SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is ranked 11th in both the USCHO and the USA Hockey Magazine poll and has been nationally ranked for 87 consecutive weeks. The River Hawks are 20-7-5 (11-5-4, HEA) through 32 games. nineteen different players have scored goals; Sophomore C.J. Smith leads the team with 14 goals and 32 points.  Senior goalie Kevin Boyle has started 31 of 32 games and has a 1.87 GAA and a .932 Sv%.  
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Boston College is 23-4-5 (14-1-5, HEA) after sweeping Vermont last weekend.  The Eagles were the pre-season favorite in the Hockey East Coaches' Poll.  Eighteen different players on the roster have scored goals, seven are in double digits.  Ryan Fitzgerald leads the team with 18 goals and 38 points.  Goalie Thatcher Demko carries a 1.75 GAA and a .938 save percentage into tonight's contest.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. BOSTON COLLEGE:  This is the 107th meeting between the two schools and the first this season.  Boston College leads the all-time series 62-35-9, but the River Hawks took three out of four points a year ago.  The two teams have evenly split the last six games (2-2-2).  UMass Lowell, then a Division II program, won the first ever meeting 3-0, Dec. 11, 1978. 
 
LAST TIME OUT:  UMass Lowell knocked off Massachusetts, 4-0, in a non-conference match last Friday.  C.J. Smith, Ryan Collins, John Edwardh and Ryan Dmowski scored goals. Goalie Kevin Boyle made 30 saves to earn his career high 19th win of the season. 
 
IF, IF IF...:  If UMass Lowell wins tonight and Boston University is beaten by Notre Dame, the River Hawks would clinch a first-round bye in the Hockey East playoffs.  Any other scenario would mean that playoff positioning will have to wait until Saturday's games have been completed.  UMass Lowell will finish as either the fourth or fifth seed.  The River Hawks will have home ice when the team begins post season action, but still to be determined is whether that is in the first round or the quarterfinals.
 
FIVE YEAR RUN: For the first time in UMass Lowell's Division I hockey history the team has won 20 games or more in five consecutive seasons.  The 20th win of the season came, last Friday, against Massachusetts.  The fifth straight 20-win season  matches the Division II run of the ULowell Chiefs who won 20-plus games per season from 1978-79 through the 1982-83.  The hockey program has 14 20-win seasons in their history.
 
SENIOR CLASS:  The current UMass Lowell senior class is the second winningest senior class in the school's Division I hockey history.  With two games remaining in the regular season the senior group has a record of 95-41-17, a .676 winning percentage.  Only the 2015 class totaled more wins; that class went 99-47-13, .664.
 
SENIOR SUCCESS:  This UMass Lowell senior class is the winningest in Hockey East and has accumulated the third most wins in the country over the four year period.  With 95 wins UMass Lowell trails only Quinnipiac and North Dakota with 100 wins and is one win ahead of both Hockey east rival Boston College and Minnesota State with 94 victories.  Among Hockey East schools Providence is third with 88.
 
BACK-TO-BACK: UMass Lowell has played 14 two-game weekend series this season.  The River Hawks are 7-4-3 on the first night of back-to-back games and 9-3-2 in the second game.  The River Hawks have four weekend sweeps to their credit. The club has playing only four "stand alone" game this season and won all four.   The River Hawks defeated RPI, 3-0, in the season opener, knocked out UNH, 1-0, defeated AIC, 5-4, and topped Massachusetts, 4-2, in its previous one-game scenarios.  
 
DOUBLE DIGIT D:  Dylan Zink is the first UMass Lowell defenseman to have two ten-plus goal seasons during the Division I era.  Zink scored his tenth goal of the season, February 16th, at AIC.  Zink also had an even ten goals a year ago.  Division II ULowell defenseman Paul Lohnes had three ten-plus goal scoring seasons and had 27 goals during the 1981-82 campaign.
 
