DURHAM, N.H. – The 11th ranked Vermont women's hockey closed out the regular season with a 3-1 win over New Hampshire Saturday afternoon in Hockey East action from the Whittemore Center. For the Catamounts, it was their 21st win of the regular season matching the program record set last year.
 
Vermont will be the two seed in the upcoming Hockey East Women's Tournament while the Wildcats will be the eight seed. The teams seeded 7-10 will faceoff Wednesday night in the Opening Round, the Catamounts will host the highest remaining seed after those two games.

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COACH'S QUOTE
"I'm really proud of the way we played today and closed out the regular season," Head Coach Jim Plumer said. "It was important for us to use this game as a tune up for the playoffs and the entire team was committed to playing smart hockey. This was a total team effort with timely scoring, great goaltending and excellent defense. We are excited to begin the playoffs next weekend."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a tight-checking and scoreless first period the Catamounts opened the scoring 2:08 into the second frame. From right in front of the net Hailey Burns one-timed a cross-ice feed from Ellice Murphy, UNH's Ava Boutilier made the initial save but Evelyne Blais-Savoie tapped the rebound home for her 13th goal of the season.
• Natálie Mlynková doubled the Vermont advantage with a highlight reel marker with 9:20 to play in the second. Corinne McCool passed up to Theresa Schafzahl and Mlynková as they entered the UNH zone on a two-on-one. From in front of the net Mlynková stopped on a dime going backhand to forehand completely deking Boutilier out of the net before tucking it home.
• Mlynková put the game out of reach with her 22nd goal of the season with 5:29 to play in regulation. Again, she took a feed from Schafzahl, this time she shot-faked a defender in the slot and cut to her left before rifling a shot bar down to make it 3-0. Sini Karjalainen earned the secondary assist on the play.
• With 2:55 to play Emily Rickwood got the Wildcats on the board. She one-timed a slap shot from the point that deflected off a UVM defender right in front and past the Catamounts Jessie McPherson (20 saves).
• In the final 86 seconds of play McPherson made two saves and her defenders blocked four shots to preserve the win for the Catamounts.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Natálie Mlynková's second tally was her 22nd of the season. She is now second in the single-season record book. Theresa Schafzahl's 25 goals last season is the record. Mlynková tied and passed Amanda Pelkey's (2013-14) mark of 21 this afternoon.
• Theresa Schafzahl (2 Ast) and Sini Karjalainen (1 Ast) matched the program record for assists in a single season with 23 this afternoon. The duo matched the mark of Brittany Zuback (2013-14) and Alyssa Holmes (2021-22).
• Sara Levesque blocked a game-high three shots Saturday. As a team Vermont blocked 20 shots, their second-highest output of the 2022-23 campaign.
• With today's 3-1 decision, Community Bank N.A. will donate $225 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.
• With this afternoon's win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to King Street Center as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $80,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.  

UP NEXT
Vermont will host a Hockey East Quarterfinal at Gutterson Fieldhouse for the third consecutive season on Saturday, February 25 at 1 p.m. The Catamounts will host either Boston University, New Hampshire or Holy Cross pending Wednesday's Opening Round results.
 
Tickets are available now at https://go.uvm.edu/23qtr. Youth players 12 and under will receive free admission if they're wearing a jersey. Like all regular season action in Hockey East the opening round, quarterfinals and semifinals will air live on ESPN+. The Hockey East Championship is scheduled for Saturday, March 4 at noon and the game will air live nationally on ESPNU. The quarterfinal will also be available on a pay-per-view basis outside of North America 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.

The Windjammer Inn and Conference Center is the presenting sponsor of the UVM women's hockey program