MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont (13-16-3) men's hockey team heads out for their final regular season road trip starting with a Thursday matchup with UConn (13-18-2) at 7 p.m. It will be the Catamounts first-ever trip to the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, which opened last winter. Fans can stream the action live on ESPN+. As always, the game 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 | Richards
Watch Live on ESPN+: Thursday
International Broadcast ($)
Listen Live: WVMT
Live Stats
 
HOME ICE IN OPENING ROUND UP FOR GRABS THURSDAY NIGHT
Vermont and UConn enter Thursday's contest tied for eighth place in Hockey East with 26 points apiece. With a win of any kind – regulation, overtime or shootout the Catamounts will clinch the eight-seed and home-ice in the upcoming Hockey East Tournament which begins Wednesday, March 13. The six, seven and eight seed in HEA host the bottom three teams in the single game Hockey East Opening Round.
 
A UConn regulation win Thursday would give the Huskies the eight-seed and guarantee a UVM/UConn rematch next week in the Opening Round. With an overtime or shootout win by UConn Thursday the Catamounts would be able to earn home-ice with a win (regulation, overtime or shootout) Saturday at #2 Boston University (UVM has a game in hand on UConn, Thursday is Huskies final game of regular season).
 
RICHARDS HAVING HIMSELF A YEAR IN 2024
Since returning from injury on January 6 the Catamounts sophomore forward Jens Richards has been on a scoring tear. Over the last 15 games he has posted six goals and eight assists for 14 points. Overall Richards leads the team in scoring with ten goals and 11 assists for 21 points, all three categories are career-highs for the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota native. Richards is the first Catamount to reach the 20-point plateau since Max Kaufman had 21 points in the 2018-19 campaign.
 
BUCHELER LEADING THE BACKLINE
Graduate defenseman and Northeastern transfer Jérémie Bucheler has six goals and 11 assists for 17 points. The 17 points have set a new career-high for Bucheler in a single season.
 
MIOTTO FILLING UP THE NET WHEN IT MATTERS
Graduate forward Ryan Miotto is second on the team with nine goals this season. He also has a team-high three game-winning goals. He posted the game-winner against UMass (12/1), Union (12/9) and St. Thomas (12/29) all in home games. Vermont is 5-2-0 in games he scores in this season. His 17 points (9 Gl, 10 Ast) are tied for second-best on the team.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Since February 1 the Huskies are 2-6-0 in Hockey East action and have been outscored 30-10 in those matchups. Last weekend UConn split a weekend set with Northeastern. UConn rode a Matthew Wood hat trick on Friday at Matthews Arena to a 4-3 win before falling 4-2 at home on Saturday.
 
Wood is tied for the team lead in scoring for the Huskies with 11 goals and 11 assists with junior forward Chase Bradley. Wood had two goals and an assist in the two matchups at Gutterson Fieldhouse earlier this season. The Huskies are just 5-11-0 this season at home, their last two league home wins came in two 2-0 shutouts over UMass Lowell (Dec. 1) and Maine (Jan. 13).
 
SERIES HISTORY
Vermont leads the overall series 26-13-1 with UConn, although the Huskies have won four of the last five contests. The Catamounts first-ever win against a team currently in Hockey East came against the Huskies. On December 27, 1963, in their inaugural campaign Vermont defeated the Huskies 11-2.
 
Vermont's last win at UConn came on March 4, 2022 in a 5-3 win at the XL Center. Will Zapernick and Joel Määttä each had a goal and an assist in that contest. It was Määttä's first career multi-point game.
 
CATAMOUNTS LIKE TO GET AHEAD
10 of the Catamounts 13 wins this season have come when they have scored first. Vermont is 9-1-0 this season when leading after the first period and 12-1-0 when leading after the second period.
 
INTERIM TAG DROPPED, COACH WIEDLER SIGNS 4-YEAR EXTENSION
Two weeks ago, UVM Athletics announced a four-year extension for Head Coach Steve Wiedler. Wiedler took over the program on an interim basis on July 18, 2023 and has led the Catamounts this season to a 13-16-3 record including four wins over ranked opponents and a current Pairwise ranking of 27th in the country. The Catamounts are on pace for their best-offensive season since 2016-17.
 
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