MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Vermont men's hockey returns home this weekend as they host the Maine Black Bears (0-3-1) on Friday and Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live for free on CBS CollegeSportsLive. As always, the voice of the Catamounts, Michael Lehr, will broadcast the action live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620).
 
RELATED LINKS:
Watch (free) | Listen | Game Notes (.pdf) | CatamounTV: Weekly Press Conference
 
HARMON STRONG IN THE NEW YEAR
Last weekend Tyler Harmon stopped 79 of the 82 shots he faced against No. 15 Providence. In the Sunday contest, he stopped a career-high 46 saves, the most by a Hockey East goaltender this season. On Saturday, he made 33 saves earning his first career shutout in a 0-0 decision. Over his last three games Harmon has stopped 114 of the 119 shots he's faced good for a .956 save percentage.
 
CENTURY MARK FOR ESPOSITO
The next contest for senior forward and alternate captain Alex Esposito will be his 100th as a Catamount. He has 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points in his career at UVM, he is the Catamounts current active scoring leader at Vermont. Junior forward Jordan Kaplan has 56 career points. Esposito is currently tied for the team lead in scoring with two points, a goal and an assist on the year.
 
SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS
After a 9-5 defeat at UMass Lowell on Monday afternoon the Black Bears are 0-3-1 this season. Maine earned two points in their season opener on December 11 defeating UNH 3-2 in a shootout following a 1-1 tie.
 
Clicking at 30% the Black Bears have the best power play in Hockey East and the second best in the NCAA. Maine has been explosive offensively but has had problems keeping the puck out in the early going this year. They have given up an NCAA-worst 5.25 goals-per game.
 
Junior forward Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup leads the Black Bears in scoring with one goal and four assists for five points. Last season in Burlington he scored both goals in a 2-1 Maine win on October 25, 2019. Senior Emil Westerlund leads Maine with three goals this season.
 
The Black Bears have two NHL draft picks on their roster – defenseman JD Greenway (Toronto) and goaltender Matthew Thiessen (Vancouver).
                                                      
SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series between Vermont and Maine is tied at 28-28-8. The Catamounts are 17-17-4 at home against the Black Bears. In their last meeting on February 22, 2020 the Black Bears and Catamounts skated to a 0-0 draw at Alfond Arena. It was just the second time UVM had skated to a 0-0 tie in program history until the Catamounts 0-0 draw at No. 15 Providence on January 1.
 
LUCAS NAMED SOPHOMORE CAPTAIN OF THE CATAMOUNTS
Defenseman Andrew Lucas is the 62nd captain in program history. He is also just the fourth sophomore captain in program history. Lucas joins Marshall Stevenson '66, Jaime Sifers '06 and H.T. Lenz '14 as sophomore captains of the Green & Gold. He skated in all 34 games last season as a freshman and led the team in scoring with 15 points.
 
DOVAR YOUNGEST PLAYER IN COLLEGE HOCKEY
2019-20 CCHL Rookie of the Year Dovar Tinling is the youngest player in college hockey at the age of 17. The next closest players are Michigan's Owen Power and Matty Beniers who are 18 and one month. At 17 he is the youngest Canadian NCAA player since Jonathan Toews and Simon Danis-Pepin dressed for North Dakota and Maine, respectively, in 2005-06.
 
In October Dovar was named to NHL Central Scouting's Preliminary Players to Watch List for the 2021 NHL Draft. He is currently ranked as a second or third round candidate.
 
SHOOTOUTS COME TO HOCKEY EAST
New this season in Hockey East games that are tied following a five minute three-on-three overtime will got to a shootout to decide the extra point in the league standings. A regulation league win is now worth three points, and overtime or shootout win is worth two points.
 
So far, this season there has been five shootouts (14.8% of the games played) in league play and the Catamounts have been involved in two of them. UVM's Jordan Kaplan is one of 13 Hockey East players to have scored in the shootout.
 
HOW TO WATCH THE CATAMOUNTS ON NESN & SPORTSLIVE
Want to follow the Catamounts at home and on the road? Visit our How to Watch the Catamounts page - http://go.uvm.edu/how2 for details on how to watch Hockey East action on NESN and SportsLive.
 
BE A PART OF THE CROWD AT THE GUT THIS YEAR
Miss being in the stands at Gutterson Fieldhouse this season? You can still be a part of the action by purchasing a cutout version of yourself or pet to be displayed the entire season. For more information visit go.uvm.edu/cutouts.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2020-21 men's hockey season