Preview: UConn vs. Vermont

How to watch

Date: Friday, Jan. 16 | Saturday, Jan. 17 

Time: 7 p.m. ET | 4 p.m. ET

Location: Toscano Family Ice Forum, Storrs, CT

Stream: ESPN+

Vermont Catamounts

Record: 8-11-0 (5-6-0 Hockey East)

Location: Burlington, VT

Head coach: Steve Wiedler (2nd season)

NPI: No. 50

USCHO Poll: Unranked

Scouting the Catamounts 

It was an underwhelming weekend for the UConn men’s hockey team, who narrowly split a home-and-home with UMass Lowell and watched its positioning in both the USCHO poll and NPI fall ever so slightly. The Huskies, now 8-4-1 in Hockey East play, hold a slim lead atop the conference and look to regroup with a series against a surging Vermont squad.

This will be the first time UConn sees the Catamounts since its regular season finale last year. Home and road splits have proved a bit wonky for Mike Cavanaugh’s squad this year as the Huskies have been money on the road at 7-1-1 but mediocre at home with just 5-5-2 mark.

Nonetheless, UConn will have its hands full with a Vermont team that has played well above its sub-.500 record this year. The Catamounts have slowly but surely improved in Steve Wiedler’s short time at the helm, but continue to search for their first winning season since 2016-17. Vermont flirted with snapping that streak last year, holding an 11-13-3 record in mid-February before dropping eight consecutive games to end the season. 

The Catamounts carry much-needed momentum into the weekend, coming off a dramatic sweep of No. 16 Northeastern to improve their win streak to three games, the team’s longest of the season. Elsewhere on its conference schedule, Wielder’s team has notably split with Boston University (NPI No. 20), New Hampshire (No. 23) and Maine (No. 29), then suffered a sweep at the hands of Boston College (No. 16). The Catamounts have proved they can skate with some of college hockey’s best and are building the right kind of energy to mount a second-half surge in a weaker conference field than year’s past. 

The obvious flaw in Vermont’s game is its lack of offense. The Catamounts score an incredulous 1.8 goals per game, the fourth-worst mark in the nation. Of their 11 losses, four have been shutouts and three more just single-goal efforts. Opponents have outscored Vermont 60-35, with the team’s goal total tied for third-worst in the nation. Only one player, sophomore Colin Kessler, has surpassed the 10-point plateau thus far. The Alaska Anchorage transfer has 13 points on 13 assists. 

The team’s leading goal scorers have been freshman Jonah Aegerter and senior Jens Richards. Each have netted five pucks, with Richards having done so four times in the team’s last three games. Of the 28 Catamounts who have taken the ice this season, 20 have a negative plus/minus, while three more have an even zero. 

First-year Aidan Wright has been the team’s mainstay in net, starting 16 of the team’s 19 games. He’s allowed a tick over 3 goals per game (3.06 GAA) and stops pucks a tick over 90% of the time (.901 save percentage). He posted his best performance in a 45-save overtime win against St. Cloud on Oct. 17, and has begun to rekindle that same groove to help the team get back to its winning ways. Over Vermont’s last three games, he’s allowed five goals and stopped 75 shots. That’s a much-improved .938 save percentage and 1.67 GAA.  

Which version of Wright will the Huskies see this weekend? Will Vermont continue to find its offensive groove? A few of many questions to monitor as UConn and Vermont square off for the first time this season. 

Series history

Much like the all-time record between UConn and UMass Lowell, the Huskies will continue to climb uphill in their quest to even the all-time series against Vermont. UConn is 17-26-1 against the Catamounts in 44 historical matchups. 

The Huskies have dominated the series of late, winning 11 of the last 14 games between the two squads dating back to November 2017. 

By the numbers

2 — Vermont is one of two teams in the country to have not scored or allowed a short-handed goal. The other is Notre Dame. 

3 — The emergence of Kaden Shahan only continued this past weekend. His two goals in Saturday’s win marked his third multi-point night in his last four games. He had four such efforts in the team’s first 17 games and just two all last season.

5 — Five Huskies, if dropped onto the Vermont roster right now, would lead the Catamounts in points. Two others would tie for first. 

44 — Vermont defensemen Sebastian and Philip Törnqvist have combined to block 44 shots for the Catamounts. The two rank second and third, respectively, on the team in that category. Sebastian, a junior, transferred to Vermont from UMass after the 2023-24 season, while Philip, a senior, has played his entire career in Burlington. 

60 — Of college hockey’s 63 Division I programs, the Catamounts rank tied for 60th in penalty minutes per game, with 6.8. The nation’s leader, Michigan, has nearly triple that at 19.7 per game.

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