1. From UVM to the NHL
This year’s senior class is graduating two players to the National Hockey League. Mike Paliotta, picked in the third round of the 2011 draft, will be playing for the Chicago Blackhawks and Nick Luukko, chosen in the sixth round of the 2010 draft, will be playing for the Philadelphia Flyers. In it’s time as a program, UVM Men’s hockey as seen 46 other players chosen in the draft.
2. This Season: Gutterson to the Garden
This season the team did remarkably well, finally falling in the semi-finals in Boston to UMass Lowell. UMass then went on to lose to Boston University in Hockey East Finals this past weekend. Despite gaining an early 1-0 lead against the UMass Riverhawks, the game ended 4-1 marking the third time UMass Lowell has ended the Catamount hockey season.
3. Improvement
During the 2011-2012 season, UVM men’s hockey saw only six victories in thirty-four games and did not even reach the postseason. Every season afterwards saw an increase in victories, eleven games in 2012-13 and twenty wins in 13-14. This season the team won a total of twenty-two games and reached the Hockey East Semifinals, a vast improvement.
4. Brody Hoffman is a god
Brody Hoffman, UVM’s main goalie is a strong backbone of the program. Coming to Vermont his freshman year, Brody Hoffman was the only rookie in the nation to start every regular season contest. That year with 942 stops, he recorded the fifth highest single-season save total in the school’s history. Hoffman’s performance against Boston College this past post season secured UVM’s position in the semi finals. After loosing the first game of the series 4-2, Hoffman then turned the performance around allowing only one BC goal and finishing the series with a .989 save percentage.