VERMONT'S MADORE AND PC'S BEAUDRY SHINE IN 1-1 TIE AT GUTTERSON
Vermont's Rob Madore makes 39 saves and Providence College's Alex Beaudry stops 32 shots

Junior netminder Rob Madore made 39 saves for the Catamounts

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Rob Madore made 39 saves and Drew MacKenzie notched his second goal of the year to lead Vermont to a 1-1 tie Friday night in Hockey East action at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

This marks the second time this season that Vermont and Providence have skated to a draw as the Catamounts extended their unbeaten streak to nine games (5-0-4) against the Friars.

Vermont went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and outshot the Friars 23 to 20 in the final two periods, but could not find the go-ahead goal late in the game.

Madore kept the Catamounts in the contest early as the Friars outshot Vermont 15-7.

"Well that's part of being a goalie, you've just got to play night to night," Madore said. "Whether you have a good night or a bad night, you just kind of wipe the slate clean and try to go out and have a good one that night."

Alex Beaudry stopped 32 shots in net for Providence who improves to 7-12-6 (3-10-5 HEA).

Vermont broke a scoreless tie at 4:07 of the second stanza, when Drew MacKenzie notched his second goal of the year on the power play. Anthony DeCenzo began the play as he carried the puck deep into the Providence zone and laced a pass to Jack Downing who took the initial shot. Downing, MacKenzie and a Friar defenseman all fell to the ice in front of the net and MacKenzie was able to get a backhanded shot off that eluded Beaudry for a 1-0 Catamount lead.

"Getting one (power play goal) tonight was important, especially for that unit," said Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon.

Providence evened the score at 1-1 when Ian O'Connor picked up his seventh goal of the year as his shot deflected off of a Catamount stick and ended up in the back of the net at 10:35 of the second period. Steven Shamanski and Tim Schaller were both credited with an assist on the play.

The Catamounts had one final chance in the waning seconds of the extra period, when Sebastian Stalberg fired a shot that hit the back of Beaudry and the crossbar as time expired.

"I think you saw a team play with a lot more energy than we had last weekend in both games," said Downing. "We were first to loose pucks, we know that no one is happy with another tie but it's just about improvement and we've got to just keep at it."

Vermont moves to 5-15-5 (3-11-4 HEA) and returns to action tomorrow night for the season series finale with Providence at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The game will be televised on WCAXtra with Jack Healey and Mike McCune calling the action. WCAXtra is located over-the-air on Digital 3.2, Comcast 168, Burlington Telecom 303, Charter 295 and Time Warner 165.

"It has to be there tomorrow night," said Sneddon. "Our players know that. It's an important game, important two points on the board and we have to get after it. We have to come with the same intensity that we came with tonight. I liked our jump right out of the gate in each period and that needs to be the same thing tomorrow night."

NOTES: Rob Madore remains undefeated against Providence in his career (3-0-3) with a 1.33 goals against average … Arthur Griem saw his first Hockey East action and official game action at Gutterson Fieldhouse and recorded a pair of shots on goal … Kevin Sneddon is now 10-3-5 all time against the Friars.