BURLINGTON, Vt. - Junior Dennis McCauley scored the game-winning goal on the power play 3:33 into overtime to lift sixth-seeded Northeastern to a 2-1 victory against third-seeded Vermont in Game 2 of the Hockey East Quarterfinals in front of a sellout crowd of 4,003 at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Saturday night. The Catamounts dropped to 15-14-7 (13-9-5 HEA) with the loss. The Huskies improved to 16-17-3 (12-13-2 HEA) and forced a third and deciding game in the series tomorrow night at 7:05pm at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Vermont sophomore Patrick Cullity (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored what looked to be the game winner 2:33 into overtime but an interference call against Cullity negated the goal. McCauley took advantage when he scored the game winner 60 seconds later.
"Obviously very disappointing; we think we go from winning the game to all of a sudden now we're shorthanded," Vermont head coach Sneddon said. "It was a penalty; he had to call it. By our guy taking the penalty, it certainly gave us the opportunity to score that goal."
Vermont sophomore Colin Vock (Plymouth, Mich.) notched his eighth goal of the season on power play in the first period. Senior Joe Fallon (Bemidji, Minn.) made 31 saves, including 14 on the penalty kill.
Sophomore Kyle Kraemer added a power-play goal for Northeastern and sophomore Brad Theissen made 34 stops. The Huskies finished 2-for-9 on the power play.
Vock gave the Catamounts a 1-0 lead 15:29 into the first period. With the Catamounts on the power play, Vock scored on a rebound off a Dean Strong (Mississauga, Ontario) shot that hit the post. Junior Peter Lenes (Shelburne, Vt.) also assisted.
The Huskies tied the game 1-1 on a power-play goal by Kraemer 2:17 into the second. Junior Louis Liotti setup the score and junior Ryan Ginand also assisted.
Vock had a chance to regain the lead for the Catamounts with a pair of short-handed breakaway chances in the second, but Theissen turned away both opportunities to keep the game tied.
"We had some great opportunities tonight; we had some breakaways, short-handed breakaways, that we don't capitalize on," Sneddon said. "I think both goaltenders again played sensational tonight."
NU out shot UVM 27-25 through two periods.
The Huskies had a chance to win the game in regulation with 4:30 remaining but Fallon stopped Rob Rassey's shot in tight.
Strong had a chance for the Catamounts with three seconds left but fired the puck just wide of the net from the left circle with Theissen at the opposite post.
"We're ready; we like playing the game, so why not make it three?" Strong said. "It would be nice to have it done in two but you push yourself to extremes in these kinds of situation. That's fun and you find out things about yourselves and your teammates."
Game 3 of the series is set for Sunday at 7:05pm at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Tickets are available on uvmathletics.com and will be available in the UVM Athletic Ticket Office in Patrick Gym beginning at 9am on Sunday.
NOTES: Tonight's game was televised on CN8 and is available on Comcast On Demand ... Vock finished with a team-high seven shots for the Catamounts ... He has a team-high 26 points on the season ... UVM out shot NU 35-33 and went 1-for-5 on the power play ... The Catamounts tied a school record with their 10th overtime game of the season ... UVM is 1-2-7 in OT this year.