MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont (9-8-1) men's hockey team begins a stretch of 16 Hockey East games in 56 days to close out the regular season this weekend in Boston as they travel to historic Matthews Arena for a two-game series with Northeastern (6-10-2).
Friday's contest is the Hockey East Game of the Week and it will air on NESN with Kevin Gehl and Jonny Lazarus on the call. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. tomorrow night. Then on Saturday night the teams will faceoff again this time at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+. Friday's contest will also be simulcast on ESPN+. As always, the games will also be broadcast live on WVMT with the voice of the Catamounts Adam Lafleur in the Handy Toyota Broadcast Booth.
RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Weekly Press Conference: Coach Wiedler | Bucheler
Watch Live on ESPN+: Friday | Saturday
International Broadcast ($)
Listen Live: WVMT
Live Stats
COACH WIEDLER FEATURED ON NESN BRUINS COVERAGE
Vermont Head Coach
Steve Wiedler was featured on NESN's Boston Bruins pregame show last night. He spoke with Billy Jaffe about the Catamounts resurgence this season and previewed their Hockey East Game of the Week matchup.
CLICK HERE to watch.
BUCHELER LEADING THE BACKLINE
In his last 11 games graduate defenseman and Northeastern transfer Jérémie Bucheler has six goals and eight assists for 14 points. The 14 points have set a new career-high for Bucheler in a single season. Bucheler leads the Catamounts in scoring this season. He is currently on a four-game point streak with two goals and four assists for six points.
Bucheler played in 110 career games over four seasons with the Huskies posting four goals and 24 assists for 28 points.
CARRIERE NAMED HOCKEY EAST GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH
Senior goaltender
Gabe Carriere was named the Stop It Goaltending Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for December. Carriere won five straight games in December for the Catamounts. In the month of December, he was 6-2-0 with a 1.75 GAA and .930 save percentage. Overall Gabe has posted a .922 save percentage which is the second-best mark in Hockey East and the seventh best in the NCAA.
Gabe has started all 18 games for the Catamounts registering 1,080:33 of game action and posting 463 saves. Carriere is the first Catamount to earn Hockey East Goaltender of the Month honors since Stefanos Lekkas '20 in the fall of 2016. As a first year Lekkas won a share of the award in October and November.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
After dropping seven straight league games over October and November the Huskies have rebounded of late. They are 4-3-2 in their last nine games. In the New Year, they've faced stiff competition. On Jan. 6 they tied #5 Quinnipiac 3-3 at home before falling in a shootout. Then on Tuesday night they fell 4-3 in overtime at #2 Boston University.
Senior forward Alex Campbell and sophomore forward Jack Williams lead the Huskies in scoring with 19 points this season. Both have 10 goals and nine assists. Campbell posted a hat trick Dec. 9 against Brown and Campbell matched the feat Dec. 28 against Minnesota Duluth. Williams had a goal and an assist last season against the Catamounts.
First year goaltender and Vegas fourth round pick Cameron Whitehead has started 17 of the Huskies 18 games this season. He has a 6-9-2 record with a goals-against average of 2.80 and a .908 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series with Northeastern is knotted at 35-35-8. UVM is 17-28-1 at Matthews Arena. Vermont's last win at Matthews Arena came in a 3-2 decision October 30, 2016. Last season the Huskies topped the Catamounts three times, including a series sweep at Matthews Arena by scores of 5-2 and 5-0.
The Catamounts last win in the series came on March 1, 2022 a 1-0 shutout at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Current UVM captain
Will Zapernick scored the game-winning goal and
Tyler Harmon '22 made 22 saves in the win.
BACK AT THE GUT TO HOST #2 BOSTON UNIVERSITY JAN. 19-20
Next weekend Vermont will return to the Gut on January 19-20 as they host No. 2 Boston University in a two-game set. Both contests are set for 7 p.m. Get your tickets now by clicking here.
DRAFT CAPITAL
The Catamounts enter the new season with six NHL Draft picks on the roster.
Eli Barnett (San Jose, 2022 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 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. There are eight student-athletes from Ontario alone, including five newcomers this year.
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the UVM men's hockey program
