UVM Puts Emphatic Stamp On Endicott's Lost Weekend
Nov. 23, 2004
An opportunistic University of Vermont squad humbled an undermanned Endicott College team at home on Saturday (Nov. 20), sending the Gulls to their third straight loss, and second in two nights. The Gulls, missing starting center Joe Dudek and starting defenseman Mike Ripley, fell victim to several defensive lapses, errant shooting, an ineffective power play and a slew of penalties in the 7-2 thumping.
The Catamounts opened the scoring with a power play strike at the 7:25 mark. UVM's Scott Mildrum collected the puck at the left point and ripped a low drive that Brad Parker tipped low glove side past Endicott's Dan Rudy. Less than a minute later, UVM's Gregg Bonazinga, with a heads-up play in his own zone, tipped the puck past Endicott's Jeff Lallier at the left point, and raced down the boards before featuring a soft pass to Nick Cairo, who slipped it underneath a sliding Rudy for a 2-0 Catamount lead. At the 10:30 mark, UVM padded its margin to 3-0 with the eventual game-winner by Mildrum. Rudy made two stellar point-blank stops, first on Mike Benoit and then on Jason Carrigan before Mildrum pulled the second rebound out from pile of players and popped it over the prone Endicott keeper. Two and a half minutes later, Mildrum struck again for another power-play score. UVM's Carl Hediger scorched a slap shot from the right point that struck a skate in the slot, and glanced fortuitously to Mildrum, who tapped it into an open net.
The Gulls began to claw back with just under three minutes left in the period, when freshman Bryan Caccamo buried a rebound past Vermont goalie Ben Tupper. Assistant captain Derek Gagnon set up the power play strike when he snapped a wrist shot on Tupper, who made the initial save. Endicott's Kenny Dargon took a swipe at the rebound, but the puck squirted to Caccamo, who rammed it home to get the Gulls on the board. In the second period, the Gulls revved up their forechecking game and sealed the holes in their backline, limiting the Catamounts to only six shots on goal (including a big lunging stop by Rudy on a point-blank redirection). However, the Gulls couldn't solve Tupper at the other end, and the second intermission came with the Catamounts in command with a 4-1 edge.
Less than five minutes into the final stanza, UVM got a back-breaking goal that blindsided the Gulls. Capitalizing on another defensive miscue at the point, the Catamounts launched a 2-on-1 counterattack. UVM's Scott Butaski finished the rush off in impressive fashion, ripping a slap shot from the left harsh marks past Rudy and just inside the left post. Endicott's Mike Tonucci got the home team's second score when he tried centering the puck from behind the net, only to watch it deflect off Tupper's stick and into the net (freshman Joel Orlando got the assist). But the Catamounts continued to press, taking advantage of several power play chances, and put the game out of reach on a Benoit turnaround snap shot from below the right face-off dot that ricocheted past Rudy and into the top right corner. Benoit then closed out the scoring moments later, when he took controlled the puck during a 5-on-3 power play, calmly walked to the high slot, and rifled a laser that beat Rudy low stick side for the final 7-2 margin.
The Gulls hope to rebound on the road with their next league game on Thursday, Dec. 2, against the College of the Holy Cross, a rematch of the 4-4 stalemate played Nov. 6 in Hamilton. The next home game for Endicott comes on Saturday, Dec. 4, against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Pingree School in Hamilton. Game time is 7 p.m.