MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont (3-12-2, 2-6-2) men's hockey team plays its first game of 2022 tomorrow night at 7 p.m. as they travel to face Holy Cross (4-13-1, 3-6-1) in non-conference action. It will be the first time in program history UVM has played a regular season contest in Worcester, Massachusetts. 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 on FloHockey.TV. A subscription to FloHockey.TV is $12.50 a month.
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PENALTY FREE END TO 2021
In the Catamounts, final game of 2021 last Thursday against RPI, UVM didn't commit a single penalty. It was the first time since at least the 2002-03 season where UVM played a contest without committing an infraction. Since November 20, a span of eight games, UVM has been 21-for-23 on its penalty kill, good for 91.3%.
IT ALL STARTS AT THE DOT
Vermont is 10th in the NCAA and third in Hockey East winning 53.7% of their faceoffs. First year
Simon Jellus has won 62.1% of his draws and classmate Joel Määttä has won 51.9% of his faceoffs. Together the first year pair has won 189 draws for the Catamounts. Jellus won 11 of the 12 draws he took last Thursday against RPI.
FAST STARTS KEY FOR THE CATAMOUNTS
Vermont has scored 14 of its 28 goals this season in the first period. It is also the Catamounts best period defensively, they are averaging just 8.4 shots against in the opening twenty minutes of the contest.
SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
Holy Cross has been off since December 3-4, when they split a weekend series with Niagara. Tuesday night will be the Crusaders fifth matchup of the season against a Hockey East opponent. Thus far Holy Cross is 0-4-0 against the conference, although their losses to Merrimack and UNH (OT) came by one goal. The Crusaders are 4-13-1 this season but five of their losses have been to ranked opponents and five have been one-goal decisions. Holy Cross is 1-2-1 against Merychurst this season in Atlantic Hockey play. The Catamounts defeated the Lakers 4-2 in an exhibition tilt on October 2.
Senior forward Ryan Leibold leads the team in scoring with five goals and ten assists for 15 points this season. Sophomore Lucas Thorne and junior Grayson Constable are tied atop the team with six goals apiece.
SERIES HISTORY
Vermont is 2-0-1 in three all-time matchups with Holy Cross. All three contests have been played at Gutterson Fieldhouse. In 1978 UVM defeated the Crusaders 8-3, in 2000 they prevailed 10-2 and in the last meeting the teams tied 1-1 in 2007.
In the December 2, 2000 meeting Ryan Cox '02 tied the program record for shorthanded goals in a game with two. He scored twice in the same shift shorthanded.
CATAMOUNT HISTORY IN WORCESTER
Tuesday night will mark the second time the Catamounts have played in Worcester in program history. On March 21, 1997 UVM fell 6-3 to Denver in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament in Worcester. It marked the final game in the green and gold for future Stanley Cup Champions – Eric Perrin, Martin.
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
