Friday, November 11th at Maine (7pm)
(Alfond Arena: Orono, Maine)
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Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: (WCAP 980AM)/UMass Lowell Game Day App
Talent: Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)
Sunday, November 13th vs. Maine (3pm)
(Tsongas Center; Lowell, Mass.)
PUCKS AND PAWS DAY | SCOUT DAY | POST-GAME SKATE
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Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: (WCAP 980AM)/UMass Lowell Game Day App
Talent: Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)
Non-Commercial Radio: (WUML 91.5 FM)
Talent: Alex Salucco (Play by Play); Carter Cotrupi (Analyst)
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell, with a 6-2-2 record, is ranked 5th in both the USA Hockey Magazine poll and USCHO polls and has won three straight. The team was picked for a fourth place finish in the Hockey East Coaches' Pre-Season Poll. The River Hawk roster shows nine new faces including six forwards, one defensemen and two goalies. The team does return its top two scorers in forwards CJ Smith (39-points) and
Joe Gambardella (37-points). That duo leads the 2016-17 edition of the River Hawks in scoring with 14 points apiece. Smith leads the team with seven goals. The four goalies, including two freshmen, entered this season with a combined 99-minutes of collegiate experience. Freshman
Tyler Wall leads the foursome with a 1.81 GAA and a .932 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS: Maine, with a 3-5-2 record, was picked to finish twelfth in the Hockey East Coaches' pre-season poll. After winning its first three games, the Black Bears are winless in their last seven games (0-5-2). Eleven different players have scored goals; seven have scored more than one. Freshman Mitchell Fossier leads the team with six goals and nine points. Rob McGovern has started eight of the team's ten games in net. He has a 2.63 GAA and a .925 Save Percentage.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. MAINE: This is the 111th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1978 . Maine leads the all-time series, 78-36-6, but the River Hawks have won four in a row and are 6-1-1 in the last eight. UMass Lowell has shut out the Black Bears in the last two games played in the Alfond Arena allowed allowed Maine just four goals in the last five games.
LAST SEASON: UMass Lowell swept the season series from Maine for a second straight season, winning 2-1 in Lowell, on a
C.J. Smith goal, and 6-0 at the Alfond Arena in Orono.
Kevin Boyle, who made 38 saves in the finale became the first visiting goalie to post back-to-back shutouts in the Alfond Arena.
On the National Stage: UMass Lowell has been nationally ranked, in either the USCHO or USA Today poll, for 96 consecutive weeks. The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013. Of those 96 weeks more than half, 63, have been spent in the top ten.
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS: UMass Lowell forwards
Joe Gambardella and
C.J. Smith rank in the top ten in scoring nationally. Each with 14 points (Gambardella 6g, 8a / Smith 7g, 7a) are tied for sixth on the national leader board. The duo ranks second among Hockey East players. Defenseman
Dylan Zink is second among Hockey East Defensemen and eighth in the nation with nine points (2g, 7a). Mattias Göransson is the top scoring freshman defenseman in Hockey East and is tied atop the national leader board with 8 points (3g, 5a).
GOOD CHEMISTRY: The UMass Lowell line of
C.J. Smith,
Joe Gambardella and
John Edwardh have been red hot. The line has played together in nine of the River Hawks' ten games this season accounting for 16-goals and 37 points. That's 43.2% of the River Hawks goals and 40% of the team's total offensive output. They have been held off the score sheet just once. Since being united for the final regular season game a year ago the trio has 26-goals and 59 points in 16 games.
HOT SHOT JUNIOR: UMass Lowell forward
C.J. Smith leads all juniors playing college hockey in career scoring with 40-goals and 88-points. Mike Smatula, playing at Minnesota is second with 77 points. T.J. Moore of Holy Cross is second in goals with 35. Smith's 48 assists leaves him one behind Jordan Gross of Notre Dame.
HOCKEY EAST OPENERS: This is UMass Lowell's Hockey East road opener. The River Hawks are 14-14-4 in the conference road opener. Last year UMass Lowell battled to a 1-1 tie in the road opener and are undefeated in the last three (2-0-1). Twice UMass Lowell has opened the road portion of the league schedule at Maine and the team has yet to find success. In 2010 UML dropped the opener 8-2 and in 1997 they came up short, 6-2. UMass Lowell, with last Friday night's 3-1 win against Vermont in now undefeated in its last five Hockey East openers. In the 33-year history of Hockey East the River Hawks are 16-12-5 in conference openers and 3-0-2 over the last five years in league game number one. Last year UMass Lowell and Merrimack played to a 1-1 tie in the HEA season opener.
WHEN RANKED TEAMS VISIT: UMass Lowell is unbeaten, at the Tsongas Center, in their last fifteen games (10-0-5) against nationally ranked teams. The streak is their longest since the USCHO poll began in 1997. Their last home loss to a ranked team on Feb. 6, 2015, when they were beaten by third ranked BU, 5-2. The River Hawks opened this season with two ties against fifth ranked Minnesota Duluth, knocked off no. 12 St. Lawrence Oct. 21, 5-2 and swept Vermont 3-1 and 4-2 last weekend.
CIRCLE OF DOMINANCE: UMass Lowell has dominated in the faceoff circle during the opening five weeks of the season winning 392 of 690 puck drops. The .568 faceoff winning percentage is the third best in the nation and tops in Hockey East.
