SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS:  UMass Lowell is 13-8-1/7-4-1 after a weekend sweep, 6-5 and 2-0, of Vermont at the Tsongas Center.  It was the River Hawks fifth straight win, their longest winning streak of the season.  The club has won nine of twelve road games and is 4-5-1 at home.  UMass Lowell currently has sole possession of fifth place in the Hockey East standings.  The team is ranked 19th in the latest USCHO poll.  The River Hawks were picked for a seventh place finish by Hockey East Coaches and was placed sixth in the Media Poll.  Ryan Lohin leads the team in goals with nine and points with 20.  Seventeen different players have scored goals, fifteen have scored more than once.  Seven players have eleven points or more.  Tyler Wall has started thirteen of the team's 22-games and has a 2.04 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.  Christoffer Hernberg has won his last five starts and has a 2.08 GAA and .929 Sv.% over his last six appearances. Both Wall and Christoffer Hernberg have multiple shutouts to their credit.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES:  Boston College is 8-11-2 / 8-3-2 after knocking off Providence, 4-1, at the Conte Forum last Saturday night.  The Eagles sit in 3rd place in Hockey East, just two-points behind first place Massachusetts.  BC is winless in eight non-conference games.  They are 6-3-2 at home and 2-8-0 playing away from the Conte Forum.  Boston College was picked to finish first in the Coaches' Pre-Season Polls and second in the Media Pre-Season Poll.  Twelve different players have scored goals, eight have more than one.  David Cotton tops the scoring charts with 14 goals and 22 points.  Joseph Woll has started in 19 of the team's 21 games and has a 2.21 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. BC:  This is the 115th meeting between the two teams in a series that dates back to 1978. Boston College leads the all-time series 65-40-9. UMass Lowell has won five of the last seven and holds a 6-3-1 edge in the last ten.  They have met nine times in the Hockey East Tournament with BC winning five.  UMass Lowell defeated Boston College in the Tournament Championship Game a two years ago, 4-3.  They have met once in the NCAA Tournament with BC winning, 4-3. 

LAST YEAR VERSUS BC:  Boston College took two out of three from UMass Lowell.  The two split a home-and-home series with each winning on familiar ice.  The Eagles took the third meeting, two weeks later, Logan Hutsko had the third period game tying goal and the overtime game winner.

PLAYOFFS VERSUS BC:  UMass Lowell and Boston College have met seven times in the Hockey East Tournament for a total of nine games.  Only one meeting was in the Final.  That was in 2017 and the River Hawks finished on top, 4-3, to earn their third Hockey East Tournament Championship in five years.  UMass Lowell has advanced only once in the preliminary rounds.  That was in 1988 when UMass Lowell won a two-game total goals series, 8-5.  

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION:  UMass Lowell and Boston College have played each other in nine different buildings, matching the greatest number of venues for the River Hawks against any Hockey East opponent.  UMass Lowell and BC have faced off at Tully Forum (Billerica, Mass.), McHugh Forum (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), Providence Civic Center (Providence, R.I.) Matthews Arena (Boston, Mass.), Walter Brown Arena (Boston, Mass.), Conte Forum (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) Tsongas Arena/Center (Lowell, Mass.), FleetCenter/TD Garden (Boston, Mass.) and the DCU Center (Worcester, Mass.)  UMass Lowell has also played Maine and New Hampshire in nine different buildings.  UMass Lowell has played Clarkson in ten different buildings.

A WIN TONIGHT WOULD...:  ...move UMass Lowell to six games over the .500 mark overall for the first time this season and the first time since the 2016-17 season.  It would be the first time that the River Hawks have won six straight this season and the first time since winning seven straight in January of 2017.  A win could also move the River Hawks to within one point of a home ice spot for the post-season.

BACK IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT:  UMass Lowell has earned a spot in the USCHO poll.  The River Hawks returned to the rankings when they appeared in the No. 19 slot in the poll released January 14, 2019.  It had been a while, 28 weeks/polls to be exact.  UMass Lowell is no stranger to the polls, the team had been nationally ranked for 116 consecutive polls between January 7, 2013 and October 23, 2017.  UMass Lowell is one of four Hockey East teams currently ranked.

FIVE IN A ROW:  For the first time in nearly two-years UMass Lowell has won five in a row.  That is the longest UML winning streak since the team won seven in a row in February of 2017.  Wins 6 and 7 in that streak came against Boston College.  This stretch of five wins includes victories against UMass, Colgate (2) and Vermont (2).

