The 11th-ranked Catamounts used a balanced offensive attack as four different players scored to lead Vermont to an impressive 4-1 victory against No. 9 Providence at Schneider Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 3,030. With the win Vermont improves to 2-0-0 on the season against the Friars and 17-8-2 overall (9-7-2, Hockey East) while PC falls 14-10-1 (11-6-1).
“This was a big win for us,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said.”We played well from the start of the second period to the end of the game. We were able to finish some plays off and as the game went on we got more confident. We had a real solid game from the key guys. Brady Leisenring played one of his better games and Torrey Mitchell and Jeff Corey really shined.”
The game was scoreless after one period but the Friars would take a 1-0 lead just 26 seconds into the second period on the 13th goal of the year by senior Torry Gajda.
From that point on it was all Vermont in the second period as the Catamounts would go on to score three goals in the period. Sophomore Mark Lutz netted an unassisted goal at 5:56 of the period to tie the game at 1-1. It was his sixth goal of the season.
Senior Jeff Corey would make it 2-1 in favor of Vermont with a power-play goal at 11:43 of the second period. Senior assistant captain Brady Leisenring and freshman Kyle Kuk each assisted on Corey’s team-high 12th goal of the year.
The Catamounts opened up a 3-1 advantage when Leisenring notched his 10th goal of the season at 19:36 of the second period. Freshman Dean Strong set up the goal.
At 7:09 of the third period Vermont scored its fourth straight unanswered goal when sophomore Torrey Mitchell recorded his ninth goal of the season. Corey and senior captain Jaime Sifers each assisted on the play. The goal gave Mitchell 30 points (9 goals, 21 assists) on the season matching his total from his rookie campaign.
Vermont outshot PC, 22-17, and sophomore goalie Joe Fallon made 16 saves to pick up the win and improve his season record to 14-8-2. The Catamounts went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Friars were 0-for-5.
