SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is ranked 8th in the USCHO poll and 9th in the USA Hockey Magazine poll and has been nationally ranked for 82 consecutive weeks. The River Hawks are 14-4-4 (9-2-3, 1st, HEA) through 22 games. Seventeen different players have scored goals; Senior Adam Chapie leads the team with ten.  C. J. Smith (9g, 14a) leads the team with 23 points. Senior goalie Kevin Boyle has started all 22 games for the River Hawks and has a 1.62 GAA and a .941 Sv%.  Boyle has chalked up a school record tying six shutouts this season.   
 
SCOUTING THE FRIARS: Providence is 15-3-4 (6-1-3, 4th, HEA) after last weekend's two-game sweep of Vermont.  The Friars were picked for a 3rd place finish in the Hockey East Pre-season Coaches' Poll.  Seventeen different players have scored goals for the Friars.  Defenseman Jake Walman leads the team with 12 goals.  Walman (12g, 11a) and Mike Jankowski (10g, 13a) top the point scoring charts with 23.  Goalie Nick Ellis has started 21 of the team's 22 contests and carries a 2.11 GAA and a .928 Sv% into tonight's contest.
 
LAST TIME OUT:  UMass Lowell defeated Massachusetts, 5-0, last Saturday night.  Gage Hough had two goals to lead the River Hawk attack.  UML goalie Kevin Boyle made 18 saves to pick up his sixth shutout and 14th win of the season.  The victory clinched the Alumni Cup for UMass Lowell despite the fact the third game between the two has not yet been played. 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. PROVIDENCE:  This is the 110th meeting between UMass Lowell and Providence.  The Friars lead the series 53-45-11.  Providence won the first ever meeting between the two clubs, Jan. 27, 1982, 5-3.  The Friars swept the season series a year ago.  The two teams have met in the Hockey East Tournament in six different seasons with the River Hawks holding a 6-3-1 edge.
 
BACK-TO-BACK: The club is playing its 11th two-game weekend series this season.  The River Hawks are 6-2-2 on the first night of back-to-back games and 6-2-2 in the second game.  The River Hawks have four weekend sweeps to their credit.  UMass Lowell has also played two stand-alone games winning both by shutout.
 
RED HOT: C.J. Smith continues to pace the River Hawk offense scoring 22 points in his last 16 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. 
 
HOBEY WATCH:  Two River Hawks are on the list of candidates for college hockey's top honor, the Hobey Baker Award.  UMass Lowell leading goal scorer senior forward Adam Chapie and Hockey East's top goalie senior Kevin Boyle have been nominated for the award.  Chapie leads the River Hawks with 10 goals.  Boyle's 1.62 goals against average is the best in Hockey East.  The Hobey Baker Award is chosen by a ten member panel and through fan voting.
 
SETTING RECORDS: When UMass Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle shutout Massachusetts last Saturday, it was his school record tying sixth shutout of the season.  The six shutouts ties Boyle with Connor Hellebuyck, who did it twice (2012-13 and 2013-14), and Cam McCormick (2001-02.)
 
PUNCHING THE CLOCK:  UMass Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle has played every minute of every River Hawk game this season or as close as one can get to that number.  He is the only goalie in the country to play all of his team's minutes except when pulled for an additional skater.  Boyle has logged 1,329:56 minutes this season equal to 99.2% of the team's total ice time. 
 
KEVIN BOYLING HOT: UMass Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle has given up no more than two goals in 17 of 22 starts.  In twelve of those starts he has allowed one goal or less.  Boyle has a school single-season record tying six shutouts and has allowed three goals or more just five times.  The senior has a 1.61 GAA, fifth best in the country, and a fourth in the nation .941 Sv%.  His UMass Lowell career .673 winning percentage is second among UML Division I goalies.  He trails only Connor Hellebuyck who had a .750 winning percentage.  Boyle has nine career shutouts in just 54 career starts.
 
TIGHTENING UP THE D:  Through the first 22 games of the season Mass Lowell has allowed 14 fewer goals than it did a year ago.  That translates to .66 goals per game.  A year ago the River Hawks had a 2.27 GAA at this point in the season.  The team carries a 1.61 GAA into tonight's game.
 
ON THE NATIONAL STAGE: UMass Lowell is ranked eighth in the USCHO Poll and ninth the USA Hockey Magazine Poll.  The River Hawks have been nationally ranked, in either the USCHO or USA Today poll, for 82 consecutive weeks.  The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013.  Of those 82 weeks more than half, 53, have been spent in the top ten.
 
ROAD WARRIORS:  Friday night's game in Providence will be the 14th in a stretch of 20 games played away from the Tsongas Center.  That included four "neutral site" games.  The River Hawks at 8-3-2 in the first 13.  They are 3-0-3 at home during that period.  UMass Lowell will play eight of its final 11 regular season games at home.
 
