Friday, January 15th at Massachusetts (7pm)
(Mullins Center: Amherst, Mass.)
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Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: (900AM, 1250AM, WCAP 980AM, WSMN 1590AM)
Talent: Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)

Non-Commericial Radio: WUML 91.5-FM:
Talent: Zack Tretheway (Play by Play); Carter Cotrupi (Analyst)

Saturday, January 16th vs. Massachusetts (7pm)
HOCKEY EAST SKATING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER
SPECIAL TICKET PRICE FOR SATURDAY'S GAME HONORING TB12
(Tsongas Center; Lowell, Mass.)
Watch Live | Listen Live (Comm) | Live Stats | Buy Tickets
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey
Tweet ##UnitedInBlue

Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: (900AM, 1250AM, WCAP 980AM, WSMN 1590AM)
Talent: Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)

Non-Commericial Radio: WUML 91.5-FM:
Talent: Zack Tretheway (Play by Play); James Shirton (Analyst)
Matt Denaro (Producer); Carter Cotrupi (Engineer)

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is ranked 11th in both the USCHO and the USA Hockey Magazine polls and has been nationally ranked for 81 consecutive weeks. The River Hawks are 12-4-4 (7-2-3, 1st, HEA) through 20 games. Seventeen different players have scored goals, Senior Adam Chapie leads the team with nine.  C. J. Smith (8g, 11a), Chapie (9g, 10a) and Joe Gambardella (5g, 14a) lead the team with 19 points. Senior goalie Kevin Boyle has started all 20 games for the River Hawks and has a 1.74 GAA and a .939 Sv%.  Boyle has chalked up five shutouts this season.   
 
SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN: Massachusetts is 7-10-4 (2-5-4, T-7th, HEA) after an overtime loss to Vermont last Saturday night.  The Wildcats were picked for a 12th place finish in the Hockey East Pre-season Coaches' Poll.  Fourteen different players have scored goals for the Minutemen.  Shane Walsh leads the team with 14 goals and is tied with Ray Pigozzi for the team lead with 19 points.  Goalie Nic Renyard has started 13 of the team's 21 contests and carries a 3.25 GAA and a .906 Sv% into tonight's contest.
 
LAST TIME OUT:  UMass Lowell defeated New Hampshire, 1-0, last Friday night. Ryan Collins scored the game's only goal with 2:44 remaining in the third period.    UML goalie Kevin Boyle made 27 saves to pick up his fifth shutout of the season.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. MASSACHUSETTS:  This is the 74th meeting between UMass Lowell and Massachusetts.  The River Hawks lead the series 41-25-7.  Massachusetts won the first ever meeting between the two clubs, Nov. 26, 1968, 11-2.  The two teams have met just one time in the Hockey East Tournament.  Massachusetts won that series, 2-games to none.
 
ALUMNI CUP:  Friday's game is the first of three between these two teams that will decide the Alumni Cup, awarded to the winner of the season series between the only Division I hockey programs in the University of Massachusetts state system.  The River Hawks have won or retained the Cup 15 times in 21 years including the last four.

TIGHTENING UP THE D:  Through the first 20 games of the season Mass Lowell has allowed 13 fewer goals than it did a year ago.  That translates to .65 goals per game.  A year ago the River Hawks had a 2.40 GAA at this point in the season.  The team carries a 1.75 GAA into tonight's game.
 
BIG ICE:  When UMass Lowell and Massachusetts meet Friday night at the Mullins Center it will be the sixth time this season that the River Hawks have played on larger than standard (200 x 85) ice sheet.  They are 4-0-1 on the larger surfaces.  UMass Lowell earned a win and a tie on the Olympic Sheet in Belfast, swept Vermont in the Gutterson Field House (200 x 90) and topped New Hampshire on the 200 x 100 surface at the Whittemore Center.
 
PUT THE CUFFS ON:  When UMass Lowell forward Robert Francis was called for hooking in the 3rd period of the River Hawks win at UNH, it was the first penalty of Francis' UMass Lowell career.  The senior had gone 44 games without being whistled.  The previous UMass Lowell record for games without a penalty was Bob Fernberg who had gone 20 games without a penalty between 1975 and 1977. 

ROAD WARRIORS:  Friday night's game will wrap up a stretch of 12 games away from the Tsongas Center in a stretch of 16 games.  That included four "neutral site" games.  The River Hawks at 7-3-1 in the first eleven road/neutral games in that stretch.  They are 2-0-2 at home during that period.  UMass Lowell will play nine of its final 13 regular season games at home.
 
WHEN ONE IS ENOUGH: When UMass Lowell defeated New Hampshire, 1-0, last Friday night; it was the 11th time in school history and the second time this season that the River Hawks had won a 1-0 game.  It was the fifth 1-0 win in the last four seasons and it was also the second time that New Hampshire was the victim.  UMass Lowell beat Vermont 1-0 earlier this season.
 
