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Amid a five-game winning streak Vermont (8-8-3, 3-4-2 HEA) begins a stretch of 15 Hockey East games in 57 days to close out the regular season with a two-game series at No. 13 Boston University (9-7-1, 5-3-1 HEA) this weekend. The teams will faceoff at Agganis Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday night and 5 p.m. on Saturday. Both contests will air live on ESPN+ and the games will also be broadcast on WVMT with the voice of the Catamounts Adam LaFleur in the Handy Toyota Broadcast Booth.
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STRAND NAMED HEA AND NATIONAL ROOKIE OF THE MONTH FOR DECEMBER
- Strand is the first men's player at Vermont to receive a monthly honor from the Hockey Commissioner's Association.
- No rookie in the country had more points in December than Strand, who recorded a point in each of the Catamount's six games.
- He racked up four goals and three assists to help Vermont end 2024 on a four-game winning streak.
- He also led all first-year players nationally with two power-play goals and his 31 faceoff wins were seventh among NCAA rookies and first among his classmates in Hockey East.
FIRST YEARS PRODUCING EARLY ON FOR UVM
- Two of the top three scorers for the Catamounts are first years.
- Max Strand leads the team in scoring with 18 points on six goals and a team high 12 assists. Colin Kessler isn't far behind, producing 15 points on a team-high six goals and nine assists.
- Strand has recorded a point in eight straight games, tallying five goals and five assists. Strand hasn't gone longer than two games this season without recording a point or more.
SPECIAL TEAMS HELPING LEAD WAY
- The Catamounts are ranked third in Hockey East, 11th in the NCAA with an 87.7% penalty kill this season.
- Vermont has scored 13 powerplay goals in the last 14 games.
- In their last five games Vermont has scored six power play goals.
- The Catamounts power play is ranked 17th in the NCAA converting 23.3% of the time. They have the fifth best man advantage in Hockey East.
MANGBO SHUTTING THE DOOR
- Sophomore goaltender Axel Mangbo is one of two goalies (Jacob Fowler – BC) with two shutouts in league play this season.
- He shutout UMass on Nov. 9 (26 saves) and UConn on Nov. 2 (30 saves).
- He was named HEA Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 4 and HEA Co-Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 11.
- He made a career-high 38 saves in the Catamounts win over No. 20 UMass on Nov. 24.
- Mangbo has started seven of the Catamounts last eight games.
- In the month of December, he posted a 3-2-0 record with a .916 save percentage and 1.83 goals-against average.
OFFENSIVE SURGE
- The Catamounts have scored 32 goals in their last six games, going 5-1-0 over that stretch.
- Vermont's 7-4 win on Dec. 7 over the Sharks was the first time the Catamount's scored seven goals in a single game since the 2016-17 season when UVM defeated Bently on December 30, 2016, winning by a score of 7-1.
- The Catamounts have scored four goals in the first period twice over that stretch – Dec. 29 at Army and Dec. 13 at Union.
- In their last game UVM scored eight against St. Lawrence, topping the Saints 8-1. It was the first time Vermont has scored eight goals since topping UMass 11-1 on November 22, 2014. Assistant Coach Brendan Bradley had a goal and two assists in that contest.
MOSER BACK AT 2025 WORLD JUNIORS IN OTTAWA
- Associate Head Coach Scott Moser reprised his role as an Assistant Coach with Team Slovakia at the 2025 World Junior Championships hosted in Ottawa.
- It is the fifth straight tournament that Moser has worked with the Slovakians.
- Over the last few seasons with the Slovak program Moser has coached over 20 NHL draft picks, including five first rounders, and first & second overall picks Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec.
- Team Slovakia finished sixth overall at the tournament following a 5-3 loss to Finland in the Quarterfinals.
SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
- The Terriers enter the weekend's action in a four-way tie for second place in Hockey East with 17 points (BC, BU, Providence, UMass Lowell). All four teams have played nine league games this season. Maine sits atop the league with 18 points.
- Three American First Years from BU were members of the Gold Medal Winning United States World Junior Team – Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson and Brandon Svoboda.
- Hutson became the first defenseman in World Juniors history to lead the tournament in scoring with three goals and eight assists for 11 points.
- BU sophomore defenseman Tom Willander finished fourt overall at the World Juniors representing Sweden. All four student-athletes are projected to return to the lineup this weekend.
- Vermont is 24-61-10 all-time against the Terriers. Boston University has won seven straight in the series,
- Vermont's last win came in January of 2022 as William Lemay notched his first career game-winning goal in overtime to defeat the Terriers 2-1 on Jan. 21. It was the first time in program history UVM defeated Boston University in overtime.
CATAMOUNTS LEADERSHIP GROUP
ALWAYS READY TO GO
- Among players returning this season to Catamount Country, two players played in all 35 games during the 2023-24 season, Zapernick and Timofei Spitserov. Zapernick has also played in all 19 contests this season.
For news and updates about the Vermont men's hockey program, follow @UVMmhockey on Instagram, X, and Facebook, and visit UVMathletics.com.
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the UVM men's hockey program
