NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – No. 16 Merrimack scored twice in the first period on their way to a 4-1 win over Vermont Saturday night at Lawler Rink which clinched the Warriors best-ever finish in Hockey East as they earned the two-seed in the upcoming Hockey East Tournament. Vermont closed out the regular season with a record of 10-19-5. The Catamounts will travel to Maine on Wednesday for a Hockey East Opening Round tilt. It will be Vermont's first-ever playoff game in Orono.

RELATED LINKS
Box Score
Highlights
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Not a game we will want to watch again," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "We were flat. We had one line and only a few D performing tonight. Tomorrow will be a work day. Monday and Tuesday will be spent getting ready for Maine on Wednesday."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Warriors opened the scoring 5:07 into the first period. A bad bounce off a Vermont skate led to a two-on-two down low in front of Oskar Autio. The Catamounts were able to deflect the puck off Slava Demin's stick but it came right to Alex Jefferies who had an empty net to deposit his team-leading 14th goal of the season.
• Ben Brar extended the Warriors lead to two at the 10:35 mark of the first period. From the top of the slot Brar fired a shot that was partially deflected by a UVM defender but the redirection trickled just past Autio as he moved to adjust to the change of direction.
• With 5:57 to play in the middle frame Zach Bookman made it a three-goal lead with his third goal of the season. Matt Copponi kept the puck in at the line and Bookman was given a little time and space and he skated into the slot. As Bookman skated to his left he fired back to the right and beat Autio.
• In the final minutes of the second period Timofei Spitserov just missed putting the Catamounts on the board. Spitserov one-timed a cross-ice feed from William Lemay off the crossbar with 3:33 remaining in the second.
• Joel Määttä did cut the lead to two for Vermont 5:45 into the final frame. Määttä took a feed from Ralfs Bergmanis in the UVM zone and took off. He skated past two Merrimack defenders in the neutral zone and then split the Warriors defense before going backhand to forehand and roofing a shot off the bar and in to make it 3-1. Will Zapernick also assisted on Määttä's seventh goal of the season.
• Just 51 seconds later Merrimack regained its lead with Hugo Esselin's second of the season to put the game out of reach.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Alternate captain Will Zapernick blocked a game-high three shots for the Catamounts Saturday.
• Joel Määttä led all Catamounts with three shots on goal.
• Oskar Autio made 28 saves between the pipes for Vermont, Autio has made 28 saves or more for Vermont in each of his last five starts.
• With tonight's 4-1 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
Vermont will face the six-seed Maine in the Hockey East Tournament Opening Round Wednesday, March 8 at 7 p.m. The action will be broadcast live on ESPN+ from Alfond Arena. 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. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast the action from the Handy Toyota Broadcast Booth on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620). As always, the game will also be available on the Varsity Network App.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2022-23 men's hockey season