FIVE IN A ROW - PART II:  During UMass Lowell's current five game winning streak the team has scored 3.40 goals per game and allowed just 1.40 goals per game.  During the first 17 games this season the River Hawks showed a 2.76 goals for number and a goals against average of 2.53.  They had outscored opponents by just four goals.  They have outscored their opponents by ten goals during the streak.  Ryan Dmowski and Ryan Lohin each have three goals during the streak, Lohin tops the charts with seven points.  The penalty killing numbers have also seen a marked improvement.  The PK success rate was just 79.7% during the first 17 games and is 88.9% in the last five.

AFTER A LOSS:  UMass Lowell has done a good job avoiding any extended losing streak.  Six times this season the River Hawks have followed a loss with a win, only twice has the hockey club lost consecutive games and they have not had a three-game losing streak.

LAST WEEKEND vs. VERMONT:  UMass Lowell swept Vermont last weekend with two very different performances.  The River Hawks got goals from six different players and scratched out a 6-5 win the first night at the Tsongas Center.  The second night River Hawks won a defensive battle, 2-0.  Tyler Wall had 25 saves to pick up his third shutout of the season.  Ryan Dmowski had the game winning goal in each of the games.

ELEVEN! GOALS:  UMass Lowell and Vermont combined for eleven goals last Friday night.  It is the highest scoring game between the two teams in more than three-decades.  The last time the two teams combined for more than 11 goals was on February 21, 1984 when UMass Lowell defeated Vermont 9-4.  It is the highest scoring one-goal game ever played by the two-teams.

ALLOWING FIVE, BUT WINNING:  The 6-5 win against Vermont last Friday was just the second time since Norm Bazin took over behind the River Hawk bench for the 2011-12 season that UMass Lowell has allowed five goals in a game and came away with a win.  That first time was October 14, 2016 when the River Hawks defeated Colorado College 8-5.  During the almost eight year Bazin Era UMass Lowell is 2-27-1 when allowing five or more goals.  The team is 28-0-0 when scoring six or more.

THE BOSS' BIRTHDAY:  Last Friday was Head Coach Norm Bazin's 48th birthday.  Bazin is 2-1-0 as a coach on his birthday and was 1-1-0 as a player.  UMass Lowell is 11-6-1, all-time, on January 18th.

HOBEY CANDIDATES:  Senior goaltender Christoffer Hernberg and junior co-captain Ryan Lohin have been nominated for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. Online fan voting has now commenced for the most prestigious individual award in college hockey and will continue through the night of March 10th.  Hernberg has started nine of 21 games for the River Hawks so far this season, posting a 7-2-0 record with a 2.45 GAA and a .916 save percentage to go along with two shutouts. Lohin leads the River Hawks with 20 points and nine goals in 18 games this season.

35TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM VOTING:  Hockey East announced last week that fan voting for the Hockey East 35th Anniversary Team is now open. The selection of the all-star team is part of the conference's year-long celebration of 35 years of excellence. Fans can vote for a team of 35 forwards and 35 defenders, including defensemen and goaltenders, as part of the 35th anniversary celebration until February 15. Votes can be submitted by visiting HockeyEastOnLine.com.  The special team will be chosen by a combination of fan voting and league committee voting, consisting of league staff, school staff and members of the media.

THE REST OF THE WAY:  UMass Lowell has just 12 games remaining on the regular season schedule.  Those 12 games are against seven different Hockey East opponents.  The seven have a combined record of 77-65-16, a .538 winning percentage.  The numbers change once you factor in the number of games versus each opponent, 121-119-32 .504.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL:  Goalie Tyler Wall made 25 saves, Saturday, to pick up his third shutout of the season and the sixth of his career when the River Hawks defeated Vermont 2-0.  Wall has given up two or fewer goals in nine of his 13 starts.  He has thrown shutouts against UConn and Miami in addition to Vermont.

THE HERNBERG WALL:  Goalie Christoffer Hernberg picked up his second shutout of the year January 11th making 25 saves in a 3-0 win against Colgate.  It was his second shutout of the year and the seventh of his career.  He is fifth on the all-time shutout list.  Connor Hellebuyck tops the list with 12.  Hernberg's seven shutouts have come in a span of 29 starts.  He followed his most recent shutout allowing just one-goal while stopping 23 shots in a 4-1 win at Colgate.  Hernberg has won seven of his last eight starts and has a 2.16 GAA and a .921 sv% in his last eight appearances.

