University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
4-3-1, 2-2-1HEA
Vermont
3-3-0, 1-2-0HEA
Vermont Goal with a Second Left in OT Beats Huskies, 2-1
11/3/2018 9:44:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont sophomore Ace Cowans scored the game-winning goal with 0.5 seconds left on the clock in overtime to deal the UConn Huskies a 2-1 loss at Gutterson Fieldhouse Saturday night in a Hockey East match-up. UConn and UVM split the weekend series as the Huskies fall to 4-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in Hockey East.
UConn led 1-0 for 59:48 Saturday night before Vermont's Liam Coughlin ended their bid for a second-straight shutout win by tying the game with his first goal of the season. The tying goal came just 22 seconds after the apparent tying goal was overturned on review for UVM having too many men on the ice. The Catamounts slavaged the weekend and evened their record at 3-3-0 and 1-2-0 in the league.
The Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the first period as junior Alexander Payusov (Montreal, Quebec) scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season off a feed from senior Karl El-Mir (Montreal, Quebec) and freshman Jachym Kondelik (Budejovice, Czech Republic). The trio have played together for the last six games and have put up 20 points (11g/9a) in that stretch.
UConn freshman Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic) got his second start of the year and his first Hockey East action and with 28 saves in taking the loss.
Vermont's Stefanos Lekkas finished with 36 saves in the win. Both teams failed to score on the power play.
1st Period:
For the second-straight night, the Husky offense did a nice job of testing Lekkas in the opening period, putting 12 shots on the junior. UConn got the game's first goal, coming at the 15:14 mark thanks to their top-line of El-Mir, Kondelik and Payusov.Â
Kondelik broke the puck out of the zone and sent El-Mir up the left wing. The senior centered the puck to an oncoming Payusov who one-touched it past Lekkas for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
2nd Period:
The two team play a tight second period with UConn holding a 16-13 edge on the shot chart. Both teams had a chance with the extra skater but came up empty. UConn came close to going up 2-0 early in their power play chance five minutes into the period as freshman Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, British Columbia) rang one off the left post.
3rd Period:
Vermont pulled Lekkas with just over 1:30 left in the period looking to tie the game. The Catamounts appeared to knot it up when Matt Alvaro put in a rebound to beat Vomacka with 34 seconds left but after a review, the goal was waved off for too many men on the ice.
The Caatmounts found the tying goal at the 12.3 second mark as Coughlin found a spot in front of the net and got his stick on a Jake Massie shot to beat the rookie goaltender for his first of the season.
OT:
The Huskies had a few good looks in the opening minute of overtime but UVM's Lekkas stood tall and with just seconds ticking away, Cowans found the game-winner. The sophomore had the puck in the high slot and placed a perfect shot through a screen to beat Vomacka glove side for the 2-1 win with just 0.5 ticks left.
Up Next:
UConn will stay on the road and head up to Boston next Friday night to take on the No. 13 nationally ranked Northeastern
