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Junior F Josh Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and sophomore F Scott Wilson (Oakville, Ont.) scored goals roughly 3:48 apart in the third period as UMass Lowell defeated Providence College, 4-1, for its first-ever Hockey East regular season championship Saturday night at the Schneider Arena.  

With the win, UMass Lowell earns the No. 1 seed and hosts No. 8 University of Maine in the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal Thursday, Friday and Sunday (if necessary) at the Tsongas Center.

The victory marked the first time in Hockey East's 29-year history that a team other than Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire or Maine won the regular season championship.

UMass Lowell, which opened the season 4-7-1 after 11 games, has gone 18-3-1 since. The River Hawks improved to 22-10-2 overall and wraps the Hockey East regular season with a 16-9-2 and 34 points.

Providence slipped to 15-12-7 overall and 13-8-6 in Hockey East (32).

UMass Lowell, which opened the season 4-7-1 after 11 games, has gone 18-3-1 since.
The River Hawks, who average 11.8 penalty minutes per game, were whistled for 12 penalties and did well to kill off all of Providence's 10 power plays. Helping UMass Lowell's cause, The Friars were whistled for three penalties during their own power plays.

The Friars outshot UMass Lowell, 33-26, as freshman G Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce, Mich.) stopped 32 shots to improve to 14-2-0. Freshman Jon Gillies had 22 saves for the Friars.

Holmstrom broke a 1-1 tie 6:41 into the third period when he redirected a wrist shot from the left point by sophomore D Zack Kamrass (Atlanta, Ga.). Just 3:48 later on a power play, Wilson possessed out of a melee in front of the Friar goal and slotted home for a 3-1 lead.

After Holmstrom and Wilson's heroics, Providence attacked vigorously and nearly pulled a goal back at 15:13 when a slapshot by freshman D Tom Parisi dinged the crossbar.

Providence pulled Gillies with well over two minutes remaining and had a 6-on-4 situation after junior F Derek Arnold (Foxboro, Mass.) was whistled for a slash at 18:18. The River Hawks, however, weathered the storm and freshman D Christian Folin (Gothenburg, Sweden) added an empty net goal on a clearance with 13 seconds remaining.

UMass Lowell opened the scoring 3:08 into the game when Wilson, from behind the goal, hit Wetmore who rifled over Gillies' shoulder.

UMass Lowell nearly doubled its lead at 12:49 of the second period when freshman F Adam Chapie (Burlington, Ont.) led a 3 on 2 break, flicked to Wilson on the right who crossed to freshman F Michael Fallon (Glenview, Ill.) back on the left. Fallon attempted to wrist past Gillies, but was denied by the goalie's right-legged kick save.

Providence leveled 19 seconds into the third period when a failed clearance in the UMass Lowell zone led to senior F Tim Schaller in alone on Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck thwarted Schaller's first attempt, but Schaller poked home the rebound.