The University of Vermont (3-0) dominated the University of Minnesota-Duluth (0-3) on Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse in front of a sellout crowd of 4,035. In their first home game of the regular season the Cats scored five goals on their way to a 5-1 victory. The offensive onslaught was lead by freshman left wing Peter Lenes. The 5-foot-6 160-pound Lenes netted the first three goals of his career, all in the first two periods. It was the first hat trick for a Catamount since December 29, 2004 when Jeff Corey had one against Providence. Lenes started the scoring at 16:29 of the first period, scoring his first goal at the end of a power play. This was only the Cats second power play goal of the year. In their previous two games they went 1 for 9 on the power play but in this game they scored three power play goals. “Our power play was struggling a little bit in practice,” Lenes said. “It was key that we got out there and executed it well tonight. We were getting the puck to the net and on all three goals I was standing in front and banged them home.” The Cats built on their lead at 18:04 of the first period when Lenes buried a rebound off a shot by Junior Chris Myers. Minnesota-Duluth got on the board less then two minutes into the second period on a goal by freshman Michael Gerger, his second of the year. This was the only blemish against the Cats sophomore goaltender Joe Fallon, who saved 19 of 20 shots. The Catamounts came right back at 9:42 of the second period when Lenes completed the hat trick on a rebound off a shot by Corey. It was the second power play goal of the game for Lenes and gave the Cats a 3-1 lead. Less than a minute later the Catamounts added to their lead. Senior captain Jaime Sifers skated in all alone on a break away and beat UMD goalie Nate Ziegelmann to give UVM a 4-1 lead. Vermont finished off the scoring at 12:24 of the second period when Brady Leisenring scored his third goal of the season on a wrap around shot. It was the third power play goal of the game for the Cats. “Prior to the game we talked about one of the keys to success for us was burying out chances,” head coach Kevin Sneddon said. The Cats scored five goals on only 27 shots. On top of the three goals by Lenes, junior assistant captain Kenny Macaulay added two assists. Fallon got the win and improved to 20-10-4 in his career. And Vermont extended its regular season unbeaten streak to eight games dating back to February 12, 2005. The three stars of the game were captain Jaime Sifers, right-winger Brady Leisenring, and the top star of the game was Peter Lenes.