Saturday, March 18th vs. Boston College (7:05pm)
33rd annual HOCKEY EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
(TD Garden; Boston, Mass.)
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
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Game Notes | Parking Information
PRE-GAME PARTY AT THE HARP STARTING AT 4:30 P.M.
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey  

Television: NESN (Channel Finder)/ESPN3, Watch ESPN App (Outside New England)
Talent: Alex Faust (Play by Play); Billy Jaffe (Analyst); Nikki Reyes (Rinkside)

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 Radio (91.5 FM)
Talent: Alex Salucco (Play by Play); Carter Cotrupi (Analyst)

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS:  UMass Lowell, with a 25-10-3 / 14-7-1 record, after winning its semifinal match up with Notre Dame, is ranked 4th in the USCHO and 5th in the USA Hockey Magazine poll.  The team was picked for a fourth place finish in the Hockey East Coaches' Pre-Season Poll and finished the Hockey East season in a three-way tie for first place and earned the number one playoff seed based on the tie-breaker system.  Joe Gambardella leads the team in scoring with 49 points.  Nineteen players have scored goals, six are in double digits.  C.J. Smith tops the list with 21.  Freshman goalie Tyler Wall has started 31 of the team's 38 games and carries a 2.07 GAA and a .917 save percentage into this tonight's contest.
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Boston College with a 21-14-4 / 13-6-3 are the third seed in the Tournament.  The Eagles punched their ticket to the Championship Game with a 3-2 win against Boston University.  BC was picked to finish sixth in the Hockey East Coaches' pre-season poll.  They ended up in a three-way logjam at the top of the standings. Nineteen different players have scored goals; five are in double digits.  Austin Cangelosi tops the list with 20.  Joseph Woll has started 33 of the team's 39 games and has a 2.60 goals against average and a .915 save percentage entering tonight's action. 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. BC:  This is the 111th meeting between the two teams in a series that dates back to 1978. Boston College leads the all-time series 63-38-9. The two teams have split the last ten, 4-4-2.  They have met once in the NCAA Tournament with BC winning, 4-3. They have not met in the Hockey East Tournament since 2001. 
 
THIS YEAR VS. BC:  UMass Lowell  swept the regular season-ending two-game series from the Eagles.  The River Hawks won 4-1 in the Conte Forum and 3-1 at the Tsongas Center.  Six different players scored goals, Joe Gambardella had two.
 
PLAYOFFS VERSUS BC:  UMass Lowell and Boston College have met six times in the Hockey East Tournament for a total of eight games.  The River Hawks have advanced only once.  That was in 1988 when UMass Lowell won a two-game total goals series, 8-5.  Their most recent meeting was a 5-1 BC win in the 2001 semifinals.  They have never met in the Final.
 
LAST NIGHT:  UMass Lowell defeated Notre Dame, 5-1, in the Hockey East semifinal.  Freshman Ryan Lohin had a goal and two-assists to spark the offense.  Five different players scored goals.  Goalie Tyler Wall kicked out 19 shots to pick up the win.
 
NUMBER ONE SEED:  This is only the second time that UMass Lowell has been the number one seed in the Hockey East Tournament.  The last time was 2013 and the River Hawks defeated BU to win its first Tournament Championship.
 
RIVER HAWKS IN THE TOURNAMENT:  This is UMass Lowell's 29th appearance in the Hockey East Tournament and seventh visit to the Championship Game.  The River Hawks are 43-46-3 in Tournament play.  UMass Lowell, now, has been to the tournament championship game in five consecutive seasons, winning twice (2013, 2014).

THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:  This is UMass Lowell's 7th appearance in the Hockey East Tournament Championship Game.  It is also the team's fifth consecutive visit to the Tournament finale.  Only one team, the University of Maine, has a longer streak of Championship Game appearances.  Maine played in the finale seven straight years ending in 1993.  The River Hawks are 2-4-0 in the Championship Game having won back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014.
 
PLAYING IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:  Joe Gambardella, Dylan Zink and Michael Kapla, tonight, will join A.J. White, Ryan McGrath and Michael Fallon as the only River Hawks to play in four Hockey East Championship Games.
 
THE TOURNAMENT NORM: Since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench, UMass Lowell is 23-11-0 in the post season, including both the Hockey East and NCAA Tournament play.  Bazin is 5-4-0 in the NCAA Tournament and 18-7-0 in the HEA Tournament.  The River Hawks won the Hockey East Tournament in both 2013 and 2014 and reached the NCAA Frozen Four in 2013.
 
