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With back-to-back wins in its pocket the UMass Lowell hockey team now faces one of the hottest teams in the country.
UMass Lowell (4-5-1 / 2-4-1) and the second-ranked University of New Hampshire (9-1-2 / 6-1-1) face off twice this weekend. Friday the teams will meet at the Whittemore Center in Durham, NH. at 7:30pm. Saturday night the Tsongas Center plays host to the Hockey East duo, at 7:00pm.
“It's an important weekend,” says UMass Lowell hockey coach
Norm Bazin. “But every weekend is for every team in this league.”
The games will be the final two regular season meetings for these teams who met just two weeks ago in Lowell. New Hampshire won that first meeting, 3-0.
“I thought that was a very good hockey game, but I thought we could improve in certain areas of the game to make ourselves a more difficult opponent to play,” says Bazin. “And we are going to do that this weekend.”
Since playing UNH on November 16
th, the River Hawks have won twice, defeating Massachusetts, 8-2, and Princeton, 3-1, and the scores suggest that at least some of the team's offensive troubles have been lessened.
All three goals in the Princeton game came off transition and on the rush, with players crashing the net, something the coach wanted to see. “That's one of the points of emphasis we've stressed for the last couple of weeks,” says Bazin.
Sophomore forward
Scott Wilson (Oakville, Ont.) is one of several River Hawks with a hot hand. Wilson has a goal and five assists in the last two games.
Junior forward
Joseph Pendenza (Wilmington, Mass.) has also picked it up scoring four goals and seven points in his last five games.
Derek Arnold (Foxboro, Mass.) has not grabbed headlines, but the junior forward has been a constant contributor with five points, including two goals, over the last half dozen games.
History is on New Hampshire's side of the ledger. The two teams have met 103 times with the Wildcats holding the edge, 56-32-15. UMass Lowell took the season series 2-1-0 a year ago.
New Hampshire, with sophomore goalie Casey DeSmith, is Hockey East's top defensive club, but the Wildcats pack a punch. They are second in the conference in scoring, averaging three and a half goals a game. They have scored four or more goals in eight of their twelve contests.
Forward Kevin Goumas was named Hockey East's Athletic Republic Player of the Week after a seven point weekend in Colorado, including a hat trick against Denver.
Bazin says the River Hawks will be ready. “I look forward to a quick skating game, a transition game. It's going to be important to be good on the rush defense and it will be important to be good when we transition to offense.”
The weekend series features two very different sheets of ice. The Whittemore Center in Durham is an Olympic Sheet measuring 200 feet by 100 feet and the Tsongas Arena in Lowell is the standard NHL size sheet, 200 x 85.
“The sheet does make a difference, there's no question,” says Bazin. “It's an advantage if your opponent is not playing on it every night. We have to make adjustments to our game.”
The River Hawks have played well on larger than NHL sized ice sheets. UMass Lowell defeated Colorado College earlier this season on an Olympic sheet and won at UNH a year ago. They also defeated Massachusetts earlier this season on a 200 x 95 ice surface.
Tickets for all home games are available for public purchase. Game tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors (65+) and children (12 and under). As always, UMass Lowell students receive free admission by scanning their ID as part of the
Mission: All In campaign.
Tickets can be purchased at the Tsongas Center Box Office, which is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. during the week. Fans can also purchase tickets online at TsongasCenter.com or by calling 866-722-8780.
Season tickets will continue to be on sale through the River Hawk Marketing office and can be purchased by calling 978-934-4988.
