BURLINGTON, Vt. - Junior Josh Burrows (Prairie Grove, Ill.) continued his hot hand by scoring the game-winning goal with 3:42 left in the third period to lead No. 20 Vermont to a 3-2 victory against No. 18 Boston University at a sold out Gutterson Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon in a game televised on ESPNU.
OTHER LINKS: Highlights | POSTGAME: Kevin Sneddon
The Catamounts improved to 15-11-6 (9-10-6 HEA) with the win and moved into a tie for fifth-place in the Hockey East standings on "Senior Day".
Vermont trails fourth place UMass-Lowell by just one point for the final home ice spot for the upcoming Hockey East Quarterfinals. The Catamounts play two games against the River Hawks at Tsongas Arena next weekend.
Coupled with the 7-3 win against the Terriers on Friday, the Catamounts completed a weekend sweep against Boston University for a second straight year. Vermont finished the regular season series 2-0-1 against BU.
"I'm just so pleased for our guys right now," Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "Obviously just an unbelievable weekend of effort; four games in a row where I think we're seeing the signs of a team and a family coming together."
Seniors Brayden Irwin (Toronto, Ont.) and Colin Vock (Orlando, Fla.) both scored power-play goals for the Catamounts. Sophomore Rob Madore (Pittsburgh, Pa.) turned away 25 shots.
Junior Colby Cohen and senior Luke Popko each scored for the Terriers.
BU took a 1-0 lead 8:08 into the game on a slap shot by Cohen from the left point that beat Madore high on the blocker side. Cohen's goal was his team leading 14th of the year.
Just 1:47 later Irwin notched his team leading 14th goal of the season to tie the game. With the Catamounts on the power play, sophomore Drew MacKenzie (New Canaan, Conn.) setup Irwin in the high slot for a quick snap shot that beat BU goalie Kieran Milan (17 saves).
Popko gave BU the lead back at 13:37 of the first on a wrister from the slot.
Despite just four shots in the second period, Vermont tied the game 2-2 on a power-play goal by Vock at 11:50. MacKenzie feathered a diagonal pass from the right point to the left post where Vock scored on the backdoor. Irwin also assisted.
"Drew's vision to find Vock on the back door was a play that only a few guys can make," Sneddon said. "I thought we did a great job all weekend on the power play."
Burrows gave Vermont its first lead of the game with 3:42 remaining in the third period. Senior assistant captain Patrick Cullity (Tewksbury, Mass.) started the play when he won a battle for a loose puck in the neutral zone. Freshman David Pacan (Ottawa, Ont.) took the feed from Cullity and put the puck between his legs to Burrows at the left circle for the game winner.
"It was just a great play by Pacan there to get it to the middle," Burrows said. "He had a guy all over him, got it to the middle and I just fired it on net and it worked out."
Burrows finished the weekend with three goals and he was the first star in both wins on the weekend.
The win was the 72nd in the last four years for Vermont's seven seniors that were honored following the game.
"I'm just so pleased for our seniors," Sneddon said. "They've been through a lot this year and I think they've been a very positive influence on the rest of the team, they pulled together, I think they deserve a lot of credit for this past weekend and I'm just so pleased that they got a taste of success this weekend."
NOTES: Check back to www.UVMathletics.com for game highlights and postgame comments from Kevin Sneddon ... Vermont went 2-for-3 on the power while BU was 0-for-4 ... Brayden Irwin went 10-for-15 on face offs ... The sweep was the first this season for the Catamounts ... Vermont is 9-7-4 against BU since joining Hockey East ... Patrick Cullity was a plus-1 and has a team best plus-18 rating on the season ... UVM is 7-2-3 in the second game of a two-game weekend this year ... Today was the final regular season home game for Vermont's seven seniors: Jay Anctil (Wolfeboro, N.H.), Patrick Cullity (Tewksbury, Mass.), Jonathan Higgins (Stratham, N.H.), Brayden Irwin (Toronto, Ont.), Brian Roloff (West Seneca, N.Y.), Mike Spillane (Bow, N.H.) and Colin Vock (Orlando, Fla.).