A dramatic comeback after a 60-minute effort propelled the men’s hockey team to a four-point weekend against the University of Maine Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Game one saw the No. 14 Catamounts go down by two goals, just as they had in both games against Notre Dame.

Yet again, Vermont tied it, this time on the back of senior forward Colin Markison. Markison tallied two goals in the second period to even the game at two.

“We just tried to stick to our game plan and got the puck in deep,” Markison said. “Getting down 2-0 is not a hole we want to climb out of.”

Late in the second period, Black Bears forward Cam Brown put the puck in the back of the net with 0.2 seconds left in the period.

“We kind of let up there expecting that the clock would go off — those mistakes can certainly cost you hockey games, but you can’t take the resilience away from this hockey team,” head coach Kevin Sneddon said about the goal.

Vermont’s pressure in the third period was tremendous, but a late penalty almost cost them the game. Senior defenseman Alexx Privitera blocked a hard slap shot with his left hand that saved a goal late in the third period. Junior goaltender Brody Hoffman was pulled with just over a minute to go.

Just like the second game of the Notre Dame series, the Cats were down a goal with less than a minute left. With 58.6 seconds left in the third, first-year sniper Mario Puskarich put the puck between the crossbar and the side pipe to tie the game at three goals a piece.

In sudden-death overtime, captain and senior defenseman Mike Paliotta threw the puck on net from the half boards with sophomore forward Mike Stenerson on the doorstep to deflect it past Maine’s Matt Morris for the game-winner.

“I was thinking about shooting, but Paliotta was open so I went to the net and I was fortunate enough to get a deflect and put it in the back of the net,” Stenerson said.

Going into Saturday night’s game, Stenerson knew UVM would have to come out strong. A weak first period effort would not cut it, and that was immediately addressed on the power play just a few minutes into the game when Alexx Privitera rifled a shot past Maine goaltender Sean Romeo for a tally.

Less than a minute later, junior centerman Jonathan Turk tapped first-year Jarrid Privitera’s pass past Romeo to double Vermont’s lead. Just over one minute into the second period, Mike Stenerson added to his weekend goal total off a pass from first-year forward Kevin Irwin.

While the Black Bears added a tally late in the second period, Vermont did not let up their offensive attack and physicality. Alexx Privitera’s hip check on a Maine forward with 10 seconds left in the second period all but sealed Maine’s fate in this game.

Sophomore forward Brady Shaw tapped home an empty-net goal with just over a minute remaining to seal the weekend series with a 4-1 win. Stenerson capped off his monster series by registering two goals and four assist for six points. The Cats will travel to Providence College to face the No. 12 ranked Friars Nov. 14.