BURLINGTON, Vt. - Amanda Pelkey had a goal and two assists to lead Vermont to its sixth straight league win over Providence 3-1 Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
The Catamounts came out flying on senior day notching the first goal 1:08 into the opening period. In transition Pelkey skated down the wing towards Providence goaltender Sarah Bryant and stopped before feeding a perfect cross-ice pass to Dayna Colang who tapped in her 11th goal of the season. Brittany Zuback picked up her team-leading 22nd assist of the season on the play.
After putting 16 shots on net Friday night the Catamounts outshot Providence 14-6 in the first period. Bryant made tremendous saves on Bridget Baker and Zuback to keep the Catamounts lead to one.
After killing off two Providence power plays the Catamounts made the Friars pay with an opportunity of their own. Victoria Andreakos fed a cross-ice pass to Ashley Salerno who beat Bryant with a quick wrist shot for her first career Division I goal at the 13:41 mark of the second period. Pelkey picked up her conference leading 16th power play point of the season with the secondary assist.
Providence pulled within one with 53 seconds left in the second period on its own power play. Beth Hanrahan walked in on a two-on-one and skated around the Vermont defense before out-waiting Vermont goaltender Roxanne Douville and roofing her ninth goal of the season.
Pelkey sealed the Catamounts sixth win in a row with her 21st goal of the season with 6:06 left in the third period. Ashley Salerno passed along the point to Colang who skated in and put a hard low shot on the net. Bryant made the initial save but Pelkey slammed home the rebound to put the game out of reach.
Douville made 22 saves and earned her program record 13th win of the season. Her 26 career wins is also a Division I program record.
"What a fantastic way to end the regular season and honor the seniors," said head coach Jim Plumer. "I'm so proud of this group for what they've invested in our program and I couldn't be happier that they are reaping the rewards of their hard work. This was a total team effort and certainly one of the best games we've played all year. We're excited to carry the momentum into the playoffs."
Vermont will host the single-game Hockey East quarterfinal next Saturday March 1 at 1 p.m. It will be the first time in program history hosting a Division I playoff game.
Vermont is currently the three seed in Hockey East, they will host either UConn or Maine depending on the result of the Northeastern/New Hampshire game. If the Huskies win or tie Vermont will be the four seed and host Maine, if Northeastern loses the Catamounts will be the three seed and host UConn.
Tickets for the game will go on-sale Monday, it will be $5 for adults, $3 for faculty/staff and anyone under 17 and UVM students will get in free.
NOTES: In 14 of Vermont's 17 wins this season the power play has converted at least once ... Over the course of Vermont's current six-game win streak Douville has given up 7 goals on 204 shots a .965 save percentage ... Amanda Pelkey finishes the best individual season in Catamounts history with 21 goals and 39 points, both single-season Vermont records.