TOURNAMENT SCORING:  C.J. Smith's goal last night was his eighth in Hockey East Tournament play.  That moves Smith into a tie atop the goal scoring chart with Jon Morris and Chris Bell.
 
THE SEMIS:  This was UMass Lowell's 18th appearance in the semifinal round of the Hockey East Tournament.  Seven times the team has moved on to the Championship Game.  The River Hawks are 8-11-0 in semifinal games.
 
A YEAR AGO:  UMass Lowell lost the Championship Game to Northeastern 3-2.  That came after the River Hawks defeated Providence College, 2-1, in triple overtime in the semifinal.  That semifinal game was the longest in UML history at 112:27.
 
AT THE GARDEN:  UMass Lowell is 8-9-1 at the building known as the TD Garden, but has won seven of nine in the building since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench.  The River Hawks are 5-0-0 in the semifinal and 2-2-0 in the Championship Game under Bazin's watch.  The team was 4-5-0 in the old Boston Garden and a combined 12-14-1 on ice with a Causeway Street address.
 
ON THE ROAD:  UMass Lowell is 14-5-1 away from the Tsongas Center this season.  Their .725 winning percentage is fourth best in the country and the best in Hockey East. Their 14-wins away from the Tsongas Center is the most in the country.  The team has been a strong team on the road during the last five-plus seasons.  Since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench the River Hawks are 56-31-8, .625, as the visiting team and 77-40-9, .645, including neutral site games.
 
ROAD WARRIOR:  Joe Gambardella is seventh in the nation, and second in Hockey East, in scoring on the road.  Thirty (9g, 21a) of his 49 points have come in 20 games away from the Tsongas Center.  His 21 road assists is second in the country.
 
ALL STARS:  Seniors Joe Gambardella, Michael Kapla and Dylan Zink were named Second-Team Hockey East All-Stars at the league's annual championship awards banquet on Thursday night.  It marks the fourth time in team history the River Hawks have had three All-Star honorees in the same season in the history of the league, which also occurred in 1987, 1994 and 2013.  Gambardella has posted a career year for the River Hawks with a career-best 48 points (17g, 32a).  Kapla ranked seventh in league play among Hockey East defensemen with 16 points (2g,14a) and his 14 assists was fifth-best among conference blueliners.  Zink's 23 points (6g,17a) in league games led all HEA defensemen and his six goals in conference games was tied for most in Hockey East. His 17 assists were second most among league blueliners.
 
COACH OF THE YEAR:  UMass Lowell Hockey Head Coach Norm Bazin, after guiding the River Hawks to a first-place tie and the playoff number one seed, has been named the recipient of the Bob Kullen Award as the Hockey East Coach of the Year.  The announcement was made Thursday night at the league's Championship Awards Night.  It is the third time that Bazin has been honored by Hockey East in six years as the conference coach of the year.  Bazin received the Kullen award in 2012 and 2013.     This is the sixth time that a UMass Lowell Coach has been honored by Hockey East.  In addition to Bazin, Bill Riley Jr. received the award in 1986-87 and Bruce Crowder earned the honor twice, 1993-94 and 1995-96.  No team in Hockey East has seen its coach honored more often and only one active coach, New Hampshire's Dick Umile, has won the award more often than Bazin.
 
149 WINS:  UMass Lowell Coach Norm Bazin has been behind the River Hawk bench for 149 wins.  His next win will move him into a second place tie with Blaise MacDonald on the UMass Lowell coaching list.  MacDonald compiled a record of 150-178-42 during his ten years behind the UML bench.  Bill Riley tops the coaching win list with a 363-270-22 record.
 
CEGLARSKI AWARD:  UMass Lowell Senior forward and alternate captain Joe Gambardella was named the recipient of the Len Ceglarski Individual Sportsmanship Award for the second consecutive season.  The award is voted on by the league's 12 head coaches.  Gambardella has played in all 37 games for the River Hawks this season and has posted a career-high 48 points.  He has been whistled for only 11 penalties all season for 22 minutes. His 17 plus/minus rating is also tied for the team lead.
 
ON THE NATIONAL STAGE:  UMass Lowell has been nationally ranked, in either the USCHO or the USAHockey Magazine poll, for 113 consecutive weeks.  The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013.  Of those 113 weeks more than half, 80, have been spent in the top ten.
 
20 WINS AGAIN:  For the first time in the program's history UMass Lowell has won 20-games in a season for six consecutive years.  The six straight puts UMass Lowell in an exclusive club.  Only six schools in the country have more twenty or more in each of the last six seasons.  Joining the River Hawks are Minnesota, Boston College, Denver, Quinnipiac and North Dakota.