A TWENTY YEAR WAIT: When Dylan Zink scored three goals against Boston University, February 13th, it was the first time in twenty years that a River Hawk defensemen had turned a hat trick.  The last D-man to do it was Dave Barozzino who found the back of the net three times, March 26, 1996, against Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.
 
HAT TRICK TIMES THREE: Three different River Hawks (C.J. Smith, Dylan Zink and Nick Master) have scored hat tricks this season.  That's the most since the 1992-93 season when seven different players found the back of the net three times in a game.  The River Hawks are also the only team in the country with three hat tricks.
 
NON-CONFERENCE UMASS LOWELL: The River Hawks have wrapped up their non-conference schedule finishing with a 9-2-1 record.  UMass Lowell has taken three of four from the NCHC after sweeping a two game set from Colorado College and splitting two games with Minnesota-Duluth.  UMass Lowell also defeated ECAC members RPI, 3-0, in the season opener and Clarkson, 3-0, and tied Brown, 5-5.  UMass Lowell has split two games with Atlantic Conference teams, losing to Robert Morris, 5-3, and defeating AIC, 5-4.  The River Hawks defeated Massachusetts, 4-2, in a non-conference meeting and swept a weekend series from Division I Independent, Arizona State.
 
MODEL OF CONSISTENCY:  UMass Lowell has been a model of consistency, losing back-to-back games only twice 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.
 
WHO'S NEXT?: This weekend's home-and-home series with Boston College wraps up the regular season.  Who is next is still to be determined and will not be clear until all of Saturday's games have been completed.
 
ON THE NATIONAL STAGE: UMass Lowell is ranked 11th 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 87 consecutive weeks.  The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013.  Of those 87 weeks more than half, 55, have been spent in the top ten.
 
FREINDLY CONFINES: UMass Lowell has the ninth best home winning percentage in the nation.  The River Hawks are 11-2-3 at home, good for a .781 winning percentage.  Their 1.44 GAA at home is the best in the nation.
 
ROAD WARRIORS: UMass Lowell has the nation's ninth best winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center.  The River Hawks have a combined Away/Neutral Site record of 9-5-2, good for .625 winning percentage. 
 
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST:  UMass Lowell is the second best defensive team in the country.  That's what the stats say.  The River Hawks have allowed 1.84 goals per game, just a couple of ticks behind Yale (1.63.)
 
TIGHTENING UP THE D:  Through the first 32 games of the season Mass Lowell has allowed 25 fewer goals than it did a year ago.  That translates to .78 goals per game.  A year ago the River Hawks had a 2.62 GAA at this point in the season.  The team carries a 1.84 GAA into tonight's game.
 
TALE OF TWO HALVES:  Freshman Nick Master scored nine points (3g, 6a) in his first 18 games, but has 13 points (5g, 8a) in his last thirteen games.
 
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER: Thirteen different players have scored game winning goals for the River Hawks this season.  Ryan McGrath leads the team with three.  Joe Gambardella, Adam Chapie, C.J. Smith, Nick Master and Michael Kapla each have two.  Chapie has ten career GWG, third most in the school's DI history.
 
MORE TV:  UMass Lowell and NESN have announced that the Saturday, February 27th, UMass Lowell Hockey game against Boston College, at the Tsongas Center, will be aired live on NESN.  It is the regular season finale.
 
IN THE CLUTCH: For the second consecutive season defenseman Dylan Zink is proving to be Mr. Clutch.  Seven of his ten goals this season have either given the River Hawks the lead or tied the score.  14 of his 20 career goals are defined as "clutch."  Forwards Nick Master is second with six "clutch" goals.  Four of Master's eight goals have given UMass Lowell the lead, two have tied the score.     
 
WHO'S HOT:
Ryan Dmowski, four game point scoring streak, (1g, 5a, 6pts.)
Nick Master, eleven points in his last seven games, (5g, 6a, 11pts.)
Dylan Zink, five points in his last three games, (4g, 1a, 5pts.)
A. J. White, points in ten of last eleven games, (6g, 8a, 14pts.)
Adam Chapie, points in six of last eight games (3g, 6a, 9pts.)
Joe Gambardella, points in 19 of last 26 games (5g, 21a, 26pts.)
 
