BURLINGTON, Vt. - Five different goal scorers found the scoresheet as Vermont topped St. Thomas 5-1 in their first-ever meeting in non-conference action from Gutterson Fieldhouse Friday night. With the win, the Catamounts improved to 8-7-1 overall and the Tommies fell to 9-9-1.
COACH'S QUOTE
"Obviously we're happy with the result, but I think there's parts of our game we definitely have to clean up," Head Coach Steve Wiedler said. "Our fan and alumni support is incredible. They support us night in and night out no matter what. I'm proud our guys honored them with their effort tonight."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Vermont opened the scoring with 4:09 left in the opening frame on an odd-man rush. Luca Münzenberger poked the puck off a Tommies forward and the puck caromed off of Nick Ahern and right to Andrei Buyalsky. Buyalsky and Ahern broke into the St. Thomas zone on a two-on-one. Buyalsky looked off the goaltender and fired a wrist shot under the bar for his first goal of the season.
- The Catamounts doubled their lead with Ryan Miotto's fifth goal of the season 2:39 into the second period. St. Thomas' Aaron Trotter made an initial save on Timofei Spitserov but Simon Jellus quickly centered the rebound back to Miotto who one-timed it off the post and in to make it 2-0.
- With 2:31 to play in the middle frame the Tommies got one back with Ryan O'Neil's fifth goal of the season. O'Neil fired a shot towards the UVM net and it took a fortuitous bounce off Vermont's Gabe Carriere to make it 2-1.
- The Catamounts wasted no time getting it back to a two-goal lead. Dawson Good notched his first of the season in transition just 28 seconds later. Jérémie Bucheler broke up a Tommies rush and poked the puck into the neutral zone. Mateo Dixon tapped it to Good and they skated into the St. Thomas zone on a two-on-two rush. Good made a great move to blow past his defender before firing back to his left and slipping it under Trotter's arm.
- Bucheler sealed Vermont's fourth straight win with an empty-netter from the Catamounts defensive zone with 3:24 to play in the final frame. Chris Theodore and Zach Dubinsky earned assists on Bucheler's team-high sixth goal of the year.
- The Catamounts added one more tally for good measure with 1:21 to play in regulation. Ahern won a puck battle behind the Tommies net and Buyalsky collected the puck before firing a pass back door to a wide-open Jack Malinski who one-timed it home for his second goal of the year.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Catamounts have scored five or more goals in back-to-back games for the first time since March 3-4, 2017. UVM topped Maine 5-1 and 5-0 in the Hockey East Opening Round that year.
- Vermont's current four-game win streak is its first since December of 2018.
- First year forward Nick Ahern picked up his first career multi-point game with two assists Friday night. He was one of three Catamounts (Bucheler, Buyalsky) with a pair of points.
- In his last nine games graduate defenseman Jérémie Bucheler has six goals and six assists for 12 points. The 12 points have set a new career-high for Bucheler in a single season. He had 11 points as a junior at Northeastern during the 2021-22 campaign.
- With tonight's 5-1 decision, Community Bank N.A. will donate $375 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 the win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to King Street Center as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $80,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.
UP NEXT
The Catamounts and Tommies will faceoff again tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. from historic Gutterson Fieldhouse. Saturday's contest, like all Hockey East home games will air on ESPN+ with Rob Ryan on the call. As always, Adam Lafleur will call the action on WVMT from the Handy Toyota Broadcast Booth.
Saturday evening is Rally's Birthday and Youth Day presented by Healthy Living. In addition, the first 1,000 fans on Saturday will receive a voucher for a free hot dog courtesy of Handy Toyota, our presenting sponsor of the 2023-24 campaign. Reserved tickets for Saturday's game are available as 2 for $24 promotion by using the promo code "2024" at UVMAthletics.com.
