No. 20 UVM Slips Past Hockey in Friendship Four Opener, 4-2

Team	1	2	3	F
Massachusetts	2	0	0	2
Vermont	0	2	2	4

Massachusetts

Vermont

THE BASICS:
RESULT: No. 20 Vermont 4, Massachusetts 2
LOCATION: SSE Arena (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
RECORDS: Massachusetts (3-7-1, 1-5-1 HEA); No. 20 Vermont (8-3-2, 4-2-1 HEA)

THE LEAD: University of Massachusetts hockey scored a pair of early goals, but No. 20 Vermont rallied with two in the second and two in the third, including an empty netter, to skate past the Minutemen, 4-2 in the opening game of the Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Friday.

FIRST PERIOD:
Freshman Griff Jeszka put the Minutemen on the board just 2:06 into the contest, flipping a shot past Vermont netminder Stefanos Lekkas from the top of the left faceoff circle with junior Jake Horton and sophomore Callum Fryer picking up the assists. Moments later, Shane Bear added a second UMass goal, completing a feed from senior Steven Iacobellis and sophomore Kurt Keats while streaking down the slot at the 3:12.

SECOND PERIOD:
The Catamounts cut their deficit to 2-1 at the 9:46 mark in the second period with Brian Bowen and Matt Alvaro setting up Derek Lodermeier on an odd-man rush. Craig Puffer then netted the equalizer for Vermont on the power play at 11:37, assisted by Rob Hamilton and Jarrid Privitera.

THIRD PERIOD:
Early in the third period, Puffer added his second of the night with the man advantage for the would-be game winner at 3:46. Alvaro capped the scoring with an empty net goal with two seconds remaining.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

UMass finished the night with a 35-34 shot advantage and went 0-for-6 on the power play, while Vermont was 2-for-4.
Jeszka and Bear both notched their third goals of the season, putting them in a five-way tie with Austin Plevy, Kurt Keats and Jonny Lazarus for the team lead on the year.
Horton's assist marked his first point of the season, while Fryer's was his second assist of the year.
Keats' assist is his fifth point in the past six games and extending his point scoring streak to three straight contests.
Freshman Ryan Wischow started in net and made 30 saves, while Lekkas had 33 stops for the Catamounts.

UP NEXT: UMass will face No. 19 St. Lawrence in the Friendship Four consolation game on Sat., Nov. 26, at 11:00 a.m. ET, 4:00 GT. The contest will be televised on ASN/NESN and TSN GO.

For continued coverage of UMass hockey, follow the team on Twitter (@UMassHockey) and Instagram (@MassachusettsHockey) and on Facebook at facebook.com/UMassHockey.

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Players Mentioned

Shane Bear

Callum Fryer

Jake Horton

Steven Iacobellis

Griff Jeszka

Kurt Keats

Jonny Lazarus

Austin Plevy

Ryan Wischow

Bear Shane

Jeszka Griff

Iacobellis Steven

Keats Kurt