UVM hockey: Colorado College rallies to sink Vermont 5-2

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Colorado College staked Vermont to a one-goal first period lead but dominated the remainder of the non-conference game offensively for a 5-2 victory Friday evening.

The Tigers outshot the Catamounts in every period for an overall edge of 41-24. With the loss, Vermont dipped to 4-8-1 overall with only Saturday’s rematch with CC remaining before the break for final exams and Christmas.

UVM goaltender Stefanos Lekkas took sole possession of sixth place on the Catamounts’ list of career saves. With 36 stops Friday, the junior now has 2,319 for his career.

“We need to be better as coaches because clearly we did not prepare our team to play at a level required to win on the road against a good team,” Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon said via text message after the game. 

“Stef kept us in the game until late,” Sneddon added. “Credit CC for winning literally every category tonight.

“We will do our best to prep our team to play better (Saturday).”

Despite the Tigers’ superior shot count, the Catamounts sent a shiver through the Broadmoor World Arena in the game’s fading moments. With Lekkas benched for a sixth attacker, Connor O’Neil struck at 18:34 to slice CC’s lead to 3-2.

Lekkas returned for the faceoff, then departed once more but the Tigers took advantage with Trevor Gooch’s empty-net tally to squelch the Catamounts’ last hope. Colorado College added another goal 23 seconds later.

Except for the two goals and Lekkas’ play, it was the Tigers’ night. They outshot UVM 14-7 in the first period but Vermont’s Matt Alvaro recorded the period’s only goal. The UVM penalty killers also shut down the only two CC power plays they would face. Vermont never went on a power play since the Tigers did not incur a single penalty in the game.

Troy Conze tied the game early in the second and Westin Michaud put the Tigers in front to stay as CC led 2-1 going to the third. Trey Bradley pumped the score to 3-1 only 1:20 into the period, a score that held until O’Neil scored, followed by the final Tiger goals.

Colorado College takes a 4-2-0 edge in the all-time series into Saturday’s game. Vermont, 1-6-1 in Hockey East, dipped to 3-2-0 in non-league play. 

Women's hockey

Vermont 5, Yale 1: Abby Cleary's career-best outing paced Vermont as it broke out for a season-high five goals in a convincing win over host Yale.

Cleary finished with two goals and an assist for the Catamounts (5-9-4), who put away three goals in the first period to take control. 

Theressa Schafzahl, Corinne McCool and Olivia Kilberg also tallied for Vermont. Eve-Audrey Picard and Sini Karjalainen had two assists apiece, and Blanka Skodova made 27 saves.

"For a while I have felt that this team was really coming together and maturing and we saw that for a lot of the game today," UVM coach Jim Plumer said in a statement. "We can still get better though and we will need to be as I am sure Yale will be better tomorrow."

The Bulldogs drop to 2-11-0 on the season.

Correspondent Ted Ryan contributed to this report. Contact him at TedRyanVT@aol.com and follow him on Twitter at @TedRyanVT.