Hockey Newsletter February

Welcome to our February edition of the UVM Men’s Hockey Newsletter! It was great to see the alums that were in town for the Alumni Game and wins against Merrimack College! The team is currently playing it’s best hockey of the year with 9 out of 12 points over the past 3 weekends. Hopefully, we are making enough of a push to get us into the playoffs. With a hot goalie and confidence, we could certainly do some damage in the second season. It has been a very enjoyable process this year; working with a young team that is eager to get better every day. There have been some real tough lessons this year, but lessons that have helped the team grow. Special thanks to those of you who have donated to the Men’s Hockey Excellence Fund! I am interested in having some alums join me in establishing an alumni board for the fund. I believe this would help further connect the great alumni group to the program. If you have interest and some spare time, please email me ([email protected]). Thanks! Freshmen tally first career goals

On January 25 in a 5-1 win over Merrimack freshmen Carter Long and Dallas Comeau tallied their first career goals. On February 9 Johnny DeRoche scored his first career goal in a 4-1 win over UNH.

Catamounts knock off the #9 ranked Providence Friars

On February 1 and 2 after coming off a two game sweep against Merrimack at home, the Catamounts faced off against Providence. Tallying a win and a tie in the two game series. Friday night they came away with a 3-1 win. Goals were scored by Max Kaufman, Conor O' Neil and Derek Lodermeier. On Saturday night they held a 1-1 tie with the lone goal scored by Joey Cipollone. Goalie Stefanos Lekkas recorded 46 saves in Saturday night's game, making over 40 saves for the fifth time this year. Following his performance against Providence Lekkas was also named Hockey East Player of the Week. Lekkas nominated for multiple awards

Stefanos Lekkas is nominated for The Walter Brown Award which is given annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. Lekkas currently holds the number one position in the nation for saves per game (32.2) and is ranked fifth for save percentage (.931). Following the Catamounts matchup with The University of New Hampshire Wildcats Lekkas earned his second straight Hockey East weekly honor. He has a total of 870 saves this season and is two stops away from tying the record for 10th most saves in a single season by a UVM goalie held by Christian Soucy '93.

Lekkas is also one of 83 nominees for the Hobey Baker award this year and would be the first Vermont player to win the Hobey Baker Award.

Follow the Link to place your Hobey Baker vote https://www.hobeybaker.com/vote

Recent Catamount Moments Several members of the team delivered stuffed animals to children in the Pediatric Wing at the UVM Medical Center. Alumni Weekend sNAPSHOTS jANUARY 25-26 2019

Thank you to everyone for a great weekend! There were over 40 alums in attendance and the Catamounts swept Merrimack at the Gut.

Kyle McDonough '89 and Jerry Tarrant '89

Chuck Ross ’78, Reese Wisnowski ’08 Andy Corran '07 and Joey Gasparini ‘06

Tim Plant '05 Jeff Corey '05 SpenGLER cUP inVITATIONAL

The Spengler Cup is an invitational hockey tournament in Switzerland that began in 1923 and is known as one of the oldest invitational ice hockey tournaments in the world.

In 2018 Torrey Mitchell '07 was named to Team Canada for the Spengler Cup. Mitchell played at UVM for three seasons, serving as captain during his final year before going on to play over 800 professional games. In 2017 he was voted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame. Team Canada earned second place in the tournament falling to KalPa Kuopio, from Finland in a penalty shoot-out. Prior to this ,Team Canada has won every year since 2015.

Miller TALLIES 300 GAMES

University of Vermont hockey alum Kevan Miller '11 became the eighth former Catamount to play in 300 or more career NHL games. On Thursday January 3 Miller and the Boston Bruins faced off against the Calgary Flames, marking Miller's 300th career NHL game. Register NOW

Saturday March 1, 2019 the Men’s Hockey team will be playing UCONN in Hartford

Event time: 5-6:30 p.m. Details: Pregame Refreshments and Snacks

Location: Updike, Kelly and Spellacy 100 Pearl St., 2nd Floor

Game Details: 7:05 p.m. XL Center 1 Civic Center Plaza Hartford, CT

Tickets are $15 included in this are refreshments and snacks prior to the game. You must purchase tickets to the game. Visit alumni.uvm.edu to find out more and register for the event.