AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts hockey skated to a tie against Vermont after the Catamounts erased a 3-0 deficit for a second straight night at the Mullins Center. With the teams still deadlocked at 4-4 through overtime, the Minutemen won the shootout, 2-0, to earn the extra point in the Hockey East standings. Sophomore defenseman Ryan Ufko registered a hat trick and netted the shootout clincher as UMass now sits at 10-13-5 (4-11-3 HE) and UVM is 9-15-5 (4-12-3 HE).
"Unfortunately a mirror image of last night," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "Same exact thing. We played pretty well, built a sizeable lead and absolutely gave it away. Ditto everything I said last night."
After a scoreless first, Ufko put UMass on the board when he collected the puck from freshman Kenny Connors and freshman Cole O'Hara, circled the Vermont zone and sent a shot along the ice that found its way post Gabe Carriere 4:26 into the second.
O'Hara doubled the lead after picking up an outlet pass from Connors and wristed home his fourth of the year from the top of the right faceoff circle at the 14:35 mark.
Ufko added his second of the night at the 7:28 mark as his centering pass deflected off a Catamounts stick and into the net. Sophomores Scott Morrow and Lucas Mercuri earned the assists.
Vermont began its rally 10:48 into the third when Isak Walther put back a rebound off an Eric Gotz shot from the point with Joel Maatta picking up the secondary.
Moments later Thomas Sinclair and Matta scored just 12 seconds apart to tie things up at 3-3. The torrid pace continued with Ufko completing his hat trick for the third goal in a 25-second span from senior Cal Kiefiuk and sophomore Ryan Lautenbach at 13:41.
The Catamounts would level the score once more, however, as Timofei Spitserov picked up the fourth tally of the night for UVM at 17:01, scoring from the left faceoff circle after Matta and Isak Walther kept the puck in the UMass zone.
After a scoreless overtime, the squads went to a shootout for a second straight night. Henry Graham successfully turned aside both Vermont attempts with freshman Michael Cameron and and Ufko converting both for UMass for the 2-0 win.
The Minutemen finished with a 38-21 shot advantage and went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Luke Pavicich made 13 saves for UMass, while Graham played the final 11:15 and the shootout, making four saves. Gabe Carriere had 34 stops in net for UVM.