SIX YEARS AMONG THE ELITE:  UMass Lowell has the fifth most wins in the country over a nearly six year stretch.  Since the 2011-12 season the River Hawks have won 149 games.  Their .673 winning percentage is the fourth best in the country trailing only Boston College, Quinnipiac and North Dakota.
 
NCAA Tournament:  UMass Lowell is one of only seven teams in the country to go to the NCAA Tournament at least four times in the last five years.  Boston College, North Dakota and Denver have made five visits while Quinnipiac, St. Cloud and Minnesota have also earned a spot in the tournament four times.
 
ROOKIE HONORS:  UMass Lowell freshman Forward Kenny Hausinger was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Week after scoring two goals and adding an assist in the River Hawks quarterfinal series clinching win against New Hampshire on Sunday.    Hausinger broke a 1-1 first period tie with two goals as UMass Lowell exploded for six first period markers and a decisive 8-2 win.
 
IT'S BEEN A WHILE:  When C.J. Smith scored two goals last Sunday in the River Hawks 8-2 win against UNH, he became the first UMass Lowell player to score 20-goals in a season since Ben Walter scored 26 during the 2004-05 season.
 
PLUS-82:  UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin is 82 games over .500 behind the River Hawk bench in five-plus seasons and that has moved the program above the .500 mark for the first time in the school's 34-year Division I history.  UMass Lowell is 588-580-109 since beginning Division I play in 1983-84.  Bazin has a record of 149-67-21 at the reins in Lowell.
 
A WIN TONIGHT WOULD:  If UMass Lowell wins today the River Hawks will be crowned Champions of Hockey East for the third time in five years.  It would also be the program's 589th win as a Division I program, putting the program nine-games over the .500 mark for the first time in school history.

PUTTING THE "POWER" IN POWER PLAY: After being shut out in three straight games, the UMass Lowell power play got back on track with a pair of goals in the quarterfinal finale against UNH.  The River Hawks had gone 28-for-78 (35.9%) over its previous 20 games.  The power play remains one of the best in the country.  The River Hawks have scored 45 goals in 166 man advantage opportunities for a 27.1% success rate, the third best in the country and number two in Hockey East.  Twelve different players have scored with the man advantage; C.J. Smith leads the team with eight PPGs.  Joe Gambardella has seven and Jake Kamrass has five.  Mattias Göransson leads the blueliners with four PP goals.  Michael Kapla has 14 PP assists and Dylan Zink has 13 and Smith have added eleven. 
 
PENALTY KILLING: UMass Lowell Penalty Kill Unit has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride.  The unit has gone 31-for-32 over its last nine games after allowing eight goals in its previous 24 man down situations.  And that's after a stretch of 13 games during which the PK unit killed 53 of 56, (94.6%) opposing power plays.  The PK is 149-for-174, 85.6%, for the season.

WHO'S NEXT?:  When and who UMass Lowell plays next will be determined by the NCAA Selection Committee.  Their decision will be announced Sunday at noon.
 
THE SENIOR CLASS:  This UMass Lowell Senior class is one of three in Hockey East with 90 wins or more.  The four River Hawks seniors have a record of 97-42-18 and a .674 winning percentage.  Only Boston College (98) has more.  The senior class, with the third most wins in the Division I era, has a shot at the school record set by the 2016 seniors who accumulated 100 wins over a four year period.
 
ATTENDANCE LEADERS: UMass Lowell leads Hockey East in average attendance drawing 5,542 per game.  The River Hawks closed out the regular season with crowds of 6,000 or better in each of its last six home games.  Prior to this stretch UMass Lowell had never had more than three-consecutive home games with crowds of more than six-thousand.  The River Hawks averaged nearly 900 more people than its nearest competitor.
 
THE THIRD PERIOD: UMass Lowell scored three goals in the third period to defeat Boston College February 24, 4-1.  It was the fifth time this season the River Hawks have scored three or more third period goals.  They did it previously against Merrimack, Dartmouth, Northeastern and New Hampshire.
 
PROTECTING THE NET:  UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall ranks among the best in Hockey East at keeping the puck out of the net.  Wall leads the league with a 2.07 goals against average and is fourth in save percentage .917.  His .721 winning percentage is the best in the league.
 
