Men’s hockey opened their conference play this weekend with two games against Hockey East rival Northeastern University Oct. 29 and 31.
Game one of the weekend saw the Cats get out to an early two goal lead thanks to sophomores Jarrid Privitera and Anthony Petruzzelli who both scored goals in the first period.
The Huskies were eventually able to rebound and scored two goals in the third period to tie it up.
The Catamounts then regained the lead thanks to senior Dan Senkbeil’s first goal of the season with a little less than eight minutes to go in the third period.
Junior netminder Mike Santaguida earned the victory, stopping 21 of 23 shots while picking up his second victory of the season as well as his 50th collegiate appearance.
“We weathered the storm and got better as the game went on but we found a way to give up a two-goal lead. We said we’ve got to find a way to win as a team and they did it,” head coach Kevin Sneddon said, according to UVM athletics.
Game two of the weekend saw Jarrid Privitera score his second goal of the weekend less than a minute into the first, giving the Cats the early lead.
Northeastern would bounce back, though, as Nolan Stevens scored on Santaguida less than ten minutes later.
Early in the second, junior Brady Shaw would pot his first goal of the year.
The score remained 2-1 until the third period when the Huskies struck.
Northeastern scored two goals in quick succession that put them up 3-2.
The third period was a rough one for the Catamounts.
Petruzzelli however pulled off some late-period heroics to tie the game at three with less than 2:50 remaining.
“The two goals we gave up in the third period showed a complete lack of urgency on our part,” Coach Kevin Sneddon said in postgame press conference. “Positively, we eeked out a point, but we’ve got to be a lot better moving forward.”
UVM lost the majority of faceoffs in the Saturday night loss 40-22, according to UVM athletics.
Santaguida ended the two game series with 49 saves.
UVM is now 2-4-1 on the season overall and 1-0-1 in Hockey East play.
The Catamounts next six games are against Hockey East opponents including, UMass-Lowell, UConn, UMass Amherst and Maine.
Next up, the Cats face the UMass-Lowell next weekend in a two game series. The puck drops 7:05 pm on Friday at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
