Oct. 31, 2009

Box Score

Audio Recap - The River Hawk Report - November 1, 2009

On the heels of a one-goal loss to Boston University on Friday, the UMass Lowell River Hawks returned the favor in the Agganis Arena by the score of 3-2 on Saturday night. Ben Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, CO) scored the game-winning power play goal while Nevin Hamilton (Ashland, MA) made 24 saves in the win.

The victory boosts the River Hawks to 4-2-0 on the season and gave them a crucial conference win to improve to 2-1-0 in Hockey East. The loss drops the Terriers to 2-3-0 overall and 1-2-0 in conference play.

The River Hawks capitalized on early penalties by Boston University to notch a power play goal at 9:32 into the first period. Michael Scheu (Buffalo, NY) found himself with a mostly open net following a broken play the sent the puck to the front of the goal, but the puck skipped over Scheu's stick. As UMass Lowell settled back into its offense, David Vallorani (Hamilton, Ont.) ripped a shot from the right side that was saved, but the rebound landed right in front of Scheu in a nearly identical situation as before. Given the second chance, Scheu buried the shot to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead.

The Terriers evened the score early in the second period on a power play opportunity. Vinny Saponari netted a score from Wade Megan and David Warsofsky.

Not to be outdone, Chris Auger (Belleville, Ont.) grabbed the one-goal lead back just 43 seconds later. Paul Worthington (Langhorne, PA) grabbed the puck from behind the net from Steve Capraro (Medford, MA) and sent it in front for Auger to line up and knock through, it was his first goal of the season.

The River Hawks took a two-goal lead at the 13:49 mark into the second on a spectacular shot by Holmstrom from his knees. With UMass Lowell on the power play, Kory Falite (Billerica, MA) bombed a one-timer that was barely saved by Kieran Millan (Edmonton, Alta.). Holmstrom had been screening the net and fell to his knees to get out of the way of Falite's shot when he found that the puck had landed at his stick. The senior captain flipped it up over a surprised Millan for the 3-1 lead.

Boston University would not be silent for long as they scored another goal just 58 seconds later. Vallorani was called for a hold and the Terriers took advantage quickly. Kevin Shattenkirk's (New Rochelle, NY) shot from Alex Chiasson (St. Augustin, Que.) and Colby Cohen (Villanova, PA) seared through the defense and into the mess to draw the game back within one.

Hamilton stopped 24-of-26 Boston University shots to improve to 2-0-0 in 2009-10. The senior goaltender was excellent on the first-shot and secured the puck to prevent rebound opportunities. His counterpart, Millan, made 18-of-21 stops, sliding to 2-3-0 on the season.

The River Hawks finished the night two-for-seven on the power play, scoring twice on a defense that had allowed just one power play goal all season entering the contest. The Terriers were one-for-six with the man advantage. Boston University outshot UMass Lowell 26-21 on the night.

With the series behind them, the River Hawks will now prepare for a one-game trip to Burlington, Vt. this Friday for a 7 PM battle with the Catamounts.