (two goals, four assists) and has factored into four different game-winning goals during that span. Puskarich ranks fourth in the league and seventh nationally with 111 shots on goal. Captain Yvan Pattyn ranks 20th all-time at UVM with 138 games played. Brady Shaw is only four games away from 100 played for his career.

WHO'S NEXT
The Catamounts travel to Durham to face New Hampshire in a two-game league series on Friday (Feb. 12) at 7 p.m. and Saturday (Feb. 13) at 5 p.m. Pre-game radio coverage from the Whittemore Center begins 30 minutes prior to faceoff each night on WVMT 620-AM, SportsJuice.com, and the TuneIn app with Alastair Ingram and Andy Merritt on the call. Live video is available throughout the series at UNHwildcats.TV.

BUS WITH US TO UNH | Register
UVM will offer a "Bus With Us" trip to the road game at New Hampshire next Saturday (Feb. 13) at 5 p.m. The "Bus with Us" package includes transportation to UNH, a ticket to the game, pizza, cookies courtesy of the DoubleTree, a hat, bus raffles, and more! The day trip costs $70 per person. The bus will leave from Gutterson Fieldhouse at 12 p.m., arrive at New Hampshire before the game starts at 5 p.m., and return to Burlington following the game. The registration deadline is this Friday (Feb. 5). Victory Club members receive a 10% discount on all trips. For more information please contact Katie Dowd at cdowd@uvm.edu or 802-656-8454.