On Friday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Jan. 25, the no. 18 ranked University of New Hampshire took on the University of Vermont, tying the series 1-1. Friday Vermont took the win 3-2 in overtime, and New Hampshire won Saturday 5-2 after celebrating alumni players.
While the campus was quiet for winter break, the men’s hockey team was hard at work, earning a ranking of 18th in the USA Hockey poll and carrying a record of 3-3-1. They came into the weekend wanting to prove their place in America East, as in their last five games, they had a record of 1-4.
FRIDAY, 1/24
In the Friday game, Cy LeClerc scored the first goal 7:26 into the first period. LeClerc won the faceoff in the right circle and passed it to Alex Gagne. Gagne passed it back to LeClerc to slap the puck into the left side of the net.
LeClerc commented, “It was a good play by Gags (Gagne). I just tried to find open ice and I just one time, so it’s good. We focus on that in practice and I guess that worked out for me.”
With 15:12 in the first period, with 29 seconds left in their power play, Robert Cronin got the puck to pass it to Luke Reid, who passed to Ryan Conmy. Conmy slapped the puck toward the UVM goalie, Keenan Rancier, but it bounced off his pads giving him a second chance to sink the puck into the net.
The second period was scoreless until 3:33 left in the period when the Catamounts’ Timofei Spitserov scored the team’s first goal. UVM tied the score into the third period with 1:07 left in the period with another goal by Spitserov.
The third period was scoreless, ending with UVM finishing the period on a power play from a tripping call on Liam Devlin. They could not get through Jared Whale, resulting in the game going into overtime.
The Catamounts went into the 5-minute overtime with 24 seconds still on their power play, resulting in a 4-on-3 advantage. With 19.9 seconds left in overtime, the Catamounts scored when Simon Jellus flicked the puck into the top right corner of the net.
Head Coach Mike Souza assessed, “We beat ourselves, plain and simple.”
SATURDAY, 1/25
With 5:18 left in the first period of the Saturday game, Alex Gagne shot the puck which bounced off UVM goalie Keenan Rancier’s mitt, allowing Conor Lovett to claim the rebound, flipping it into the net. With 14 seconds left in the Wildcats’ power play, Marty Lavins shot the puck toward the goal where it bounced off the goalie’s padding. Jason Siedem got the rebound and tried to score himself but was denied. Nick Ring got the second rebound and tipped the puck in before the goalie could respond with 3:19 left in the period.
Just 3:28 into the second period, the Wildcats continued their lead 3-0. Gagne passed the puck to Ryan Conmy where he floated the puck into the opposite side of the net. With 3:45 left in the period, Liam Devlin took the puck around the back of the Catamount net and passed it to Robert Cronin where he shot the puck from the center of the left faceoff circle into the top right of the net. The Wildcats tallied their first penalty of the period with just under nine minutes left.
Souza commented, “We took five minors tonight, but I thought that we’d managed ourselves better. We’re going to take penalties. We want to take aggressive ones, not hooking, and trips and stuff like that.”
UVM took out their goalie to give them a 6-4 advantage, and in the first few seconds of the penalty, Nikolai Jensen poked the puck away from UNH’s net just missing the empty UVM net. The Catamounts scored with 7:10 left in the period when Blake Steenerson flipped the puck backward into the net. UNH responded with a goal of their own just under two minutes later with Luke Reid shooting the puck high and Cronin claimed the rebound flicking the puck to the top of the net. This second goal from Cronin makes it a career-high, ten goals for the season.
Cronin commented, “Just trying to keep getting my confidence and keep playing the right way and hopefully keep scoring some more goals and win some games.”
Five seconds later, UVM gained another goal off the faceoff in the center from Xavier Henry.
The Wildcats will be back at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex on Feb. 7 against Boston College and Feb. 8 against Merrimack. Both of these matchups will be streamed on ESPN+.
