MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont (3-13-2, 2-6-2) men's hockey team plays its first home game of 2022 tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. as they host No. 12 Northeastern (15-5-1, 7-3-1) in Hockey East action. Tuesday is the Vermont National Country Club Gamenight. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast the action live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620).
 
Tuesday evening will be the men's hockey debut of "Hockey Night in Vermont" a new partnership with WCAX. Tuesday night's game will air on WYCI in the Burlington area. WYCI is available on the following channels Comcast – 712, Burlington Telecom - 284, Dish Network - 34, DirecTV 40, and Spectrum – 706/1230. For fans, outside of the local viewing area the game will still be streamed for free through CollegeSportsLive.
 
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MÄÄTTÄ FEATURED BY WCAX
First year Joel Määttä sat down with WCAX's Jake Stansell to discuss his first season with the Catamounts, his experience with the Finnish national junior team and his career aspirations. Click here to watch.
 
IT ALL STARTS AT THE DOT
Vermont is ninth in the NCAA and third in Hockey East winning 53.5% of their faceoffs. First year Simon Jellus has won 61.3% of his draws and graduate transfer Philip Lagunov has won 52.0% of his draws, winning 186 this season. Lagunov's 186 wins place him 50th in the NCAA this season.
 
FAST STARTS KEY FOR THE CATAMOUNTS
Vermont has scored 16 of its 31 goals this season in the first period. It is also the Catamounts best period defensively, they are averaging just 8.6 shots against in the opening twenty minutes of the contest.
 
DISCIPLINE A PRIORITY
The Catamounts are one of the most disciplined teams in college hockey this season. Their 155 penalty minutes is sixth fewest in the NCAA this season. In seven games this season UVM has committed six minutes or less of penalties. On December 30 against RPI the Catamounts didn't commit any infractions. It was their first game without a penalty taken in over 20 years. Vermont has also just given up two goals while shorthanded over their last 23 penalties.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
The Huskies are ranked 12th in the country and sit in third place in Hockey East with 23 points. Northeastern's record of 15-4-1 through 20 games marked the best start in program history through 20 games. Northeastern had an eight-game unbeaten streak snapped by Arizona State a week ago in a 6-2 loss against the Sun Devils.
 
Junior forward Aidan McDonough leads the team in scoring with 15 goals and six assists for 21 points in 20 games this season. His 15 goals are second in Hockey East and tied for fifth in the NCAA. Three of his goals have been game-winners.
 
The Huskies have the best save-percentage in the NCAA, with their goaltenders stopping 95% of the shots faced. Sophomore Devon Levi, Canada's starter at the 2021 World Juniors has led that effort. He is 15-5-1 this season and has posted eight shutouts. His .953 save percentage is the best in the NCAA this season.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Catamounts lead the all-time series with Northeastern 34-30-8. Vermont is 17-5-7 at home against the Huskies. After Tuesday's game UVM will have hosted the Huskies in the last five meetings between the two teams. Vermont's last game at Matthews Arena was February 16, 2019. Last season the Huskies defeated UVM 4-1 on December 26, then the teams played to a 2-2 tie on the 27th. Northeastern won the additional league point in a shootout.
 
THE ST. LOUIS NAME RETURNS TO THE GUT
Tomorrow night will be the first time Ryan St. Louis visits Gutterson Fieldhouse with Northeastern. The first year forward, Catamount legend Martin St. Louis's eldest son, was actually born in Burlington, Vermont. Ryan has played in 21 games this season. He scored his first-career collegiate goal against New Hampshire on November 5.
 
His father is the all-time leading scorer at Vermont with 267 career points. He was a three-time first team All-American and led the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances including the program's first-ever Frozen Four in 1996. Following his time at UVM he was a Stanley Cup Champion, Olympic gold medalist and was the NHL's Hart Trophy winner in 2004 given to the league MVP. On January 8, 2016, he became the first player in program history with his number retired in the rafters at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The veteran of 1,134 NHL games become the first UVM alum inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. 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.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2021-22 men's hockey season