"Ideally we have speed in our transition every game, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way. Different teams throw different systems at you that can slow down your transition or speed it up. From our standpoint that game we were a little more sharper than we had been in the previous two or three games and our transition may have looked a little quicker."
"Well you can tell those observers that we aim to have a good start every year. I think its our thought process, its our mindset. This year obviously you have a few more wins than last year but its just a start. I love the fact that you had a good start , its such a small sample size, we're still building our team and trying to figure out what parts fit where. It's exciting, its encouraging, but at the same time we have a challenging opponent here this weekend that we're focusing on."
"A variety of things make a power play successful; puck movement, guys trusting each other, overall a lot of movement so people can't clog up shooting lanes, and hunger. All of those things go into it and lucky for us we've were on the winning side of the special teams battle last weekend."
"Well that's good, I'm glad you're observing that and I hop other people are too. I like the work ethic, the poise is slowly coming into play and hopefully the more they get accustomed to the systems, the more comfortable they are in their role the more poise will show."
"For us as a staff its certainly not, we're gonna relay that to the team. It does matter, it's not a Hockey East opponent, but at the same time over the whole scheme of things at the end of the year, they are two games that are realativley very important. This team didn't play last weekend, they've only got one loss on their ledger so far. They're a very good hockey team, they traveled out to Alaska and got that loss and lot of people do that, that's a hard trip. We have a lot of respect for their hockey club, they're gonna be able to turn that into a very good organization quickly and we know that. They're very similar to Merrimack; they work hard, they block some shooting lanes, and they're tough to play agasint so we're gonna have all we can handle."
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: No. 4 ranked UMass Lowell enters the weekend series with Penn State with a 6-1-2 overall record and a 4-0-1 mark in league play with nine points in first place in the Hockey East standings. Sophomore defensemen
Dylan Zink (3g,6a) and
Michael Kapla (2g,7a) lead the team in scoring with nine points apiece. Junior goaltender
Kevin Boyle has started six of nine games so far this season (2.94 GAA, .904 sv%). The River Hawks have now been ranked in the Top 20 of the national polls for 47 straight weeks. UMass Lowell is off to its best start in Div. I team history, tied with 1995-96 team.
LAST TIME OUT: The River Hawks posted a 5-0 shutout at Northeastern on Saturday night at Matthews Arena in Boston. Freshman forward
Jake Kamrass scored his first career goal and freshman goaltender
Jeff Smith made 20 saves for his first collegiate shutout in his third career start. UMass Lowell outshot NU, 28-20, for the game, including a 14-7 advantage in the second period.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: The Nittany Lions hold a 5-1-2 record in their third season of Division I play heading into the weekend series with UMass Lowell. They last played on October 30 and 31, when they earned a weekend sweep of Bentley at the Pegula Ice Arena. They defeated the Falcons 3-2 on both nights. Senior forward Taylor Holstrom leads Penn State in scoring with 11 points (3g,8a) in seven games played. Junior goaltender Matthew Skoff has started all eight games in net this year, registering a 1.97 GAA with a .932 save%. The Nittany Lions are 0-1-0 on the road this season, with their only away contest being a 4-3 loss to Alaska. They are also tied for third in the nation with a 27% power play.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. PENN STATE: The River Hawks are 2-0-0 all-time vs. the Nittany Lions. The only two contests between the two teams came last season, when the River Hawks earned a weekend sweep at the Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Penn. on Nov. 14 and 15. UMass Lowell defeated Penn State 4-0 and 3-2 on back-to-back nights. Active leading scorers against the Nittany Lions include sophomore
Joe Gambardella (1g,2a) and junior
Adam Chapie (2g,1a). Chapie notched the game-winning goal in both contests at Penn State last season.
DID YOU KNOW?: The River Hawks 14 freshmen is the largest freshman class in NCAA Div. I hockey. The River Hawks 4.22 goals per game leads the nation among Division I teams. The River Hawks are 6-for-15 (40%) on the power play in the last three contests, after going 3-for-20 (15%) in the first six games of the year. When playing a team at Tsongas Center for the first time, UMass Lowell owns a 22-11-0 all-time, which includes a 17-7-0 mark against non-conference opponents.
SPREADING AROUND THE SCORING: UMass Lowell has had 18 different players score a goal this season, which is the second most in Div. I hockey, only trailing St. Lawrence (20).
HOCKEY EAST/BIG TEN CHALLENGE: UMass Lowell will participate in its second set of Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge games this weekend against Penn State. Currently, the Big Ten leads Hockey East, 19-18, with only four games to play. Nine of the 12 Hockey East institutions and five of the six Big Ten schools will play in 20 games from October 10 to November 29. The games will be split with 10 in Hockey East arenas and 10 in Big Ten venues.The River Hawks will appear in four games this season all at the Tsongas Center. The final two challenge games for UMass Lowell will take place on November 14 and 15 with matchups against Penn State University. Last season the challenge was only 13 games, and the Hockey East won the cup with a 7-4-2 record. At the end of the challenge a Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge Cup will be presented to the conference that records the most points from the 20 contests. Teams will earn two points for a win, one point for a tie and bonus point will be awarded for a road win.
