SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is ranked 8th in the USCHO and USA Hockey Magazine polls and has been nationally ranked for 83 consecutive weeks. The River Hawks are 15-5-4 (10-3-3, 1st, HEA) through 24 games. Eighteen different players have scored goals; Senior Adam Chapie leads the team with ten. Chapie (10g, 13a) and C. J. Smith (9g, 14a) lead the team with 23 points. Senior goalie Kevin Boyle has started all 24 games for the River Hawks and has a 1.70 GAA and a .938 Sv%. Boyle has chalked up a school record tying six shutouts this season.

SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS: Arizona State, in its first year as a varsity hockey program, is 5-19-0 playing a hybrid schedule and 3-19-0 against Division I opponents. They also have three additional exhibition wins against "club" teams. The Sun Devils, playing as the only Division I independent, have plans to join a conference for the 2017-18 season. Sixteen different players have scored goals with forward Jordan Masters leading the team with 8 goals and 19 points. Goalie Ryland Pashovitz has appeared in 16 contests and carries a 3.43 GAA and a .910 Sv% into tonight's game.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. ARIZONA STATE: This is the first ever meeting between UMass Lowell and Arizona State. This is the Sun Devils first year as a Division I hockey program. The move was announced on November 18, 2014.

HOCKEY IN THE DESERT?: While this is the first ever meeting between UMass Lowell and Arizona State it is not the first time that UMass Lowell has played a team from the Grand Canyon State. The River Hawks and Northern Arizona split four games during the 1983-84 season. UMass Lowell defeated Northern Arizona at the Rensselaer Tournament and at the Tully Forum , but lost twice in Flagstaff.

RIVER HAWK STRONG NIGHT: River Hawk Strong Night is a special night honoring Boston Marathon bombing survivor, Jeff Bauman. Bauman will get things started with a special ceremonial puck drop. Others who are River Hawk Strong will be honored throughout the game.

LAST TIME OUT: UMass Lowell defeated third ranked Providence College, 3-1, Saturday night at the Tsongas Center. Trailing 1-0 late in the second period the River Hawks got a goal from Jake Kamrass to tie the game. Michael Kapla and Ryan Dmowski scored third period goals to give the River Hawks the win. UML goalie Kevin Boyle made 20 saves in picking up his 15th win of the year.

FILLING UP THE DANCE CARD: Arizona State is one of three schools playing Division I hockey that UMass Lowell has never faced. That number was four at the start of the season, but the River Hawks and Robert Morris faced off in the Three Rivers Classic Championship Game. Playing ASU leaves only Bemidji State and Mercyhurst as teams never to have appeared on the UMass Lowell dance card. UMass Lowell has also played four schools no longer playing Division I hockey; Northern Arizona, U. S. International, Kent State and Illinois-Chicago.

PLAYING FIRST YEAR PROGRAMS: UMass Lowell has only played a team in its first year of existence once before. That was the University of Maine during the 1977-78 season. The River Hawks won that meeting, 5-1. UMass Lowell did play both Penn State and Massachusetts during those schools' second season and first full year of Division I hockey.

BACK-TO-BACK: The club is playing its 12th two-game weekend series this season. The River Hawks are 6-3-2 on the first night of back-to-back games and 7-2-2 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.

CHAPIE POWERING UP: UMass Lowell senior forward Adam Chapie has been a key element on the River Hawk power play unit. Nearly half of Chapie's points this year have come with the man advantage. Eleven (3g, 8a) of his team leading 23 points have come on the power play and he has been a part of more than half of the team's 21 power play goals.

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 and 23 points. Boyle's 1.70 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 Saturday, January 16, 2016, 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.)

KEVIN BOYLING HOT: UMass Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle has given up no more than two goals in 18 of 24 starts. In thirteen 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 six times. The senior has a 1.70 GAA, fifth best in the country, and a fourth in the nation .938 Sv%. His UMass Lowell career .667 winning percentage is second among UML Division I goalies. He trails only Connor Hellebuyck who had a .750 winning percentage. Boyle's six shutouts ranks him third in the nation, one shutout behind the leaders. He has nine career shutouts in just 56 career starts.

TIGHTENING UP THE D: Through the first 24 games of the season Mass Lowell has allowed 20 fewer goals than it did a year ago. That translates to .83 goals per game. A year ago the River Hawks had a 2.54 GAA at this point in the season. The team carries a 1.71 GAA into tonight's game.

RED HOT: C.J. Smith continues to pace the River Hawk offense scoring 22 points in his last 18 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.

WHO'S HOT:
A. J. White, three goals and five points in his last three games (3g, 2a, 5pts.)
Gage Hough, three goals in his last four games (3g, 0a, 3pts.)
C. J. Smith, points in 14 of last 18 games (8g, 14a, 22pts.)
Adam Chapie Points in 13 of last 18 games (8g, 12a, 20pts.)
Joe Gambardella, points in 12 of last 15 games (3g, 12a, 15pts.)
Dylan Zink, points in 9 of last 12 games (3g, 8a, 11pts.)
Michael Kapla, points in 8 of last 12 games (2g, 11a, 13pts.)

ON THE NATIONAL STAGE: UMass Lowell is ranked eighth 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 83 consecutive weeks. The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013. Of those 83 weeks more than half, 54, have been spent in the top ten.

FIRST PERIODS: UMass Lowell has outscored opponents 21-8 in the first period. The River Hawks are the fifth highest 1st period scoring team in Hockey East trailing just Providence (35), Boston College (31), Notre Dame (29) and New Hampshire (24). The eight goals allowed in the 1st period is the fewest in Hockey East. The River Hawks have outscored their opponents by 13 goals in the first period, the fourth highest goal differential among Hockey East schools and one of four teams in the conference with a scoring edge in the opening period.

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 third least penalized team in Hockey East averaging just 9.5-penalty minutes per game. That number places the River Hawks as the 19th least penalized team in the country. Arizona State averages 12.4-minutes in the box per game ranking the Sun Devils the 19th most penalized team in the country.

PENALTY KILLING: The River Hawks have the 16th ranked penalty killing unit in the country and second in Hockey East with a 84.9% success rate (73-for-86.) UMass Lowell has killed 20 of 23 (86.9%) shorthanded situations in the six games since the winter break.

POWERING UP: UMass Lowell has scored power play goals in 14 of their 23 games and in 12 of their last 17 games. The man advantage unit is averaging just under a goal a game. The River Hawks, with the fifth best PP unit in Hockey East, are 10-2-2 when scoring a power play goal and are 20-for-98 (20.4%) on the season. Dylan Zink leads the team with five power play goals.

FOOTBALL POWERS TAKE NOTE: Since Norm Bazin arrived at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 33-14-5 against schools that play football in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Those schools include: Arizona State (0-0-0), Boston College (3-6-2), Connecticut (3-4-0), Massachusetts (12-1-1), 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).

DID YOU KNOW?:
The UMass Lowell power play is 12-for-55, 21.8%, 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 129 straight UMass Lowell games...Michael Kapla has never missed a game in his UMass Lowell career, he has played in 103 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... The River Hawks have had their bags packed for much of the season. With trips to Duluth, Pittsburgh and Belfast, Northern Ireland UMass Lowell has logged more than 11-thousand miles this season.

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 24 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.