In their first taste of Hockey East conference play this season, men’s hockey traveled to Rhode Island to take on the No. 7 team in the country: the Providence College Friars.
Coming into the two-game set, the Catamounts were 1-1, having beat St. Lawrence but falling to Clarkson, and were looking to establish some positive momentum.
Both teams looked good early, but it was Providence that broke the scoreless tie 10 minutes into the contest. Unable to find the back of the net, Vermont went into the second period down 1-0.
Providence then scored twice in just a minute’s time, pushing the lead to three. Vermont’s offense was stagnant until midway through the second, when junior forward Simon Jellus put the Cats on the board with his third goal of the year.
Heading into the final period, Vermont showed signs of life but could not capitalize. With five minutes left in the period and desperation setting in for the Catamounts, Providence put the game out of reach with a late power-play goal.
With the series-opening loss, Vermont fell to a 1-2 record, but fortunately did not have to wait long to get another shot at their division rival. As Head Coach Steve Wiedler and the rest of the squad put the loss behind them and were back on the ice 24 hours later.
Providence started the game by scoring early in the opening period, but Vermont refused to have a repeat of the previous night as Simon Jellus and the Catamounts responded a minute later with a goal of their own.
The second period was a scoreless 20 minutes for both teams. Senior goalkeeper Gabe Carriere kept Vermont in the game with an impressive 12-save period.
Heading into the third, the question was which defense would crack first. With seven minutes to go in the third, the Friars put one past Carriere to retake the lead. Forty seconds later, UVM junior forward Timofei Spitserov tied things up and sent the game into overtime.
Neither team could do anything offensive in the overtime periods despite both having power play opportunities. Following the two scoreless overtime periods, the two headed to shootouts.
There, it was Jellus who made the lone shootout goal, snapping Providence’s eight-game win streak over Vermont and capping off a successful two-game series against one of the nation’s best programs.
The Catamounts now focus their attention on another Hockey East opponent in UConn. They will make their regular season home debut on Friday, Nov. 3 against the Huskies.