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THE CLASS OF 2015: The River Hawks senior class has an all-time record of 84-36-9, which is the second most wins in Division I, surpassing the Class of 2014 went 83-60-11. The best ever senior class was the 1996 class that went 88-56-15. The Class of 2015 is four wins away from tying that record, and six wins away from this class becoming the winningest class ever (Thanks to
Bob Ellis).
THE BAZIN ERA: In the three plus seasons
Norm Bazin has been head coach of the River Hawks, the team has a 64-2-4 record (.943) when leading through two periods, while the squad owns a 39-15-6 record (.700) at the Tsongas Center. When the team scores the first goal of the game, Bazin led teams are 61-7-6 overall (.865).
SUCCESS IS THE NORM: Norm Bazin is in his fourth season at UMass Lowell. He has compiled a 84-36-9 record (.686) in 129 games in three plus seasons for the River Hawks. He owns a 122-67-16 mark (.632) in 205 games in his career collegiate coaching record, which includes three seasons spent at Hamilton College. He recorded his 100th career coaching victory on Nov. 23 vs. Notre Dame at the Tsongas Center. Bazin is a two-time Hockey East Coach of the Year honoree and was named the 2013 Spencer Penrose Award Winner given annually by the American Hockey Coaches Association to the Division I Coach of the Year. Bazin has led the River Hawks to three straight NCAA tournament appearances, back-to-back Hockey East Tournament Championships (2013, 2014) and one Frozen Four appearance (2013). He owns a 4-3-0 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament.
HEAD COACH NORM BAZIN IN THE MEDIA:Â Coach Bazin and select players are available to the media every Tuesday at 4:45pm post-practice at the Tsongas Center and are available for one-on-one phone interviews as well. Please contact
Pete Souris for more information. Listen to Coach Bazin live every Thursday afternoon on the Christian and King Show at 12:30pm on ESPN NH Radio (900AM) and with Ted Panos on WCAP Radio during morning drive on Thursdays at 8:15am.
THIS DAY IN UMASS LOWELL HOCKEY HISTORY:November 14
1979: ULowell, the defending NCAA Division II national champion, stuns Division I Vermont 7-4 in the season's opener in Burlington, Vermont. It is the 17th straight win for the Chiefs, who kill off 11 power plays by the Catamounts.
1995: Senior center Jeff Daw records his 100th career point with an assist as UMass Lowell beats Merrimack 5-3 at the Tully Forum.
1997: Defenseman Mike Nicholishen scores in overtime to beat UMass Amherst 5-4 at the Mullins Center in Amherst.
2008: Junior left wing Kory Falite (Fuh-lee-tee) scores three goals and sets up another, powering UMass Lowell to an 8-3 romp over fifth-ranked New Hampshire at the Tsongas Arena.
2009: Senior goaltender Carter Hutton sticks aside 19 shots for his second shutout of the season and the eighth of his career to backstop fifth-ranked UMass Lowell to a 4-0 triumph over the University of Alabama-Huntsville in Huntsville, running the River Hawks' unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1). Hutton ties Cam McCormick for the school record for career shutouts.
2013: Sophomore
Connor Hellebuyck posts his seventh career shutout, kicking out 37 shots in 13th-ranked UMass Lowell's 4-0 victory at Penn State.Â
Derek Arnold had two-goals in the game.
November 15
1986: Junior wing Jim Newhouse scores a point for the 10th consecutive game as ULowell beats Northeastern 7-4 at the Tully Forum. Newhouse's string would reach 17 before being stopped.
2002: Senior center Ed McGrane scores a point for the 16th consecutive game, but UMass Lowell loses to UMass Amherst 6-3 in Amherst.
2008: Junior Nevin Hamilton sticks aside 22 shots to register his fourth career shutout, backstopping UMass Lowell to a 2-0 triumph over 20th-ranked UMass Amherst in Amherst.
RIVERHAWKS ON THE RADIO:Â The River Hawks can be heard every week throughout the season on ESPN NH Radio (900AM) and (1250AM), as well as on the following local affiliates: WCAP (980AM) in Lowell and WSMN (1590AM) in Nashua, N.H.
Bob Ellis (PxP) and Jimmy Connelly (Color Analyst) have the call of all River Hawk hockey games throughout the season. The game is accessible via the ESPN Radio app (http://espn.go.com/mobile/products/products?id=7451658). UMass Lowell home games are also available on WUML Radio (91.5 FM; non-commercial radio) with Zack Tretheway (PxP) and James Shirton (Color Analyst) broadcasting on campus and in the surrounding Lowell communities.
