MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Vermont will attempt to secure home ice in the Hockey East First Round this weekend as it closes the regular season with a two-game series against Boston University at Agganis Arena. Puck drop on Commonwealth Ave. is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 23) and 7 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 24).

Pre-game radio coverage on WVMT 620-AM and CatamounTV.com begins 30 minutes prior to faceoff each night with Alastair Ingram and USCHO's Jim Connelly on the call. Free live video is available at the links below via Watch Stadium. 

RELATED LINKS
Video: Friday | Saturday | Audio | Live Stats 
CatamounTV Preview | Game Notes (.pdf)

PLAYOFF PICTURE
Vermont currently occupies ninth place in Hockey East with 17 points entering the final weekend. UVM is one point behind UMass, which beat UConn 3-2 on Thursday night in Hartford. UMass owns the tiebreaker with the Catamounts but only has one game remaining. UNH is two points back of Vermont in 10th but would lose the tiebreaker to UVM, who went 1-0-2 against the Wildcats this season. The Cats can finish as high as seventh as they sit three points behind UMass Lowell. 

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
Boston University enters the weekend at 16-13-3 (11-8-3 HEA) and sits in fourth place in Hockey East, two points ahead of Maine and UConn. The Terriers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 contests, but have fallen out of the national rankings due to dropping two of their last three games.

Junior Bobo Carpenter paces the offense with 18 goals and 30 points, while freshman Brady Tkachuk leads the team with 18 assists. Jordan Greenway represented the United States at the Olympics in PyeongChang, registering a goal in five games for the national team. Sophomore Jake Oettinger has started 30 of BU's 32 games in net, posting a 2.64 goals against average and .907 save percentage.

The Terriers boast the eighth-ranked power play unit in the nation at 23.3%, which is second in Hockey East behind Northeastern. BU features 12 NHL-drafted players, led by Dante Fabbro who was picked 17th overall by Nashville in 2016.

David Quinn is in his fifth season at his alma mater and has led BU to three straight NCAA tournament appearances. Last year, Quinn's Terriers finished 24-12-3 (13-6-3 HEA) before falling to Minnesota Duluth in overtime at the NCAA West Regional Final.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday marks the 79th all-time meeting between Vermont and Boston University in the series, which dates back to 1972. Vermont split the series last time it traveled to Agganis Arena, including a 4-2 win over then-No. 11 BU in 2015. The Catamounts' win over then-No. 4 Boston University on Dec. 9, 2016 was the last time the program beat a top-5 team.

UVM is 3-2-0 in the last five meetings at Agannis Arena and is 12-25-4 overall against BU on the road. The last time the Catamounts made the Frozen Four, they fell to Boston University 5-4 at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. in 2009.

PYEONGCHANG RECAP | Olympic Coverage
Alumni Ryan Gunderson '07 (United States) and Viktor Stalberg '09 (Sweden) both suffered quarterfinal losses in the Winter Olympics this week. Gunderson and Team USA lost in a shootout to the Czech Republic, while Stalberg and the Swedes fell to Germany 4-3 in overtime for their first loss of the tournament. Former women's standout and Montpelier native Amanda Pelkey '15 became the fifth Catamount to win a gold medal on Thursday after a 3-2 shootout win for the U.S. over Canada.

FOREVER YOUNG
28 of UVM's last 44 goals overall have been scored by an underclassman. 120 of the squad's 193 total points (62%) are from underclassmen, including 19 of the team's 24 points in the last four road games (3-0-1). In addition, 16 of the Cats' 25 power play goals (64%) on the season have been netted by a freshman or sophomore.

CAT STATS
Trey Phillips skated in his 100th career game on Senior Night last Saturday against No. 12 Northeastern. Liam Coughlin had a season-best five-game point streak snapped last weekend, but has 10 points over the last month. Alex Esposito (4G, 7A) and Coughlin (5G, 5A) are sixth and eighth in Hockey East in scoring during that span. Ross Colton is only two points away from 50 in his career as a sophomore.

WHO'S NEXT
The best-of-three Hockey East First Round will be contested next weekend on March 2-4 at campus sites. Seeds 1-5 in Hockey East earn a bye to the quarterfinals, while seeds 6-8 will host seeds 9-11. 

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