COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Stefanos Lekkas matched a career-high in saves, recording 48 stops for the second time this season as the Vermont Catamounts took a 2-1 win over the Colorado College Tigers Saturday night at Broadmoor World Arena.
Vermont improves to 5-8-1 overall (1-6-1 HEA) and Colorado College falls back to .500 at 7-7-2 (2-5-1 NCHC).
COACH'S QUOTE
"Despite the shots, we took care of their rush against us way better tonight, they had no odd-man rushes," head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "I'm proud of our guys' effort, but none more than number 40 right now, he's been sensational in the first half for us."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Colorado College opened the scoring 3:51 into the game as Trevor Gooch scored his second goal in as many nights off a rebound from Ben Copeland.
- In the second period, Jake Massie lasered a snapshot from the blue line on the power play to knot the game at 1-1. Craig Puffer and Derek Lodermeier assisted on the junior's third of the season.
- Vlad Dzhioshvili fired a shot from the left face-off dot that snuck through the Tiger defensemen and Alex Leclerc. Christian Evers and Matt O'Donnell assisted on the eventual winner.
- The game's first star, Lekkas made a flurry of saves on several occasions, making three consecutive saves on shots from the slot midway through the second period. The Illinois native made a flurry of stops several times, keeping the Tiger offense in check.
- Lekkas and the Catamounts withstood a pair of Tiger power plays in the third period as the home team ramped up the pressure looking for the equalizer. Lekkas recorded 17 saves in the final period to preserve the one-goal lead.
- As Colorado College made its final push, Tiger defenseman Bryan Yoon was called for a five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit to the head at 17:47 of the third. Vermont managed to keep Leclerc in his net until just 35 seconds remained, and the Tigers were unable to find a last-second goal to send the game to overtime.
NOTES
- Lekkas recorded 40 or more stops for the eighth time in his career and matched his total from the season-opening win at Michigan.
- Dzhioshvili's goal was his second tally of the season and first career game-winning-goal
- Vermont scored its first power play goal in nearly a month, last scoring with a man advantage against Boston College (Nov. 9)
- The Catamounts are now 8-2-1 all-time on games played on December 8. However, it is the first win on this date since 1989.
- With the victory, the Cats Win, Community Wins campaign and Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate another $100 to the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, bringing this year's total to 114 wins and $11,400.
UP NEXT
Vermont is off until the 2018 Delta Hotel Burlington / TD Bank Catamount Cup, hosted at Gutterson Fieldhouse on December 28 and 29. The Catamounts will square off against Alabama-Huntsville at 7:05 p.m. on Dec. 28 before taking on the Engineers of RPI at the same time the following night.
