MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont Catamounts (5-22-6, 2-17-4 HEA) close the 2019-20 season Thursday night at ninth-ranked UMass (20-11-2, 13-8-2 HEA). The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.
 
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Watch | Live Stats | Game Notes (.pdf)
 
SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
UMass closes the regular season this Thursday against Vermont, entering the finale with a 20-11-2 overall record and 13-8-2 Hockey East record. The Minutemen are ninth in both national polls, but rank eighth in both the RPI and PairWise rankings. UMass has clinched the second or third seed in the 2020 conference tournament.
 
Junior John Leonard leads the team in goals (27) and points (37).  He leads the country in goals, four ahead of Northern Michigan sophomore Griffin Loughran. Freshman Zac Jones leads the Minutemen with 19 assists. He is tied for seventh in the country among freshmen in assists.
 
Sophomore Filip Lindberg and junior Matt Murray have split time this season between the pipes. Lindberg has made 17 starts and holds a 1.91 goals against average and .927 save percentage. Murray has made 16 starts and holds a 1.97 goals against average and .915 save percentage.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Thursday's regular season finale marks the 81st meeting in series history. UVM and UMass first met in 1969 in Amherst, skating to a 5-5 tie. Vermont holds a 46-28-8 all-time record in the series, but UMass has won the last five games.
 
SERIES SPOTLIGHT | CatamounTV Highlights
The 20th-ranked Vermont Catamounts defeat UMass 4-2 on November 25, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland behind 33 saves from Stefanos Lekkas. UVM erased a 2-0 deficit and tallied four unanswered goals to pick up the win. Lodermeier and Alvaro each found the back of the net once with Craig Puffer '19 scoring twice.
 
LEKKAS IN THE NCAA
Stefanos Lekkas moved to seventh in NCAA history after compiling 53 saves last weekend against Northeastern. The Elburn, Illinois native is 12 saves shy of sole possession of sixth and 31 saves shy of sole possession of fifth in the NCAA record book.
 
Lekkas is 81 saves shy of matching Tim Thomas '97 for UVM's program record. Thomas is third in NCAA history, behind only Robbie Moore (4,434) and Jeff Lerg (3,996).
 
MISLEY DOUBLES UP
Bryce Misley recorded his first career two-goal game in Vermont's 3-1 win over 12th-ranked Northeastern Saturday (Feb. 29). The junior tallied Vermont's first two goals to turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead. Earlier this season, Misley recorded his second career multi-assist game against Providence (Feb. 15).
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2019-20 men's hockey season