The UVM men’s hockey team, after a slow start to the season, is now ready and well-seeded for the ECACHL this coming weekend. The team, with a record of thirteen wins, six losses, and three tied games, is placed fourth in the ECACHL, preceded by Cornell in first, Harvard in second, and Colgate in third. UVM will host the highest remaining seed after the playoffs in a best-out-of-three championship series at Gutterson Fieldhouse on March 11 and 12, and on the thirteenth if necessary.

Vermont owes much of its turn-around success to Scott Mifsud, senior assistant capatain and Hobey Baker candidate. Mifsud was recently named National Player of the Week by InsideCollegeHockey.com, after scoring three of Vermont’s four goals in a three-point weekend last weekend. The amazing performance of the UVM team that weekend is what brought them to fourth place in the final regular-season standings. Mifsud scored the game-winning goal with one second left in a 2-1 win over Brown on Friday, Feb. 25, and followed that by scoring both of Vermont’s goals in a thrilling come-from-behind 2-2 tie against Harvard on Saturday. These games sealed up the ECACHL fourth place standing for UVM, and guaranteed them a spot in the quarterfinals.

Mifsud is also the leading point scorer in the ECACHL, and was named player of the week by the ECACHL the week of Feb. 27-Mar.5. He is tied for sixth in scoring nationally, and his 45 points are the most Vermont has seen since the 1996-97 season with Martin St. Louis, who scored 60.

Mifsud was also recently featured on ESPN.com’s The Show, hosted by ESPNU and Inside College Hockey. He participated in an online chat with fans on Friday, March 4th, and fielded questions about UVM’s amazing turnaround this season, the possibility of receiving the Hobey Baker Award for his fantastic regular season, and UVM’s prospects for ECACHL and NCAA. Mifsud’s online chat was part of a celebration of the launch of ESPNU, ESPN’s brand new all-college sports network.