Box Score

QUEBEC CITY, Que. – The #20 University of Vermont men's hockey team scored three unanswered goals in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and went on to defeat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 4-1, in the season opener for both squads. The Catamounts have now won each of the last four meetings against the Engineers.

With the score tied 1-1 after the first two periods of play, Vermont broke the game wide open at 3:45 of the final period as sophomore Chris Atkinson (Sparta, NJ/U.S. Development Camp) took a feed from the corner of the net by Josh Burrows (Prairie Grove, IL/Boston) and buried one into the open net from the bottom of the left circle.

Junior Brayden Irwin (Toronto, ON/St. Michael's) made it a 3-1 advantage just over three minutes later on the power play as he wristed the puck over the shoulder of RPI's Mathias Lange (Klagenfurt, Austria/New York Apple Core) at 6:47 off a pass from classmate Brian Roloff (West Seneca, NY/Green Bay).

Milo capped the scoring for Vermont at the 11:36 mark after he found the puck on his backhand and centered it for a shot over the blocker of the Engineers goalie for the 4-1 margin.

The Engineers struck first to open the game as freshman Patrick Cullen (Washington, DC/Indianapolis Ice) scored at 17:33. Sophomore Scott Halpern (Boca Raton, FL/Bay State Breakers) earned the primary assist after his shot from the mid-slot banked off the pads of Catamounts goalie Mike Spillane (Bow, NH/Omaha).  Sophomore Chase Polacek (Edina, MN/Holy Angels) earned the second helper.

Vermont came back in the second frame as Milo scored just 1:17 into the period. Collecting the puck from linemate Jack Downing (New Caanan, CT/Omaha), Milo skated around the net and roped a shot up under the crossbar for the goal. Senior Peter Lenes (Shelburne, VT/Sioux City) was also credited with an assist.

In goal, Spillane stopped 20 shots to pick up the win. Lange made 24 saves on the night for Rensselaer. The Catamounts went 1 for 9 on the power play while the Engineers were 0 for 5 on the night.

RPI returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it takes on the U.S. National Under-18 Team. Face-off is set for 5pm at the Houston Field House. Live stats are expected to be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/mhockey/.  Vermont is back on the ice next Friday and Saturday when it hosts Miami University.