HANOVER, N.H. - William Lemay and Joe Leahy scored 1:57 apart in the early stages of the first period and Will Zapernick had three points as Vermont earned its first regulation road win of the season defeating Dartmouth 3-2 Sunday evening in non-conference action from Thompson Arena.
COACH'S QUOTE
"We felt tonight was the opposite of the Yale game," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "We came out in the first period ready to play and handled the momentum swings well all game. Our power play got us on the board when it needed to. Our penalty kill and our goaltending were stellar today - Gabe Carriere was excellent but so was the team in front of him for the majority of the game. We had a few moments where we got away from what we are trying to be, however, we got the win in regulation and this a building block."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Vermont opened the scoring on the power play 4:50 into the contest. In transition Zapernick fired a wrist from just inside the faceoff circle. Dartmouth's Justin Ferguson made the initial save but allowed a huge rebound that William Lemay tapped into the empty net for his third goal of the season.
- The Catamount struck again moments later. Zapernick poked the puck back to Andrew Lucas at the point and with all five Big Green skaters below the faceoff dot Lucas took the space given to him before firing a high wrist shot towards Ferguson. Ferguson again, made the initial save, but the rebound was tapped home by Joe Leahy. It was his first goal as a Catamount.
- Dartmouth's Mark Gallant cut the UVM lead in half with 8:49 left in the opening frame. As Gallant skated to the net Sean Chisholm fed a pass through traffic to Gallant and he one-touched it past Carriere for his fifth goal of the year.
- UVM regained its two-goal cushion just 23 seconds into the second period. A nifty backhand pass off the neutral zone boards from Simon Jellus setup Zapernick and Lemay in alone on the Dartmouth goaltender with speed. Lemay fed a soft cross-ice pass to Zapernick who one-timed it home to make it 3-1.
- With 10:56 left to play in the second period Cory Babichuk was assessed a five-minute contact to the head penalty. On the ensuing Dartmouth power play Carriere was outstanding in net for the Catamounts. He made five saves as UVM smothered the Big Green attack over those key five minutes.
- With 4:05 left in the contest Dartmouth closed to within one after a fortuitous bounce in the UVM zone. A funny bounce off a Vermont forward found Gallant wide open in front of Carriere and he scored his second of the night with a snapshot to the top corner.
- The Big Green pulled its goalie over the final 2:17 of the contest but couldn't generate any real pressure and UVM held on for the win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Catamounts penalty kill was four-for-four Sunday allowing just six shots in 11 minutes of shorthanded action.
- Carriere made 25 saves for the Catamounts and evened his record this season to 2-2-1.
- Vermont blocked a total of 11 shots Sunday, including a game-high three from Jacques Bouquot.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont returns to Hockey East action next weekend as they head to Orono for a two-game series at Maine. The two teams will faceoff at 7:30 p.m. Friday night on NESN+ and 7 p.m. on Saturday from Alfond Arena. The voice of the Catamounts, Adam LaFleur, will also broadcast the action live on WVMT (FM 96.3 / AM 620).
