BURLINGTON, Vt. – St. Cloud State junior Nate Dey scored twice to give the sixth-ranked Huskies a 4-2 victory over No. 13 Vermont in front of the 47th straight sellout crowd of 4,003 at Gutterson Fieldhouse in the championship game of the Sheraton/TD Banknorth Catamount Cup on Saturday night. St. Cloud State extends its unbeaten streak to 13 games with the win and improves to 12-3-3 on the season. Vermont falls to 11-6-1 (6-2-1, Hockey East) with the loss.

“St. Cloud State is one of the best teams in the country and certainly played a great game tonight,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “I thought it was a great college game. We lost some energy when they scored to make it 2-1 and then 3-1. We talked about in between periods; we’re not always going to be the team that is leading. We play great with the lead but we have to learn how to come together and come back from some adversity in games. Overall though I’m proud of our effort.”

Sophomore Corey Carlson (Two Harbors, Minn.) scored his third goal in two days and sophomore Peter Lenes (Shelburne, Vt.) also notched a goal for the Catamounts. Carlson went on to be named to the Catamount Cup All-Tournament Team.

St. Cloud State junior Andrew Gordon recorded a power-play goal and senior Nate Raduns added an empty netter to round out the scoring for the Huskies.

Vermont took a 1-0 lead at 13:29 of the first period when Carlson flicked a wrist shot from the left circle topshelf past the blocker of St. Cloud State senior goalie Bobby Goepfert. UVM freshman Vitkor Stålberg (Gothenburg, Sweden) set up the score with a terrific drop pass. It was the fifth goal of the season for Carlson.

The Huskies tied the game at one with just 33 seconds remaining in the first period on a power-play goal by Gordon. Senior defenseman Justin Fletcher blasted a shot from the left point and Gordon deflected the puck from inside the slot past Vermont junior goalie Joe Fallon (Bemidji, Minn.). Before the goal Fallon had gone 199:27 without allowing a score in the Catamount Cup dating back to last year’s 1-0 first round win against Dartmouth.

Dey scored the first of his two goals at 12:11 of the second period to make it 2-1 in favor of the Huskies. Freshman Andreas Nodl hit the post with a shot from the slot and the puck bounced to Dey who found the back of the net.

St. Cloud State took a 3-1 lead when Dey struck again at 18:39 of the period. Nodl set him up again, this time with a pass from behind the net.

Vermont pulled within 3-2 on the fourth goal of the year by Lenes. The sophomore blasted a shot from the point past Goepfert. Junior co-captain Torrey Mitchell (Greenfield Park, Quebec) and sophomore Dean Strong (Mississauga, Ontario) both assisted on the goal.

That’s as close as Vermont would get as Raduns added an empty net tally with 35 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

The Catamounts outshot the Huskies 24-21. St. Cloud State went 1-for-5 on the power play while UVM went 0-for-4.

Fallon made 17 saves and earned Catamount Cup All-Tournament Team honors while Goepfert made 22 stops in the win for St. Cloud State.

Dey was named the MVP of the Sheraton/TD Banknorth Catamount Cup and senior captain Casey Borer was named to the all-tournament team for the Huskies. Union’s Matt Cook and RPI’s Peter Merth rounded out the all-tournament team.

Vermont returns to Hockey East play next weekend when the Catamounts host a two-game series against No. 2 New Hampshire on Friday (Jan. 5) and Saturday (Jan. 6) at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Friday's game is a 7:30pm start time and will be televised on NESN (Comcast Channel 39). Saturday's game will start at 7:05pm and will be televised on CN8 (Comcast Channel 18).

Both games will also be streamed over the Internet via B2 Networks for a fee of $6 per game. Both games can also be heard live on the flagship station for Catamounts hockey on WVMT-AM 620 and on the Internet by going to www.sportsjuice.com.

On Friday at Gutterson Fieldhouse the first 1,000 will receive a t-shirt courtesy of Maplefield’s and NESN will be giving out Rally Towels. On Saturday the first 2,500 fans will receive thundersticks courtesy of Heritage Ford and Toyota. The first 2,000 fans will also receive a rubber puck courtesy of Flooring America at the Carpetbagger.

Sheraton/TD Banknorth Catamount Cup All-Tournament Team
Forward: Nate Dey (MVP) - St. Cloud State
Forward: Corey Carlson - UVM
Forward: Matt Cook - Union
Defenseman: Peter Merth - Rensselaer
Defenseman: Casey Borer - St. Cloud State
Goalie: Joe Fallon - UVM