BURLINGTON, Vt. - Brittany Nelson (Shelburne, Vt.) scored with three and a half minutes remaining in the first period to give the University of Vermont a 1-0 victory over Maine on Saturday afternoon at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
With the Catamounts on a 5 on 3 power play junior Celeste Doucet (Memramcook, New Brunswick) passed the puck forward to Teddy Fortin (Brunswick, Maine) As Fortin corralled the puck to the left side of the net, she fired a shot that deflected off of Maine's Brittany Ott and ran across the crease to the backside of the net. Nelson quickly put her stick on the puck and slammed home the eventual game-winning goal.
>From there on out it was UVM senior goalie Kristen Olychuck (Kelowna, British Columbia) helping secure the win with 22 saves for her second shutout of the season. Olychuck proved to be up to the challenge as two times in the second period the Black Bears had breakaway chances, but Olychuck turned away Abby Barton both times.
The two teams played an extremely physical game as they combined for 54 penalty minutes. Maine was 0-5 on the power play while Vermont went 1-6.
The win catapults the Catamounts (10-18-1, 5-11-1 Hockey East) over the Black Bears (6-16-5, 3-11-3 Hockey East) in the Hockey East standings, and leaves Vermont five points behind Boston College for the final spot in the Hockey East playoffs with four games left.