BURLINGTON, Vt. – Three different skaters found the scoresheet for Maine Friday night as they rallied from behind to defeat Vermont 3-1 in Hockey East action on Widewail Night at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The loss snapped the Catamounts four-game home winning streak, its longest since 2017.
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COACH'S QUOTE
"The only positive for us is that we could not have played worse than we did," Head Coach
Todd Woodcroft said. "For 40 minutes, we were outworked and lost races to pucks battles that we should have won. If we had healthy bodies and any depth there would be many lineup changes for tomorrow. We will put that poor effort behind us and try to get back to our identity tomorrow night."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Black Bears came out of the gate with a jump in their step. They outshot Vermont 14-3 in the early going but UVM's Gabe Carriere kept things knotted at zero with some solid saves.
- With 1:29 to go in the first Will Zapernick drew a UVM power play with some hard work in the corner. The Catamounts capitalized on the opportunity. From behind the net Andrei Buyalskly centered out front and Eric Gotz one-timed his second goal of the season past Maine's Victor Ostman.
- The Black Bears equalized 1:41 into the second period. Grayson Arnott fed a stretch pass to Reid Pabich and Pabich cut down the wing alone on Carriere. Pabich fired a wrist shot blocker side past Carriere for his first career goal.
- With 7:59 to go in the second period Donavan Villeneuve-Houle gave Maine the lead with his first goal of the season. Brandon Hold found Villeneuve-Houle along the boards and he was able to step into a shot through traffic that found the back of the net.
- Cole Hanson added an empty-netter with two seconds left in regulation to seal the Black Bears win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Gabe Carriere made 38 saves between the pipes for the Catamounts. In four career games against the Black Bears Carriere has stopped 125 of the 129 shots he's faced, good for a .968 save percentage.
- Graduate defenseman Robbie Stucker led the way with a game-high four blocked shots Friday night.
- With tonight's 3-1 decision, Community Bank N.A. will donate $75 to Special Olympics Vermont. Community Bank, N.A. donates $75 per goal to Special Olympics Vermont for every goal the men's and women's team scores this season.
UP NEXT
The Catamounts and Black Bears are back it tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. as they close out the weekend set. The radio voice of the Catamounts Adam LaFleur will have the call on WVMT. The Zero Gravity Craft Brewing Pregame Show starts at 4:30 p.m.
Saturday's action like all home games will air on ESPN+. It 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.
Fans are encouraged to bring in a non-perishable food item to support the Vermont Foodbank, and everyone that does will receive a box of Keurig coffee and have the opportunity to be entered to win a Keurig coffee machine. All fans who purchase a ticket online in advance of Saturday's game will automatically be entered to win a season pass to Smugglers' Notch! Winners will be announced during the game. Finally, on Saturday there will be free pizza to the first 250 students, thanks to Little Caesars.
Save the date for Rally's Birthday Bash presented by Healthy Living! Our #1 fan is having an enormous birthday party and everyone is invited! The celebration is scheduled for Sunday, December 11, from 3-4 p.m. in the east court indoor track and will continue throughout the game at 4 p.m. vs. Dartmouth. Bring in a new toy for Rally to donate to local families in need! All kids 12 and younger can receive a free ticket to the game at the Gutterson Ticket Office. The ticket office will open at 3 p.m., one hour before puck drop.
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2022-23 men's hockey season
