BURLINGTON, Vt. - Joel Määttä and Jacques Bouqout scored on the power play and the Catamounts killed off nine minutes of Lindenwood power play action as they defeated the Lions 4-2 Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Friday night's action was presented by Vermont National Country Club. With the win Vermont improved to 7-11-1 this season while the Lions fell to 4-13-0.
COACH'S QUOTE
"Apart from two miscues that lead to goals against, I felt we played a complete game today," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "Even when Lindenwood tied it up, we stuck to our game plan - we got up, we got off the mat and continued to fight. Our PK continued to be strong, our PP chipped in with two timely goals and our OZ time was very good. This was an excellent game to build on and we expect Lindenwood to come back even stronger tomorrow. They are an excellent team who has had great success lately against teams like Denver, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. We knew they would not quit until the end so our resilience was a point of pride."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Vermont opened the scoring 3:52 into the first period on its first power play opportunity of the game. Simon Jellus one-timed a feed from Eric Gotz and Lindenwood's Matt Ladd made the initial save. But from the side of the net William Lemay centered the rebound to an open Määttä who tapped it home for his fourth goal of the season.
- Dawson Good doubled the UVM advantage minutes later on a three-on-one rush. Good looked to shoot the whole time and wired a wrist shot past Ladd for his third goal of the season.
- Lindenwood's Adam Conquest got the Lions back in the game with a two-on-one rush 11:07 into the middle frame. Caleb Price deflected a UVM pass back to the point and Conquest was able to take advantage going the other way. Similar to Good he looked to shoot the whole way and fired a low shot past Vermont's Gabe Carriere.
- The Lions tied the game eight seconds into the third period. Carriere made an initial save on Lindenwood's Adam Conquest but the rebound sat in the slot for Mitch Allard. Carriere made an initial stop on Allard but he gathered his own rebound and stashed it home for his second goal of the season.
- Bouquot reestablished the UVM lead on the power play with 10:26 left in regulation. With William Lemay and Will Zapernick on the forecheck they forced a rushed pass out of the corner by the Lions defense. The errant pass came right to Bouquot and he one-timed it past Ladd before he knew what happened.
- With 21.7 seconds left in regulation and an offensive zone faceoff the Lions used their timeout to setup a play. Vermont executed perfectly off the draw to seal the win. Määttä won it back, his ninth faceoff win of the night, and Carter Long guided it along the half boards to Bouquot. Bouqout lofted the puck into the Lindenwood zone and Isak Walther chased it down before finding Määttä alone for a tap-in to make it 4-2.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Jacques Bouqout had a goal and an assist this evening, he leads the team in scoring with 12 points this season.
- In the last seven games Vermont's power play is 7-for-30 good for 23.3%.
- Vermont is undefeated this season when scoring two or more power play goals.
- With tonight's 4-2 win, Community Bank N.A. will donate $300 to Special Olympics Vermont. Community Bank, N.A. donates $75 per goal to Special Olympics Vermont for every goal the men's and women's team scores this season.
- With tonight's win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to COTS, the Committee on Temporary Shelter, as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since the campaigns inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $72,000 to local non-profits.
UP NEXT
The Catamounts and Lions will conclude their first-ever series tomorrow on New Year's Eve at 4 p.m. The radio voice of the Catamounts Adam LaFleur will have the call on WVMT. The Zero Gravity Craft Brewing Pregame Show starts 30 minutes before each game.
