SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is 6-5-1/3-3-1 after a weekend sweep on UConn, 5-2 and 3-0. The River Hawks were picked for seventh place finish by Hockey East Coaches and was placed sixth in the Media Poll. Kenny Hausinger and Lohin share the team lead with five-goals each. Hausinger leads the team in scoring with nine-points. Twelve different players have scored goals, eight have scored more than once. Tyler Wall has started eight of the team's 12-games and has a 1.74 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. Both Wall, with two, and Christoffer Hernberg have thrown shutouts.
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS:  Rensselaer is 3-6-0 / 3-3-0 after a pair pf road losses last weekend. The club was shut out by Quinnipiac, 3-0 and lost at Princeton, 4-1. The Engineers were picked for a tenth place finish in both the ECAC Coaches' and Media Pre-Season Polls. Eleven different players have scored goals, four have more than one. Patrick Polino leads the team with three-goals. Jacob Hayhurst tops the team scoring chart with 11-points. Linden Marshall has started all nine games in nets and has a 3.65 goals against average and a .895 save percentage.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. RENSSELAER: This is the 25th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1982. UMass Lowell leads the series 13-10-1. The River Hawks have won the last three meetings and seven of the last nine. Four of UMass Lowell's ten losses to Rensselaer came in the RPI Tournament. Â
LAST TIME VERSUS RENSSELAER: UMass Lowell last met in January of 2017. The River Hawks won that game played in the Houston Field House in troy, N.Y., 5-1. Current River Hawks Kenny Hausinger and Nick Master scored goals in that game. Tyler Wall made 32 saves to pick up the 12th win of his freshman season. Wall also had his only career assist.
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 80-30-6 (.716) 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 3-2-0 this year.
TAKING ON THE ECAC: UMass Lowell holds an edge in non-conference games against the ECAC. The River Hawks are 102-75-12 against teams representing the ECAC and is 91-60-10 against team currently in the ECAC. UMass Lowell took three out of four a year ago and won five of six during the 2016-17 season.Â
A WIN TONIGHT WOULD...: ...move UMass Lowell two games over the .500 mark for the first time this season. It would also improve the River Hawks non-conference record to 4-2-0. It would also give the hockey team a winning record at the Tsongas Center.
PUCKS AND PAWS: Tonight's is UMass Lowell's annual Pucks and Paws Day. Fans are invited to bring their favorite four-legged friend to the game. Some 40 dogs are expected to attend.
FRIDAYÂ GIVE AWAY:Â The first 1,000 kids (13 & under) attending today's game will receive a free River Hawks Mini Hockey Stick, courtesy of Collins Dentistry for Children. The sticks contain the River Hawk logo and UMass Lowell wordmark on the shaft.
BACK-TO-BACK: This is the seventh of 15 "back-to-back" series that UMass Lowell will play this year. A week ago the River Hawks swept UConn, 5-2 and 3-0. It was the team's first weekend sweep of the season. UMass Lowell is 3-2-1 on the first night and 3-3-0 on the second after six weekends. 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.
LAST WEEKEND VERSUS UCONN: UMass Lowell picked up its first weekend sweep of the season with 5-2 and 3-0 wins against UConn.   Seven different players scored goals for the River Hawks. Ryan Dmowski scored twice in the 5-2 win at the XL Center in Hartford. Tyler Wall made 38 saves to earn the win. Wall followed that up with a 28 save shutout at the Tsongas Center. UMass Lowell scored twice in the first 2:17 of the hockey game and Colin O'Neill added a shorthanded goal in the second period.
IN NHL BUILDINGS: The XL Center in Hartford, where UMass Lowell and UConn played last Friday evening, once was home to the NHL's Hartford Whalers. The River Hawks now have a 46-43-9 record in buildings that have been the home to an NHL team. UMass Lowell is 9-9-1 in the TD Garden/Fleet Center, 4-5-0 in the old Boston Garden, 1-2-0 at the CONSOL Energy Center, 1-0-1 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, 2-2-1 at the XL Center and 29-25-6 in the Matthews Arena, the original home of the Boston Bruins then known as the Boston Arena. Excluding the Matthews Arena, UMass Lowell is 17-18-3 in NHL Buildings.
FINDING SOME CONSISTENCY: The River Hawks won consecutive games last weekend when they defeated UConn 5-2 and 3-0. That has not happened for a while. UMass Lowell has not won consecutive games since winning three in a row January 5, 6 and 12 of 2018. The wins came against Vermont (6-0), Massachusetts (8-3) and Arizona State (4-0).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: UMass Lowell goal tender Tyler Wall was named the Hockey East Player of the Week after stopping 66 of 68 shots in a two-game sweep of UConn last weekend. He made 38 saves in a 5-2 win in Hartford and added 28 in a 3-0 shutout at the Tsongas Center.
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL: UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall picked up his second shutout of the year and the fifth of his career with a 28 save clean sheet 3-0 win against UConn. His first shutout of the season was on October 19th when he made 36 saves against Miami. The 36 saves were the third most Wall has made in a game and the most he's recorded in a shutout. Wall had 40 saves in a tie against Minnesota Duluth on October 8, 2016 and 38 in a victory against Boston College in the Hockey East Championship Game, March 18, 2017. The performance was his seventh 30-plus save game of his career.
