# 2020–21 Vermont Catamounts men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Vermont Catamounts men's ice hockey season was the 65th season of play for the program, the 48th at the Division I level, and the 16th season in the Hockey East conference. The Catamounts represented the University of Vermont and were coached by Todd Woodcroft, in his 1st season.

## Season

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Vermont's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Vermont's first season under Todd Woodcroft could hardly have gone worse. Aside from the problems caused by the pandemic, the team's offense was nearly invisible for most of the year. The Catamounts only once scored more than 3 goals (their only win on the season), and were shut out on three separate occasions, a little less than a quarter of their games. One silver lining was that most of the teams they faces were ranked and Vermont is in the process of rebuilding after an abysmal season the year before.
Azzaro Tinling and Whim Stålberg sat out the season.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Matt Alvaro | Forward | Canada | Graduation (Signed with Orlando Solar Bears) |
| Tom Beretta | Forward | Canada | Graduation (Signed with Norfolk Admirals) |
| Joey Cipollone | Forward | United States | Transferred to Quinnipiac |
| Johnny DeRoche | Forward | United States | Transferred to Northeastern |
| Max Kaufman | Forward | United States | Transferred to Boston University |
| Stefanos Lekkas | Goaltender | United States | Graduation (Signed with Fort Wayne Komets) |
| Derek Lodermeier | Forward | United States | Graduation (Signed with Jacksonville Icemen) |
| Riley McCutcheon | Forward | Canada | Left program |
| Corey Moriarty | Defenseman | United States | Graduation |
| Matthew O'Donnell | Defenseman | United States | Graduation |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Mickey Burns | Forward | United States | 20 | Wayne, NJ |
| Gabe Carriere | Goaltender | United States | 19 | Orleans, ON |
| Noah Jordan | Forward | Canada | 23 | Toronto, ON; transfer from Miami |
| Jordan Kaplan | Forward | United States | 23 | Bridgewater, NJ; transfer from Sacred Heart |
| Tristan Mullin | Forward | Canada | 23 | Cartwright, MB; transfer from Cornell |
| Cody Schiavon | Defenseman | Canada | 20 | West Kelowna, BC |
| Whim Stålberg | Forward | Sweden | 21 | Göteborg, SWE |
| Azzaro Tinling | Forward | Canada | 20 | Pointe-Claire, QC |
| Dovar Tinling | Forward | Canada | 17 | Pointe-Claire, QC |
| Ray Vītoliņš | Forward | Latvia | 18 | Ogre, LAT |
| Will Zapernick | Forward | Canada | 20 | Edmonton, AB |

## Roster

As of February 12, 2021.

## Standings

2020–21 Hockey East Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | SOW | HEPI | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #6 Boston College | 21 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 58.61 | 82 | 46 | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 91 | 58 |
| #11 Boston University | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 56.36 | 49 | 37 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 52 | 45 |
| #1 Massachusetts * | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 55.44 | 76 | 42 | 29 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 103 | 48 |
| Connecticut | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 52.01 | 69 | 63 | 23 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 70 | 69 |
| #16 Providence | 23 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 50.80 | 63 | 61 | 25 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 71 | 67 |
| Northeastern | 20 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 49.94 | 68 | 60 | 21 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 69 | 64 |
| #19 Massachusetts–Lowell | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 48.00 | 46 | 53 | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 59 | 63 |
| Maine | 15 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 46.66 | 41 | 61 | 16 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 43 | 68 |
| Merrimack | 18 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 45.38 | 47 | 66 | 18 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 47 | 66 |
| New Hampshire | 21 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 43.66 | 51 | 83 | 23 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 60 | 88 |
| Vermont | 12 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38.02 | 17 | 37 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 20 | 42 |
| Championship: March 20, 2021 No Regular Season Champion Awarded * indicates conference tournament champion (Lamoriello Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll ||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | TV | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| December 19 | 6:00 PM | at #10 Massachusetts | Mullins Center • Amherst, Massachusetts | NESN | Harmon | L 0–4 | 0 | 0–1–0 (0–1–0) |
| December 20 | 6:00 PM | at #10 Massachusetts | Mullins Center • Amherst, Massachusetts | NESN | Harmon | L 1–4 | 0 | 0–2–0 (0–2–0) |
| December 26 | 7:00 PM | vs. #12 Northeastern | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Harmon | L 1–4 | 0 | 0–3–0 (0–3–0) |
| December 27 | 7:00 PM | vs. #12 Northeastern | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Harmon | T 2–2 $^{SOL}$ | 0 | 0–3–1 (0–3–1) |
| January 1 | 1:00 PM | vs. #15 Providence | Schneider Arena • Providence, Rhode Island | NESN | Harmon | T 0–0 $^{SOL}$ | 0 | 0–3–2 (0–3–2) |
| January 2 | 7:00 PM | vs. #15 Providence | Schneider Arena • Providence, Rhode Island | NESN | Harmon | L 1–3 | 0 | 0–4–2 (0–4–2) |
| January 8 | 1:00 PM | vs. Maine | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Harmon | W 5–4 | 0 | 1–4–2 (1–4–2) |
| January 9 | 1:00 PM | vs. Maine | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Carriere | L 3–4 | 0 | 1–5–2 (1–5–2) |
| February 12 | 6:00 PM | vs. #13 Boston University | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Carriere | L 0–1 | 0 | 1–6–2 (1–6–2) |
| February 13 | 6:00 PM | vs. #13 Boston University | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Harmon | L 1–5 | 0 | 1–7–2 (1–7–2) |
| February 26 | 7:00 PM | vs. Massachusetts–Lowell | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Carriere | L 1–3 | 0 | 1–8–2 (1–8–2) |
| February 27 | 7:00 PM | vs. Massachusetts–Lowell | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | Carriere | L 2–3 | 0 | 1–9–2 (1–9–2) |
| Hockey East Tournament ||||||||||
| March 10 | 3:00 PM | at Massachusetts–Lowell | Tsongas Center • Lowell, Massachusetts (Opening Round) | NESN | Carriere | L 3–5 | 0 | 1–10–2 |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Christian Evers | D | 13 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 |
| Ray Vitolins | F | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Tristan Mullin | F | 11 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| Jacques Bouquot | C | 12 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Vlad Dzhioshvili | F | 13 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
| Andrew Lucas | D/F | 13 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
| Bryce Misley | C | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Alex Esposito | RW | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| Simon Boyko | RW | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Jordan Kaplan | F | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Dovar Tinling | C/LW | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Carter Long | D | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Cody Schiavon | D | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Conner Hutchison | D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Tyler Harmon | G | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ace Cowans | C/LW | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Owen Grant | D | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| William Lemay | LW | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Matt Beck | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Kelly | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dallas Comeau | F | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Noah Jordan | RW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mickey Burns | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gabe Carriere | G | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrew Petrillo | D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nic Hamre | LW | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Will Zapernick | C/RW | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Cory Thomas | D | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Bench | - | 13 | - | - | - | 6 |
| Total | | | 20 | 32 | 52 | 127 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| Matt Beck | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 |
| Gabe Carriere | 6 | 284 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 147 | 0 | .925 | 2.53 |
| Tyler Harmon | 10 | 498 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 267 | 0 | .905 | 3.37 |
| Empty Net | - | 6 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 13 | 790 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 42 | 415 | 0 | .908 | 3.19 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | - | NR |
| USA Today | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

### 2021 NHL Entry Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | NHL team |
| 3 | 92 | Andrei Buyalsky$^†$ | Colorado Avalanche |
| 6 | 171 | Cal Thomas$^†$ | Arizona Coyotes |
† incoming freshman