BURLINGTON, Vt. - Cody Ferriero netted his first career hat trick with all three goals coming in the third period as Northeastern skated past Vermont 8-3 in Hockey East action on Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts drop to 5-18-1 (2-14-1 HEA) with the loss, while the Huskies improve to 9-11-3 (5-11-2 HEA) on the season.
Northeastern took the early lead less than five minutes into the first period as Ludwig Karlsson entered the zone from the right side. Karlsson dished the puck off to Garrett Vermeesch and he flipped a backhander to beat Rob Madore low to the blocker side. The Huskies doubled their lead five minutes later on the power play, as Vinny Saponari fed Mike McLaughlin in front. The senior one-timed a high shot past Madore's glove to make it 2-0.
Early in the second period, NU stretched the lead to three after Vermont looked to break out shorthanded. Ferriero collected a turnover and played the puck to Braden Pimm, who skated into the high slot. Pimm laid the puck off to Steve Quailer and the junior buried a one-timer into the left corner. Madore was lifted for John Vazzano after the third tally, but Northeastern upped the score to 4-0 at the 9:36 mark as Adam Reid tipped in a centering pass from Justin Daniels.
The Catamounts grabbed a goal back roughly four minutes later near the end of a Husky power play. Colin Markison streaked down the rink at the end of a shift to help create a 2-on-1 with Kyle Mountain. The freshman skated down the right side and rifled a wrist shot glove side on Chris Rawlings to put Vermont on the board. It was the first career goal for Mountain as Markison grabbed the lone assist.
After Ferriero's first goal at the 4:25 mark of the final frame, Kyle Reynolds answered for UVM off a nifty feed from Sebastian Stalberg to make it 5-2. The puck took a weird hop off the half boards inside the NU zone, and Stalberg picked it up in the slot. The junior poked a pass to Reynolds at the top of the crease and he slid a backhand through the five-hole of Rawlings for the eighth tally of his rookie year.
Ferriero then potted back-to-back goals to put the game out of reach. The sophomore's second tally came on a one-timer with the man advantage to cap off his hat trick at 12:32. Matt White grabbed a power play goal for UVM with six minutes left in regulation as he tipped in a wrist shot from Stalberg, but it wasn't enough to spark a late comeback for the Catamounts.
Vermont and Northeastern face off again tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse to wrap up the regular season series. The game will be televised on WCAXtra, and live video is available online for free via CatamounTV. The action can also be heard on WVMT-620 AM and online at SportsJuice.com, as Alastair Ingram and Aaron Miller '93 have the call with pre-game coverage starting at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday night is the annual Hockey East Skating Strides Against Breast Cancer game. Vermont will be wearing special edition pink jerseys, and all fans are encouraged to wear pink. The jerseys will be auctioned off following the game, as bidding closes 10 minutes after the end of the game. Pink paper skates will be on sale in the Hall of Honor for $1, with all proceeds going to the Vermont Cancer Center.
NOTES: Check back to UVMathletics.com for CatamounTV highlights ... Drew MacKenzie's season-high nine-game point streak came to an end on Friday night ... The Catamounts have scored at least one power play goal in nine of their last 10 games ... Kyle Mountain's brother Bryan is a backup goaltender for Northeastern ... Mountain became the seventh different player to score his first goal in a Catamount jersey this season ... UVM has netted three shorthanded goals as a team this year ... With his next win, Rob Madore will pass Tom McNamara '77 and Sylvain Turcotte '81 for sole possession of sixth place on the all-time wins list.