WINS ON THE WALL:  With 24 wins to his credit UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall has broken the school record for wins by a Division I freshman goalie.  Connor Hellebuyck set the record with 20 wins during his freshman campaign, the 2012-13 season.  The 23-wins is the most by a freshman goalie in the country.
 
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS:  Joe Gambardella is among the top scorers in the nation.  Gambardella is 10th with 49 points (17g, 32a).  His 32 assists is 11th in the nation.  Gambardella is fifth in scoring among Hockey East players and C.J. Smith is 12th in the country and sixth among Hockey East players with 47 points (21g, 26a).  Defenseman Dylan Zink is second in the nation and Hockey East among defensemen with 35 points (10g, 25a).  His ten goals from the back line is second the country.  Mattias Göransson is the highest scoring freshman defenseman in Hockey East and is fourth in the nation with 23 points (5g, 18a).  Michael Kapla and Zink with 25 assists respectively rank sixth among the nation's defensemen and third among Hockey East defensemen. 

GAME-WINNING JOE: Joe Gambardella has six game winning goals this season, the second most in the country, and an even dozen in his career.  He is second, all-time, among UML Division I players.  Only Kory Falite with 13 has more.
 
126 POINTS AND COUNTING: UMass Lowell senior center Joe Gambardella joined the century club with an assist on C.J. Smith's third period goal in the River Hawks December 9th win against Merrimack.  It was the 100th point of Gambardella's career.  He, now, has 46 goals and 80 assists in 147 games.  Gambardella currently ranks 9th among DI players and 23rd all-time.  Gambardella has 13 points (6g, 7a) in his last 12 games.  The last River Hawk prior to Gambardella to reach 100 points was Joe Pendenza who achieved the mark during the 2013-14 season and ended his career with 110. 
 
50-POINT SEASON: Joe Gambardella, with 49-points this season, can become the first UMass Lowell to record 50-points in a season since 1995-96.  Three players reached that milestone that season.  Brendan Concannon topped the list with 62-points.
 
JOE PLAYOFFS: Joe Gambardella has been a point-a-game scorer in Hockey East Tournament games during his career.  He has scored seven goals and 16 points in 16 playoff games.  C.J. Smith scored at a similar rate with eight-goals and 14-points in thirteen tournament games.
 
121 POINTS AND COUNTING: UMass Lowell junior forward C.J. Smith reached the 100-point milestone Friday January 6th with an assist on Jake Kamrass' game winner at UNH.  Smith now has 121-points on 54-goals and 67-assists in just 117 games.  Smith is the 44th player in program history to reach the milestone and the 24th in the Division I era.  He ranks 26th all-time and 11th among Division I players at UMass Lowell.  He has six-goals and 15-points in his last nine games.
 
100 x TWO:  This is the first time since 2006 that UMass Lowell has had two 100-point scorers skating at the same time.  The last time was in the last game of the 2005-06 season.  Andrew Martin scored a goal in the second period to earn his 100th point.  Elias Godoy, who assisted on the goal, had reached the milestone earlier in the year and finished his career with 121 points.
 
120 x TWO:  The last time UMass Lowell had two active players with 120 or more points was during the 1995-96 season. They were Christian Sbrocca (171) and Jeff Daw (141).
 
54 GOALS AND COUNTING: Forward C.J. Smith scored the 50th goal of his collegiate career February 18 against Massachusetts.  He is the 28th player to reach 50 and the 13th to do so during the Division I era.  He is just the fourth to do so in the last 15 years.  Smith is one of just a 15 players in the country with 50 or more career goals and he is the only non-senior in the group.
 
TWO WITH 40..?:  For the first time since the 1995-96 season UMass Lowell has two players with 40 or more points in a single season.  Joe Gambardella leads the team with 48-points and linemate C.J. Smith reached the 40-point marker when he scored a goal and added three assists in the River Hawks 5-2 win at Massachusetts February 18.  He has now brought that number to 46 points.  The last time UMass Lowell had two 40-point scorers in the same season was 1995-96.  That year the River Hawks had five led by Brendan Concannon with 62 points.
 
HOT SHOT JUNIOR:  UMass Lowell forward C.J. Smith leads all juniors playing college hockey in career scoring with 54-goals and 121-points.  Brady Ferguson, playing at Robert Morris is second with 118 points.  Ferguson is second in goals with 48.  Smith's 67 assists finds him three behind Ferguson.
 
