Men’s Hockey: Late Goal Earns Catamounts a Tie at BU

Posted on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BOSTON, MA. — Alex Esposito tied the game with 4:04 to play in regulation as the Vermont Catamounts (1-8-1, 0-6-1 HEA) picked up their first Hockey East point in a 3-3 tie with the Boston University Terriers (4-4-5, 3-3-4 HEA) Saturday afternoon at Agganis Arena.

COACH’S QUOTE
“I thought it was a really good college hockey game, it was certainly a better effort for us tonight than last night,” said head coach Kevin Sneddon. “I think the biggest thing tonight was we had a net-front presence in front of Tucker. Last night we made his job pretty easy and tonight I thought we did a good job of making it more challenging for him.

HOW IT HAPPENED
BU freshman Sam Stevens scored his first career goal just 2:22 into the game to put the Terriers ahead, burying a backdoor feed from Domenick Fensore.
After two Terrier major penalties and misconducts less than a minute apart, Vermont tied the game at 1-1 off the stick of Christian Evers at 10:52 of the period. Max Kaufman found Evers at the right point, who moved to the top of the right circle before snapping a shot past Sam Tucker’s glove.
Derek Lodermeier put the Cats ahead 2-1 on the power play with his first goal of the season at 3:20 of the second frame. Lodermeier received a pass in the slot from Thomas Beretta and wired a shot under Tucker’s left pad.
Stevens added his second goal of the game at 6:22 of the second to tie the game at 2-2. The freshman found the loose puck crashing the net and snuck a rebound past Stefanos Lekkas (32 saves)
BU junior David Farrance made it 3-2 BU at 9:20 of the frame on the power play. Farrance received a pass from Matthew Quercia and tallied his ninth power play goal of the season.
Esposito banged home a loose puck in the slot with 4:04 left in the third period to tie the game at 3-3. William Lemay assisted on the late tally.

GAME NOTES
UVM was 2-for-4 on the power play while BU was 1-for-4.
The Catamounts held a 37-35 advantage in shots. Vermont also held an 11-7 advantage in blocked shots over Boston University.
Lekkas recorded more than 30 saves for the first time since playing at Quinnipiac last month. The senior made several ten-bell saves to keep the Catamounts within striking distance in the third period.
Beretta recorded his first point in Green & Gold with his first period assist on Evers’ tally. He picked up another assist on Lodermeier’s goal. He matches a career high with two assists, previously set last season at Michigan Tech.

UP NEXT
Vermont heads to the desert for a pair of non-conference games at Arizona State over the Thanksgiving break. The Catamounts and Sun Devils will square off at 10:05 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday (Nov. 29) and Saturday (Nov. 30) at Oceanside Ice Arena.