The Takeaway: UNH Overpowers Vermont and Wins 3-1
Sunday, February 19th, 2012Durham, NH. – On a night where New Hampshire was honoring its seniors on its annual senior night, it was one of the less heralded seniors that gave UNH a spark in the early stages of the second period that would propel them to victory over a struggling Vermont team. Kevin McCarey scored a goal 5:44 into the second period to the tie the game at one and Greg Burke responded 10 minutes later to give the Wildcats a lead, in which they would never relinquish. Brett Bruneteau scored the first goal of the game for Vermont and took a 1-0 lead after one period but Casey Desmith would stop the rest from that point for a total of 29 in the game.
The score of the game in some cases did not give the whole story of the game. In the second and third periods, New Hampshire sent 33 shots toward Vermont goaltender Rob Madore. Rob Madore sent aside 30 of those shots, with many of those being amazing saves. His performance kept Vermont in the game for long stretches but the result was never in doubt despite the close nature of the score. Connor Hardowa would give UNH an insurance goal midway through the third period to seal the victory.
With the win New Hampshire improves to 13-15-3 on the season and 10-12-2 in Hockey East play. The two points keeps them in seventh place in the standings, which is four clear of both UMass and Northeastern who are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot. Next weekend UNH plays UMass in their biggest weekend of the season. With two wins they could lock up a playoff spot and with two losses they could be tied going into the last weekend of the season. Vermont falls to 6-23-1 on the season and has been eliminated from playoff contention. (more…)