MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Vermont (8-9-1, 1-6-1 HEA) returns to Hockey East play this weekend with a trip to second-ranked UMass (15-3-0, 7-1-0 HEA) for a two-game series at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.
 
Friday's game begins at 7:05 p.m. and will broadcast locally on NESN and in Canada on TSN2. Saturday's game begins at 7:05 p.m. and will stream through UMassAthletics.com ($). Vermont play-by-play voice Michael Lehr will be on the call for both games on WVMT-620 AM and CatamounTV.com.
 
RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Preview
Friday: Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Game Notes (.pdf)
Saturday: Watch ($) | Listen | Live Stats
 
SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
UMass enters the weekend as the number two team in the nation, holding a 15-3-0 overall record and 7-1-0 Hockey East record. UMass has an 8-1 record at home and a 7-2 record on the road. UMass lost its first Hockey East game to UMass-Lowell last Friday by a 2-1 final. The next day (Jan. 5), UMass defeated AIC, 6-1.
 
Sophomore Mitchell Chaffee leads the team with 12 goals and ranks sixth in the NCAA with 0.67 goals per game. Sophomores John Leonard and Cale Makar, along with St. Lawrence transfer Jacob Pritchard, lead the team with 14 assists and are tied for 17th nationally with 0.78 helpers per game. Makar ranks fifth in the country among defensemen with 1.11 points per game.
 
Goalie Matt Murray is fifth in the country with an impressive 1.85 goals against average and seventh in the country with a .931 save percentage. With a 12-1 overall record, Murray leads the nation with a .923-win percentage. As a team, UMass ranks third nationally in scoring offense (3.78 goals/game), tied for fourth nationally in scoring defense (2.00 GAA), third in power play (29.9%), and fourth in penalty kill (88.9%).
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Vermont and Massachusetts meet for the 77th time in series history Friday night at the Mullins Center.  Vermont holds a 5-3-2 record edge in the last 10 meetings, and a 46-22-7 all-time series lead over UMass.
 
UVM tied UMass during its inaugural varsity season in January 1964, a 5-5 final. The series has been balanced since Vermont joined Hockey East. The Catamounts hold a 20-14-5 record since the 2005-06 season.
 
NICE #2 SEE YOU
This will be Vermont's third regular season series against the second-ranked team in the nation since the 2013-14 season. In 2013-14, Vermont split a series with #2 Notre Dame at Gutterson Fieldhouse. In 2015-16, #2 Boston College swept the Cats at the Gut.
 
A FIFTH OF LEKKAS
Stefanos Lekkas ranks fifth in Catamount history with 2,473 career saves, passing Sylvain Turcotte '81 for in Vermont's win over RPI (Dec. 29). He needs just 14 more appearances to become the fifth Catamount goalie to play in 100 or more career games.
 
Entering Friday, Lekkas ranks fifth among active goalies in the NCAA with 2,473 career stops.
 
RECORDS ARE MEANT TO BE...
Sacred Heart's power play goal late in the second period snapped a streak of 34 consecutive penalties killed by the Catamount defense. Vermont had not allowed a goal since the first game against Boston College on November 8. Vermont's consecutive PK streak lasted over nine complete games and spanned 639:28 of gameplay.
 
Since allowing the Sacred Heart power play goal, Vermont has gone the last 85:04 of gameplay without allowing another, killing four penalties.
 
GOALS FOR GOOD with Community Bank
Vermont men's hockey has partnered with Community Bank for 'Goals for Good.' For every goal the Cats score this season, Community bank will donate $100 to Special Olympics Vermont. This season's total through 18 games is 43 goals and $4,300 donated.      
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 men's hockey season