BURLINGTON, Vt. – Trailing 2-1 with four minutes left in third period the Vermont men's hockey team used a power play goal from Jacques Bouquot and a shorthanded marker from Cory Babichuk in 1:51 to come from behind an earn a 4-2 win over Mercyhurst from Gutterson Fieldhouse Saturday night.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
CatamounTV Highlights
Photo Gallery
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Overall, the coaching staff is pleased at the outcome, we've been waiting for progress to reveal itself, and today, it took about a period and a half before we started to play to our identity," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "For the 14 new players, and even myself, the energy of the Gut fueled us. Down 2-0 in the middle of the second period, the fans never quit on us – actually the opposite happened. They seemed to be on the bench, beside us, participating alongside the team. I thought there were several bright spots to mention: our PK was a perfect six-for-six including a shorthanded goal and a 5v6 goal.  Our PP had only maybe 90 seconds total but we managed a few good looks and then we were rewarded with a goal to tie the game. Jacques Bouquot was stellar in the second half of the game and Gabe Carriere was a rock in the net. Several of the veterans continued to push for line up spots and the young players learned how hard it is to win in NCAA hockey. All in all, a good start to the season."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Lakers opened the scoring 2:54 into the first period. Mercyhurst won an offensive zone faceoff and pushed the puck towards UVM's Gabe Carriere. Geoff Kitt got a shot on net that Carriere padded aside, but the rebound caromed to Paul Maust who stashed it home.
• Philip Waugh doubled the Mercyhurst advantage 6:34 into the second period. Waugh skated into the Vermont zone and beat Carriere with a snap shot from the top of the circle.
• With 5:58 left in the middle frame Will Zapernick turned the game around for Vermont. On the forecheck, Zapernick knocked down a Lakers pass and as the puck trickled away he dove at the puck to deflect it into the slot. Nic Hamre one-timed the feed from Zapernick and blasted the shot over Kyle McClellan's shoulder.
• Late in the final frame UVM earned its second power play of the evening. At the point Babichuk and Robbie Stucker passed along the blueline before Stucker found Bouquot with a cross-seam pass. Bouquot, gathered the puck, and fired a low shot past McCllelan to tie the game at two with 3:59 left in regulation.
• After the game tying goal UVM gave a final power play opportunity to the Lakers but it didn't go quite as Mercyhurst planned. Babichuk intercepted a cross-ice feed and took the puck the other way. He skated into the Mercyhurst zone on a two-on-two rush. Babichuk skated to his right and fired a shot to his left beating McCllelan through traffic for the go-ahead goal with 2:08 left in the third.
• Bouquot closed out the Catamounts exhibition win with an empty net goal with 53 seconds left.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Cory Babichuk's shorthanded tally was the second shorthanded goal of the Coach Woodcroft era. Bryce Misley '21 scored UVM's only SHG last season in the Hockey East Opening Round at UMass Lowell on March 10. It was the second game-winning goal of Babichuk's career.
• Nine newcomers made their debut in the green & gold for Vermont tonight – Joe Leahy, Robbie Stucker, Philip Lagunov, Andrei Buyalsky, Isak Walther, Cory Babichuk, Timofei Spitserov, Luca Mu¨nzenberger and Joel Määttä.
• With today's win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Vermont Foodbank as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Vermont Mutual has committed to donating $15,000 to Vermont Foodbank for the 2021 season. A special thank you to Vermont Mutual Insurance for their support. Vermont Mutual Insurance, protecting Vermonters since 1828.

WHO'S NEXT
Vermont will open the 2021-22 regular season next weekend as they host Colgate in a two-game non-conference series from Gutterson Fieldhouse. Friday, October 8 is Opening Night presented by TD Bank and the Catamounts will face the Raiders at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the two teams will go at it again. Both games will be broadcast live for free on CollegeSportsLive.com with Adam LaFleur on the call.

Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2021-22 men's hockey season