Final Score: Vermont 3, Northeastern 0 -- Box Score
BURLINGTON, Vt. - Vermont sophomore goalie Joe Fallon (Bemidji, Minn.) moved into elite company recording his school record 11th career shutout with 18 saves in a 3-0 win over Northeastern in front of a sellout crowd of 4,003 at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The sixth-ranked Catamounts improve to 15-5-2 with the victory and 7-4-2 in Hockey East. With the loss Northeastern falls to 1-15-4 on the year (1-10-4, Hockey East).
Fallon's shutout was also his sixth on season, setting a new Vermont single-season record. His performance came on the same night former Catamount goaltenders Dave Reece '71 and Tim Thomas '97 were named to Vermont's All-Time Men's Hockey Team "The ECAC Years" before the game.
Fallon's 11th career shutout in just 52 games moved him past Thomas who had 10 shutouts in his career. Thomas could not be on hand for the pre-game ceremony because he was in net for the Boston Bruins earlier in the day. But Reece, who is third on Vermont's career shutout list with eight, was on hand.
"He (Reece) came down at the end of the game in the locker room and gave me congratulations," Fallon said. "It's quite an accomplishment for our team to do this in just a year and a half and Coach Sneddon's system has allowed us to play very well defensively."
The shutout was the fourth straight at home for the Catamounts and they have gone 245 straight minutes without allowing a goal at the 'Gut'. The last goal Vermont allowed at home came nearly a month ago in the third period of the St. Lawrence game on Dec. 17.
"I thought we played great defense all weekend," Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "We did a real nice job on the penalty kill and finally our power play found a way to solve Northeastern's penalty kill which was very good all weekend. I'm extremely pleased and obviously it was just another great, great night for Joe Fallon."
After going 0-for-7 on the power play in yesterday's win, despite out shooting Northeastern 19-1 on the man advantage, the Catamounts responded with two power-play goals on the night. Junior Ryan Gunderson (Bensalem, Pa.) scored his second goal of the season at 14:18 of the second period to give the Catamounts a 1-0 lead. Senior captain Jaime Sifers (Stratford, Conn.) and sophomore Torrey Mitchell (Greenfield Park, Quebec) each assisted on the goal.
Vermont would take a 2-0 lead midway through the third period on a power-play goal by senior Matt Syroczynski (Hamburg, N.Y.) from just inside the left circle. Senior assistant captain Brady Leisenring (Stowe, Vt.) setup the score with a terrific pass and Mitchell also assisted on the play. Mitchell's second assist of the game gave him a total of 20 on the season and extended his team-high in points to 28 (8 goals, 20 assists.).
Freshman Corey Carlson (Two Harbors, Minn.) finished off the Vermont scoring with an unassisted goal at 12:39 of the third period to make it 3-0 Catamounts. The goal was the fourth on the season for Carlson.
With the win Fallon improves to 30-15-6 in his career and 13-5-2 this season with a 1.48 goals-against average. He has gone a total of 134 minutes and 41 seconds without allowing a goal just shy of his career best stretch of 135 minutes and 54 seconds posted last February. Fallon's goals-against average at Gutterson Fieldhouse this season is 1.12.
Vermont took all three games against Northeastern in the regular season series and held the Huskies to 0-for-9 on the power play this weekend.
Vermont returns to action next weekend when they travel to Boston College for a pair of games against the Eagles on Friday and Saturday night. Both games at Conte Forum start at 7:00pm.
Game Notes ... Vermont announced its All-Time Men's Hockey Team "The ECAC Years" during a special ceremony before the game tonight ... More than 2,700 votes were collected as fans chose from a list of 28 finalists to determine the best players ever to wear the green and gold ... Vermont's All-Time Men's Hockey Team "The ECAC Years" is as follows: Goalies (2): Dave Reece '71 and Tim Thomas '97; Defensemen (4): Louis Cote '80, George Kreiner '70, Aaron Miller '93 and Ted Yeates '72; Forwards (6): Ian Boyce '88, Craig Homola '81, John LeClair '91, Tim O'Connell '76, Eric Perrin '97, Martin St. Louis '97 ... Vermont leads the all-time series against Northeastern 16-11-1 ... The Catamounts are 12-1-1 when scoring first this season ... Vermont is 11-0-2 when leading after two periods ... Vermont is 8-3-1 at Gutterson Fieldhouse ... Tonight's game was the 31st straight shutout at the 'Gut' ... The game was broadcast on Adelphia Channel 74 throughout Vermont, with the exception of Newport where the game was seen on Adelphia Channel 70 ... Because of the shutout fans can bring their tickets stub to The Bagel on Shelburne Road to get a free bagel with a choice of topping.