WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross' Matt Guerra scored the game-winning goal on the power play with 6:46 left in regulation to lift the Crusaders to a 4-3 win over Vermont in the Catamounts first-ever game at the Hart Center Rink Tuesday night.
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"We were not good enough for 60 minutes," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "We were not good enough today in general. A selfish penalty at the end cost us the chance to win. These issues will be addressed in practice and in lineup decisions."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Robbie Stucker opened the scoring for the Catamounts just 11 seconds into the contest. Off the opening faceoff Stucker entered the zone and fired a hard-low wrist shot on Holy Cross' Thomas Gale. Gale made the initial save but Stucker followed his shot and tucked home the rebound for his third goal of the season. Cory Babichuk and Philip Lagunov earned assists on the opening goal.
• Holy Cross' Liam Connors equalized for the Crusaders at the 5:25 mark of the first period. He notched his first career goal with a wrist shot from the top of the slot that beat UVM's Tyler Harmon through heavy traffic.
• 41 seconds later the Crusaders took the lead with a fortuitous bounce in front of the net. Ryan Leibold centered a pass from behind the net that bounced off a UVM skater and found the back of the net.
• With 9:26 to left in the opening period Lagunov scored on the power play to tie things at two. Andrew Lucas fired a wrist shot from the point that deflected off Lagunov in front and found the back of the net. Simon Jellus earned the secondary assist on the tally.
• Vermont took the lead midway through the second period off a cleanly won offensive zone faceoff by Lagunov. Jacques Bouquot quickly fed the puck to Lucas at the point. Lucas fired a point shot that deflected off traffic in front and trickled through the legs of Gale 9:45 into the middle frame.
• Holy Cross' Anthony Vincent tied things up at three with 1:27 left in the second period. Leibold centered a feed that caromed off the side of the net and right to Vincent in the slot. Vincent fired the puck just under the crossbar for his first goal of the season.
• Vermont outshot Holy Cross 10-3 over the first eight minutes of the third period but couldn't find the go-ahead goal.
• The Crusaders struck with 6:46 to go on the power play to take the lead back at 4-3. In transition, the puck found its way to Guerra in the slot and he one-timed a shot past Harmon. Leibold picked up his third point of the night with an assist on the goal.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• For the second straight game junior captain Andrew Lucas led all Catamounts with five shots on goal. He also led Vermont with three blocked shots.
• Philip Lagunov's three-point game pushed his team leading point total to 12.
• This year with each goal scored by UVM, Community Bank, N.A.  will donate $75 to Special Olympics Vermont. With tonight's three goals, Community Bank, N.A. will be adding a donation of $225 to Special Olympics Vermont. Thank you Community Bank, N.A. for your support of our UVM and Special Olympics athletes!

WHO'S NEXT
The Catamounts return to action on the weekend of January 14-15 as they host No. 11 Northeastern at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturday night. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast the action live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620) live streaming will be available on CollegeSportsLive.
 
Saturday night is Rally's birthday party. Join us for a postgame skate with the men's and women's hockey team to celebrate our favorite mascot's birthday. It is also Poster Day presented by UVM Print & Mail.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2021-22 men's hockey season