MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Catamounts continue the non-conference portion of the 2021-22 regular season this weekend as they host No. 8 Quinnipiac. The single game will be played at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. The broadcast will air live for free on CollegeSportsLive. The new voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast the action live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620).
 
RELATED LINKS
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CatamounTV Weekly Press Conference: Coach Woodcroft | Lagunov
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STUCKER MAKING AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Minnesota transfer and Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick Robbie Stucker had a goal and an assist and was named the third star of his first game in Catamount Country. He also led the team with three blocked shots on Friday night.
 
VITOLINS DOMINANT ON THE DRAW
Sophomore forward Ray Vitolins had a great opening weekend on faceoffs for the Catamounts. He won 22 of the 28 draws he took, good for 78.6%. Entering Friday night's action, he is tops in Hockey East on the draw and fourth in the NCAA.
 
NO SUCH THING AS A BAD SHOT
In Vermont's opening weekend series with Colgate they set new highs in the Coach Woodcroft era for shots on consecutive nights. On Friday UVM had 41 shots on goal and then on Saturday they had 44. Last year's high-water mark was 33 in a game against Maine. Junior captain Andrew Lucas leads the team with 10 shots on goal this season.
 
WIEDLER NAMED ASSISTANT COACH OF NORWAY WORLD JUNIOR TEAM
Vermont men's hockey assistant coach Stephen Wiedler will serve in the same capacity with the 2022 Norway National Junior Team in December. The Norwegian National Junior Team will compete December 12-18 in the 2022 IIHF U20 World Championship in Group A of Division I. Group A action will be hosted in Hørsholm, Denmark.
 
Wiedler will serve under Head Coach Tobias Johansson. In Group A, Norway will compete with Belarus, Denmark, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Latvia for a spot in the top division at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships which will be hosted in Novosibirsk and Omsk Russia. The winner of Group A will earn promotion in 2023.
 
CIPOLLONE RETURNS TO CATAMOUNT COUNTRY
Quinnipiac junior forward Joey Cipollone will be making the return trip to Vermont after spending a year and a half in the green and gold. In 52 career games for the Catamounts he had 12 goals and eight assists for 20 points. He was Vermont's leading scorer as a first year during the 2018-19 campaign.
 
CHAU & LAGUNOV BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
UMass graduate transfers Oliver Chau (Quinnipiac) and Philip Lagunov (UVM) were regulars together on the UMass top forward unit over the past couple of seasons. Each forward scored one goal in UMass' NCAA Tournament run in 2021 that culminated in the school's first national championship. The pair also grew up just twenty minutes apart in southern Ontario.
 
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Quinnipiac will be facing its third straight Hockey East opponent Saturday night as they face Vermont. At the Ice Breaker, last weekend hosted by Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. the Bobcats tied No. 6 Boston College 2-2 and defeated No. 18 Northeastern 3-0. Dating back to last season Quinnipiac has won or tied 14 of its last 16 regular season games.
 
Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold won his 550th career NCAA game in the Bobcats 3-0 win over Northeastern. He is the 11th coach all-time to hit 550 career wins and the second active NCAA Division I coach to do so. It is Pecknold's 27th season as Head Coach of the Bobcats.
 
Sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets has gotten both starts in net for Quinnipiac. He stopped 36 of the 38 shots he faced against BC and NU last weekend. Prior to this season he had played just 32:09 of college hockey action.
 
Junior forward Skyler Brind'Amour was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week after the Ice Breaker. He had a goal and two assists over the weekend. He had two assists as a first year against Vermont on October 27, 2019.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Bobcats lead the overall series against Vermont with a record of 4-1-0. UVM's sole win in the series came at the 2016 Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland. UVM defeated the Bobcats 5-1 in the championship game to claim the Belpot as champions. The teams last met on October 27, 2019 in a 4-0 Quinnipiac win in Hamden, Connecticut.
 
DRAFT CAPITAL
The Catamounts enter the new season with five NHL Draft picks on the roster. It is the first time in the 2000s UVM has had more than three players drafted on the roster at one time. Robbie Stucker (Columbus, 2017 7th Rd.), Andrei Buyalsky (Colorado, 2021 3rd Rd.), Luca Mu¨nzenberger (Edmonton, 2021 3rd Rd.), Isak Walther (Nashville, 2019 6th Rd.) and Timofei Spitserov (San Jose, 2020 7th Rd.) are sure to bring NHL attention to the program this season.
 
NEW FACES AT THE GUT
Second year Head Coach Todd Woodcroft will field a significantly different team this year in Catamount Country. 14 Catamounts are eligible to make their debut for Vermont tomorrow night. UVM's newcomers include 10 first years, two juniors, one senior and a grad transfer.
 
GUT HOCKEY GOES INTERNATIONAL
The Vermont roster is comprised of student-athletes from nine different countries. There is at least one player from Finland, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada and the United States. UVM features five players from Ontario the most of any province or state. Vermont's eight players from outside North America is tied for the second most of any Division I program with Lake Superior State. Only Alaska has more with 14.
 
VETERAN LEADERSHIP AMONGST CATAMOUNT CAPTAINS
Junior defenseman Andrew Lucas will continue as the 62nd captain in program history this season. Senior Carter Long and juniors Jacques Bouquot and William Lemay will serve as alternate captains.  
 
WOODCROFT HEADED TO 2022 OLYMPICS WITH SWEDEN
Vermont Head Coach Todd Woodcroft has been named an assistant coach with the Swedish national men's team for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. The men's ice hockey competition at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is slated for February 9-20, 2022. Games will be played at the National Indoor Stadium and the Wukesong Sports Centre in Beijing. 
 
This past season he served as an assistant coach remotely with the 2021 Sweden national junior team at the IIHF World Junior Championships hosted in Edmonton, Alberta.
 
WINTER 2021 FAN AND VISITOR POLICY
The University of Vermont is now requiring anyone in a campus building to wear a face covering - regardless of vaccination status. The policy went into effect on August 5 to aid in protecting our community from the spread of COVID-19. In order to ensure the safety of students, staff and the community, UVM is now also expecting that all vaccine eligible visitors to campus, including fans attending athletic events, will be fully vaccinated.
 
Due to the ongoing health and safety protocols, concessions will be closed for the time being. No outside food will be permitted but fans are allowed to bring a reusable water bottle (maximum size 2 liters). Our policy will be reevaluated as circumstances evolve. 
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2021-22 men's hockey season