WOMEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The 11th ranked Catamounts will host a Hockey East Semifinal for the second consecutive season Wednesday night. The two-seed in Hockey East Vermont will host the three-seed Providence at 7:30 p.m. from Gutterson Fieldhouse. Tickets are available now at https://go.uvm.edu/semi. Youth ages 12 and under will receive a free ticket when they wear their favorite jersey to the game.
 
Wednesday's matchup will air live on ESPN+ with Rob Ryan on the call. The game will also be available internationally at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hockeyeast. Wednesday's semifinal contests will both be available for free to international viewers.
 
RELATED LINKS
Buy Tickets
CatamounTV Weekly Press Conference: Coach Plumer | Beecher
Live Stats
Live Video: ESPN+ | International Streaming (FREE)
 
BEECHER, PLUMER & SCHAFZAHL NAMED FINALISTS FOR MAJOR HEA AWARDS
On Tuesday Hockey East announced the finalists for its major awards. Head Coach Jim Plumer was named a finalist for Coach of the Year, he has won the award twice before in 2014 and 2022.
 
Theresa Schafzahl was named a finalist for the Cammi Granato Award given to the Hockey East Player of the Year. She is looking to join Kelli Stack, Alex Carpenter, Megan Keller and Alina Mueller has the only multi-time winners of the award in league history.
 
Lara Beecher was named a finalist for the Pro Ambitions Hockey East Rookie of the Year award. UVM is looking to win the award for the second time in three seasons after Jessie McPherson earned the honor in 2021.
 
McPHERSON SHUTS DOWN FRIARS
This season Providence was only shutout three times, two of these instances came against Vermont's Jessie McPherson in the span of a week. In three games against Providence McPherson stopped 63 of the 64 shots she faced posting a remarkable 0.33 goals-against average and a .984 save percentage. In her career, she is 6-0-0 against the Friars and has never given up more than one goal in a game.
 
BEECHER BORN TO PLAY PROVIDENCE
Hockey East Rookie of the Year finalist Lara Beecher was outstanding this season against the Friars. In three games, she scored four goals against Providence including two game-winners. On January 6 in a 2-0 Catamounts win she scored both goals for UVM registering her first career two-goal contest.
 
INTERNATIONAL CATAMOUNTS FEATURED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
Natálie Mlýnková, Sini Karjalainen and Tynka Pátková were featured in the New York Times Friday by Alan Blinder. The article covers how Title IX has shaped their hockey careers in the form of opportunities in the United States. Read the full story now at - https://go.uvm.edu/nyt.
 
YOU DON'T WANT TO TRAIL VERMONT
The Catamounts are 14-0-2 this season when leading after the first period and 16-0-0 when leading after two periods. In nine of its 10 losses, this season Vermont has trailed after the opening period.
 
FINISHING STRONG
The Catamounts have been most effective this season during the third period. UVM has outscored its opponents 36-17 in the third and outshot teams 310-242.
 
SINGLE-SEASON ASSIST RECORD FALLS
With assists on Natálie Mlýnková's quarterfinal goal First Team All-Stars Sini Karjalainen and Theresa Schafzahl each set a new single season program record with 24 assists on the campaign. Previously they'd shared the record with Alyssa Holmes (2021-22) and Brittany Zuback (2013-14) at 23.
 
ALL STARTS WITH POSSESSION
The Catamounts are sixth in the NCAA and first in Hockey East winning 55.0% of their faceoffs this season. Natálie Mlýnková has won a team-best 287 draws while Theresa Schafzahl as the best individual percentage on the team at 62.8%. Against the Friars this season Vermont won 85 of the 136 draws, good for 62.5%.
 
SCOUTING THE FRIARS
Providence will be making its 14th semifinal appearance in the Hockey East Tournament Wednesday night. The Friars dispatched Maine 5-2 Saturday in the quarterfinals. Junior defenseman Brooke Becker led the way for Providence with four assists on Saturday. For her efforts, she was named Army ROTC Hockey East Defender of the Week. Her four assists matched a single-game Hockey East Tournament record.
 
The Catamounts are likely to face a new goaltender Wednesday night. After coming on in relief on February 17 against Boston College PC sophomore Hope Walinksi has been between the pipes for the Friars. On February 18, she posted a 33 save shutout at Boston College for her first career collegiate win. In the quarterfinals, she made 30 saves in the PC win over Maine. She has been named Pro Ambitions Hockey East Rookie of the Week each of the last two weeks.

SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday night will be the 62nd all-time meeting between the two teams. Providence leads the series with a record of 34-23-4. However, Vermont has won the last six matchups in the series with a scoring margin of 20-4.
 
In the Hockey East Quarterfinals, last season UVM topped the Friars 4-1 led by two goals and an assist from Theresa Schafzahl on February 26. The Catamounts are 3-1 in postseason play against Providence. The Catamounts won a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Schneider Arena in 2017.
 
Vermont will be seeking to defeat a team for the fourth time in a single season for the second time in program history. During the 2013-14 campaign (UVM's first HEA Semifinal berth) the Catamounts defeated Maine four times, the last of which was a triple OT win in the quarterfinal at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
 
PLAYOFF HISTORY
The Catamounts are 6-16 in their Division I program history in the playoffs. All 11 appearances have come consecutively under Head Coach Jim Plumer. Vermont is 0-1 in program history hosting a semifinal contest, falling 3-1 to UConn last year. Vermont has made three previous semifinal appearances in program history in 2014, 2017 and 2022.

LIFE AS A TWO-SEED IN HOCKEY EAST
Vermont finished as the two-seed in Hockey East for the second time in program history this season. It is UVM's second time higher than the four-seed. In the Hockey East tournament, the two-seed is 25-17 all-time, winning the league championship four times. The last two-seed to claim the league title was Boston University in 2015. The Terriers also won as the two-seed in 2014.
 
KARJALAINEN NAMED HEA DEFENDER OF THE YEAR
Graduate defenseman Sini Karjalainen was named Army ROTC Hockey East Defender of the Year by the league office last. She shares the honor with Northeastern's Megan Carter. Karjalainen is the second Catamount in program history to receive the honor. It is the second straight year that a Husky and Catamount have shared the award after Skylar Fontaine and Maude Poulin-Labelle did so in 2021-22.
 
In 27 league games this season Karjalainen has two goals and 19 assists for 21 points. She also carries a +20 in league action, ninth best in Hockey East and fourth best among defenseman, playing top minutes against teams' top lines all year. Overall this season she has 24 assists, setting a new program single season record.
 
CATAMOUNTS RECEIVE ALL-STAR NODS
Four Catamounts were named to Hockey East's All-Star Teams last week. Sini Karjalainen and Theresa Schafzahl were named First Team All-Stars while Jessie McPherson and Natálie Mlýnková were named Third Team All-Stars. In addition, first year forward Lara Beecher was named to the All-Rookie Team.
 
CZECH-MATES EARN BRONZE
Vermont forwards Tynka Pátková & Natálie Mlýnková earned bronze medals at the 2022 IIHF Women's World Championships in Denmark in September. Czechia defeated Switzerland 4-2 in the bronze medal game behind two goals from Mlýnková. It was Czechia's first-ever medal on the women's side. Former Catamount Blanka Škodová 
was also a member of the team.
 
There were three other current Catamounts in the tournament patrolling the blueline. First year Krista Parkkonen (Finland) made her World Championships debut while Sofie Skott (Denmark) and Sini Karjalainen (Finland) competed in their second World Championship at the senior level.
 
The Windjammer Inn and Conference Center is the presenting sponsor of the UVM women's hockey program