The Vermont men's hockey team will begin play in the 38th annual Men's Hockey East Tournament Wednesday night from Alfond Arena as the Catamounts face the six-seed Maine at 7 p.m. in the Opening Round. It will be the Catamounts first-ever postseason game at Alfond Arena. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will broadcast all 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.
 
RELATED LINKS
Game Notes (.pdf)
Listen Live on the Varsity Network App
Live Stats
Live Video: ESPN+ | International Streaming ($)
Tickets
 
CARRIERE NAMED HEA GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Junior goaltender Gabe Carriere was named Stop It Goaltending Goaltender of the Week by Hockey East on Monday. Carriere made 35 saves in Vermont's come from behind 3-2 win at New Hampshire last Thursday. Carriere has eight wins on the season and he has made 30 or more saves seven times this year.
 
WALTHER LEADING THE WAY FOR VERMONT
Sophomore forward and Nashville Predators draft pick Isak Walther leads the team in scoring this season with eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points. In Vermont's last 12 games Walther has five goals and three assists for eight points.
 
SCOUTING MAINE
The Black Bears were one of the stories of the second half of the season compiling a record of 6-1-3 between January 27 and February 25. However, last weekend with playoff positioning on the line UMass swept the Black Bears at Alfond Arena by scores of 5-2 and 4-3. At home this season they are 11-6-1, they only time they lost two in a row at home was last weekend.
 
Junior captain Lynden Breen leads the Black Bears with 19 goals and 34 points this season. Against Vermont in December he picked up two assists. Victor Ostman has seen the majority of action between the pipes for Maine. He is 14-11-4 including two wins over the Catamounts. He stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced in December against Vermont.
 
Maine will be looking to win its first postseason game since sweeping New Hampshire in the 2018 Opening Round best-of-three series. In 2020 the Black Bears were set to host UConn in the quarterfinals before the tournament was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 they lost 7-2 at home to UNH in the Opening Round and last year they fell 6-2 at Merrimack in first round.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series between Maine and Vermont is knotted at 31-31-8. The Black Bears evened the series with two wins at Gutterson Fieldhouse in December. The Catamounts are 12-12-4 on the road against the Black Bears. During the 2021-22 campaign in Orono the Catamounts won 1-0 in overtime with a Cory Babichuk tally and then the next night UVM claimed a win in the shootout (following a 1-1 tie) backed by a career-high 50 saves by Gabe Carriere. Todd Woodcroft earned his first collegiate win at Vermont in a 5-4 decision over Maine at the Gut on January 8, 2020.
 
In the postseason Vermont is 4-1 all-time against the Black Bears, with all five matchups taking place at Gutterson Fieldhouse and all five games taking place in Hockey East's Opening Round.
 
CATAMOUNTS IN THE HEA OPENING ROUND
Vermont is 8-5 all-time in Hockey East's first round, with a 5-1 record at Gutterson Fieldhouse and a 3-4 record on the road. The format has shifted from one-game to a best-of-three series and back to a single-game, the Catamounts have made seven appearances total in the Opening Round advancing four times to the Quarterfinals. Vermont's last appearance in the Hockey East Quarterfinals came in 2017. Vermont defeated Maine 5-0 and 5-1 in the Opening Round at Gutterson Fieldhouse before falling 7-0 and 7-4 at Boston College.
 
SIZE MATTERS
The Catamounts as a team have an average height of 6'1.6" which makes them the tallest team in college hockey. Boston University (6'0.9") is the only other team in Hockey East in the top-10. Vermont is also fourth in the NCAA in average weight at 191.0 pounds.
 
DRAFT CAPITAL
The Catamounts enter the new season with six NHL Draft picks on the roster. Robbie Stucker (Columbus, 2017 7th Rd.), Andrei Buyalsky (Colorado, 2021 3rd Rd.), Luca Münzenberger (Edmonton, 2021 3rd Rd.), Isak Walther (Nashville, 2019 6th Rd.), Timofei Spitserov (San Jose, 2020 7th Rd.) and Joel Määttä (Edmonton, 2022 7th Rd.) are sure to bring added NHL attention to the program this season.
 
GUT HOCKEY GOES INTERNATIONAL
The Vermont roster is comprised of student-athletes from nine different countries. There is at least one player from Finland, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada and the United States.
 
NEW SEASON, NEW JERSEYS
This season the Vermont men's and women's hockey teams are wearing new jerseys by Gemini Athletic Wear. Replica versions of the new men's road green jerseys are available now through the UVM Bookstore - https://go.uvm.edu/newgreen.
 
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2022-23 men's hockey season