PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Senior Jon Rheault (Deering, N.H.) scored two goals, including the game winner with 14 seconds left in overtime to lead the 11th-ranked Providence College men's hockey team to a 4-3 win over Vermont Saturday night in a Hockey East game at Schneider Arena. With the win, the Friars improved to 13-10-3 and 10-6-3 in Hockey East action. Vermont fell to 8-11-7 and 7-7-5 in league play.
Rheault's goal came after sophomore John Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) won a faceoff in the Vermont zone and played it back to junior Matt Taormina (Washington Township, Mich). Taormina then fired a wrist whot that was deflected by Rheault and into the net.
The Friars scored a short-handed goal and a power-play goal in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Rheault gave the Friars a 1-0 edge at 10:20 when he stole puck at the red line and fired home his second short-handed goal of the season and his team leading 16th overall. At 15:59, PC took advantage of the power-play to increase the lead. Cavanagh made a back handed pass from behind the net to junior Nick Mazzolini (Anchorage, Alaska) who fired a shot over Joe Fallon's shoulder. However, the Catamounts cut the lead to 2-1 as time expired in the first period. Slavomir Tomko fired a shot from the corner that eluded PC goalie Tyler Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
Junior Greg Collins (Hingham, Mass.) scored his sixth goal of the season at 1:02 of the second period as the Friars regained their two-goal lead (3-1). Senior Trevor Ludwig (Grapevine, Texas) assisted on the play as well as Rheault who collected his 100th career point. He is the 48th Friar to reach the 100-point plateau. However, the Catamounts took advantage of a five-minute power play halfway through the second period to cut the lead to 3-2. Jack Downing scored right in front as Brian Roloff and Viktor Stalberg assisted on the play.
In the third period, Downing scored his second goal of the night as he played the puck in front and it was deflected into the net to even the score at 3-3.