Box Score (.pdf) | Highlights

LOWELL, Mass – It took three overtimes to decide a winner in the River Hawks conference opener against Hartford on Saturday afternoon; the teams played three overtime periods before the Hawks came away with a 9-8 win.
 
UMass Lowell falls to 2-6 with the loss, and starts 0-1 in conference play. Hartford jumps the .500 barrier and moves to 4-3, and 1-0 in conference play.
 
Hartford scored the first goal of the game a minute and a half in, and then followed that up with another goal two minutes later to take an early 2-0 lead. Junior Nicholas Pino (North Andover, Mass.) scored the River Hawks first goal with 1:40 to go in the first quarter, leaving the River Hawks down just one after the first quarter.
 
Hartford scored twice to start the second quarter, including a man up goal by Griffin Feiner, the second of his eventual hat trick. After Jaedon Henderson scored for Hartford with 10:57 to go in the second, Senior Chris Litchfield (Burlington, Mass.) took the ensuing faceoff the length of the field to bring UMass Lowell back within two. Each team scored once more in the half; Sophomore Keenan Koswin (Winnipeg, Manitoba) brought the River Hawks within two, scoring on an impressive athletic move with 1:52 left before the intermission.
 
Two Hartford goals sandwiched a Sean Tyrrell (Calgary, Alberta) score in the third quarter, with Hartford leading 7-4 through three. Dylan Jinks scored with 12:48 left in the fourth quarter, putting the River Hawks down four. Tyrrell brought the decided down to three 35 seconds later with his second goal of the game. The sophomore completed the hat trick with just under three and a half minutes to go in regulation.  With UMass Lowell down two, Tyrell assisted on two goals 13 seconds apart to tie the game and send it to overtime. Freshman Austin Lane (Aurora, Ontario) scored with 1:16 left, then on the following faceoff a Hartford turnover left the net wide open for Sophomore Will Puduski (Westford, Mass.) for his first goal of the year.
 
At the end of both regulation and the first two over time periods, the River Hawks found themselves with quality scoring chances but were unable to get shots off before the clock hit zero. Halfway through the third OT period, Hartford was able to set up their offense, and Alec Brown worked his way to the interior to bury the game winner, his third score of the day.
 
Both goalies were stellar in the defensive battle. Freshman River Hawk goalie Grant Lardieri (Ada, Mich.) tied a career high with 11 saves, while his goaltending counterpart Ryan Vanderford set a new season high with 15. In addition to his game-tying goal, Will Puduski led the team with 7 ground balls, and won two key face-offs late in the fourth quarter.
 
UMass Lowell will have two days off before traveling to Providence on Tuesday the 22nd, then returning to conference play March 26th at Vermont.