FIRST OF ALL: UMass Lowell has allowed the third fewest first period goals in the country.  The River Hawks have allowed just 14 first period goals one more than Hockey East rival Notre Dame and Providence who have allowed 13.
 
BY THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS: Seventeen of UMass Lowell's first 32 games this season have been decided by one-goal.  The team is 7-5-5 in those games and 37-23-18 (.590) since Norm Bazin took over the program for the 2011-12 season. 
 
CIRCLE OF DOMINANCE: UMass Lowell has the 17th best face-off win percentage in college hockey (51.7%) and the fifth best in Hockey East.  With three centermen winning more often than not, the River Hawks have won 1067 of 2,065 puck drops.   Entering tonight's contest senior Michael Fallon (181 of 325, 55.7%) and freshman Nick Master (261 of 488, 53.5%) and are the top face-off men.  Junior Evan Campbell (191-169, 53.1%)is also over the .500 mark.
 
STAYING OUT OF THE BOX: UMass Lowell is the third least penalized team in Hockey East averaging just 9.2-penalty minutes per game.  That number places the River Hawks as the 17th least penalized team in the country.  Boston College averages 15.2-minutes in the box per game ranking the Eagles as the 2nd most penalized team in the country. 
 
PENALTY KILLING:  The River Hawks have the 18th ranked penalty killing unit in the country and second in Hockey East with a 84.7% success rate (94-for-111.)   UMass Lowell has killed 41 of 48 (85.4%) shorthanded situations in the thirteen games since the winter break.  The River Hawks have allowed just 17 power play goals in 32 games this season, the fewest in Hockey East.
 
POWERING UP WITH CHAPIE AND SMITH: UMass Lowell forwards Adam Chapie and C.J. Smith have been a key elements on the River Hawk power play.  The two have accounted for 25 power play points.  Nearly half of Chapie's points have come with the man advantage.  Thirteen (3g, 10a) of his 29 points have come on the power play and he has been a part of half of the team's 26 power play goals.  Twelve of Smith's team leading 30 points have come with the man advantage.
 
DID YOU KNOW?:
Goalie Kevin Boyle is 10-2-3 with a 1.45 GAA and a .943 Sv% at the Tsongas Center...A.J. White has played in 138 straight UMass Lowell games...Michael Kapla has never missed a game in his UMass Lowell career, he has played in 112 straight games... UMass Lowell has been limited to just one goal seven times this season but that has resulted in just three 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... The only Division I teams that UMass Lowell has never played are Bemidji State and Mercyhurst... Five former River Hawks have played in the NHL this season; Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Scott Wilson (Pittsburgh), Christian Folin (Minnesota), Carter Hutton (Nashville) and Ron Hainsey (Carolina.)... UMass Lowell was the first Hockey East school ever to play in the Olympia Ice Center when the River Hawks topped AIC, 5-4.
 
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 91-5-7 when leading after two-periods.  They are also 20-10-5 when the score is tied after two periods.  UMass Lowell is 37-23-18 in games decided by one goal.  Also, during that time period the River Hawks are 10-6-18 in games decided in overtime.  When UMass Lowell has a two-goal lead at any point in the game they are 94-4-2 and 45-0-2 at the Tsongas Center.
 
FILLING THE SEATS: UMass Lowell leads Hockey East and is 9th in the nation in average home attendance with one weekend left in the 2015-16 season.  More than 88,000 fans have filled the Tsongas Center for the team's first 16 home games.  UMass Lowell is averaging 5,532 per game (92.2% of capacity), one of three HEA schools drawing more than five-thousand per game.  A year ago the River Hawks drew more than 100,000 fans for the first time in the program's history.  The twenty games played at the Tsongas Center attracted 102,390 people, an average of 5,120 per game.