MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont (3-9-2, 2-4-2) men's hockey team wraps up the first semester this weekend as they host No. 15 UMass Lowell (8-3-3, 6-2-1) in Hockey East action from Gutterson Fieldhouse. Friday and Saturday night's action is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live for free on CollegeSportsLive. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast the action both nights live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620).
 
Friday is VIP Auto Night at the Gut. The first 250 fans will receive a mesh sport bag courtesy of VIP Auto. We would like to thank VIP Auto for being the game night presenting sponsor.
 
RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Press Conferences: Coach Woodcroft | Coach Moser | Carriere | Määttä
Live Stats
Live Video
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TEDDY BEAR TOSS PRESENTED BY TD BANK FRIDAY NIGHT
Friday night is our annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by TD Bank. Bring your new and unused teddy bears to donate to the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington, Maple Ridge Assisted Living and Memory Care and the Lund Family Center. Members of the women's hockey team and the Ice Cats will be helping collect the bears.
 
DEE PT GREAT DIAPER DUMP SATURDAY NIGHT
On Saturday evening, we will be collecting diapers for the 2021 Dee PT Great Diaper Dump in support of VT Kids. Please consider donating diapers to help local families.
 
LENES, MITCHELL BACK AT THE GUT SATURDAY WITH SCOTT GOMEZ
Pete Lenes '09, Torrey Mitchell '07 and their friend and former NHLer Scott Gomez will be at the Gut Saturday evening with a special intermission presentation on tap.
 
CARRIERE NAMED HOCKEY EAST GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore goaltender Gabe Carriere was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Week Monday. He stopped 73 of the 74 shots he faced this past weekend at Maine as the Catamounts earned four points in Orono. Friday night he earned his first career shutout making 23 saves in a 1-0 win. Then on Saturday he made 50 saves in UVM's 1-1 tie, that was eventually won in the shootout after three additional shootout saves that don't count formally for stats. Carriere's 50-save performance is tied with Michigan State's Pierce Charleson for the most by a goaltender in a single game this season.
 
IT ALL STARTS AT THE DOT
Vermont is eighth in the NCAA and first in Hockey East winning 53.6% of their faceoffs. First year Simon Jellus has won 59.3% of his draws and classmate Joel Määttä has won 52.9% of his faceoffs.

MÄÄTTÄ NAMED TO FINNISH WORLD JUNIOR TEAM
Vermont first year forward Joel Määttä was announced Wednesday morning to the 25-player roster for the Finland National Junior Team. Määttä and his teammates will represent Finland at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship set for Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, from Dec. 26, 2021 – Jan. 5, 2022. 
 
Finland will compete in Group A of the tournament with Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria. The Finns open the tournament on December 26 facing Germany at 12 p.m. (ET) The top-four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday, January 2. All games of the 2022 World Junior Championship will air live in the United States on the NHL Network.
 
MÜNZENBERGER SUSPENDED FOR FRIDAY'S ACTION
Hockey East announced on Monday that first year defenseman Luca Münzenberger would serve a one-game suspension Friday night for an incident that occurred in the third period against Maine on Saturday. It will be the first game this season that the Edmonton Oilers draft pick is out of the lineup.
 
PATRICK SHARP '02 MAKES HIS DEBUT BEHIND THE BENCH
With Assistant Coach Stephen Wiedler at the Division I World Juniors with Norway UVM's Advisor to the Coaching Staff Patrick Sharp '02 is allowed by NCAA rules to be on the ice and bench with the team in his absence. The 16-season NHL vet with three Stanley Cups and 620 career points will make his debut behind the bench this weekend against UMass Lowell.
 
Sharp wore the green and gold for the Catamounts from 2000-2002 finishing with 53 points in 65 NCAA games. A 2001 third-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, he turned pro following his sophomore campaign. 
 
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
The River Hawks enter the weekend in a tie for second place in Hockey East with Providence. Last weekend UML earned a tie and a shootout win in a two-game series with No. 12 UMass. This season UMass Lowell is 3-3-0 on the road.
 
Senior goaltender Owen Savory was named the Stop It Goaltending Goaltender of the Month in Hockey East for October and November. He has the fifth lowest goals-against average in the NCAA at 1.38 and the fifth highest save percentage at .944. In 10 games this season he is 7-1-2 and has given up just 14 goals.
 
Junior forward Andre Lee leads the team in scoring this season with nine goals, eight of them have of come in league play. Last season he was also the teams' top-scorer with seven goals. Classmate and fellow forward Carl Berglund leads the team in scoring with 12 points this season on a team-high 10 assists.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Catamounts are 16-35-8 all-time against the River Hawks and 10-18-5 at home facing UML. The River Hawks are 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings with the Catamounts. Last season Vermont faced UML in its final three games of the season. The River Hawks swept UVM by scores of 3-1 and 3-2 on Senior Weekend presented by the UVM Alumni Association and then ousted UVM in the Opening Round of the Hockey East Playoffs at the Tsongas Center 5-3.

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