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Junior goaltender Gabe Carriere made 34 saves for the Catamounts
Vermont Rallies To Win Shootout After 1-1 Tie With Boston College
Junior goaltender Gabe Carriere made 34 saves for the Catamounts

Box Score

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Junior goaltender Gabe Carriere made 34 saves Friday night as the Catamounts skated to a 1-1 tie with #18 Boston College that was capped with a 4-3 shootout victory for the Catamounts. Joel Määttä scored in the fifth round of the shootout to deliver the extra Hockey East point for Vermont.


COACH'S QUOTE

"That was our best performance this year," Head Coach Todd Woodcroft said. "We dealt with major adversity - some brought on by ourselves and some not - and we found a way to beat BC in a shootout. We came in to this game very shorthanded with injuries. We lost two players to misconducts during the game and our bench responded with the resilience that we demonstrate when we are a good team. Gabe Carriere was outstanding. Our specialty teams - our PP, PK and faceoffs - were all excellent. I was very, very proud of our total game tonight in this shootout win over BC. Back to work tomorrow in a short turnaround game."


HOW IT HAPPENED

- Vermont's Robbie Stucker was given a game misconduct for cross checking 5:45 into the contest giving BC a five-minute power play. BC's Cutter Gauthier scored 19 seconds into the power play with his team-leading 12th goal of the season. After giving up the early goal UVM's penalty kill stiffened and killed off the remaining time. In the first period alone Carriere made seven saves while Vermont was shorthanded.

- The Catamounts struck back with their own power play with 3:40 left in the opening frame. Off a won faceoff Andrei Buyalsky one-timed a shot towards the BC net. It was stopped in front and came to Joel Määttä in the slot. Määttä rang the puck off the iron but Isak Walther was in the perfect spot to tap home his fourth goal of the season to tie things up.

- After a fairly even but scoreless second period the Eagles put Vermont under consistent pressure in the third. In part due to another five-minute major BC outshot the Catamounts 11-2 but couldn't find another tally. In fact, the best chance in regulation came as Simon Jellus rang one of the bar and out on a two-on-one.

- With a point secured by each side the teams played a free-flowing and very entertaining overtime session. Each team had four shots on goal but Carriere and BC's Mitch Benson were outstanding sending the game to a shootout.

- Gauthier opened things up for BC in the shootout scoring in the first round to give BC an early advantage after a Vermont miss

- UVM's shootout turnaround was highlighted by a Jellus goal facing a score or go home scenario in the third round. Jellus froze Benson with a leg kick followed by a fake shot before tucking the puck home. On the BC side Carriere forced a wide attempt from Nikita Nesterenko to send the shootout to sudden victory.

- Walther and Määttä delivered for the Catamounts in the extra rounds to seal the shootout victory for the green and gold.


INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

- The Catamounts are now 2-1 this season in shootouts, tonight was their first Hockey East shootout, which count toward the league standings.

- Gabe Carriere made 30 or more saves for the fourth time this season. UVM is 1-1-2 in those games.

- The Catamounts blocked 10 shots Friday night, Andrei Buyalsky was the only skater on both teams with two blocked shots tonight.

- In its last 11 games Vermont's power play is 9-for-39, good for 23.1%.

- With tonight's 1-1 decision, Community Bank N.A. will donate $75 to Special Olympics Vermont. Community Bank, N.A. donates $75 per goal to Special Olympics Vermont for every goal the men's and women's team scores this season.


UP NEXT

Vermont closes out the weekend series with No. 18 Boston College tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. from Kelley Rink. Like all Hockey East contests the matchup with the Eagles will air on ESPN+. Saturday's contest will also air regionally on NESN+. Both games will also be available on a pay-per-view basis internationally at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hockeyeast. Subscriptions to the service are available for $9.99 USD per month or $4.99 USD for individual games. Saturday's game will air on The Game (FM 97.1/FM 105.9/AM 960) with Adam LaFleur due to NFL Playoffs conflicts. The contest will also be available as always on the Varsity Network App.