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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The UMass Lowell Hockey team was defeated at Merrimack, 4-1 on Friday night in Hockey East action from Lawler Arena.

UMass  Lowell drops to 16-17-0 overall (10-13-0 HEA) in the loss, while Merrimack improves to 10-18-4 overall (7-14-2 HEA) with the victory. The River Hawks will host a best-of-three Hockey East first round series at the Tsongas Center next weekend (March 2-4), as UMass Lowell will be the seventh seed in the upcoming HEA playoffs.

Ryan Dmowski scored his ninth goal of the season for the River Hawks in the third period to cut Merrimack's lead to 2-1, but Merrimack responded with a second goal by Brett Seney and a tally by Logan Coomes to seal the win for the Warriors.

Seney scored his 12^th goal of the season to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead with 3:42 left in the 1^st period.

Tyler Irvine knocked in a rebound to make it 2-0 in favor of Merrimack at the 11:02 mark in the middle stanza.

The River Hawks outshot Merrimack 6-0 in the first 5:11 to start the second period. UMass Lowell was a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill on the night. UMass Lowell had a 15-8 shot advantage in the third period against Merrimack.

UMass Lowell sophomore Tyler Wall (Leamington, Ont.) amassed 26 saves in the losing effort, which included 11 saves in the opening frame. Craig Pantano registered 28 stops in his ninth win for the Warriors.

The River Hawks close out the series and the regular-season schedule on Saturday, February 24^th vs. Merrimack. Game time on Senior Night from the Tsongas Center is 7 p.m. The game will be aired live on ESPN3.

To purchase individual game tickets 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.