FIVE GOALS: The five goal total on the UMass Lowell side of the scoreboard last Friday night against UConn was the largest scoring output so far this season. The last time UMass Lowell scored five goals in a game was in last season's regular season finale, a 5-0 win against Merrimack. The last time the River Hawks scored more than five-goals in a game was January 6, 2018 in an 8-3 win against UMass.
LICENSE TO KILL: The UMass Lowell penalty killing unit has been playing some of its best hockey of late. Over a five-game stretch the PK unit has successfully killed off 19 of 20 man down situations and has come up with a shorthanded goal. The River Hawks are 3-1-1 over those five games. Â
MAN DOWN AND DANGEROUS: Colin O'Neill has been a key part of the River Hawk penalty killing unit since freshman year and the junior has been an offensive cog when down a man. Four of O'Neill ten career goals have come while shorthanded.
DOMINATING THE DOT: After a slow start, UMass Lowell is now dominating at the faceoff circle. The River Hawks have won 384 of 756 puck drops, a winning percentage of 50.8%, sixth best in Hockey East. The turnaround has come during the last six games. UMass Lowell has won 207 of 378 faceoffs, 54.8%. Top performances at the dot have come from Charlie Levesque and Lucas Condotta. During the six game stretch Levesque has won 53 of 82 draws, 64.4%, and Condotta has won 43 of 67, 63.2%.
GETTING IN THE WAY: UMass Lowell leads Hockey East in total blocked shots. The River Hawks have blocked 151 shots in 12-games this season, an average of 12.58 shots blocked per game. Defenseman Mattias Goransson leads the team with 16 blocks. Defensemen Anthony Baxter, Croix Evingson, Seth Barton, Jon McDonald and Forward Ryan Lohin are all in double digits as well.
HOME SWEET HOME: UMass Lowell is 84-37-13 (a .675 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 2-2-1 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.
HOME COOKING: Ryan Dmowski leads a group of River Hawks who have flourished at home in the early going. Dmowski has scored five of his eight points in front of the Tsongas Center faithful. Seth Barton has four of his five points at home. Ryan has half, four points, of his eight-point offensive output in just four home games.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The UMass Lowell freshmen class has been key to the River Hawk offense. The group, with ten-goals and 27-points, is the top scoring of the four classes. The class is second in Hockey East in goals and in points. Sam Knoblauch is second in the league in goals by a freshman with four. He and Lucas Condotta are ninth in points with six.
ON THE ROAD: UMass Lowell is 89-55-9, a .611 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the seven-plus years that Norm Bazin has led the program. That .611 winning percentage is the fourth best in the nation during that period.   The River Hawks are 65-43-8, .592, as the road team and 24-11-1, .681, in games played at a neutral site.
ROAD WARRIORS: Several River Hawks appear to feel right at home when they are on the road. Sam Knoblauch has scored five (3g, 2a) of his six points this season on the road. Lucas Condotta has scored his six-points (3g, 3a) in enemy buildings and Nick Master has scored four (3g, 1a) of five on the road. Kenny Hausinger has seen six of his eight points come on the road and Connor Sodergren has scored six of seven points on the road.Â
A HELPING HAND: Connor Sodergren had the first three-assist game of his career last Friday night. His last multi-assist performance came a year ago and against the same team. Sodergren had two-assists in a 5-2 win against UConn on November 17, 2017.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: UMass Lowell forward Connor Sodergren has one-goal and seven-points in 12-games. A year ago Sodergren did not get his seventh point until the 24th game of the season. Goalie Tyler Wall has also made a jump. A year ago he showed an 0-5-0 record with a 4.99 Goals Against Average and an .825 save percentage. This year Wall is 4-3-1 with a 1.74 GAA and a .938 Sv%.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Three members of the UMass Lowell roster have played more than 100 games in their collegiate careers. Nick Master leads the group with 125 games in a River Hawk uniform. Connor Wilson (110) and Ryan Dmowski (107) joined the club earlier this season. Next on the list are Ryan Lohin (85), Mattias Göransson (84) and Colin O'Neill (83). A year ago UMass Lowell had six players on the roster with more than 100 games played in their collegiate careers.Â
NEXT WEEKEND: The River Hawks get a breather next weekend. They have a bye week. UMass Lowell will return to action December 7th and 8th for a home-and-home series against Boston University. The two meet at the Agganis Arena the first night and wrap the series up at the Tsongas Center the next night. BU leads the all-time series 74-30-9, but UMass Lowell has won five of the last seven between the two teams.
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 131-9-9 when leading after two-periods. They are also 31-20-9 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. They are 4-3-0 this season.
BY THE CLOSEST OF MARGINS: UMass Lowell is 53-41-22, .556, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season. The team is 2-4-1 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
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: When UMass Lowell scores three or more goals in a game it is 145-23-6, .852 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 27-68-16, .315, since 2011-12.
A GOOD START: UMass Lowell has allowed just six first period goals 12 games into the season. Only one Hockey East teams have better numbers. UMass have allowed only four first period goals in 11-games. The River Hawks have outscored opponents 10-6 in the first period.
THE FINAL THIRD: Twelve games into the season and the River Hawks have outscored their opponents 13-goals to ten in the third period of play. That continues a trend seen 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.
THE 2019 SENIOR CLASS: The six-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 74-45-9, a .613 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 fifth 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 Osik 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.
POINTS OF ORIGIN: The 2018-19 UMass Lowell hockey roster is made up of players from four countries, 11 states and five Canadian provinces. Massachusetts, 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
