The biggest upset of the tournament so far took place Saturday night as the No. 8 seed, the University of Vermont Catamounts, hung on for the 1-0 win against No. 1 seed University of New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center. The best-of-three series is now tied at one apiece.
David Pacan stepped up for the Catamounts to pick up the game winner and allow UVM to live another day.
Vermont suffered a third-period breakdown in the first game of the series last night, allowing the UNH Wildcats to manhandle them with four unanswered goals in the final twenty minutes of play for a 7-4 loss. As a result, Vermont was eager to prove its worth as Hockey East contenders.
Though the first period remained scoreless, the Catamounts hit the ice looking like a different team, playing more physical and outshooting the Wildcats 11-7 after the first twenty minutes.
The Catamounts continued their tight pressure on the Wildcats to start the second. Their defense played solid, allowing UNH just three shots all period. Vermont had a couple of good chances — both even-strength and on their two power play opportunities — but still couldn’t solve UNH goaltender Brian Foster. He brought his game tonight as his team was again outshot 7-3.
Vermont's hard work finally paid off halfway through the third period at 5:16 when Pacan was able to capitalize on UNH’s mistakes for his sixth goal of the season on the feed from Jonathan Higgins. Rob Madore came up big turning away all 17 UNH shots. As UVM head coach Kevin Sneddon said, he was playing some of his best hockey at the right moment.
The third and deciding game of the series will take place Sunday night at 7 p.m.
