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With its non-conference slate complete, 13th-ranked Vermont returns to Hockey East play on Saturday (Jan. 7) at Gutterson Fieldhouse against reigning league champion Northeastern at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are available by logging on to UVMathletics.com/Tickets or by calling the UVM Athletic Ticket Office at 802-656-4410. 

Live video of the matchup with the Huskies is available for free in high definition via CatamounTV.com. Pre-game radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM and Catamounts All-Access with Alastair Ingram and Tom Child on the call.

RELATED LINKS
Video | Audio | Live Stats | Tickets
Game Notes (.pdf) | Coaches Show

SETTING THE SCENE
Vermont closes an eight-game homestand on Saturday after finishing non-league play with an 8-3-1 record. The Catamounts have won three straight games by the combined score of 14-5, including a 4-3 comeback defeat of former ECAC rival No. 16 St. Lawrence in Burlington on Tuesday night. UVM is riding a four-game unbeaten streak against Northeastern (2-0-2) and looks to sweep the regular season series after beating the Huskies in the Hockey East opener in October.

BOWEN LIFTS CATS OVER SAINTS | Highlights
Brian Bowen's second goal of the night on the power play with 5:20 left in the third period lifted Vermont past a 10-win St. Lawrence squad on Tuesday night in the 94th all-time meeting of the series. The Catamounts won their third straight game overall as the 16th-ranked Saints suffered just their second loss in the last 13 contests overall.

Seniors Brendan Bradley and Chris Muscoby joined Bowen in posting multi-point games. UVM won the shot battle 37-22, including a 14-4 edge in the third, and out-shot its opponent by at least 15 for the third straight game. The Cats moved to 7-1-0 in their last eight meetings with SLU and posted their first win when trailing after two periods since Nov. 7, 2014.

BRADY AND BRADLEY HEAT UP
Senior forwards Brady Shaw and Brendan Bradley have both come alive in recent weeks for the Catamounts. Shaw has a point in four of his last five games, posting four goals and three assists for seven points in that span. Meanwhile, Bradley has picked up six points over his last three contests, accounting for more than half of his season total (10). The duo combined for seven points against Bentley on Dec. 30 as both registered new season-highs for a single game. Each player had an assist on Bowen's game-winning goal on Tuesday against St. Lawrence in the third period.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northeastern fell 5-4 on the road to Yale on Tuesday after beating Clarkson 8-2 at home last Friday to open the second half. Zach Aston-Reese leads Hockey East with 18 goals and ranks second with 33 points, while Dylan Sikura and Adam Gaudette are tied for fourth in the league with a team-high 18 assists apiece. Sophomore Ryan Ruck has started all but one game in net and owns a 3.11 goals against average and an .889 save percentage. Last year, NU won the Hockey East Championship for the first time since 1988 with wins over Boston College and UMass Lowell at TD Garden.

THE FIRST MEETING
The Catamounts clipped Northeastern 3-2 on Oct. 30 in the teams' league opener at Matthews Arena in Boston. Craig Puffer scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with just 5:05 left in the third period off a Jarrid Privitera feed. Stefanos Lekkas made 24 saves for the win and UVM's penalty kill went a perfect 4-for-4. Matt Alvaro scored his second of the year to tie the game 2-2 in the second period from Kevin Irwin and Mario Puskarich, while Gaudette and Sikura netted first period goals for NU.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday marks the 62nd all-time meeting between Vermont and Northeastern in the series, which dates back to 1969. UVM has lost just one of the last seven meetings (4-1-2), but the last four games have been decided by a total of two goals. The schools have tied the last two matchups at Gutterson, but Vermont has won the last two games at Matthews Arena 3-2.

WHO'S NEXT
Saturday is the final game of a season-long eight-game homestand for the Catamounts, who will play seven of their last 12 regular season games on the road. UVM travels to face the Providence Friars next weekend in a two-game Hockey East series at Schneider Arena on Friday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 14 at 5 p.m. (originally scheduled for 7 p.m.).

Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 men's hockey season