MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The 2018-19 Vermont Catamounts open the new season Saturday (Oct. 6) with a trip to Yost Ice Arena to take on the fourth-ranked Michigan Wolverines. The game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m., and will air through mgoblue.com. Pre-game radio coverage on WVMT 620-AM begins at 7 p.m. with Michael Lehr. Live video and audio are available using the links below.
 
RELATED LINKS (pdf)
Video | Audio | Live Stats | CatamounTV Preview | Game Notes (.pdf)
 
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Michigan opens their season Saturday ranked fourth in the USCHO.com Poll and sixth per the USA Today/USA Hockey poll. The Wolverines are coming off of a Frozen Four berth and 22-15-3 overall (11-10-3 B1G) record last season.
 
Quinn Hughes returns for his sophomore season after tallying 29 points in his rookie campaign and goalie Hayden Lavigne returns for his junior season after starting 31 games last season for the Wolverines. Lavigne posted a 2.81 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Vermont and Michigan will meet for the third straight season this Saturday at Yost Ice Arena. In the first meeting in 2016, Vermont took a 3-0 win at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Stefanos Lekkas recorded his first career shutout and current captain Matt Alvaro scored his first collegiate goal. UVM traveled to Yost last season for a pair of games, with Michigan winning both contests.
 
THE LEKKAS FILE
Lekkas enters his third season in Green & Gold. The Elburn, Illinois native has started 67 of a possible 75 games since arriving to Burlington.
 
With 28 career wins, Lekkas is six shy of matching Brody Hoffman '15 for tenth in program history. He needs 16 wins to match Tom Draper '87 for fifth in UVM history. He is an even 100 saves away from becoming the tenth Catamount goalie to record at least 2,000 career stops.
 
His 1,900 saves through two seasons places him eighth on the NCAA active leaderboard. Among juniors, he is second only to Boston University's Jake Oettinger (1,978).
 
THE CAPTAINS
A trio of juniors: Matt Alvaro, Derek Lodermeier, and Matt O'Donnell will captain the Catamounts in 2018-19. The three captains are the first non-seniors to lead the team since H.T. Lenz led the team as a sophomore in 2011-12 and junior in 2012-13.
 
LIGHT THE NIGHT 2018
On Friday, Sept. 28, the Catamounts took part in the Light the Night Walk on Church Street in Burlington. A fundraiser to support blood cancer research, the men's hockey program raised a total of $6,720. Across the country, over $100,000 was raised.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 men's hockey season