#15 Vermont (17-10-5 • 9-7-4 HEA) vs. Merrimack (13-13-6 • 7-7-6 HEA) > Game 33 Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 • 7:05 p.m. • Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vt. SCHEDULE & RESULTS BROADCAST INFO OVERALL 17-10-5 VIDEO: CatamounTV.com CONFERENCE 9-7-4 RADIO: WVMT 620-AM HOME 10-5-1 Play-by-Play: Alastair Ingram ROAD 5-5-4 2016-17 Analyst: Jerry Tarrant NEUTRAL 2-0-0 AUDIO: UVMathletics.com/Listen OCTOBER VERMONT MERRIMACK 7 at Clarkson W, 5-2 CATAMOUNTS WARRIORS LIVE STATS: UVMathletics.com 8 CLARKSON L, 3-2 17-10-5 (9-7-4 HEA) 13-13-6 (7-7-6 HEA) 21 at #20 Nebraska Omaha T, 4-4 COACHING STAFFS 22 at #20 Nebraska Omaha W, 5-2 LAST TIME OUT LAST TIME OUT 28 #11 MICHIGAN W, 3-0 T, 2-2 at Boston College T, 4-4 vs. Maine VERMONT 30 at #16 Northeastern + W, 3-2 Head Coach: LEADERS LEADERS Kevin Sneddon (Harvard ‘92) NOVEMBER Goals Goals Career: 271-333-85 (19th) 4 at #6 UMass Lowell + L, 3-1 Bowen (11) Gustafsson (14) Vermont: 221-234-67 (14th) 5 at #6 UMass Lowell + L, 4-2 12 at UMass + W, 2-1 Assists Assists Associate Head Coach: 15 DARTMOUTH W, 5-2 Colton (15) Seney (19) Kevin Patrick (Notre Dame ‘92) 18 MAINE + W, 6-2 19 MAINE + T, 2-2 Points Points Associate Head Coach: 25 vs. UMass + # W, 4-2 Colton (25) Seney (28) Kyle Wallack (Springfield ‘97) 26 vs. #3 Quinnipiac # W, 5-1 Assistant Coach: DECEMBER Goals Against Average Goals Against Average Kyle Reynolds (Vermont ‘15) 9 #5 BOSTON UNIVERSITY + W, 4-2 Lekkas (2.50) Delia (2.12) 10 #5 BOSTON UNIVERSITY + L, 4-0 MERRIMACK 17 #12 UNION L, 7-3 Save Percentage Save Percentage Lekkas (.911) Delia (.928) Head Coach: 18 #12 UNION L, 2-1 Mark Dennehy (Boston College ‘91) 30 BENTLEY W, 7-1 TEAM STATS TEAM STATS Career: 157-247-59 (13th) 31 BENTLEY W, 3-1 Goals Per Game Goals Per Game Merrimack: 154-219-56 (12th) JANUARY 3.22 2.50 3 #16 ST. LAWRENCE W, 4-3 Associate Head Coach: 7 NORTHEASTERN + W, 4-3 Goals Against Average Goals Against Average Curtis Carr (Kent State ‘03) 13 at Providence + W, 4-3 2.72 2.56 14 at Providence + L, 4-1 Associate Head Coach: 20 UCONN + W, 5-4 Power Play Power Play Bill Gilligan (Brown ‘77) 27 at UConn + L, 3-1 17.1% (27-158) 14.6% (24-164) Goaltending Coach: FEBRUARY Penalty Kill Penalty Kill John Carratu (Plymouth State ‘92) 3 at #17 Notre Dame + T, 4-4 85.6% (125-146) 80.1% (129-161) 4 at #17 Notre Dame + L, 4-1 OFFICIALS 10 NEW HAMPSHIRE + L, 4-2 Penalty Minutes Penalty Minutes 11 NEW HAMPSHIRE + W, 5-3 12.0 12.5 Referee: Jeff Bunyon 17 at #11 Boston College + T, 3-3 Referee: John Gravallese 18 at #11 Boston College + T, 2-2 Shots Per Game Shots Per Game Linesman: Jason Williams 24 MERRIMACK + 7:05 pm 31.5 29.6 Linesman: Casey Terreri 25 MERRIMACK + 7:05 pm MARCH SETTING THE SCENE 3-5 HEA First Round @ TBA • 15th-ranked Vermont welcomes the surging Merrimack Warriors to Gutterson Fieldhouse 10-12 HEA Quarterfinals @ TBA for a two-game Hockey East series on Senior Weekend in Burlington 17-18 HEA Championship & TBA • UVM needs just two points this weekend to secure at least the 6-seed in the Hockey Home games in ALL CAPS East playoffs, which would lead to a matchup with either 11-seed Maine or 12-seed UMass + Hockey East game • The Catamounts and Warriors are separated by two points in the standings for sixth and # Friendship Four (Belfast, Northern Ireland) @ Campus Locations seventh, and Vermont sits only one point behind fifth-place Providence & TD Garden (Boston, Mass.) • 2009 is the last time a UVM team finished higher than seventh (T-3rd) 1 HOCKEY EAST STANDINGS GAME NOTES CONFERENCE OVERALL PLAYOFF PICTURE Pts GP Record GP Record • Vermont (22 points) has clinched home ice in the Hockey East first 1. Boston College 29 21 13-5-3 35 18-13-4 round; UVM holds a two-point lead on seventh-place Merrimack and trails fifth-place Providence by just one point 2. Boston University 27 20 12-5-3 32 20-9-3 • The Catamounts can finish anywhere from fifth to eighth in the UMass Lowell 27 21 13-7-1 33 21-9-3 final standings and need two points to secure at