NCAA Hockey Tournament: Union leads Vermont, 2-1, after 1 period

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. -- No. 1 Union College leads the University of Vermont, 2-1, after 20 minutes of action from the 2014 NCAA Hockey Tournament East Regional at the Webster Bank Arena. The Dutchmen scored a shorthanded goal and a power play tally in the opening period.

Matt Hatch's shorthanded tally opened the scoring as he busted down the right side and cut into the middle before forehanding the puck past Vermont goaltender at the 4:15 mark.

Vermont responded at the 13:18 mark when Chris McCarthy picked up his own rebound after circling behind the net. Union's third defensive pairing failed to pick up the puck or McCarthy as they boxed out Mario Puskarich, who picked up an assist on the plan.

Union scored its second special teams goal of the third period on the power play at the 14:27 mark of the first period. Max Novak lifted a puck past Hoffman as he was falling down. He received the pass from a whirling Kevin Sullivan who had picked up a blocked shot from Daniel Carr.

Union out shot UVM, 19-8 in the opening period, and a large majority of those shots were from high percentage opportunities from the slot. Union's Colin Stevens made seven saves while Hoffman stopped 17 of the 19 shots he faced.

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Jeff Cox covers college, junior and high school hockey, NCAA recruiting and NHL Draft prospects. Follow him on twitter @JeffCoxSBNation.