Friday, October 19th at Miami (7:30 p.m.)
(Goggin Ice Center; Oxford, Ohio)
Watch Live ($)Â |
Listen Live |
Live Stats |
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Game Notes (.PDF)Â |
90 Seconds with Norm
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey Â
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP (JIP)/UMass Lowell Game Day App
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play)
Saturday, October 20th at Miami (7 p.m.)
(Goggin Ice Center; Oxford, Ohio)
Watch Live ($)Â |
Listen Live |
Live Stats |
Tickets
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey Â
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP/UMass Lowell Game Day App
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play)
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell coming off of a 17-19-0/11-13-0 season is 1-1-0 after splitting a pair of games against RIT. The River Hawks were picked for seventh place finish by Hockey East Coaches and was placed sixth in the Media Poll. Ryan Lohin is the team's top returning scorer after putting up 25-points (9g, 16a) a year ago. Christoffer Hernberg saw the bulk of the action a year ago and finished with a 2.08 GAA and a .921 save percentage in 28 games.Â
SCOUTING THE RED HAWKS:  Miami is 3-1-0 after splitting a pair of games at the Ice Breaker Tournament. The Red Hawks lost to Providence, 4-0, before stopping Mercyhurst, 3-0. Miami was picked for a eighth place finish in the NCHC Media Pre-Season Poll. The Red Hawks were 14-20-5 a year ago. Gordie Green is the team's top returning scorer. He led the club, a year ago, with 15-goals and 33-points. Ryan Larkin started 36 of the team's 37 games in nets posting a 3.12 Goals Against Average and a .886 save percentage.  Larkin has posted shutouts in two of his three starts this season.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. MIAMI:  This is only the third meeting between these two teams in a series that dates back to 2003. Both previous meetings were on neutral ice and each went to overtime. UMass Lowell and Miami played to a 4-4 tie in the opening round of the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska in 2003. The River Hawks won a shootout to move to the Championships Game. The two also met in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn. The River Hawks got two goals from Riley Wetmore including the overtime game winner in a 4-3 victory. Â
VERSUS THE NATIONAL:  UMass Lowell has had reasonable success against teams in the five-year old National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The River Hawks have faced NCHC opponents during the last three seasons and hold a 7-3-2 edge all-time against teams representing the NCHC. They are 22-35-4, all-time, against teams currently in the league.
NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM: UMass Lowell has more than held its own in non-conference play over the last seven-plus years. UMass Lowell is 78-28-6 (.723) in non-conference games since the 2011-12 season. The River Hawks were 6-4-0 playing out of conference during the 2017-18 season and are 1-1-0 this year.
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND: UMass Lowell split a pair of games against RIT last weekend. Connor Wilson and Ryan Dmowski scored third period power-play goals as UMass Lowell defeated R I T, Friday night, 2-1 at the Tsongas Center.   River Hawk goalie Tyler Wall made 25 saves in picking up the win. RIT won the Saturday night matchup, 5-4, in overtime. The River Hawks had tied the game in the third period on goals by Kenny Hausinger, his second of the game, and Reid Stefanson, the first of his career.
BY THE CLOSEST OF MARGINS: UMass Lowell is 52-38-21, .563, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season. The team is 1-1-0 this year in one-goal games. The River Hawks played 12 one-goal games a year ago. The results were split down the middle 6-6-0.Â
BONUS TIME - NO BONUS: Overtime has not been kind to UMass Lowell over the last two-plus seasons. The River Hawks are 1-7-3 in their last 11 overtime games dating back to the start of the 2016-17 season. The one win came on a Connor Wilson goal, Jan. 19th, at Vermont. The last OT win before Wilson's goal came on March 26, 2016 when the River Hawks defeated Yale, 3-2, in the NCAA Regional.
A WIN ON THE WALL:  UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall made 25 saves to pick up the win last Friday night. It was his first win since January 26, 2018 when he beat Boston College, 3-2; a period of 259 days between victories. Wall won just three games a year ago after winning 26 as a freshman.
DOWN BUT NOT OUT:  UMass Lowell's 2-1 come-from-behind win on Friday night was the first time they had won a game in which they had trailed after two-periods since beating Vermont 3-2, in overtime, on January 19, 2018. The River Hawks were 3-14-0 last year in games in which they trailed after two-periods.
WHEN TWO IS ENOUGH:  UMass Lowell scored just two-goals but won last Friday night's hockey game. That is something the River Hawks had not done recently and rarely did a year ago. Their last win when scoring two or fewer goals came on November 18, 2017 when they beat UConn, 1-0. UMass Lowell was 2-14-0 when scoring two or fewer goals a year ago.Â
ON THE ROAD: UMass Lowell is 85-52-9, a .613 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the seven-plus years that Norm Bazin has led the program. That .613 winning percentage is the third best in the nation during that period.   The River Hawks are 61-41-8, .594, as the road team and 24-11-1, .681, in games played at a neutral site.