Joe Gambardella leads the team winning 145 of 218, .665. Gambardella ranks second in Hockey East and the nation among centermen who have taken at least 100 draws.
Evan Campbell (65 of 122, .533),
Nick Master (102 of 198, .511) and
Ryan Lohin (62 of 122, .522) are also above the .500 mark.
PENALTY SHOT: Forward
Jake Kamrass scored on a penalty shot Saturday night, October 29th, at Omaha. The goal broke a 1-1 tie as UMass Lowell defeated Omaha 4-2. It was the first successful penalty shot by a River Hawk since
Adam Chapie scored on a penalty shot against Merrimack February 1, 2014.
50th Season of UMass Lowell Hockey: This is the 50th season of hockey at UMass Lowell. The varsity program began with the 1967-68 season. That first team went 7-7-1. After winning three Division II National Championships the program moved to Division I as an Independent for the 1983-84 season and joined Hockey East for its inaugural season of 1984-85. The River Hawks are 828-693-115 all time with a winning percentage of .540.
Season Long Celebration: UMass Lowell will celebrate the 50th year of River Hawk hockey throughout the season with a variety of promotions and events. The celebration will be highlighted by the naming of five All-Era teams as selected by the fans in on-line voting.
POWER PLAY: UMass Lowell's power play is among the best in the country. The River Hawks have scored 15 goals in 53 man advantage opportunities for a 28.3% success rate, the sixth best in the country and number one in Hockey East. Eight different players have scored with the man advantage;
C.J. Smith has found the back of the net four times,
Jake Kamrass has three and
Joe Gambardella and Mattias Göransson have two PP goals each.
POWER PLAY TRIFECTA: Three times this season UMass Lowell has scored three power play goals in a game. That happened most recently in the River Hawks 4-2 win against Vermont last Saturday night. Previously UMass Lowell found the back of the net three times with the man-advantage against Minnesota Duluth and Colorado College. The River Hawks had not done that since hitting for three against Notre Dame in a 3-1 win, November 23, 2013.
PENALTY KILLING WOES: UMass Lowell penalty kill took a step in the right direction last weekend (9-for-11), but has been on a roller coaster ride. After killing off 16 straight power plays, the River Hawks have now given up eight goals in the last 22 shorthanded situations over a four game span. Vermont went two-for-eleven last weekend on the power play, Omaha scored five times with the man advantage during last weekend. Twice this season the River Hawks have given up three PPGs in a game. Prior to this season UMass Lowell had not given up three power play goals in a game in more than a year. The last time it had happened was in a 7-3 loss to Providence in January of 2015.
GETTING OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE: UMass Lowell has the seventh highest scoring defense corps in the country. The River Hawks blue liners have combined for six goals and 29 points. Those numbers are also the second best in Hockey East.
PUNCHING THE CLOCK: Through ten games, UMass Lowell has played from behind for just 66:52 and only in portions of three games. UMass Lowell has held the lead for 402:06 of the 610-minutes of hockey the team has played this season.
Iron Man: UMass Lowell senior defenseman
Michael Kapla has played in 130 consecutive games, the most of any active player in college hockey. Kapla has never missed a game in his collegiate career.
100 Games CLUB: UMass Lowell senior center
Evan Campbell became the fourth member of the River Hawk team to have played in 100 games when he skated October 15th against Clarkson. Campbell enters tonight's game with 26 goals and 52 points in 104 games.
Michael Kapla (130),
Joe Gambardella (119) and
Dylan Zink (112) have all surpassed the century mark.
WHO's NEXT: Next weekend the River Hawks return to the friendly skies. UMass Lowell visits Notre Dame for games Thursday and Friday. The River Hawks hold a 7-1-2 edge in the all-time series. The River hawks are 1-0-1 at the Compton Family Arena in South Bend. UMass Lowell has twice eliminated Notre Dame from the Hockey East Tournament.
QUICK START: UMass Lowell has scored 37 goals this season, nearly half of them have come in the first five-minutes of a period. The River Hawks have scored 15 goals in the first five-minutes of a period, the second most in the country. This year, UMass Lowell has scored goals in the first five minutes of 15 of 30 periods and ten of the last twenty. The River Hawks have taken a 1-0 lead in the first five minutes in seven of the nine games they have played this year.
BACK-TO-BACK: UMass Lowell is playing back to back games for the sixth time this season. The River Hawks are 3-1-1 on the first night and 3-1-1 the second. They have one weekend sweep to their credit. A year ago UMass Lowell played 18 two-game weekend series and the results were similar night to night. The River Hawks were 10-5-3 on the first night of back-to-back games and 11-5-2 in the second game. The River Hawks had five weekend sweeps. The club played only four "stand alone" game during the season and won all four.
Non-conference, no problem: UMass Lowell has more than held its own in non-conference play over the last five-plus years. During that period of time the River Hawks have gone 41-15-5 (.720) against schools from other conferences. A year ago UMass Lowell was 9-3-1 against non-conference opponents including a 3-1-1 record against NCHC schools. The River Hawks chalked up wins against Colorado College and Minnesota Duluth last year and show a 2-0-2 record this season against those same opponents and split a two game series with Omaha. UMass Lowell is 8-3-2 all-time against teams representing the NCHC, but only 21-34-4 all-time against teams currently in the NCHC.
