LOWELL, Mass. – Henry Welsch made 25 saves including 13 in the first period as he earned his second shutout of the season leading made #17 UMass Lowell to a 2-0 win over Vermont Saturday evening in Hockey East action from the Tsongas Center.

RELATED LINKS
Box Score | Highlights
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Offense continues to elude us nine games in but we are proud of the compete we showed today," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "That was a great bounce back game from Friday evening - we followed the game plan perfectly and while we didn't score we played the way we want to play. That was a good building block for us going into our UNH series next week. Our continued focus will be on scoring and power play. But I am proud of our effort tonight."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a scoreless opening frame with several instances of sustained UVM pressure the River Hawks opened the scoring 4:04 into the second period. UMass Lowell's forecheck forced a turnover at the UVM blue line and Blake Wells was able to find Zach Kaiser cutting down the opposite wing. Kaiser snapped a wrist shot past UVM's Oskar Autio for his third goal of the season.
• The Catamounts best opportunity at an equalizer in the second period came on a four-on-two rush in transition. Isak Walther was looking for Joel Maatta with a cross-crease pass but Maatta was taken out from behind by a UML defender before he could redirect the puck on goal.
• Ryan Brushett added an insurance marker for the River Hawks 6:42 into the third period. Owen Cole skated into the Vermont zone and the Catamounts defense shut off his path and deflected the puck away from him. Unfortunately for Vermont it went right to Brushett and he skated into the slot and fired a shot just under Autio's arm for his first goal of the season.
• UMass Lowell's Henry Welsch made four key saves in the final moments to preserve his shutout.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Graduate goaltender Oskar Autio made 28 saves Saturday night, a new Vermont high for the Penn State transfer.
• Graduate defenseman Eric Gotz blocked a game-high three shots for the Catamounts.
• The Catamounts defense corps supplied 10 of Vermont's 25 shots on goal tonight. Joe Leahy had a team-high three shots on goal. 

UP NEXT
Vermont returns home next weekend for a two-game set against New Hampshire. The Catamounts and Wildcats will renew acquaintances at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 11 and Saturday.
 
Friday is the Catamounts annual, Military Appreciation Game presented by Milton CAT. We encourage fans to visit with our friends from Josh Pallotta Fund, a local non-profit providing critical services to veterans and active military personnel. As a thank you to those that have served or are currently serving, all military personnel will receive a complimentary ticket to the game with a valid military ID. 
 
The team will be wearing special edition Military Appreciation jerseys that will be auctioned off online starting at puck drop. The online auction will go live on November 11 at 7 p.m. and will close on November 18 at 7 p.m. When the auction goes live, you can visit uvmathletics.com/auctions to place your bids. Proceeds from the jersey auction will benefit the Josh Pallotta Fund.
 
Both contests from Gutterson Fieldhouse 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