WOMEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont Catamounts open up the 2019-20 regular season with a two-game road series against the RIT Tigers on Friday (Oct. 4) and Saturday (Oct. 5) at Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, New York. Friday's season opener kicks off at 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. start Saturday afternoon.
 
RELATED LINKS
Women's Hockey Weekly Press Conference – CatamounTV
Friday (Oct. 4), 6 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats | Game Notes (.pdf)
Saturday (Oct. 5), 2 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
RIT begins the regular season after a 5-4 overtime loss to Concordia in an exhibition contest on Sunday (Sep. 22). The Tigers finished the 2018-19 campaign with a 12-18-5 (8-11-1 CHA) mark for fourth in conference standings, but were ousted by fifth-seeded Penn State in the College Hockey America Quarterfinals.
 
Junior captain Ellie Larson posted 16 points (6 goals, 10 assists) last season to lead the RIT returners in scoring. The Tigers' blueliner posted two points in the overtime loss to Concordia. Sophomore forward Hunter Barnett chipped in eight goals in her rookie campaign a season ago for the most by an RIT returner.
 
The expected goaltender for the Tigers is Terra Lanteigne after getting the start in all 35 games last year with a 2.03 GAA and .944 SV% for a 12-17-5 record. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
The weekend series marks the 15th and 16th all-time meetings between Vermont and RIT. The Catamounts have a 3-6-5 record against the Tigers, but are 2-2-1 during head coach Jim Plumer's tenure. UVM and RIT last squared off in the 2017 Windjammer Classic and skated to a 1-1 tie before current volunteer assistant coach Taylor Willard scored the shootout winner to advance to the finals. RIT goalie Terra Lanteigne tallied 43 saves against the Cats. Vermont registered a 5-2 win in its last visit to Rochester (Oct. 2013).
 
LAST TIME OUT
Vermont hosted UOttawa in a preseason exhibition last Saturday (Sep. 28) at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts outshot the Gee-Gees 33-16, but eventually fell 3-0. Maude Poulin-Labelle and newcomer Hailey Burns both tallied a team-high five shots on goal for the Catamounts. UVM goaltenders Blanka Škodová (7 saves), Natalie Ferenc (3 saves), and Sierra Natzke (3 saves) all saw action in net.
 
LIGHT THE NIGHT
The Vermont women's hockey team participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Light the Night Walk on Sep. 27 in Burlington. After raising $1,720 in last year's walk, the Catamounts set their fundraising goal for $2,000. Vermont proudly surpassed its goal with $2,300 raised for the LLS, which funds leading research for every type of blood cancer including leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma among other rare forms of blood cancer.

HOCKEY EAST PRESEASON POLL
Vermont received 25 votes in the 2019-20 Preseason Coaches' Poll, placing ninth in the conference rankings. With nine first-place votes and 81 points overall, two-time defending conference champions Northeastern was predicted to win Hockey East. Next up was Boston University, which received the remaining first-place vote and had 71 overall. To round out the top three was Boston College with 65 points. Providence (56), New Hampshire (42), UConn (41), Merrimack (30), and Maine (29) locked up spots four through eight. Holy Cross (9) was 10th in the poll.
 
NESN TV DEAL
Hockey East Association announced a multi-year broadcast agreement with NESN that will feature 50 men's games and 15 women's games on NESN and NESNplus in the 2019-20 season. The Catamount women will play three televised games this season. The first televised contest will be at Northeastern on Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. Vermont's Jan. 31 game at Boston University will be televised on NESNplus at 7 p.m. UVM's final televised game of the regular season will be on Feb. 16 at 12 p.m. against Holy Cross.
 
CATAMOUNT RETURNERS
The Catamounts return 18 members of the 2018-19 season. Senior captains Ève-Audrey Picard and Ali O'Leary lead the forward group along with assistant captains Allie Granato and Kristina Shanahan. Abby Cleary, Olivia Kilberg, Val Caldwell, Alyssa Holmes, Theresa Schafzahl, Corinne McCool, Lilly Holmes, and Alex Gray are all returning forwards for Vermont.

Sini Karjalainen led the UVM defense in points last season with 12 and was closely followed by Maude Poulin-Labelle (11 points). Anna Erickson and Ellice Murphy round out the returning blueliners.

Blanka Škodová and Sierra Natzke return in goal for the Catamounts.
 
NEW FACES
Seven Catamounts headline the 2019-20 rookie class. Hailey Burns, Lily Humphrey, and Tynka Pátková are the rookie forwards for Vermont.
 
Sara Levesque, Emma Katzman, and Cam Morrissey make up the rookie defensive core.
 
Orchard Lake, Michigan native Natalie Ferenc is the lone goaltender in the class.

The Windjammer and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2019-20 women's hockey season