Nov. 11, 2011

Box Score

Senior forward Matt Ferreira (Brampton, Ont.) scored twice as the River Hawks skated to a 5-3 victory over Maine in the Alfond Arena on Friday night.

"I thought we battled hard tonight," said head coach Norm Bazin. "It was a difficult game to play in a hostile environment, but the guys found a way to win."

With the win, UMass Lowell hockey improves to 4-3-0 overall this season and 2-2-0 in conference action. The Black Bears fall to 3-5-1 on the campaign and 3-4-0 in Hockey East. The clubs will rematch tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

The River Hawks opened the contest with a tally at 2:26 into play as Josh Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, Colo.) drove the net and dished to Scott Wilson (Oakville, Ont.). Martin Ouellette (St. Hippolyte, Que.) turned away Wilson's shot, but the rebound kicked to Holmstrom in the slot who held the puck until Ouellette committed low, roofing the shot into the net.

The game was leveled a few minutes later as Stu Higgins (Troy, Mich.) scored on a pass from Ryan Hegarty (Arlington, Mass.) at 5:57.

UMass Lowell regained the lead with a bit of luck and good timing at 8:57. The puck was dumped into the Maine zone and Ouellette met the play head on, but put a pass directly on the stick of Ferreira. The senior forward filled the unguarded net for his fourth goal of the year.

The lead inflated to two goals just over two minutes later as Riley Wetmore (Swanton, Vt.) picked up a power play goal. David Vallorani (Hamilton, Ont.) carried behind the net and found Wetmore on the edge of the left crease, who banged home a goal under the arm of the goaltender.

Maine rose to the occasion again as the period wound down. Joey Diamond (Long Beach, N.Y.) broke into the zone on a pass from Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) and scored his fourth goal of the season at 16:13.

After a scoreless second period, the River Hawks got things going again in the third. Zack Kamrass (Atlanta, Ga.) carried from UMass Lowell's zone and passed to Wilson skating through neutral ice. Wilson stick-handled into Maine's zone, weaving through traffic, and flipped a back-handed shot over top of a helpless Dan Sullivan (York, Penn.) at 6:48.

The goals kept coming as UMass Lowell scored again at 9:47. The Black Bears committed a turnover in their own zone, allowing Ferreira to get behind the play as Terrence Wallin (Yardley, Penn.) dumped on net. Ferreira picked up the loose puck and put it past a surprised Sullivan who was left all alone.

"Matt's not looking for accolades but he's playing such a sound game he's getting rewarded offensively," added Bazin.

The Black Bears pulled the game back within two with just under three minutes remaining. On a shot from the near corner, Diamond deflected the puck past Doug Carr (Hanover, Mass.).

The River Hawks held on over the remaining 2:57 to pick up their second HE victory of the season. Carr made a season-high 30 saves to improve to 3-1-0 on the year. The Black Bears split goaltending duties between Ouellette and Sullivan. Ouellette made four saves and allowed three goals, while Sullivan took the loss while stopping 14-of-16 shots.

UMass Lowell finished the night 2-for-8 on the power play, while holding Maine to one goal in five chances with the man advantage.