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CHESTNUT Hill, Mass. – Senior forward
Joe Gambardella (Staten Island, N.Y.) notched three points (2g,1a) to pace the No. 5 ranked UMass Lowell Hockey team as the River Hawks earned a 4-1 road victory at No. 14 Boston College on Thursday night in Hockey East action at Conte Forum.
With the win, the River Hawks improve to 21-9-3 overall (13-7-1 HEA), while the Eagles drop to 18-13-4 overall (13-5-3 HEA) in the losing effort. With a win tomorrow night, the River Hawks would clinch a first-round bye and host the quarterfinal round in the Hockey East playoffs for a sixth straight season.
"We are pleased with the result, I thought we played a good hockey team tonight, both goalies played really well," said Head Coach
Norm Bazin. "I didn't think we started off that well, but we got better as the game went along."
Austin Cangelosi tied the game for the Eagles at 1-1 just 25 into the third period, but
Joe Gambardella (Staten Island, N.Y.) put the River Hawks back up 2-1 with a point blank wrister just three minutes later for his 16
th tally of the year. Junior forward
C.J. Smith (Des Moines, Iowa) and Gambardella added two insurance goals at 13:15 and 16:31 of the third frame to close out the win for the River Hawks. Smith's goal marked his team-leading 18
th goal of the season for the River Hawks.
Gambardella finished the night with a game-high five shots on goal and a +3 plus/minus rating. He has tallied 122 career points and moved past Elias Godoy (121 points) for 25
th on the all-time scoring list with his three-point effort.
Junior blueliner
Chris Forney (Thief River Falls, Minn.) got the River Hawks on the scoreboard first with 2 minutes left in the period on a blast from the high slot on the power play for his third goal of the season.
The teams skated to a scoreless first period as UMass Lowell held a sling, 10-9, shot advantage.
Freshman netminder
Tyler Wall (Leamington, Ont.) finished the night with 28 saves, while counterpart Joe Woll recorded 20 stops for the Eagles. Wall's 20 wins ties Connor Hellebuyck's rookie record from 2012-2013.
UMass Lowell went a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 1-for-5 on the power play.
The River Hawks conclude the Hockey East regular-season on Friday, February 24
th against Boston College on Senior Night. Game time from the Tsongas Center is 8:30 p.m. The game will be televised regionally on NESN and nationally on American Sports Network.
To purchase individual tickets for any River Hawks home games, visit www.TsongasCenter.com. To save with a group of 10 or more, contact Jonathan Healy at Jonathan_Healy@uml.edu or by phone at (978) 934-6280.