Date                     Opponent                                       Goalie/Svs.           Goal Scorer
Feb. 12, 1977       vs. Williams                              Doyle, 29 saves                  Yeadon
Nov. 10, 2001      at New Hampshire            McCormick, 30 svs.                   Strome
Nov. 16, 2001      vs. UMass Amherst            McCormick, 24 svs.                McGrane
Jan.  4, 2004        at UMass Amherst                Davidson, 27 svs.                    Godoy
Feb.  8, 2007        vs. Northeastern                   Hamilton, 10 svs.                     Kinley
Feb. 21, 2009       at Vermont                               Hutton, 21 svs.         Worthington
Mar. 23, 2013      vs. Boston University        Hellebuyck, 36 svs.                   Arnold
Nov. 22, 2013      vs. Notre Dame                  Hellebuyck, 40 svs.                       Buco
Feb. 28, 2014       at Vermont, OT                  Hellebuyck, 25 svs.                      Houk
Nov. 7, 2015        at Vermont                                  Boyle, 32 svs.                    Chapie
Jan. 8, 2016         at New Hampshire                      Boyle, 27 svs.                    Collins
 
ON THE NATIONAL STAGE: UMass Lowell is ranked eleventh in both the USCHO and the USA Hockey Magazine Polls.  The River Hawks have been nationally ranked, in either the USCHO or USA Today poll, for 81 consecutive weeks.  The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013.  Of those 81 weeks more than half, 52, have been spent in the top ten.
 
BACK-TO-BACK: The club has played nine two-game weekend series this season.  The River Hawks are 5-2-2 on the first night of back-to-back games and 5-2-2 in the second game.  The River Hawks have three weekend sweeps to their credit.  UMass Lowell has also played two stand-alone games winning both by shutout.
 
100 STRAIGHT AND STILL COUNTING:  UMass Lowell defenseman Michael Kapla will, tonight, play his 101st game in a River Hawk uniform.  Kapla, with 12 goals and 43 assists for 55 points, has never missed a game in his collegiate career.  A.J. White who has played 133 games will be playing in his 127th in a row.
 
IN EVERY GAME:  When UMass Lowell lost to Robert Morris 5-3, it was the first time all season that the River Hawks have trailed two goals at any point in a game.

FIRST PLACE AT THE BREAK:  UMass Lowell, with a conference record of 6-2-3, holds sole possession of first place in Hockey East at the winter break for the first time in the millennium.  A year ago the River Hawks were 7-0-2, but in a first place tie with eventual champion Boston University.
 
TEN WINS BEFORE THE BREAK:  This is only the seventh time in 33 years that the River Hawks picked up their tenth win before the winter break, but it is the third consecutive year in which they have reached that milestone.  In both the 1986-87 and 2001-02 seasons UMass Lowell had 12-wins at the break marking the best first halves in school history. 
 
RED HOT: C.J. Smith continues to pace the River Hawk offense scoring 18 points in his last 14 games.  That includes a ten game scoring streak, the first double digit scoring streak by a UMass Lowell player since Ed McGrane scored points is 16 consecutive games during the 2002-03 season.  Smith accumulated six goals and ten assists during that stretch and the team has only lost one of the ten games. 
 
KEVIN BOYLING HOT: UMass Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle has given up no more than two goals in 15 of 20 starts.  In ten of those starts he has allowed one goal or less.  Boyle has five shutouts and has allowed three goals or more just five times.  The senior has a 1.74 GAA and a .939 Sv%.  His career .660 winning percentage is second among UML Division I goalies.  He trails only Connor Hellebuyck who had a .750 winning percentage.  Boyle has eight career shutouts in just 52 career starts.
 
DID YOU KNOW?:
The UMass Lowell power play is 10-for-37, 27.0%, over its last nine games...C.J. Smith has scored 16 (7g, 9a, 16pts.) of his team leading 19 points on the road this season...Dylan Zink had a "plus" or "even" rating in 26 straight games, including last season, prior to going -1 in UML's loss to Robert Morris... Ten (2g, 8a 10pts.) of Michael Kapla's 13 points this season have come when the score has been tied or the River Hawks trailed...Goalie Kevin Boyle is 5-1-2 with a 1.23 GAA and a .954 Sv% at the Tsongas Center...A.J. White has played in 125 straight UMass Lowell games...Michael Kapla has never missed a game in his UMass Lowell career, he has played in 99 straight games... UMass Lowell has been limited to just one goal five times this season but that has resulted in just two losses.
 
PENALTY KILLING:  The River Hawks have the 25th ranked penalty killing unit in the country and third in Hockey East with a 83.8% success rate (62-for-74.)  UMass Lowell was successful in their first 19 man down situations this season.
 
POWERING UP: UMass Lowell has scored power play goals in 13 of their 20 games and in 11 of their last 14 games.  The man advantage unit is averaging just under a goal a game.  The River Hawks, with the fourth best PP unit in Hockey East, are 9-2-2 when scoring a power play goal and are 18-for-82 (21.7%) on the season.  Dylan Zink leads the team with four power play goals.
 
