MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Vermont returns to Hockey East play on Friday night (Jan. 5) as it travels to Lowell, Massachusetts for the 50th all-time matchup against the River Hawks of UMass Lowell at 7:15 p.m.

Pre-game radio coverage on WVMT 620-AM and CatamounTV.com begins at 6:45 p.m. from Tsongas Center with Alastair Ingram on the call. Pay-per-view video and live stats are available via GoRiverHawks.com at the links below.

RELATED LINKS
Video ($) | Audio | Live Stats | CatamounTV Preview | Game Notes (.pdf)

SOUTH KOREA BOUND
Ryan Gunderson '07 was officially selected to the U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey Team by USA Hockey on Monday for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea next month. Gunderson is the fourth former men's Catamount to make the U.S. Olympic roster and the first since Tim Thomas '97 in 2010. The Pennsylvania native was brought to Vermont as a walk-on but became the all-time leader in games played among UVM defensemen with 148 from 2003-07 while adding 61 points.

After graduation, Gunderson went on to play four years in the ECHL and AHL before spending the last eight seasons in Europe. He spent a pair of seasons in the KHL with Jokerit Helsinki and Minsk Dynamo, posting a combined 63 points from the blueline. Gunderson currently leads all defensemen in scoring in the Swedish Hockey League with 25 points in 31 games with Brynas IF Gavle.

Amanda Pelkey '15, the all-time leading scorer for the Vermont women's program, will also become the first female Catamount to represent Team USA at the Olympics in ice hockey.

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell had an inconsistent 2017 portion of its schedule, starting the year 0-3 and alternating win/loss over its last six games. The River Hawks beat Harvard 5-2 to open last weekend's TD Bank Catamount Cup on Friday before falling 3-0 to eventual champion St. Lawrence on Saturday.

Sophomore Kenny Hausinger leads the River Hawks with seven goals and 16 points, while classmate Ryan Lohin has tallied a team-high 10 assists with a squad-leading nine points in league play. Junior Christoffer Hernberg has secured the starting role in net, going 10-3-0 in his 13 starts with a 1.94 GAA and .928 SV%.

Norm Bazin '94 is in his seventh year coaching his alma mater and has led UML to five consecutive Hockey East Title Game appearances. Last year, UML defeated Boston College 4-3 to win the Hockey East Championship before losing in overtime to Notre Dame in the NCAA Northeast Regional Semifinal in Manchester, New Hampshire.

SERIES HISTORY
UMass Lowell has an edge of 26-16-7 in the series heading into Friday's 50th matchup between the schools. The River Hawks are 7-0-1 in the last eight meetings dating back to Vermont's 3-2 overtime win in Game 2 of the 2014 Hockey East Quarterfinals in Lowell, which was won by Mario Puskarich. Last season, UVM dropped 3-1 and 4-2 decisions at Tsongas Center in early November of the regular season.

CATISTICAL ANALYSIS
UVM ranks third in Hockey East as a team with 251 blocked shots and also sits third with 13.2 blocks per contest. Jake Massie ranks fourth individually in blocks with 37, including four vs. Harvard, while Matt O'Donnell is 25th with 24 blocks. Vermont is averaging nearly 36 shots per game over its last seven contests, including a pair of 40-shot performances. Ross Colton and Stefanos Lekkas both suited up for their 50th career games last Friday against St. Lawrence.

ANY RELATION TO PHIL?
Freshman Alex Esposito has scored all five of his goals in the last eight games, which is tied for second in the league during that span. Among Hockey East rookies, he is tied for seventh in total goals. Esposito tied a career-high last time out against Harvard with six shots on goal and logged 10 total during the Catamount Cup.

WHO'S NEXT
The Catamounts begin a four-game homestand next weekend with a two-game series against the UMass Minutemen on Jan. 12-13. UVM and UMass Lowell will then meet two more times the following weekend at Gutterson on Jan. 19-20. Tickets are available for both series by logging on to UVMathletics.com/Tickets.

Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2017-18 men's hockey season