VERMONT CATAMOUNTS HOLD OFF BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES, 5-3
Four different Catamounts register goal and assist in victory

Sophomore forward Sebastian Stalberg had a goal and an assist for Vermont

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Freshman Connor Brickley (Everett, Mass.) recorded a goal and an assist in the third period and junior Rob Madore (Pittsburgh, Pa.) stopped 34 shots to lift Vermont to a 5-3 victory against No. 7 Boston College at a sold out Gutterson Fieldhouse on Saturday night.

Jimmy Hayes scored a pair of goals in the loss for the Eagles and Parker Milner made 24 stops in his third start of the season. Cam Atkinson added a power-play goal.

Sophomores Chris McCarthy (Collegeville, Pa.), Tobias Nilsson-Roos (Malmo, Sweden) and Sebastian Stalberg (Gothenburg, Sweden) each had a goal and an assist for the Catamounts working on the same line. Freshman H.T. Lenz (Vienna, Va.) added the first goal of his career.

"I've said all along, and I'm repeating myself, but the character in that locker room is as good as I've seen in college hockey in my years and when you have that kind of character and resilience you know you're going to be able to bounce back after tough losses," Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "I give these kids credit after going through seven games without a win and they've all been very close contests, not easy to go through emotionally. So, I'm very proud of them, they stuck together and found a way to get it done and now I think they feel like they can play that way and play against any team in the country."

Leading 2-1 in the third period, Lenz gave the Catamounts a two-goal cushion at 2:28. Brickley snuck in below the BC goal line and fed Lenz in the low slot.

"I knew once we got it deep that we were both planning on going in and making a hit, but then it seemed like neither BC d-man was going for the puck," Lenz said. "The puck was just kind of sitting there and Brickley thought he was going to have to make the hit, but he got the puck instead and got it to me."

Brickley then gave Vermont (1-4-3, 1-3-2 HEA) a 4-1 advantage at 8:44 when he tipped a drive by Dan Lawson (Oak Forest, Ill.) from the point past Milner for his second goal of the season.

The Eagles quickly responded at 12:49 when Hayes redirected a shot by Isaac MacLeod past Madore at 12:49. Then Hayes scored again at 16:10 to cut the deficit to 4-3.

Boston College (6-4-0, 4-3-0 HEA) called timeout with one minute remaining and pulled Milner in favor of an extra skater for an offensive zone face off. With six forwards on the ice, Nilsson Roos found the puck in the slot after a save by Madore and scored on the empty net to seal the 5-3 victory.

"A tip of the hat to BC, they were down and out at 4-1 and they made a great run at the end there," Sneddon added. "I think we got a little bit tight, tense and worried, and I think the timeout was just used to try to calm our guys down. There was nothing we could do about the two goals that just went in, we had to focus on the next shift and they did a great job, they really dialed in. You could see it in their eyes that they had belief that they were going to win the game and that's a good sign."

McCarthy gave Vermont the early lead for the second straight night when he scored less than 90 seconds into the game. Nilsson-Roos skated the puck down the left wing and fed McCarthy streaking down the slot for his third goal of the year.

Atkinson answered with a power-play goal for the Eagles at 5:09 before Stalberg scored his first of the season at 15:32 to give the Catamounts a 2-1 lead after one period.

Vermont took a 4-1 lead in the third period and held on for the weekend split.

"Coach is really happy about the character we have in the locker room and we have a great group of guys and we're all in it together, coaches included," Connor Brickley said. "We've stayed confident in each other, we always believed in each other, and we just wanted to get that first win. We wanted to work hard together and it paid off and now we're pretty happy about it."

Vermont returns to action on Nov. 23 at Massachusetts at 7 p.m.