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Vermont (11-14-3, 6-10-2 HEA) returns home to Gutterson Fieldhouse for the first time in over a month as they host No. 2 Boston College (22-6-1, 14-4-1 HEA) in a two-game series
at Gutterson Fieldhouse this weekend. The teams will faceoff at 7 p.m. on Friday night and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both contests will air live on ESPN+ with Rob Ryan on the call 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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TEAM IMPACT NIGHT PRESENTED BY INSPIRED CLOSETS
Catamounts will be celebrating their Team IMPACT matches with several teams past and present Friday night. Vermont will be wearing Team IMPACT decals on their helmet to celebrate.
 The first 500 students in attendance Friday will receive cobranded beanies from CED at the student entrance.
 
CATAMOUNTS RALLY AGAINST CANCER PRESENTED BY MASCOMA BANK SATURDAY
Mascoma Bank will be handing out Rally Towels for the first 500 fans in attendance. The UVM Cancer Center will also be handing out cow bells and other giveaway items in the lobby of Gutterson Fieldhouse. Be sure to get to your seats on time for a ceremonial puck drop as well.
 
MAATTA ROAD-TRIPPING IN STYLE
Senior co-captain Joel Määttä is currently on a four-game point streak with four goals and two assists over that stretch. He's also on a three-game goal scoring streak with four goals over that stretch. With his recent form he is now the Catamounts leading scorer this season with eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points.
 
CATAMOUNTS FEATURED ON USCHO.COM
Head Coach Steve Wiedler spoke with USCHO's John Doyle in this week's edition of "This Week in Hockey East." Read the full feature at go.uvm.edu/uscho.
 
SPITSEROV HEATING UP

• Senior forward Timofei Spitserov is now tied for the team lead in scoring with 10 goals this season.
• He has four goals over the last five games for Vermont.
• UVM is 6-0-1 this season when Spitserov scores.

PLAYING WITH THE LEAD

• Vermont is 8-0-3 this season when leading after two periods.
• When leading after the opening frame the Catamounts are 6-3-1.
• The Catamounts have won three games this season when tied after the first period and second period.

ROAD WARRIORS

• The Catamounts 4-2 road win over Merrimack last weekend was their eighth road win of the season.
• The eight road wins are the most by UVM since they had nine during the 2015-16 campaign.

SHOOT TO SCORE

• The Catamounts are shooting at a 11.5% clip this season which is sixth in the NCAA. Only Boston University (12.3%) is scoring on a higher percentage of their shots in Hockey East.
• UVM is averaging 3.18 goals per game which would be their highest output since the 2016-17 campaign.

PAIRWISE OR HOCKEY EAST STANDINGS

• Entering this weekend's action seven of the top-13 teams in the Pairwise are from Hockey East.
• Vermont's six remaining regular season games will be against the top-ten by the Pairwise (No. 1 Boston College (2x), No. 4 Maine (2x), No. 9 UConn (1x), No. 6 Boston University (1x))
• Vermont is currently 24th in the Pairwise. Five of their 11 wins have come against teams currently ranked in the top-18 of the Pairwise.

CATAMOUNT FIRST YEARS FEATURED IN HOCKEY EAST MAGAZINE

• Hockey East Graduate Intern Allison Ouellette, a 2024 UVM grad and former intern with the men's hockey program, was recently on campus to interview Head Coach Steve Wiedler, Colin Kessler and Max Strand for the cover story of the third edition of the Hockey East Magazine.
• Read about the Catamounts transformational first year student-athletes at go.uvm.edu/heamag

KESSLER AND STRAND NAMED HOBEY BAKER NOMINEES

• First year forwards Colin Kessler and Max Strand were named as Vermont's nominees for the 2025 Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
• Strand (7 Gl, 13 Ast) is second on the team in scoring with 20 points this season.
• Strand was the first Vermont rookie to reach 20 points since Alex Esposito during the 2017-18 campaign.
• Kessler is tied for first on the team in scoring with 10 goals this season. He also has 10 assists for 20 total points.
• Strand became the first men's player at Vermont to be named National Rookie of the Month in December.
• No rookie in the country had more points in December than Strand, who recorded a point in each of the Catamount's six games.
• Fan voting for the Hobey Baker runs through March 9. Fans can vote for Strand and Kessler once a day at go.uvm.edu/vote25.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES

• The second-ranked Eagles enter the weekend tied for first place, with Maine, in Hockey East with 41 points.
• The Eagles had their nine-game winning streak snapped Feb. 10 in the Beanpot Championship against Boston University, dropping a 4-1 contest at TD Garden.
• Last weekend they split a weekend set with No. 16 UMass.
• Sophomore forward Ryan Leonard leads the country in goals with 25 and game-winning goals with eight.
• The Eagles are 9-3-1 in true road games this season, all three losses have been to ranked opponents.
• Vermont and Boston College will be meeting for the 80th and 81st time this weekend at the Gut. BC holds a 53-18-8 lead in the all-time series.
• It will be the Eagles first visit to Catamount Country since October of 2021.
• UVM and BC split the weekend set in 2021, Philip Lagunov '22 scored an overtime winner on night one as UVM topped the Eagles 5-4. On Saturday BC claimed their own one-goal game topping the Catamounts 3-2.
• UVM Co-Captain Will Zapernick had two goals and an assist in UVM's last win over the Eagles, coming on January 21, 2023 at Conte Forum.

ALWAYS READY TO GO

• Among players returning this season to Catamount Country, two players played in all 35 games during the 2023-24 season, Will Zapernick and Timofei Spitserov. Zapernick has also played in all 28 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