HARTFORD, Conn. – It is certainly hyperbole to state that any hockey team nine games into its season, before you even turn the clocks back, might have that moment that can turn a season around.
Then again, if you’re the Vermont Catamounts, maybe that’s not so much of an overstatement.
One night after laying an egg in a 5-1 loss at Connecticut, the Catamounts put forth a much-improved effort over the first 21-plus minutes of Saturday’s matinee rematch. Still, they found themselves down 2-0.
Add in the a five-minute major and game misconduct to top line winger Craig Puffer at the 1:38 mark of the second and it’s as if UConn smelled blood in the water and was ready to send Vermont back to Burlington as wounded Cats.
But then things changed. It began with a shorthanded bid during the major by Ross Colton that resulted in a penalty shot. Colton converted for his seventh goal of the season and the Cats had life. But they still had three more minutes of power play time to kill, which quickly turn to five more minutes when Vermont was whistled for another penalty immediately after killing the major.
In the end, not only did Vermont execute those kills, their offense jumped to life and scored three more times on the way to a 4-2 win to salvage a split of the weekend series and probably salvage the confidence and morale of this Vermont team.
“It wasn’t stacking our way,” said Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon.”[UConn goalie Adam] Huska was playing really well early on and we had a lot more scoring chances tonight that we did last night early. So it kind of felt like a not-meant-to-be story. But little things like the penalty shot, the penalty kill, the power play got on the board, all of a sudden we’re just in that one-shift-at-a-time mentality, and it worked.”
That worked helps get Vermont just its second road win and first in Hockey East as the Catamounts improve to 3-5-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the league.
One thing that might not be surprising about this comeback was the man who started it all. Colton, in just his sophomore year, has become a leader on this team. Forget about his seven goals if you can, his ability to make plays and play strong at both ends of the ice are critical to making this team run.
Friday he scored Vermont’s lone goal, but wasn’t playing the game he needed to play, said Sneddon. Saturday, that changed.
“The way Ross played tonight - shot blocking, finishing checks, being tough over pucks – that’s what we need every night from him,” said Sneddon. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself because we haven’t gotten a lot of secondary scoring to this point. It’s nice to see some other guys tonight get on the board.”
“But Ross is an exceptional player. Even though he’s only a sophomore, he’s one of the better ones in the league.”
UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh undoubtedly was frustrated as he watched his team build a two-goal lead on goals from players he needs to get going offensively – Miles Gendron (first of the season) and Maxim Letunov (second of the season). But then watching his team fall apart with the penalty shot while shorthanded by Colton, and a power play goal by Matt Alvaro that was sandwiched around even-strength tallies by Jarrid Privitera and Anthony Petruzzelli was the ultimate in coaching frustration.
“The story of the game was special teams,” said Cavanaugh, whose power play, once red hot, has struggled the last two weekends. “Power plays are streaky. Right now we’re not moving the puck quick enough. We’re holding on to it for a little bit too long. You’ve got to let the puck do the work and get them out of the lane.”
Still, the bottom line for Cavanaugh was allowing points to slip away on Saturday.
“[Hockey East] is a good league,” said Cavanaugh. “When you have a team on the ropes you’ve got to put them away and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Hockey East Roundup
Maine 6, UMass Lowell 2
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The Black Bears avenged a 3-2 loss on Friday by scoring the game’s first six goals in Saturday’s matinee to earn a road split in Lowell.
Eduards Tralmaks paced the Black Bear offense scoring twice and adding an assist in a game that featured six multi-point scorers for Maine.
Both teams changed goaltenders entering Saturday’s game. Jeremy Swayman stopped 28 shots in victory while the Black Bears chased starter Tyler Wall from the game (six saves, 4 GA) and Friday’s winner Chris Hernberg entered in relief (14 saves, 2 GA).
Boston College 2, Merrimack 1
The Eagles and Warriors scored all of their goals in the opening minutes and BC held on to complete the weekend sweep of Merrimack.
The story of the game, though, may have come in the closing seconds when BC goaltender Joe Woll was ejected for kicking a player. Merrimack had a 6-on-3 advantage and was able to generate a shot that Ryan Edquist was forced to stop the preserve the win.
Edquist will likely be the starter on Tuesday when BC takes on Connecticut as Woll’s ejection carries with it a mandatory one-game suspension.
No. 15 Northeastern 4, No. 12 Boston University 1
Northeastern’s Nolan Stevens netted a hat trick, the final two goals breaking open a 2-1 game in the middle period as the Huskies rolled, 4-1, over crosstown rival BU.
The major story of the game might have been an injury to NU goaltender Ryan Ruck, who left the game midway and was replaced by Cayden Primeau. Primeau made 19 stops in relief. There were no reports on Ruck’s condition after the game.
No. 13 New Hampshire 3, Massachusetts 0
Senior goaltender Danny Tirone posted the eighth shutout of his career while Liam Blackburn, Brendan van Riemsdyk and Benton Maass each scored for the Wildcats as tNew Hampshire earned a 3-0 victory over UMass on Saturday evening at the Mullins Center.
Tonight’s victory marks the Wildcats best start since the 2012-2013 season when they also began the season 6-1-1. It also marks their best conference start since 2010-2011 when UNH was 3-0-1.