THE ROAD OPENER: This is UMass Lowell's 52nd road opener. The River Hawks are 22-24-5 in their first road game of the year. It is the first time UMass Lowell has faced Miami in an opener.
SEASON, HOME AND HOCKEY EAST OPENERS: UMass Lowell is 27-20-5, all-time, in season openers and 3-1-1 in the last five. The River Hawks are 30-18-4 in home openers but are an even .500 when they open the season at home, 10-10-3. UMass Lowell is 16-13-5 in Hockey East openers and 14-16-4 in Hockey East home openers.
OPENING NIGHT CROWDS: 5,673 people turned out for last night's home opener. It was the 11th consecutive opening night crowd of more than 5,000-people. The streak started with a crowd of 6,193 to see UMass Lowell beat Providence, 4-1, at the Tsongas Center in 2008. During the 11-year streak opening night crowds have averaged 5,886. The last sub 5,000 opening night crowd was in 2007 when the River Hawks opened against Alabama-Huntsville.
52nd SEASON OF UMASS LOWELL HOCKEY: This is the 52nd season of hockey at UMass Lowell. The program began at Lowell Tech 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 868-721-116 all time with a winning percentage of .543 and 608-601-109 record (.502) as a Division I program.
WHO'S NEXT: Next weekend the River Hawks will face two different opponents. Friday night the River Hawks will host Northeastern in the Hockey East opener and Saturday UMass Lowell travels to Waltham, Mass. for a meeting with Bentley. UMass Lowell holds a 61-46-10 edge against Northeastern, but the two teams have split the last ten, 4-4-2. The River Hawks also have the all-time edge against Bentley, 5-1-0, but dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime a year ago.
BACK-TO-BACK: Last weekend was the first game of 15 "back-to-back" series that UMass Lowell will play this year. The River Hawks won on Friday night, 2-1, but lost Saturday, 5-4, in overtime. The River Hawks played back-to-back games on 17 weekends during the 2017-18 season. UML had four sweeps to its credit, eight splits and also were swept five times. UML was 10-7-0 on the first night, 5-12-0 on the second. In 2016-17 the River Hawks were 11-6-1/11-5-2. UMass Lowell authored seven sweeps and were swept just twice.
THE FINAL THIRD: Two games into a new season and the River Hawks have outscored their opponents four-goals to none in the third period of play. That continues a trend started a year ago. UMass Lowell outscored opponents by 15-goals in the third period during the 2017-18 season. That was the sixth highest goal differential in the country.
HOME SWEET HOME: UMass Lowell is 83-36-12 (a .679 winning percentage) at the Tsongas Center since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench for the 2011-12 season. In 2017-18 the River Hawks were 10-8-0 on home ice. They are 1-1-0 this season. The last time the River Hawks had a losing record at home was 2010-11 when the home team went 4-12-0.
THE 19th MAN: College hockey teams will be allowed to dress one additional skater this season; 19 skaters instead of 18. The NCAA made the change citing a desire to give more student-athletes a playing opportunity. UMass Lowell used the rule change to dress a seventh defenseman last Friday, but added a 13th forward on Saturday.
NEW PLAYOFF HOCKEY EAST FORMAT: For the first time since the 2012-13 season just eight of the league's 11 teams will qualify for the Hockey East Tournament. During the last five years the conference had used a playoff format which included all of the league's teams.Â
THE LEADERSHIP: Forwards Ryan Lohin and Connor Wilson will serve as co-captains for the River Hawks this season. Lohin, a junior, led the team in scoring a year ago with nine-goals and 25-points. Wilson, a senior, is coming off his best offensive season with eight-goals and 16-points. Junior defenseman Mattias Göransson will serve as the alternate captain. With nine-goals and 36 career points, Göransson is the highest scoring defenseman on the roster.
RIVER HAWKS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UMass Lowell has made 13 appearances in the NCAA Tournament; eight have been as a Division I program. The River Hawks have made one appearance in the Frozen Four. That was in 2013 when they were eliminated by eventual National Champion Yale. Since the Regional Format was established, UMass Lowell has won all seven regional semifinal games that it has played, but the club is 1-6-0 in the regional final. The ULowell Chiefs did win three Division II National Championships (1979, 1981, 1982) in a four-year period. The team is 7-7-1 in Division I Tournament play and 18-10-1 overall.
RETURNING OFFENSE: UMass Lowell returns 64.3% of its offense including its top three scorers from a year ago. Ryan Lohin led the team with nine-goals and 25-points. Ryan Dmowski led the team in goals with 11 and was second in points with 22. Kenny Hausinger was second in goals with ten and third with 20-points.