BACK-TO-BACK:  This the eleventh of 15 "back-to-back" series that UMass Lowell will play this year.  UMass Lowell is 6-3-1 on the first night and 6-4-0 on the second.  They have three sweeps on the board.  The sweeps have come against UConn, Colgate and Vermont.  The River Hawks have not been swept this season. A year ago the team played back-to-back games on 17 weekends and 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.

GOING SOLO:  UMass Lowell has played two stand-alone games this season.  The River Hawks lost to Denver, 4-1, on December 29th and then defeated Massachusetts, 2-1, on January 4th. There are two more stand-alone games on the schedule.  A year ago the River Hawks split a pair of stand-alone games.

NEXT WEEKEND:  The River Hawks will play just once next weekend.  They have a Friday night visit to Northeastern.  It will be the third meeting this season between the two clubs.  The Huskies won both, 4-1 in Lowell and 5-4 in overtime at the Matthews Arena.  The River Hawks lead the all-time series 61-48-10.

ON THE ROAD: UMass Lowell is 9-3-0, a .750 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center this season.  The nine wins are the second most in the country and that .750 road winning percentage is sixth best in the country.

ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: UMass Lowell is 94-55-9, a .623 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the seven-plus years that Norm Bazin has led the program.  That .623 winning percentage is the fourth best in the nation during that period.  The River Hawks are 70-43-8, .612, 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.  Ryan Lohin has scored 11 of his 20-points in nine road games.    Connor Sodergren has scored ten of his 14-points in enemy rinks.  Sam Knoblauch has scored seven (3g, 4a) of his eight points this season on the road.  Charlie Levesque scored seven of his ten points and Lucas Condotta has scored all of his seven-points (3g, 4a) in enemy buildings.  Kenny Hausinger has seen eight of his 12-points come on the road. 

HOME SWEET HOME: UMass Lowell is 86-40-13 (a .666 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 4-5-1 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 Lohin with nine points in nine games at the Tsongas Center leads the River Hawks in scoring at home.  Kenny Hausinger leads the club with four goals on home ice.  Seth Barton has five of his seven points at home.  Ryan Dmowski and Mattias Göransson also have seven points at home.

93 AND COUNTING: UMass Lowell's visit two weeks ago to the Class of 1965 Arena at Colgate, a building that opened for business during the 2016-17 season, pushed the number of buildings in which UMass Lowell has played hockey to at least 93.  Previous visits to Colgate found the two teams playing in the Starr Rink.  Early this season the Bentley Arena became building No. 92.  The long list includes stops stretching from Alaska to Belfast, Northern Ireland and from Arizona to Maine.

Vs. BIG TIME FOOTBALL SCHOOLS:  UMass Lowell is 54-23-6 against schools with big time football programs (FBS members) since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench.  That includes an 9-3-2 record against Notre Dame, 3-1-0 record against both Penn State and Arizona State and an 18-2-1 mark against Massachusetts.  The River Hawks are also 8-9-2 against Boston College and 7-5-1 against UConn.  They also have winning records against Michigan State, Wisconsin and Miami.

LOHIN BEHOLD:  UMass Lowell forward Ryan Lohin has lifted his game in the last two months.  Lohin has nine-goals and 19-points in a 14 game span.  That included a career-best seven game scoring streak.  He has only been held off the score sheet in two of his last fourteen games.

IN THE CLUTCH:  Ryan Dmowski leads UMass Lowell with six clutch goals.  A "clutch goal" is defined as a goal that either ties the score or gives the team the lead in a hockey game.  Five of Dmowski's six clutch goals have given UMass Lowell the lead.  Connor Wilson is second with four clutch goals. Wilson and Ryan Lohin led the team a year ago with six clutch goals each.  Dmowski also leads the River Hawks with four game-winning goals.

PUTTING THE O IN THE D: The UMass Lowell defense corps has become a significant contributor to the River Hawk offense during the last fourteen games.  After scoring just one-goal and adding ten-assists during the first eight games of the season the blueliners have contributed nine-goals and 31-points to the offense in the last 14 games.  During that stretch the River Hawks have averaged 3.21-goals per game after averaging 2.38-goals per game during the first eight contests of the year.  The nine goals is the second most by a Hockey East defense since November 9.  The UMass Lowell defense corps is fourth in Hockey East in goals and fifth in points.  A year ago the UMass Lowell defensemen were among the highest scoring in the nation with 26-goals and 89-points.