least the 6-seed 4. Notre Dame 26 20 11-5-4 32 18-9-5 • Following UMass Lowell’s 4-1 win at Boston College last night, UVM 5. Providence 23 20 10-7-3 32 18-9-5 can no longer secure the final first round bye in the league playoffs 6. Vermont 22 20 9-7-4 32 17-10-5 • It would have taken a Vermont sweep of Merrimack, a BC sweep of 7. Merrimack 20 20 7-7-6 32 13-13-6 UMass Lowell, and at least one point from UMass at home against 8. Northeastern 19 20 8-9-3 32 15-12-5 Providence this weekend for UVM to clinch a first round bye 9. New Hampshire 18 20 7-9-4 32 12-15-5 • UVM is 7-2-1 vs. the bottom six teams and 2-5-3 vs. the top five 10. UConn 16 20 6-10-4 32 10-14-8 11. Maine 10 20 4-14-2 32 10-18-4 CATS ROAR BACK TWICE 12. UMass Amherst 5 20 2-17-1 32 5-25-2 • UVM stormed back both nights last weekend against first place Boston College to earn two Hockey East ties at Conte Forum • Down 3-0 at the midway point of the first period on Friday night, CATS IN THE POLLS Vermont rallied with a pair of goals in the third to earn a 3-3 tie • Rob Hamilton scored twice for his first career multi-goal game POLL USCHO USA HOCKEY and netted the game-tying goal with 3:23 left in regulation Sept. 26 RV NA • The Mario Puskarich, Ross Colton, and Brian Bowen line combined Oct. 3 NA -- for four points, 14 of UVM’s 27 shots on goal, and a plus-4 rating Oct. 10 RV -- • On Saturday, Bowen answered a pair of one-goal BC leads and Oct. 17 -- -- scored twice to secure another point in a 2-2 deadlock Oct. 24 RV -- • Stefanos Lekkas made 30 saves both nights for the Catamounts Oct. 31 19 RV Nov. 7 RV -- PUT A BOW ON IT Nov. 14 RV -- • Brian Bowen was named the Warrior Hockey East Player of the Nov. 21 20 RV Week on Monday after a four-point weekend at Boston College Nov. 28 14 14 • The Littleton, Massachusetts native scored three goals and added Dec. 5 12 12 an assist in a pair of comeback ties against the first-place Eagles Dec. 12 11 10 • Bowen finished the weekend at plus-3 with 11 shots on goal Dec. 19 13 14 • The forward now leads the team with 11 goals on the season and Jan. 2 13 13 ranks second on the team in points with 22 Jan. 9 12 12 • In 12 games since the turn of the New Year, he leads the team with Jan. 16 12 13 three power play goals, nine goals, 15 points, and 46 shots on goal Jan. 23 11 13 • Bowen is tied for 12th in Hockey East with a team-high five PPG Jan. 30 12 13 Feb. 6 15 14 CLASS OF 2017 Feb. 13 16 RV • Vermont’s senior class is tied for fifth all-time in the Division I era Feb. 20 15 RV of the program (1974) in wins by a single class with 74 • The class is one win away from moving into the top-5 winningest classes in the Division I era and five wins from climbing into second CAT STATS • Led by future NHL standouts Martin St. Louis, Eric Perrin, and Tim Thomas, the Class of 1997 is the winningest class with 83 victories STAT HEA NCAA • UVM will honor the Class of 2017 before tomorrow night’s game G/GM 7 T-17 • Here’s how the nine-member class stacks up during the DI era: GAA 7 23 PP 8 37 RANK CLASS WINS KEY SENIORS PK 2 10 1. 1997 83 Eric Perrin, Martin St. Louis PIM 8 42 2. 1998 78 Jason Hamilton, Justin Martin 3. 1989 76 Ian Boyce, Kyle McDonough 4. 2009 75 Viktor Stalberg, Dean Strong 5. 2017 74 Brendan Bradley, Mario Puskarich 2008 74 Joe Fallon, Mark Lutz 2010 74 Brayden Irwin, Colin Vock 8. 1996 73 Steve McKell, Dale Patterson 2 SERIES HISTORY GAME NOTES VERMONT vs. MERRIMACK IT’S A ME, MARIO! • With a pair of goals Feb. 11 vs. UNH, co-captain Mario Puskarich MEETING: 38th became Vermont’s first 50-goal scorer in more than 20 years ALL-TIME: 13-16-8 • J.C. Ruid ‘97, the linemate of Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin, was HOME: 8-7-4 the last Catamount to notch 50 during the 1995-96 season AWAY: 5-8-4 NEUTRAL: 0-1-0 • Mario also became the 43rd member of the program’s 100-point club on New Year’s Eve in a win over Bentley LAST 10 MEETINGS (3-5-2) • He was the first Catamount to reach the century mark since his former linemate Chris McCarthy on Feb.