Mr. ZERO: UMass Lowell goalie Christoffer Hernberg had five shutouts during the 2017-18 season. That is the third most in a single season by a River Hawk goalie and was just two shy of the school record of seven set by Kevin Boyle during the 2015-16 season. Connor Hellebuyck and Cam McCormick each had six in a season. Hellebuyck did it twice.
AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS: UMass Lowell goalie Christoffer Hernberg was third among Hockey East goalies in goals against average, 2.08, and second in save percentage, .921. His .583 winning percentage was fifth in the conference. Hernberg has started 24 and appeared in 28 of the River Hawks 36 games last season.
HERNBERG WATCH: UMass Lowell netmninder Christoffer Hernberg is one of twenty goalies named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List. The award honors the nation's most outstanding goalie. The winner is selected by a committee of coaches, scouts and members of the media. Hernberg posted a 2.08 goals against average and a .921 save percentage during the 2017-18 season. UMass Lowell goalie Connor Hellebuyck won the first Mike Richter Award in 2014.
THE 2019 SENIOR CLASS: The six-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 70-41-8, a .622 winning percentage. The class ranks second in Hockey East in wins and third in winning percentage. The class which includes forwards Ryan Dmowski, Connor Wilson, Nick Master and Keith Burchett and defenseman Avni Berisha and goalie Christoffer Hernberg has won one HEA regular season title, a tournament championship, four in-season tournaments and made two appearances in the NCAA tournament. The class ranks fourth among UML teams. The 2016 senior class tops the list with 100 victories.
FRESH FACES: The River Hawk recruiting class of 13 is the largest in the country and the second largest during the Norm Bazin era. Walk on Derek Osir earned a spot on the roster during the pre-season tryouts. UConn, Niagara and Quinnipiac also have 12 freshmen on the roster. Bazin's largest freshman class was during the 2014-15 season when UMass Lowell welcomed 14 freshmen. A year ago the freshmen class numbered just a half dozen.
GETTING THE FIRST ONE: Two UMass Lowell players have already notched their first collegiate goal during the 1018-19 season. Both first-goals came in the second game of the season against RIT. Forward Sam Knoblauch found the back of the net at the 17:51 mark of the first period to give UMass Lowell a 2-0 lead. Forward Reid Stefanson tied the game at four with a minute and 14-seconds remaining in the third period. Here's a list of career first goals during this season.
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POINTS OF ORIGIN: The 2018-19 UMass Lowell hockey roster is made up of players from four countries, 11 states and five Canadian provinces. Michigan and Pennsylvania top the list of states with three players each calling those states "home." Five players are from the province of Ontario.  Â
BORN TO PLAY THE GAME: River Hawk freshman Michael Dill is from Windsor, Nova Scotia. It is Windsor, Nova Scotia which claims to be the birthplace of ice hockey. The game evolved on the lakes and ponds in the Windsor area from "ice hurley", an ice version of the Irish sport of hurling.
GOOD BLOODLINES: Defenseman Nolan Sawchuk has an NHL Hall of Fame connection. His Great Great Uncle was goaltender Terry Sawchuk who played for five NHL teams during a 21-year career. The Hall of Fame goalie won three Stanley Cups with Detroit and one with Toronto.
STRIPES IN THE BLOOD: Freshman forward Austin O'Rourke has an NHL connection of a different kind. His father Dan O'Rourke is a National Hockey League referee, who has worked three Stanley Cup Finals series (2011, 2012, 2016) and has worked over 1,000 career games in the NHL.
CARRYING THE WEIGHT: UMass Lowell is the second biggest team in the country based on average weight. The River Hawks tip the scales at an average 193.83-pounds. Only Hockey East rival UConn is heavier averaging 194.23-pounds.
The NHL and UML: Six former River Hawks have earned places on National Hockey League rosters as the league opened its 102nd season. It matches the mark, set last year, for the most UMass Lowell players on NHL teams to start a season. Defenseman Christian Folin (Philadelphia), defenseman Ron Hainsey (Toronto), goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), goaltender Carter Hutton (Buffalo), defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (Pittsburgh) and forward Scott Wilson (Buffalo) are the six former River Hawks to earn opening night roster spots.  Folin, Hellebuyck, Ruhwedel and Wilson played for Head Coach Norm Bazin.
RIVER HAWKS IN THE HEA TOURNAMENT: UMass Lowell has appeared in the Hockey East Tournament 30 times in the league's first 34 seasons. They have won the Lamoriello Trophy in three of the last six years. The River Hawks are 45-48-3 in Tournament play. UMass Lowell has played in the tournament championship game in five consecutive seasons, 2013-17, only Maine has a longer Championship appearance streak.