GOOD CHEMISTRY:  The UMass Lowell line of C.J. Smith, Joe Gambardella and John Edwardh has been hot.  The line has played together in 36 of the River Hawks' 38 games this season accounting for 54-goals and 129 points.  That's 38.6% of the River Hawks goals and 34.6% of the team's total offensive output.  They have been held off the score sheet just twice.  Since being united for the final regular season game a year ago the trio has 64-goals and 151 points in 43 games and average of 3.5-points per game.
 
73 ASSISTS AND COUNTING: With an assist Saturday night, UMass Lowell defenseman Michael Kapla has 73 in his collegiate career.  That number breaks the school's record for a Division I defenseman.  The old record was held by Mike Nicholishen (1994-98) at 72.
 
IRON MAN:  UMass Lowell senior defenseman Michael Kapla has played in 158 consecutive games, the most of any active player in the country.  Kapla has never missed a game in his collegiate career.  He is one game short of setting the UMass Lowell record for games played.  He is currently tied with Christian Sbrocca (158-games, 1992-96) and has broken the record for defensemen set by Jake Suter's at 153-games.
 
BLASTS FROM THE BLUE LINE:  Dylan Zink, with 31 goals in his collegiate career, is the top goal scoring defenseman in UMass Lowell's Division I history.  He moved into the top spot with a third period power play goal, January 20th, against Providence.  The goal was his 29th moving him past Maury Edwards and to the top of the list.  He has added two more since that time.
 
25 POINTS FROM THE BLUE LINE:  Only 17 defensemen in the country have 27 points or more and UMass Lowell is the only team with two.  Dylan Zink, with 10-goals and 35 points leads the blue line corps; Michael Kapla has added two-goals and 25 assists for 27 points.  The last UML defenseman to reach the 30-point mark was Ron Hainsey who finished with ten-goals and 36-points during the 2000-01 season.
 
TRIPLE DOUBLE:  Dylan Zink has put together three straight double-digit goal-scoring seasons.  He is the only active defensemen in college hockey who can make that claim.  Zink is second among college defensemen with 31 career goals.  St. Lawrence Gavin Bayruether tops the list with 35.
 
23 POINT FRESHMAN D:  Freshman defenseman Mattias Göransson has 23-points (5g, 18a), the most by a UML freshman defenseman since Ed Campbell had 24 points (8g, 16a) during the 1993-94 season.   Göransson is also just one point shy of tying the school's Division I record for points for a first year blue liner, 24, set by Ed Hodson in 1983-84 and then equaled by Ed Campbell in 1993-94.
 
A GOOD START:  UMass Lowell has outscored its opponents 51-26 in the first period this season.  That's a scoring margin of plus-25 in the period and that figure is the second best in the country and number one in Hockey East.
 
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: When UMass Lowell scores three or more goals in a game it is 23-3-1 and 125-17-6, .865, in the last five-plus seasons.  When the River Hawks keep their opponents under three goals, the team is 22-0-2.  When scoring two goals or less in a game the River Hawks are 2-5-2 this season and 24-49-15, .362, since 2011-12.
 
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: One year can make a big difference and it has for a couple of UMass Lowell forwards.  Through 38 games, John Edwardh has a career high 17-goals and 35-points.  At the 38-game mark a year ago, Edwardh had just four-goals and 11-points.  He finished the year four-goals and 13-points.  Jake Kamrass also has established career highs with 13-goals and 21-points.  At the 37-game mark he had five-goals and ten-points. 
 
RED LIGHT DISTRICT:  UMass Lowell is third in the nation in goals scored with 140.  UML is averaging 3.68-goals per game, sixth best in the country.  C.J. Smith (21), Joe Gambardella (17), John Edwardh (17), Jake Kamrass (13), Dylan Zink (10) and Ryan Lohin (10) have ten or more goals.  The 140 goals is the most the team has scored in a single season since scoring 200 in the 1996-96 season. 
 
PUNCHING THE CLOCK: Through 37 games, UMass Lowell has played from behind for just 316:52 and only in portions of fifteen games.  UMass Lowell has held the lead for 1,246:41 of the 2,295-minutes of hockey the team has played this season.
 
GETTING OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE: UMass Lowell has the second highest scoring defense corps in the country.  The River Hawks blue liners have combined for 26-goals and 117-points.  The D corps also leads the country in power play points with 60.
 
CLUTCH AND IMPORTANT GOALS - 2017: John Edwardh leads UMass Lowell in clutch goals this season with eleven.  "Clutch" goals are defined as those that either tie the score or give the team a lead.  Ten of Edwardh's 17-goals have given UML the lead, another has tied the score meaning that 64.7% of his goals have been scored in clutch situations.  C.J. Smith is second with seven "clutch" goals.