VERMONT WOMEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOKThe University of Vermont women's hockey team continues non-conference play with a home-and-home series against No. 5 Clarkson this weekend. The Catamounts host the Golden Knights at Gutterson Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. Friday night before traveling to Cheel Arena for a Saturday tilt at 3 p.m.
RELATED LINKSFriday vs. #5 Clarkson – Live Video (free) | Live Stats
Saturday at #5 Clarkson – Live Video (free) | Live Stats | Live AudioREPACI SKATES IN 100th GAME AS A CATAMOUNTSaturday night's game against Bemidji State was senior co-captain
Gina Repaci's 100
th career game as a Catamount. She is the 28
th player to reach the century mark since the program went Division I. Teammate and fellow senior
Dayna Colang has now played in 105 games.
POWER PLAY NEEDS TO GET ON TRACKThe Catamounts have not found the back of net yet on their power play going 0 for 7 last weekend against Bemidji State. Vermont generated eight shots but couldn't convert. Last season Vermont's power play was ranked seventh in the NCAA converting at a program record clip of 20.7%. Senior forward
Dayna Colang was tied for fourth in the NCAA with eight power play goals.
BAKER SCORES FIRST GOAL OF SEASON FOR VERMONTJunior forward
Bridget Baker scored the first goal of the season for the Catamounts Friday night against Bemidji State. Last season she finished strong scoring game-winning goals in a series sweep at Providence in the final weekend of the regular season.
KAYLA KRUK JOINS WOMEN'S HOCKEY THROUGH TEAM IMPACTThe women's hockey team officially drafted seven-year-old Shelburne, Vt. native Kayla Kruk through Team IMPACT. Kayla celebrated her draft day with the Catamounts last Saturday in a ceremony facilitated by the 501(c)(3) non-profit, Team IMPACT, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses through the power of team.
Click here to read more about Kayla and Team IMPACT.
STARTING AGAINST SOME OF THE BESTThe Catamounts open the season with four games against teams ranked in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll with No. 5 Clarkson and No. 9 Bemidji State. Last season the Catamounts won their first game of the season with a 3-1 win at No. 7 North Dakota. In the last two seasons Coach Plumer has led the Catamounts to four wins over ranked teams.
COACH PLUMER SEEKING HIS 200th WIN The Catamounts first win of the 2015-16 campaign will also mark the 200
th win in Coach Plumer's coaching career. 41 of Coach Plumer's wins have come at Vermont, which is a three-year record for a coach of the Catamounts, the previous mark was 25.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT#5 Clarkson Golden Knights: The Golden Knights come to Burlington as the only team in the country to have played three games and won all three. On Tuesday night Clarkson defeated Syracuse 3-1 on the road after a weekend sweep of St. Lawrence.
Junior forward Cayley Mercer leads the team in scoring with three goals and two assists for five points in three games. Last year she also led the team in scoring with 44 points in 38 games. Mercer was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week after her standout performance in the sweep of St. Lawrence.
The Knights are led in net by sophomore goaltender Shea Tiley, who was named the ECAC Goaltender and Rookie of the Year last season. This season she is 3-0-0 with a .960 save percentage which ranks seventh in the NCAA. She is also one of only seven goalies with a shutout this year.
Clarkson leads the overall series against Vermont with a record of 15-1-3. In their last meeting at Gutterson Fieldhouse the Catamounts tied Clarkson 3-3 on September 30, 2011.
Last season Clarkson played six games against four Hockey East teams. The Golden Knights beat Providence (twice) and Connecticut but lost twice at home to Boston University and had their season ended at Boston College in the NCAA Tournament.
FORMER CATAMOUNT PELKEY NAMED TO FOUR NATIONS CUP ROSTERLast week it was announced that
Amanda Pelkey will once again be a member of the U.S. National Women's Team for the 2015 Four Nations Cup. The annual tournament will be held November 4-8 in Sundsvall and Kovland, Sweden.
TEAM LEADERSSenior
Gina Repaci and junior
Sarah Kelly will serve as co-captains for the University of Vermont women's hockey team this season.
CATAMOUNTS SELECTED SEVENTH IN HOCKEY EAST PRESEASON POLLBoston College, last years regular season champion, was selected to win the 2016 Hockey East Title, in the 14th season of play. The Eagles received eight first-place votes and 64 points overall. Boston U was selected second with one first-place vote and 57 points overall. Northeastern was third with 50 points followed by Maine (34 points), Connecticut (32 points), New Hampshire (30 points), Vermont (29 points), Providence (20 points) and Merrimack (8 points).
NON-CONFERENCE RECORD LAST SEASONThe Catamounts will look to replicate their success from last season in the non-conference portion of their schedule. Vermont's nine wins last year against teams outside its league set a new program record. Vermont started the year 6-2-1 last season with five of those wins against teams outside of Hockey East.
ALL ACROSS THE MAPThe Catamounts have players from 10 different states (Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont), two Canadian provinces (Alberta and Ontario) and two other countries (Czech Republic and Finland). Vermont has four players from Ontario more than any other state or province.
3RD ANNUAL PACK THE GUT CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY THE WINDJAMMERThe Vermont women's hockey team will host the third annual "Pack the Gut Challenge Presented by The Windjammer" on Friday January 29 as they face Connecticut.
The goal this is to break the single game Hockey East attendance record of 2,028 fans, set by Vermont in 2013, and support the local Meals on Wheels organization.
The 2015-16 Vermont women's hockey campaign is brought to you by the Windjammer Restaurant and Inn.
