UVM men's hockey finally gets a win at The Gut

That big, ugly zero in the win column of the University of Vermont's record at Gutterson Fieldhouse this season? It's history, gone, banished.

But it didn't go easily Friday night at The Gut as the Catamounts had one heck of a squabble with the Huskies of Connecticut before emerging with the 2-1 Hockey East victory.

That result ended a 0-6-1 slump on home ice with all the defeats coming at the hands of teams ranked in the top four nationally. UConn has yet to reach that stature but the Huskies had an equalizing force in goaltender Rob Nichols (34 saves), who piled up 13 saves in a UVM controlled but scoreless first period and 17 more in the third.

That's when Vermont scored the decisive goal with Dan Senkbeil notching his second goal — his second game-winning goal — of the season. He's delivered the key tally in both of UVM's Hockey East wins, the other coming at Northeastern.

"That's wild stuff," said Senkbeil, the left wing on UVM's nominal fourth line with Craig Puffer and Conor O'Neil. "It's an absolute blessing. I owe all the credit to my linemates. We came out hard, grinding low and luckily we got a bounce and it was just sitting right in the slot there, so it worked out."

The play began with O'Neil pouncing on a loose puck straight up the slot. He avoided one defender for a clean shot on Nichols, who made that save and another on Puffer but stopping Senkbeil proved too much.

"They're making huge steps. They're more confident," the senior wing said of his freshman linemates. "They use their speed a lot, they drive wide, they grind the puck below the line."

And of finally securing that elusive first victory at The Gut, Senkbeil said, "It feels great. We got the monkey off our backs. We just wanted to go to work today. We had a hot start, came out in the second and got away from our game a little bit we capitalized and it worked out tonight."

Senikbeil scored his goal at 9:05, leaving plenty of time for UConn to respond as it had in the second after falling behind 1-0. Vermont helped, Anthony Petruzzelli drawing a minor and Jon Turk losing a short-handed breakaway duel with Nichols before Mario Puskarich also went to the box.

That gave UConn a 5-on-3 for 1:26 but the Huskies' Tage Thompson offset much of that advantage with a minor. The Catamounts killed the 4-on-3, then failed to score on their own power play. From there the Huskies tried to press against a stern UVM defense and not even Nichols' departure for a sixth attacker produced a tying goal.

Vermont nearly skated the Huskies out of the building in the first but settled for a 0-0 score despite a 13-4 edge in shots, though UVM goalie Mike Santaguida (20 saves) had to face a partial break and one clean break. In the second, UVM's Brendan Bradley at 12:08 and UConn's Thompson at 16:32 tallied offsetting power play goals.

After the game, UVM head coach Kevin Sneddon made an opening statement offer support and sympathy to the families, victims and survivors of the terrorist attacks in Paris. "Hockey is one thing but we definitely want to send our heartfelt condolences … On behalf of our whole program, we want to share our thoughts with those families struggling tonight."

Of that first win, Sneddon said, "We faced a lot of adversity in the third period, up a goal and then got into some penalty trouble there and found a way.

"That's the biggest thing tonight. We had a lot of scoring chances we didn't capitalize on. We've got to tip our cap to Rob Nichols. Every time we play him it seems he plays very well. He was sensational tonight," Sneddon said.

"Our guys were gritty tonight in finding a way to win that hockey game," Sneddon said. "They've had a lot of moments where I've gone in and said, great job, you worked hard, you did a lot of great things but bottom line it came with a loss. There's nothing that helps the confidence more than finally getting a win, especially a home."

The Catamounts (3-6-1; 2-2-1 HEA) will play host to Massachusetts at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Minutemen lost 4-2 to Merrimack on Friday.

Correspondent Ted Ryan covers UVM hockey for The Burlington Free Press. Contact him at TedRyanVT@aol.com and follow him on Twitter at @TedRyanVT.