MEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Vermont (8-10-3, 3-5-2 HEA) continues the stretch run in Hockey East as they host Northeastern (7-10-3, 2-7-3) in a two-game series at Gutterson Fieldhouse this weekend. The teams will faceoff at 7 p.m. on Friday on Community Bank Night and at 6 p.m. on Saturday for Green Out the Gut presented by Casella. 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.
 
RELATED LINKS
Buy Tickets
CatamounTV Weekly Press Conference: Coach Wiedler
Watch Live: Friday | Saturday (ESPN+)
International Streaming ($)
Listen Live
Live Stats
 
COMMUNITY BANK NIGHT AND DUNKIN PROMOS FRIDAY
Stop by the Gutterson lobby to grab a free foam puck courtesy of Community Bank and learn about all the amazing work Special Olympics Vermont is doing in our community. Dunkin' will be tabling in the student section entrance, giving away food and drink samples for students as they arrive.
 
GREEN OUT THE GUT PRESENTED BY CASELLA
Casella will be giving away co-branded neck-warmers and long sleeve black "802 Hockey" shirts for fans. Fans are encouraged to wear green for the contest. UVM will be wearing green at home on both nights.
 
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 16 points on a team-high seven goals and 9 assists.
• Strand hasn't gone longer than two games this season without recording a point.

SPECIAL TEAMS HELPING LEAD WAY

• The Catamounts are ranked fifth in Hockey East, 17th in the NCAA with an 83.3% penalty kill this season.
• Vermont has scored 13 powerplay goals in the last 16 games.
• In their last seven games Vermont has scored six power play goals.
• The Catamounts power play is ranked 27th in the NCAA converting 21.2% 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 nine of the Catamounts last 10 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 37 goals (4.62 goals per game) in their last eight games, going 5-3-0 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.
• On January 4, 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.

PAIRWISE OR HOCKEY EAST STANDINGS

• Entering this weekend's action all 11 Hockey East teams are in the top-27 of the Pairwise.
• There are currently five league teams in the top-10 of the Pairwise with Boston College coming in at No. 2.
• Northeastern enters this weekend ranked 22nd, while the Catamounts are 27th.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES

• The Huskies enter the weekend's action tied for ninth place with UMass in Hockey East with 12 points. The Catamounts are one point ahead of both clubs with 13 points.
• Six of the Huskies 10 losses this season have come to teams ranked in the top-ten at the time.
• In 2025 the Huskies are 2-1-0. They started the New Year with an impressive 5-1 win at No. 17 Quinnipiac on Jan. 4. Last weekend they split a weekend set with UMass. On Friday night they fell 5-0 at home, but they rebounded to top the Minutemen 3-0 in Amherst.
• Sophomore forward Dylan Hryckowian leads the Huskies in scoring with 12 goals this season. He also has ten helpers for 22 points.
• Junior Cam Lund is second on the team in scoring with 23 points. Among current Huskies he is the leading scorer against Vermont with three goals and three assists.
• Junior Jack Williams is the Huskies leading scorer with 24 points. In NU's win over Quinnipiac he had a goal and three assists.
• The all-time series with Northeastern is knotted at 36-36-8. UVM is 19-8-7 at Gutterson Fieldhouse against the Huskies.
• Last season the teams split a weekend set in January at Matthews Arena. Vermont topped the Huskies 5-4 in the first contest before falling 3-1 in the second matchup. Massimo Lombardi scored twice for Vermont in the Friday night win.

CATAMOUNTS LEADERSHIP GROUP

• Vermont men's hockey head coach Steve Wiedler announced his team's leadership group for the 2024-25 campaign, Will Zapernick and Joel Määttä will serve as captains while Jens Richards will be an alternate.

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 21 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