THE TOURNAMENT NORM: Since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench, UMass Lowell is 25-14-0 in the post season, including both the Hockey East and NCAA Tournament play. Bazin's teams are 19-9-0 in the HEA Tournament and is 6-5-0 in the NCAA Tournament. The River Hawks won the Hockey East Tournament in 2013, 2014 and 2017. The River Hawks reached the NCAA Frozen Four in 2013.
20 WINS AGAIN?: UMass Lowell has won 20-games in six of the last seven seasons. In four of those six season the River Hawks have won at least 25 games. Only two schools in the country, Boston College and Denver, have twenty or more wins in each of the last seven seasons.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Senior forward Connor Wilson is the newest River Hawk to join the century club. Wilson played his 100th career game Saturday, picking up two-assists in the 5-4 overtime loss to RIT. He joins Nick Master (115) as the only UMass Lowell players with at least 100 games played. Next on the list is Ryan Dmowski (97). A year ago UMass Lowell had six players on the roster with more than 100 games played in their collegiate careers.Â
79 GAMES: Forward Ryan Lohin has played in every game of his collegiate career, 79 in a row. Michael Kapla is the River Hawk record holder with 161 consecutive games played. Forward Colin O'Neill is second on the active consecutive games list with 51.
ATTENDANCE LEADERS:  UMass Lowell led Hockey East in average home attendance for the third consecutive year during the 2017-18 season. The River Hawks averaged 4,876 fans per game a year ago.  During the last three years an average of 5,339 fans have filled the Tsongas Center nightly to watch UMass Lowell play.
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: This season's non-conference schedule sees UMass Lowell facing six different teams from three separate conferences. The River Hawks will play NCHC members Denver and Miami, Colgate and Rensselaer from the ECAC and Atlantic Hockey representatives Bentley and RIT. The UMass Lowell non-conference opponents had a combined record of 86-112-31 a year ago. Only Denver (23-10-8) had a winning record. Colgate was at the .500 mark (17-17-6).
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 127-7-9 when leading after two-periods. They are also 30-20-9 when the score is tied after two periods. The River Hawks were 12-2-0 when leading after two periods during the 2017-18 season and were 22-1-2 when leading after two periods two years ago.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: When UMass Lowell scores three or more goals in a game it is 142-22-6, .853 during the last seven-plus years. The River Hawks were 15-4-0, last season, and were 25-3-1 two years ago. When scoring two goals or less in a game the River Hawks are 26-66-15, .313, since 2011-12.
SUCCESS IS THE NORM: Norm Bazin now in his eighth season at UMass Lowell owns a 169-88-21 record (.646) in 278 games. He has a 207-119-28 mark (.623) in 354 games now in his eleventh season as a collegiate head coach, including three seasons at Hamilton College. Bazin is the sixth head coach in program history and the fifth Div. I boss. He recorded his 100th career coaching victory on Nov. 23, 2013 vs. Notre Dame at the Tsongas Center and his 100th behind the River Hawk bench on October 9, 2015. He is also the fastest to the 100-win mark in school history. Bazin's 150th UML win came against Boston College in the 2017 Hockey East Championship Game. His 200th career win came January 5, 2018 with a 6-0 shutout of Vermont. His first UMass Lowell win came against Minnesota State, 4-2, on October 14, 2011. Bazin is a three-time Hockey East Coach of the Year and was named the 2013 Spencer Penrose Award Winner as the Division I Coach of the Year. Bazin has led the River Hawks to five NCAA tournament appearances, three Hockey East Tournament Championships (2013, '14, '17) and one Frozen Four appearance (2013).Â
NOT FIT TO BE TIED:  UMass Lowell was the only team in the country without a tie during the 2017-18 season. It is only the second time in their 35-year Division I history that the team has completed a full season without at least one tie. It has been 63 games since UML and UConn battled to a 2-2 tie on December 3, 2016. Only once before have the River Hawks played a full season without a tie. That was 1998-99 when the River Hawks went 17-17-0. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, as a Division II program, ULowell went more than five seasons, 177 games, without a tie.
SEEN IT ALL AND COUNTING: UMass Lowell Head Athletic Trainer Artie Poitras is the longest serving hockey athletic trainer with one team and the second longest serving in the country. Poitras has been on the bench, in his role as athletic trainer, for 37 years since starting his UMass Lowell career in 1981. He has been witness to a National Championship, three Hockey East Tournament Titles and ten NCAA Tournament visits. The athletic trainer has worked 1,383 games including 1,316 Division I games. He has missed only one game. Poitras is working on a consecutive games streak that has now reached 907. He is the only trainer in College Hockey to work games at both Northern Arizona and Arizona State.
