Feb. 13, 2010

Box Score

The #20 River Hawks (15-13-2, 9-19-2 HE) fell in the final seconds at Boston College (17-9-2, 12-7-2 HE) on Saturday night, splitting the home-and-home weekend series. The Eagles' Chris Kreider (Boxford, MA) scored the game-winner with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation.

Boston College broke the ice at 14:11 into the first, taking advantage of a Paul Worthington (Penndel, PA) tripping call. On a botched clear attempt, Ben Smith (Avon, CT) crossed the puck to Brian Gibbons (Braintree, MA) on the weak side. Gibbons flicked in the score over the outstretched glove of a diving Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, Ont.). The score was Gibbons' 11th of the season and swung the early momentum in Boston College's favor.

The River Hawks got a great scoring opportunity early in the second. Chris Auger (Belleville, Ont.) ripped a shot off of goaltender Parker Milner's (Pittsburgh, PA) mask. The slightly stunned goalie wasn't able to corral the puck, leaving the rebound open in the crease. UMass Lowell crashed the net, but was unable to knock it through.

When another such moment arose on the power play at the 8:11 mark, the River Hawks made sure to cash in. Auger set up Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) for a shot that hit a Boston College skate and was rerouted to Scott Campbell (Navan, Ont.) just in front of the net. Campbell fired quickly at Milner's five-hole for the score. The goal was Campbell's 11th on the campaign, seventh on the power play and knotted the score at 1-1.

Play continued back and forth for the duration of the third until the Eagles scored the dagger with only 13.8 seconds remaining. Among a cluster in the River Hawk zone, Kreider scorched the puck through traffic and into the net. Kreider's game-winner was his eighth score of the season.

Hutton kept UMass Lowell in the game with stellar play in net for the second consecutive night. The senior goaltender stopped 32-of-34 shots, including six Grade-A saves, but fell to 9-9-0 on the campaign. Boston College's Milner managed 25 saves in the winning effort, improving to 6-2-0 on the season. The Eagles outshot the River Hawks 34-26 on the night.

UMass Lowell has a tough road ahead of them as they travel to Orono next weekend for a two game set with the Black Bears in the Alfond Arena.