NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Vermont battled back from a two-goal deficit and tied the game late to earn a 4-4 tie at Merrimack Saturday night in Hockey East action from Lawler Arena. Colin Kessler led the way for the Catamounts with two goals and an assist.

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Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"We didn't quit," said Head Coach Steve Wiedler. "We showed a lot of fight.  To tie that up late in third shows the resolve and the buy in. We hit two posts in OT. Hockey Gods didn't let them go bar in. They went bar out. That's life sometimes. But we fought for that point, so you have to be proud of it."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Catamounts opened the scoring 2:18 into the first period Saturday night. In transition UVM converted right in front of Merrimack's Max Lundgren. Blake Steenerson put an initial shot on net that Lundgren just stopped with the top of his shoulder. Zach Filak got a piece of the rebound but then Max Strand knocked the puck up with his stick and batted it in for his fifth goal of the season.
• Merrimack equalized after successfully killing off UVM's first power play of the game. Trevor Hoskin broke in alone on Aiden Wright and made a nice deke before roofing a backhand for his ninth goal of the season. Caden Cranston earned the assist on the tally which came with 8:36 left in the opening period.
• The Warriors took the lead with 3:25 to play in the first. Caelan Fitzpatrick picked the pocket of a UVM defender in the slot and got a great shot away. Wright made a diving kick save but the rebound came back to Cranston and he quickly got it back over to Fitzpatrick who put it home for his 12th goal of the season.
• Merrimack made it a two-goal lead on the power play 2:06 into the second period. Nathan King fired a shot from the top of the slot, and it deflected off a UVM defender and in to make it 3-1.
• Vermont earned a five-minute power play after Sebastian Törnqvist was hit from behind into the end boards by Jack Richard. He also received a game misconduct.
• The Catamounts capitalized with a great passing play. Colin Kessler drove to the net, and he passed down low to Jonah Aegerter behind the net. Aegerter one-touched a feed to Ethan Burroughs in front of the net and he one-timed home his sixth goal of the season making it 3-2 at the 7:41 mark.
• Kessler tied the contest with a wicked wrist shot in transition with 4:51 to play in the third period. During a period of four-on-four play Kessler went coast-to-coast before firing home his seventh goal of the year from the top of the faceoff circle.
• Hoskin scored the go-ahead goal for the Warriors with 7:57 to play in the third period off a won offensive zone face off. Mark Hillier won the puck back to Hoskin and he fired it towards the net, and it deflected off a UVM stick and into the top corner to make it 4-3.
• With the Vermont net empty for the extra attacker the Catamounts tied it up again. Philip Törnqvist fired a shot from the point that was blocked in front by Merrimack, Kessler picked up the puck and skated around the outside of the slot before roofing a shot top corner for his second goal of the night.
• Kessler almost helped end the game twice in overtime. On a two-on-one he flipped an aerial pass over to Thomas Sinclair that he redirected off the crossbar and out. Moments later Kessler found Cédrick Guindon cutting to the net and Guindon rang a shot of the post.
• In the shootout for the final league point up for grabs Kessler scored for Vermont, but Merrimack's Hoskin and Parker Lalonde found the back of the net as the Warriors took the shootout 2-1.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• With this evening's 4-4 decision, Community Bank N.A. will donate $200 to Special Olympics Vermont. Community Bank, N.A. donates $50 per goal to Special Olympics Vermont for every goal the men's and women's team scores this season.
• Colin Kessler had seven shots on goal Saturday night, the most by a Catamount in a single game this season.
• Kessler leads the Catamounts in scoring this season with eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points.

UP NEXT
Vermont returns to historic Gutterson Fieldhouse for their regular season finale on Saturday, March 7 as they host No. 20 Maine on Vermont Construction Company Night. Action is slated to start at 7 p.m. and the Vermont Construction Company will provide co-branded t-shirts for the first 300 fans. Tickets are available now at go.uvm.edu/me37. Owen Gund will have the radio call on the Varsity Network and WVMT and the game will air live on ESPN+ with Rob Ryan on the call.

For news and updates about the Vermont men's hockey program, follow @UVMmhockey on Instagram, X, and Facebook, and visit UVMathletics.com.