PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Austin Roden made 20 saves including ten in the first period as he earned his first shutout of the season leading #9 Providence to a 4-0 win over Vermont Friday evening in Hockey East action from Schneider Arena.

RELATED LINKS
Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Excellent first period - one of our best of the year," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "Second period was good until we took a penalty that on the ensuing play was scored on. Third period – down a forward due to the major penalty - we looked tired and disengaged. Winning Hockey East games is hard - playing a top seed is hard. But challenges like Providence are a privilege. We will try to be better tomorrow."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Brett Berard opened the scoring for the Friars 10:01 into the first period. Taige Harding passed the puck down low to Berard in the corner. Berard cut towards Vermont's Gabe Carriere and tried a jam play. Carriere made the initial save but Berard put home his own rebound for his fifth goal of the season.
• Chase Yoder extended the Friars lead to 2-0 with a delayed penalty coming up on Vermont 2:48 into the second period. Bennett Schimek cut around the Vermont defense and transition and fired another low shot on Carriere. Again, he made the initial save but Yoder crashed the net and pushed the puck past Carriere as he made contact with the Vermont goaltender. UVM used its timeout to challenge the play for interference, but the call stood.
• Three minutes later Jaroslav Chmelar made it a three-goal lead. On a two-on-one rush Chmelar went bar down with a wicked wrist shot for his sixth goal of the season.
• With 6:51 to go in the second period Providence's Riley Duran received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit to the head of Dawson Good. On the ensuing power play Joe Leahy rang a shot off the crossbar. The Friars blocked four shots on the UVM power play and Roden made three saves to keep UVM off the board.
• Parker Ford closed out the scoring for the Friars 8:51 into the third period.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Sophomore forward Joel Määttä won 70% of the draws he took Friday evening, going 14 for 20. He is tied for 22nd in the NCAA with 124 faceoff wins.
• Senior captain Jacques Bouquot registered a team high four shots on goal.

UP NEXT
Vermont and Providence will face off again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. The radio voice of the Catamounts Adam LaFleur will have the call on WVMT. The Zero Gravity Craft Brewing Pregame Show starts at 6:30 p.m.
Tomorrow's action like all conference games will air on ESPN+. The games will also be available on a pay-per-view basis internationally at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hockeyeast. Subscriptions to the service are available for $9.99 USD per month or $4.99 USD for individual games.

Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2022-23 men's hockey season