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11th-ranked Vermont tries to make it seven wins in eight games on Friday night (Jan. 27) as it closes a Hockey East home-and-home with UConn at the XL Center in Hartford at 7 p.m. Pre-game radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM and Catamounts All-Access with Alastair Ingram on the call. Pay-per-view video and live stats are both available via UConnHuskies.com. 

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SETTING THE SCENE
Vermont is 8-1-1 in its last 10 against Connecticut and 9-1-0 all-time on the road. The Catamounts enter the weekend with a higher win total (16) than all of last season, and they sit third in the league standings with 17 points at 8-4-1. UVM has a chance to win its fourth Hockey East season series of the year on Friday, having already clinched series against Northeastern, Maine, and UMass. 

BACK AND FORTH AFFAIR | CatamounTV Highlights
The Catamounts secured their 16th win of the season in a wild 5-4 victory over UConn last Friday at sold out Gutterson Fieldhouse. The forward line of Matt Alvaro (2 G), Ross Colton (4 A), and Mario Puskarich (1 G, 1 A) combined for three goals and five assists. Stefanos Lekkas made 30 saves for the 14th victory of his rookie campaign to tie the national lead for wins among freshmen. Tage Thompson led the Huskies with a pair of goals, while Maxim Letunov posted a goal and an assist in a losing effort.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
UConn fell 2-1 at Boston College on Tuesday night and has lost three straight after going 5-1-1 in their previous seven contests. Connecticut sits seventh overall in Hockey East with 12 points. Thompson leads the Huskies with 17 goals, six power play goals, and 25 total points, while his classmate Letunov has tallied a team-high 17 assists and is second with 23 points.

Rookie Adam Huska (14 starts) and senior Rob Nichols (11 starts) have split time in net. Huska has posted a .918 save percentage, but Nichols sports a better goals against average at 2.46. UConn clicks at 89% on the penalty kill in Hockey East play. Former Boston College assistant Mike Cavanaugh is in his fourth season leading the program and is two wins shy of 50 at UConn.

SERIES HISTORY
The Catamounts have won five straight in the series, including all four meetings last year by a total of just five goals. Included in those four games was a UVM sweep in the best-of-three Hockey East Opening Round at the XL Center in Hartford. Since UConn joined Hockey East before the 2014-15 season, the Huskies' only win came at the XL Center on Nov. 21, 2014 (2-1). The last nine matchups between UVM and Connecticut dating back to 2001 have been decided by an average of only one goal.

MARIO'S MILESTONE WATCH
Co-captain Mario Puskarich is two goals shy of 50 for his career and skated in his 125th career game against UConn last Friday. He is looking to become the program's first 50-goal scorer in the last 20 years as J.C. Ruid '97 notched his 50th as a senior. Puskarich has already become the 43rd all-time member of the 100-point club, doing so on New Year's Eve in a 3-1 win over Bentley. The 2014 Hockey East Rookie of the Year is also tied with Kyle McDonough '89 for third place all-time in career game-winning goals with 14.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES?
Ross Colton shared Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors on Monday with BU's Clayton Keller after collecting a career-high four assists against UConn last Friday. Colton became the first Catamount to register four assists in a game since Chris McCarthy on Feb. 21, 2014 at Merrimack. He was also tabbed the league's Rookie of the Week on Nov. 28 after the team's Friendship Four title in Belfast, and was named runner-up for Hockey East Rookie of the Month in November. The rookie leads the team in goals (9), assists (13), and points (22), all of which rank top-5 among league freshmen this season.

ALL I DO IS WIN
Stefanos Lekkas leads Hockey East and ranks fifth nationally in winning percentage (.750) with a 14-4-2 record in 19 starts. In a year of standout freshman netminders, he is also tied for the most victories among all NCAA first-year goaltenders. The only NCAA goalies of any class with more wins are Union's Alex Sakellaropoulos and Michael Bitzer of Bemidji State with 16. The rookie ranks 20th in the country in goals against average (2.35) and is 25th overall in save percentage (.917).

TWICE IS NICE
Vermont has received 10 multi-goal performances this season (from seven different players) to rank 11th in the country. Colton, Rob Darrar, and Craig Puffer have all posted a pair of multi-goal games, all marking the first two of their careers. Four Catamounts have registered multi-goal games in the last nine games, and UVM is 8-1-0 when a player scores multiple goals.

WHO'S NEXT
Vermont travels to South Bend, Indiana next weekend for a two-game series with No. 15 Notre Dame on Friday (Feb. 3) at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday (Feb. 4) at 6:30 p.m. live on NBC Sports Network. Pre-game radio coverage begins 30 minutes prior to faceoff on WVMT 620-AM and Catamounts All-Access.