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BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Playing a tournament in Northern Ireland is exciting for any player. Winning a game there is certainly special.
For Vermont, the way the No. 20 Catamounts won in Friday’s opening game of the 2016 Friendship Four was extra “special.”
Vermont overcame an early 2-0 deficit and relied heavily on special teams, scoring the games final four goals en route to a 4-2 victory over Massachusetts. They will play Quinnipiac for the championship on Saturday.
The Minutemen jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the four-minute mark on goals by Griff Ieszka and Shane Bear 66 seconds apart. Both beat goaltender Stefanos Lekkas (33 saves) high on the stick side.
Later in the frame, on the power play, Bear rifled a shot off the post and seconds later Vermont was whistled for a second penalty leading to a 5-on-3 man advantage for 53 seconds.
But Vermont’s penalty kill stood strong in a moment that changed the game.
“We were a little rattled in the first 10 minutes even after they went up 2,” said Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon. “But I thought we were able to keep our composure and get our guys re-focused.”
Able to escape the first period, along with an early UMass flurry early in the second, the Catamounts finally struck at 9:46 of the middle frame.
Derek Lodermeier finished off a dish from Brian Bowen with a nice one-handed redirect to pull within a goal. On the play, UMass was called for hooking putting the Catamounts on the power play.
Unable to do much early, Rob Hamilton took advantage of riding time in the zone and wristed a shot toward goal that Craig Puffer redirected past UMass netminder Ryan Wischow (30 saves) to knot the game at 2.
In the third, another UMass penalty led to the Vermont game-winner. Again it was Puffer, this time taking advantage of a pinballing puck to push it past Wischow at 3:46 to give the Catamounts their first lead.
That was certainly threatened when Bowen was given a 5-minute interference major for leveling a UMass player away from the play with 9:20 left. But a holding call on UMass forward Steven Iacobellis during the major and solid penalty killing for Vermont allowed them to escape.
Matt Alvaro added an empty-net goal with two seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.
The biggest factor for Vermont on Friday was special teams. The Catamounts finished the game 2-for-4 on the power play and killed all six UMass opportunities with a man advantage.
“The difference for tonight was special teams,” said Sneddon. “We get two power play goals. Our penalty kill was excellent killing a 5-minute major and a 5-on-3. ”
That all was a catalyst for the Catamounts ability to come back and earn the two Hockey East league points and a trip to Saturday’s final.
“When you get up a goal or down or goal, you just have to try to keep even keel,” said Sneddon. “For us, we just kind of reminded them it’s two points at stake now and a chance to win the Belpot tomorrow. ”
On the other side, UMass coach Greg Carvel took many positive out of his team’s effort, particularly against a nationally-ranked opponent.
“I’m very proud of my team,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “I thought tonight we took a step forward. That’s a very good team over there in UVM, a top 20 team in the country. I thought five-on-five we were the better team tonight.”
* * * * *
Sixty-five minutes of hockey didn’t result in a single goal between St. Lawrence and Quinnipiac in the nightcap of the Friendship Four.
But a Nick Jermain goal in the second round of the shootout and three penalty shot saves by Quinnipiac goaltender Chris Truehl was enough to advance third-ranked Quinnipiac to the final to play for the Belpot Trophy. They will meet No. 20 Vermont in Saturday’s title game.
The game will officially go as a tie in both the ECAC and NCAA standings.
In the shootout, it was Jermain, a rookie playing in just his seventh career game who has not year scored a collegiate goal in regulation, who netted the only tally for the Bobcats.
Jermain pulled St. Lawrence netminder Kyle Hayton left then moved back to the right, roofing a shot on the backhander.
For the Bobcats, Jermain was probably the least likely hero prior to this week.
Playing in the ECAC, games aren’t typically decided by a shootout. Thus Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold decided to experiment this week at practice knowing the game could come down to that very situation
“We did [practice penalty shots] this week in practice. We did them almost every day just to get some reps,” said Pecknold. “Nick Jermain, who got the winner, never would have crossed my mind to use [for a penalty shot]. But he was scoring goals left and right all week.
“So that was a reason why we [practiced it]. We were trying to figure out which players to use.”
Neither team scored in a wild, physical first period. No. 19 St. Lawrence held a 14-9 shot advantage but that didn’t account for the multiple posts and crossbars rung at both ends of the ice.
Quinnipiac turned the tide significantly in the middle frame but still couldn’t beat Hayton (37 saves). The Bobcats held a 17-3 shot advantage in the frame spurred by three power play opportunities.
“We couldn’t capitalize [on the power play chances] in the second,” said Pecknold. “We had some really good looks.”
In the third, the two clubs traded chances but none was better than St. Lawrence’s Woody Hudson with 9:30 remaining. A deflection of a shot from the point came to Hudson and with Truehl (32 saves) down and out, he fired over the net.
Quinnipiac then was handed a glittering opportunity late when Joe Sullivan was whistled for hitting from behind, giving the Bobcats a 5-minute power play. But a lack of ability to hold the zone eventually led to Scott Davidson taking a hooking penalty, nullifying the final 1 minute, 47 seconds of the major.
In overtime, the teams traded chances, including a bid by Ryan Lough for St. Lawrence. Cutting around the defense, he moved across the net and fired low on Truehl. Getting his own rebound, he had plenty of net but ended up shooting wide, hitting the side of the net.
Still scoreless after 65 minutes it was Jermain and Truehl who became the heroes, advancing Quinnipiac to a showdown with Vermont on Saturday.
Contributing: Paddy Smyth