FIRST PERIODS:  UMass Lowell has outscored opponents 21-5 in the first period.   The River Hawks are the fifth highest 1st period scoring team in Hockey East trailing just Providence (32), Notre Dame (26), Boston College (25), and New Hampshire (24).  The five goals allowed in the 1st period is the fewest in Hockey East.  The River Hawks have outscored their opponents by 16 goals in the first period, the third highest goal differential among Hockey East schools. 
 
MODEL OF CONSISTENCY:  UMass Lowell has been a model of consistency, losing back-to-back games only once this season.   The River Hawks have only had two losing streaks of three or more games since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench for the 2011-12 season and that has happened just twice.
 
STAYING OUT OF THE BOX: UMass Lowell is the fourth least penalized team in Hockey East averaging just 9.5-penalty minutes per game.  That number places the River Hawks as the 20th least penalized team in the country.  Providence averages 12.4-minutes in the box per game ranking the Friars the fourth most penalized team in the league and 20th most in the country. 
 
PENALTY KILLING:  The River Hawks have the 17th ranked penalty killing unit in the country and second in Hockey East with a 84.8% success rate (67-for-79.)   UMass Lowell has killed 14 of 16 shorthanded situations in the five games since the winter break.
 
POWERING UP: UMass Lowell has scored power play goals in 14 of their 22 games and in 12 of their last 16 games.  The man advantage unit is averaging just under a goal a game.  The River Hawks, with the third best PP unit in Hockey East, are 10-2-2 when scoring a power play goal and are 20-for-91 (22.0%) on the season.  Dylan Zink leads the team with five power play goals.
 
DID YOU KNOW?:
The UMass Lowell power play is 12-for-48, 25.0%, over its last twelve games...C.J. Smith has scored 18 (7g, 11a, 18pts.) of his team leading 23 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 15 points this season have come when the score has been tied or the River Hawks trailed...Goalie Kevin Boyle is 6-1-2 with a 1.09 GAA and a .958 Sv% at the Tsongas Center...A.J. White has played in 128 straight UMass Lowell games...Michael Kapla has never missed a game in his UMass Lowell career, he has played in 102 straight games... UMass Lowell has been limited to just one goal six times this season but that has resulted in just two losses... 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.
 
CIRCLE OF DOMINANCE: UMass Lowell has the 19th best face-off win percentage in college hockey (51.3%) and the fourth best in Hockey East.  With three centermen winning more often than not, the River Hawks have won 748 of 1,459 puck drops.   Entering tonight's contest senior center Michael Fallon is the top face-off man winning 55.5% (121-97) of draws.  Junior Evan Campbell (155-135, 53.4%) is second among River Hawk centers.   Freshman Nick Master (185 of 353, 52.4%) is also over the .500 mark.
 
IN THE CLUTCH: Sophomore forward C. J. Smith leads the River Hawks in clutch goals, goals that have either tied the score or given the River Hawks the lead, this season with five.  That is 55.6% of his nine goals this season.  Eleven of his 25 career goals, 44.0%, have been defined as "clutch."  Six have given UMass Lowell the lead, five have tied the score.  Junior defenseman Dylan Zink also has 11 clutch goals over a two year period. The defenseman topped the "clutch" goal list during the 2014-15 season with seven.   Nine of his 15 career goals have given the River Hawks the lead; two more have tied the score.
 
BY THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS: Thirteen of UMass Lowell's first 22 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.
 
WHO'S HOT:
Gage Hough  three goals in his last two games (3g, 0a, 3pts.)
C. J. Smith  Points in 14 of last 16 games (8g, 14a, 22pts.)
Adam Chapie  Points in 12 of last 16 games (8g, 10a, 18pts.)
Joe Gambardella  Points in 12 of last 13 games (3g, 12a, 15pts.)
Dylan Zink  Points in 8 of last 10 games (3g, 7a, 10pts.)
Michael Kapla  Points in 7 of last 10 games (1g, 10a, 11pts.)
 
Where UMass Lowell is Ranked?:
Stat                                                     Nation                  HEA                     HEA Only
Scoring Offense                          2.91 (20th)                    6th                                6th
Scoring Defense                           1.64 (2nd)                    1st                                 1st
Scoring Margin                             1.27 (9th)                    3rd                                3rd
Power Play %                          22.0% (14th)                    4th                                7th
Penalty Kill %                          84.8% (17th)                   2nd                                6th
 
SCORING BY CLASS:
Class                                     GP       Goals      Assists      Points         PPG             Pct.
Seniors (7)                           123             22              28             50         0.41         27.8%
Juniors (4)                             86             16              43             59         0.69         32.8%
Sophomores (9)                  138             21              29             50         0.36         27.8%
Freshmen (8)                        71               5              16             21         0.30         11.6%
Totals:                                                    64            116           180