MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont (3-11-2, 2-6-2) men's hockey team plays its final game of 2021 tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. as they host RPI (8-11-2, 4-4-0) in non-conference action. Thursday's contest was originally scheduled to be hosted by RPI but was moved to Burlington due to campus-wide precautionary measures in-place at RPI. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast the action live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620) and the game will also be streamed live for free on CollegeSportsLive.
 
All season ticket holder's free tickets to the game are now accessible through the season ticket holder's online ticket account. In addition, all other tickets for tomorrow's contest are available for just $5. Buy now at go.uvm.edu/rpiec30
 
RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Press Conferences: Coach Woodcroft | Babichuk
Listen Live
Live Stats
Live Video
Tickets
 
IT ALL STARTS AT THE DOT
Vermont is 10th in the NCAA and third in Hockey East winning 53.1% of their faceoffs. First year Simon Jellus has won 59.6% of his draws and classmate Joel Määttä has won 51.9% of his faceoffs. Together the first year pair has won 178 draws for the Catamounts.
 
FAST STARTS KEY FOR THE CATAMOUNTS
Vermont has scored 13 of its 27 goals this season in the first period. It is also the Catamounts best period defensively, they are averaging just 8.5 shots against in the opening twenty minutes of the contest. UVM is 2-5-1 this season when scoring first.
 
MÄÄTTÄ AND MÜNZENBERGER EXCEL AT THE 2022 WORLD JUNIORS
Vermont first years Joel Määttä (Finland) and Luca Münzenberger (Germany) represented the Catamounts well at the 2022 World Junior Championships before they were canceled on Wednesday.
 
In two games Määttä had a goal and two assists for Finland including the game-winner on December 26 against Germany and his UVM teammate Münzenberger. He averaged 15:18 of ice-time for the 2-0-0 Finns. Määttä was third in the tournament in faceoff percentage winning 74.2 percent of his draws. He won 23 of the 31 faceoffs he took.
 
Münzenberger had the only goal for the Germans in their matchup with the Finns and was named the Player of the Game for Germany on December 26. He was fourth amongst all skaters in the tournament averaging 23:31 minutes per game during the Germans two contests, which included overtime against Czechia. Münzenberger had an assist in the Germans 2-1 OT win over Czechia.

RPI REUNION AGAIN FOR BABICHUK AND MOSER
Saturday night will be a reunion with Rensselaer for Assistant Coach Scott Moser and sophomore defenseman Cory Babichuk. Moser spent the last two seasons in the same role at RPI. In Moser's first season at RPI, the Tonawanda, N.Y., native helped the Engineers to one of their best seasons as they went 17-15-2. Their 13-8-1 ECAC Hockey record was good enough for a fourth-place finish.
 
During the 2019-20 season Babichuk skated in 27 games for the Engineers, registering four goals and 12 assists. He was a finalist for the ECAC Rookie of the Year and earned the teams Freshman of the Year award.
 
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
RPI is 3-6-1 over its last 10 games, the Engineers have been off since December 15. RPI closed out the first semester with a four-game road swing all at Alaska Fairbanks over the course of six days. RPI defeated the Nanooks 4-1 on the opening night before dropping the next three by a combined score of 11-3. RPI is 3-6-1 this season on the road, with one of its wins coming at Gutterson on October 23.
 
Senior forward Ture Linden leads the Engineers in scoring this season with team-leading totals of 6 goals and 11 assists for 17 points. In the last seven games, he registered only three assists. Linden scored the game-winning goal for the Engineers at UVM in October.
 
RPI boasts the fifth best penalty kill in the NCAA successfully killing off 89.7% of its opponent's chances. They've allowed just one power play goal against in their last eight contests.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Vermont is 32-34-7 in 73 all-time meetings against the Engineers. The former ECAC rivals have played just five times since UVM joined Hockey East in the fall of 2005. Vermont has won five of the last seven meetings in the series but it is RPI who has won the last two, including a 2-1 decision at Gutterson Fieldhouse this fall on October 23.
 
Vermont has played only seven teams (Boston University, Boston College, Clarkson, Dartmouth, UMass, New Hampshire, St. Lawrence) more in program history than RPI.
 
ALUMNI WEEKEND SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 28-29
We are very excited to invite all Brothers of the Gut to join us for a weekend of memories, laughs, tall tales and of course, UVM Hockey. Our staff is organizing the weekend of January 28-29 as a chance for everyone to reconnect as well as seeing the current Catamount team play Alaska Fairbanks.
 
To make sure that this event happens, we need anyone interested in attending to email us at Victory.Club@uvm.edu. This will help us gauge interest and make appropriate arrangements.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2021-22 men's hockey season