STAYING OUT OF THE BOX: UMass Lowell is the fourth least penalized team in Hockey East averaging just 9.8-penalty minutes per game.  That number places the River Hawks as the 23rd least penalized team in the country.  Massachusetts averages 10.7-minutes in the box per game ranking the Minutemen 30th in the country. 
 
CIRCLE OF DOMINANCE: UMass Lowell has the 21st best face-off win percentage in college hockey (51.4%) and the fourth best in Hockey East.  With three centermen winning more often than not, the River Hawks have won 680 of 1,322 puck drops.   Entering tonight's contest senior center Michael Fallon is the top face-off man winning 56.3% (116-90) of draws.  Junior Evan Campbell (143-125, 53.4%) is second among River Hawk centers.   Freshman Nick Master (168 of 319, 52.7%)is also over the .500 mark.
 
IN THE CLUTCH: Junior defenseman Dylan Zink has become Mr. Clutch over the last two seasons.  Zink leads the River Hawks in clutch goals, goals that either tied the score or gave UMass Lowell the lead, with four this season.  The defenseman topped the "clutch" goal list during the 2014-15 season with seven.  Six of his ten goals put the River Hawks in the lead, one tied the game.  Eleven of his 15 career goals have been defined as "clutch."
 
I CAN SEE FOR MILES AND MILES AND MILES: The UMass Lowell hockey team's recent trip to Pittsburgh and the Three Rivers Classic was the last significant road trip in a season that has found the River Hawks logging more than 11-thousand miles.  By season's end, the River Hawks will have logged 11,469.56 miles thanks in large part to trips to Minnesota-Duluth, Pittsburgh and Belfast, Northern Ireland.  Most of the travelling, 10,747.76 miles, took place during the first half of the schedule.  The longest individual trip in School history was the 1994 journey to play in the Great Alaska Faceoff Tournament in Fairbanks in 1994.  The round-trip totaled more than eight-thousand miles. 
 
IN THE NHL: Five River Hawks are playing in the NHL this season.  Forward Scott Wilson (2011-14) became the latest to join that select group when he skated for the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 21st.  In addition to Wilson, goalie Connor Hellebuyck (2012-14) is protecting the nets for the Winnipeg Jets.  Ron Hainsey (1999-2001) is playing his 3rd season as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes and his 13th NHL campaign.  Goalie Carter Hutton (2006-10) is in his third season with the Nashville Predators and his fourth in the NHL.  Defenseman Christian Folin, 2012-14, is in his second season with the Minnesota Wild.  Folin's younger brother Niklas currently skates for UMass Lowell.
 
BY THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS: Thirteen of UMass Lowell's first 20 games this season have been decided by one-goal.  The team is 6-3-4 in those games and 36-21-17 (.601) since Norm Bazin took over the program for the 2011-12 season.  Last year UMass Lowell played only ten games decided by a single goal or less (2-2-4.)  Twice the River Hawks have played 21 one-goal games in a season.  In 2003-04 UMass Lowell went 7-7-7 in such contests and in 2006-07 was 5-9-7.
 
FOOTBALL POWERS TAKE NOTE: Since Norm Bazin arrived at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 31-14-5 against schools that play football in the Football Bowl Subdivision.  Those schools include:  Boston College (3-6-2), Connecticut (3-4-0), Massachusetts (10-1-1), Miami (1-0-0), Michigan (1-1-0), Michigan State (2-0-0), Notre Dame (7-1-2), Penn State (3-1-0) and Wisconsin (1-0-0).
 
SUCCESS IS THE NORM: Norm Bazin is in his fifth season at UMass Lowell with a 111-51-17 record (.668) in 179 games. He owns a 149-82-24 mark (.633) in 255 games now in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach, including three seasons at Hamilton College. Bazin is the sixth head coach in program history and the fifth Div. I boss (Riley, Crowder, Whitehead, MacDonald). He recorded his 100th career coaching victory on Nov. 23, 2013 vs. Notre Dame at the Tsongas Center and his 100th behind the River Hawk bench on October 9, 2015. He is also the fastest to the 100 win mark in school history. His first UMass Lowell win came against Minnesota State, 4-2, on October 14, 2011. Bazin is a two-time Hockey East Coach of the Year 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 NCAA tournament appearances, back-to-back Hockey East Tournament Championships (2013, 2014) and one Frozen Four appearance (2013). 
 
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 85-5-6 when leading after two-periods.  They are also 19-10-5 when the score is tied after two periods.  UMass Lowell is 36-21-17 in games decided by one goal.  Also, during that time period the River Hawks are 10-6-14 in games decided in overtime.  When UMass Lowell has a two-goal lead at any point in the game they are 88-4-2 and 40-0-2 at the Tsongas Center.
 
WHO'S HOT:
C. J. Smith  Points in 12 of last 14 games (7g, 11a, 18pts.)
Adam Chapie  Points in 11 of last 14 games (7g, 9a, 16pts.)
Joe Gambardella  Points in 10 of last 11 games (3g, 9a, 12pts.)
Dylan Zink  Points in 7 of last 8 games (2g, 7a, 9pts.)
Michael Kapla  Assists in 6 of last 8 games (0g, 9a, 9pts.)