MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOKFor the third time in the last four seasons, Vermont travels to face Boston College for the best-of-three Hockey East Quarterfinals at Conte Forum this weekend (March 11-13). Games 1 and 2 will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday (March 11) and Saturday (March 12), while Game 3 is scheduled to face off at 4 p.m. on Sunday (March 13) if necessary. The entire series will be streamed live on a pay-per-view basis at HockeyEastOnline.TV, and radio coverage begins 30 minutes before faceoff each night on WVMT 620-AM, SportsJuice.com, and the TuneIn app with
Alastair Ingram and Andy Merritt on the call.
GAME COVERAGEVideo ($) | Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes | CatamounTV Preview
HANDY TOYOTA COACHES SHOWThe Handy Toyota Coaches Show airs at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday night on WVMT 620-AM. This week's edition airs live tonight with rookie forward
Brian Bowen as a guest in the weekly interview series "Chat with the Cats" hosted by
Alastair Ingram.
Click here to listen to any episode from this season.
SETTING THE SCENEAfter sweeping UConn on the road in the Hockey East First Round, Vermont now faces top-seed Boston College. Last season, the 7-seeded Catamounts upset the 3-seeded Eagles in three games during the best-of-three quarterfinal round, advancing to TD Garden for the first time since 2010 before falling to UMass Lowell. Boston College had a nation-best 15-game unbeaten streak snapped by the River Hawks in its regular season finale on Feb. 27 in Lowell. 9-seed Vermont, which was the only road team to advance from the first round, is making its third straight quarterfinal appearance since the playoff format changed prior to the 2013-14 season.
CATS SWEEP FIRST ROUNDUVM edged 8-seed UConn in a pair of one-goal games 2-1 and 4-3 to sweep the Hockey East First Round last weekend at the XL Center. Playing in his first game since mid-January,
Rob Darrar netted the game-winning goal in Game 1 on Friday night at 13:42 of the second period. Rookie
Brian Bowen clinched Game 2 with just 1:19 left in regulation after captain
Yvan Pattyn tied the score 3-3 at the midway point of the third.
Mike Santaguida stopped 56 of the 60 shots he faced for a .933 save percentage and collected his 25th career victory on Saturday night.
QUARTERFINAL UPSET AT CONTEVermont dropped Game 1 but won the final two meetings to skate past the Eagles in last year's Hockey East Quarterfinal in Chestnut Hill. Boston College scored three goals in the span of four minutes to begin the second period in Game 1 and held on for a 4-2 victory. In Game 2,
Brady Shaw netted a pair of power play goals in the first period and
Brody Hoffman tied a career-high with 39 saves as Vermont evened the series at one with a 3-1 triumph. UVM shut out the Eagles 1-0 to win the series in Game 3, with
Jarrid Privitera scoring the game-winning goal from
Alexx Privitera three minutes into the third.
SCOUTING THE EAGLESNo. 3 Boston College had a 15-game unbeaten streak (11-0-4) snapped last time out in the regular season finale by UMass Lowell 3-1 at Tsongas Center, its first loss since Dec. 29 against Providence in the Florida College Classic. The second-ranked Eagles swept the Catamounts during UVM's Senior Weekend (Feb. 19-20) with 3-1 and 4-1 Hockey East victories at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Junior Ryan Fitzgerald leads BC in scoring with 20 goals and 40 points, while sophomore Zach Sanford has tallied a team-best 24 assists on the year. Junior Thatcher Demko ranks top-3 nationally in both goals against average (1.77) and save percentage (.937) while leading Division I with nine shutouts. Jerry York, who is in his 22nd year as the head coach at Boston College and 44th as a Division I head coach, became the first coach in NCAA history to reach 1,000 career wins on Jan. 22 in an 8-0 road win at UMass Amherst.
EAGLES SPOIL SENIOR WEEKENDBoston College edged the Catamounts 3-1 and 4-1 in a pair of tight defensive league games on Senior Weekend in Burlington three weeks ago. The Eagles scored a pair of power play goals and killed off all seven Vermont power plays during a Hockey East victory on Friday to open the series. On Saturday, Austin Cangelosi snapped a 1-1 tie early in the third period and Boston College skated away with a 4-1 win to capture all four points.
Jonathan Turk and
Mario Puskarich (PPG) combined for the two UVM tallies.
SERIES HISTORYFriday marks the 60th all-time meeting between Vermont and Boston College. UVM posted its first two playoff wins over BC last March during the Hockey East Quarterfinals, advancing to TD Garden for the first time in five years. The Catamounts snapped a five-game losing streak and an 11-game winless streak against the Eagles with a 3-2 overtime road win on Feb. 13 of last season. It was their first win over Boston College since a 5-3 triumph at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Nov. 13, 2010 and their first at Conte Forum since Nov. 15, 2009.
WHO'S NEXTAn upset of Boston College would net the Catamounts a second straight berth in the Hockey East Championship next weekend (March 18-19) at TD Garden in Boston, beginning with the semifinal on Friday night at either 5 p.m. or 8 p.m.
