ANN ARBOR, MI — Goaltender Steffanos Lekkas made 48 saves as the Vermont Men’s Hockey Team opened their 2018-2019 season with a 5-2 win over the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday night inside the Yost Ice Arena.
Sophomore Alex Esposito scored a pair of goals in the first 3:59 of the first period to give UVM some early momentum and a 2-0 lead. Michigan responded with a pair of powerplay goals to tie the game at 2-2 at the 10:18 mark of the first, but Vermont tookthe lead back for good on a Max Kaufman goal at 15:36 and then held on until late third period goals from Martin Frechette (at 17:39) and Kaufman again (into an empty net at 19:32) sealed Vermont’s second win in four series meetings with the Maize and Blue.
Lekkas backstopped the victory, making 14 saves in the first period, 11 in the second, and 23 in the third to earn player of the game honors.
Vermont now returns home to play an exhibition game against Laurentian of Canada on Thursday night and then to host Quinnipiac in their regular season home opener next Saturday night at the Gutterson Fieldhouse.