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15th-ranked Vermont welcomes the surging Merrimack Warriors to Gutterson Fieldhouse for a two-game Hockey East series on Senior Weekend to close the regular season. The teams square off on Friday (Feb. 24) and Saturday (Feb. 25) at 7:05 p.m. A limited number of tickets are still available by logging on to UVMathletics.com/Tickets or by calling 802-656-4410. 

Live video of both games is available via CatamounTV.com, and pre-game radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. each night on WVMT 620-AM and UVMathletics.com/Listen with Alastair Ingram on the call. 

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

"GREEN OUT THE GUT" PRESENTED BY CASELLA
Friday night is the first annual "Green Out The Gut" presented by Casella and all fans are encouraged to wear green. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a free green T-shirt. 

SENIOR NIGHT
Saturday is Senior Night at Gutterson with a special pre-game ceremony to honor the 10 members of the Class of 2017: Ori Abramson, Brendan Bradley, Pat Feeley, Tom Forgione, Rob Hamilton, Malcolm McKinney, Chris Muscoby, Mario Puskarich, Mike Santaguida, and Brady Shaw. Vermont's senior class is tied for fifth all-time in the Division I era of the program (1974) in wins by a single class with 74. The class is one win away from moving into the top-5 in the Division I era and five wins from climbing into second.

PLAYOFF TICKETS
Vermont will host either a best-of-three first round (March 3-5) or quarterfinal (March 10-12) playoff series at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Season ticket holders have until Friday (Feb. 24) at 4 p.m. to reserve their playoff tickets. A public on-sale for postseason tickets will begin next Monday (Feb. 27) at 9 a.m. To secure your seats, log on to UVMathletics.com/Tickets.

SETTING THE SCENE
With home ice secured and an outside chance at a first round bye, UVM needs just two points this weekend to clinch at least the 6-seed in the Hockey East playoffs. The Catamounts and Warriors are separated by two points in the standings for sixth and seventh, and Vermont sits only one point out of fifth place behind Providence. 2009 is the last time a UVM team finished higher than seventh overall (T-3rd). 

CATS ROAR BACK TWICE | BC Highlights: Friday | Saturday
UVM stormed back both nights last weekend against first place Boston College to earn two Hockey East ties at Conte Forum. Down 3-0 at the midway point of the first period on Friday night, Vermont rallied with a pair of goals in the third to earn a 3-3 tie. Rob Hamilton scored twice for his first career multi-goal game and netted the game-tying goal with 3:23 left in regulation. On Saturday, Brian Bowen answered a pair of one-goal BC leads and scored twice to secure another point in a 2-2 deadlock. Stefanos Lekkas made 30 saves both nights for the Catamounts.

PUT A BOW ON IT
Bowen was named the Warrior Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday after a four-point weekend at Boston College. The Littleton, Massachusetts native scored three goals and added an assist in a pair of comeback ties against the first-place Eagles. Bowen finished the weekend at plus-3 with 11 shots on goal. The forward now leads the team with 11 goals on the season and ranks second on the team in points with 22. In 12 games since the turn of the New Year, he leads the team with three power play goals, nine goals, 15 points, and 46 shots on goal.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
Merrimack is riding an eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3) and hasn't lost a game since Jan. 21 against Northeastern. MC came from behind both nights in North Andover last weekend against Maine and earned three league points. Senior Hampus Gustafsson has scored a team-best 14 goals this year, including five power play tallies, while junior Brett Seney leads the Warriors with 19 assists and 28 points.

Collin Delia (7-5-3) has started all eight games of the unbeaten streak; the junior leads Hockey East with a .928 save percentage and ranks third overall with a 2.12 goals against average. Mark Dennehy is in his 13th year as the head coach at Merrimack and won his 150th career game earlier this season. Last year, the Warriors beat UNH at home in the Hockey East First Round before falling to Providence in the Quarterfinals.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday night marks the 38th all-time meeting of the series. UVM was swept last season at Lawler Arena to close the regular season with 4-1 and 2-0 defeats to the Warriors. Vermont had previously registered a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) against Merrimack, which included a three-point series on Senior Weekend in 2015 at Gutterson. Overall, the schools are even (3-3-1) in the last seven meetings but Vermont has scored just three times in the last four.

WHO'S NEXT
The 2017 Hockey East Tournament begins next weekend with the best-of-three first round. In order to earn a first round bye, UVM needs the following: a weekend sweep of Merrimack, a Boston College sweep of UMass Lowell (series starts tonight), and at least one point for UMass against Providence.

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