The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

Big Green stops men’s hockey

The UVM men’s hockey team was iced by visiting Dartmouth University, 4-2, in Sunday’s contest. Despite the support of a wildly festive 60th consecutive sellout crowd at Gutterson Fieldhouse, the Cats were silenced by the stonewall goaltending of Big Green backstop Mike Devine and the offensive firepower of J.T. Wyman. Plagued by a surplus of defensive breakdowns, the winless Cats dropped their overall season record to 0-3-1 (0-0-1 Hockey East). “I thought [Dartmouth] got better and more powerful as the game went on and unfortunately we did not,” head coach Kevin Sneddon said. The Big Green appeared to be overmatched by the Cats in the opening period of their season opener. After an increase of scoring opportunities and sustained pressure in the offensive zone, UVM took the lead at 17:58.Crashing the net, sophomore Brayden Irwin tipped home a cross-ice feed from fellow sophomore Colin Vock to make it 1-0. After being outshot by the Cats 17-8 in the first period, the Big Green responded in the middle stanza. At 3:19, Dartmouth notched the equalizer when a slap shot from the point, by defenseman Evan Stephens, beat UVM sophomore goalie Mike Spillane. Dartmouth’s senior J.T. Wyman struck again off a rebound only 25 seconds later. Dartmouth outshot UVM 14-4 in the second period. In the final stanza, the Big Green increased their lead.Wyman circled the net and drew away several Cat defenders before he fed the puck to a wide-open Rob Pritchard who beat Spillane at 9:33 of the third.Wyman continued to press the Catamount defense when the forward hammered a wrist shot by Spillane at 14:20 to make the score 4-1. Sophomore Jay Anctil broke Dartmouth’s string of four unanswered goals at 18:02 to end the scoring. Spillane finished with 27 saves in the game. “I’m not upset with our mindset,” Sneddon said. “It’s not a matter of thinking more defensively, it’s just doing the defensive parts of the game better.”The Cats look to record their first win on Nov. 9 when they travel to Northeastern. “Everyone’s itching to get that ‘W,'” senior captain Mark Lutz said. “We just have to keep working hard and take it one day at a time.”

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Big Green stops men’s hockey