BURLINGTON, Vt. – Maine's Jakub Sirota had a goal and two assists Saturday night leading the Black Bears in a 5-1 win over Vermont from Gutterson Fieldhouse in Hockey East action. With the win Maine improved to 5-8-1 this season while the Catamounts fell to 5-11-1.
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Last night, in a 3-1 game with an empty netter, I felt we were outworked and looked disjointed," Head Coach
Todd Woodcroft said. "Tonight, I thought we pushed back and even through some more in-game injuries (forcing us to play shorthanded again), we competed way harder. Tomorrow will be a work day for the players to get ready for Dartmouth."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Black Bears opened the scoring Saturday night with a point shot from Maine's Grayson Arnott. With traffic in front of Vermont's Gabe Carriere he never saw the shot before it found the back of the net. Samuel Duerr and Didrik Henbrant earned assists on the tally.
- 4:12 into the second period Donavan Villeneuve-Houle gave the Black Bears a two-goal lead with his second goal of the weekend set. In transition on a two-on-two Villeneuve-Houle looked pass and then fired a wicked wrist shot just under the bar.
- At the 6:06 mark Carter Long brought the Catamounts back into the game. Long carried the puck through the neutral zone and dumped the puck in at the blue line as three Black Bears converged on him. The fluttering puck bounced just in front of Maine's Victor Ostman and it fooled him and bounced in for Long's third goal of the season.
- Seconds later with momentum on their side Jens Richards almost equalized in the slot but his shot rang off the crossbar.
- 50 seconds after Richards hit iron Maine reestablished its two-goal advantage with Ben Poisson's second goal of the season. Poisson redirected a Sirota point-shot from the slot to make it 3-1 with 12:11 left in the middle frame.
- Poisson added another tally for the Black Bears with eight minutes left in the second frame on the power play. Following Poisson's third of the season Oskar Autio came on in relief of Carriere.
- Sirota closed out the scoring for Maine with his second goal of the season with 7:54 left in the third period.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- With tonight's 5-1 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.
- Gabe Carriere finished the night with 12 saves while Oskar Autio made 14 saves including 11 in the third period.
UP NEXT
Following the exam break the Catamounts will renew their rivalry against Dartmouth as they host the Big Green on Sunday, December 11 at 4 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 3:30 p.m.
Next Sunday'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.
Next weekend is 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 from 3-4 p.m. in the east court indoor track and will continue throughout the game at 4 p.m. 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
