Vermont Cynic

Issue date: 2/28/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Ike Messmore Senior assistant captain Brady Leisenring leads the offensive charge down the ice in Friday's 1-1 tie at home to Boston

Two game misconducts, two tough goalies, one exciting game. This is college hockey at its best; fierce competition and an electric home crowd, some so electric it could be said they short-circuited and were forced to leave.

Gutterson Fieldhouse, sold out for the 36th consecutive game, was packed full of screaming fans for Friday night's game. This was the second meeting between Boston University and Vermont this year (BU won 4-2 in November), and was of utmost importance for the Catamounts as the Terriers entered the game in second place in Hockey East.

With senior night on Saturday, the Cats were looking to put on a show for the home town fans. However, to do so they had deal with one of the hottest teams in the country. Over the past 13 games the Terriers went 12-1-0 and lead the all-time series with Vermont 29-10-3. But previous records meant nothing on this night. The Cats had come to play.

The first period was evenly matched and although it was a defensive twenty minutes, each team got their fair share of opportunities. Vermont was able to kill off two penalties and netminder Joe Fallon looked strong between the pipes. BU outshot UVM 6-4 during the period.

The second period was dominated by the Cats. The first goal of the game came on a power play 3:30 into the period by UVM freshman Corey Carlson, his sixth of the season. Assists were credited to Brady Leisenring and Ryan Gunderson. For Leisenring, a senior, it was his 116th career point, tying him with NHL star John LeClair as the all-time point leader for a native Vermonter at UVM.

The game took a more physical turn when BU's Jason Lawrence picked up a five minute major and game misconduct. Lawrence's penalty was followed shortly by another game misconduct on Catamount defenseman Slavomir Tomko. Both penalties were for hitting from behind.

The Cats outshot the Terriers 13-4 in the 2nd period, but entered the 3rd having to kill off the Tomko major.

The final period had everything a hockey fan could have asked for. Joe Fallon played like a man possessed. He stopped 14 shots in the period, with a little help from senior captain Jamie Sifers who made a tremendous diving stop on a rolling puck which had dribbled past his goalkeeper. Along with the scrappy play of Peter Lenes and the leadership of Brady Leisenring, it appeared Vermont had the game under control.

Continued...

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