FLUXUATIONS IN THE POWER GRID:  The UMass Lowell power play has been on on-again off-again proposition.  The River Hawks scored three times on the power play November 10th at Northeastern.  That snapped an oh-for-21 power outage. The River Hawks also picked up a power play goal in the following game against UConn, but is currently on a 4-for-31 stretch over its last eleven games.  The PP Unit has scored in just seven of its last 19 games and has a 16.5 success rate for the season.

PENALTY KILLING?: The UMass Lowell penalty killing unit has hit a rough stretch.  The River Hawks have allowed power play goals in seven of their last ten games.  UMass Lowell has successfully killed just 19 of the last 27 shorthanded situations.  The River Hawks are 7-3-0 in those nine games and the PK success rate has dropped to 81.7 on the season.  

DOMINATING THE DOT: After a slow start, UMass Lowell is now dominating at the faceoff circle.  The River Hawks have won 680 of 1,318 puck drops, a winning percentage of 51.6%, fourth best in Hockey East.  The turnaround has come during the last 16 games.  UMass Lowell has won 503 of 940 faceoffs, 53.5%, the best in Hockey East since November 2nd.  Top performances have come from Charlie Levesque and Lucas Condotta.  During the 16 game stretch Levesque has won 119 of 191 draws, 62.3%, and Condotta has won 90 of 161, 55.9%.

GETTING IN THE WAY:  UMass Lowell is fourth in Hockey East in blocked shots per game.  The River Hawks have blocked 266 shots in 212-games this season, an average of 12.09 shots blocked per game.  Defenseman Mattias Göransson leads the team with 38 blocks.  He is third in Hockey East.  An even dozen players are in double digits as well.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES:  UMass Lowell forward Connor Sodergren has four-goals and fourteen-points in 22-games.  A year ago Sodergren did not get to thirteen.  He finished the year with four goals and ten points. His fourth goal and tenth point came in his 32nd, the team's 45th, game.  Forward Chris Schutz has two-goals and six points. A year ago he had just picked up the first point of his collegiate career.

BY THE CLOSEST OF MARGINS: UMass Lowell is 55-41-22, .559, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season.  The team is 4-5-1 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. 

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: When UMass Lowell scores three or more goals in a game it is 150-23-6, .855 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 28-71-16, .313, since 2011-12.

PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 138-9-9 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 11-2-0 this season.

WHEN TWO IS ENOUGH:  Four times this season UMass Lowell has won games when scoring fewer than three-goals.  That is something the River Hawks had not done recently and rarely did a year ago.  The hockey club defeated R I T, 2-1, on October 12th, beat Maine, 1-0, on November 3rd, defeated Massachusetts, 2-1, on January 4th and KO'd Vermont 2-0 last Saturday.  UMass Lowell is 4-5-1 this season when scoring two-goals or fewer, they were 2-14-0 a year ago. 

YOUTH MOVEMENT: The UMass Lowell freshmen class has been key to the River Hawk offense.  The group, with 15-goals and 44-points, is second in scoring of the four classes.  The class is second in Hockey East in goals and fourth in points.  Reid Stefanson (3g, 6a) is the top scoring River Hawk freshmen.

GIVING UP THREE AND WINNING: The December 7th 5-3 win against Boston University was the first time this season that UMass Lowell had allowed three or more goals and won a hockey game.  They did it again against Vermont last Friday (6-5).  The team is 2-6-0 when allowing three or more goals in a game this season.

A GOOD START: UMass Lowell has allowed just 13 first period goals 22 games into the season.  That's an average of 0.59 goals per first period.  Only one Hockey East team has better numbers.  UMass has allowed 0.36 first period goals, a total of eight in 22 games.  The River Hawks have outscored opponents 21-13 in the first period.

THE FINAL THIRD:  Twenty-two games into the season and the River Hawks have outscored their opponents 24-goals to 20 in the third period of play.  The plus-4 is fourth best in Hockey East.  That continues a trend seen a year ago.  UML 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 five-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 82-48-9, 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 and Nick Master 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.

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 135 games in a River Hawk uniform.  Connor Wilson (120) and Ryan Dmowski (117) joined the club earlier this season.  Next on the list are Ryan Lohin (95), Mattias Göransson (94), Colin O'Neill (93) and Kenny Hausinger (90).  A year ago UMass Lowell had six players on the roster with more than 100 games played in their collegiate careers. 

71 GAMES:  UMass Lowell forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 71 consecutive games. That is the longest active consecutive games streak on the River Hawk roster.  O'Neill's streak began February 4, 2017, his freshman season, in an 8-2 win against UNH.  Ryan Dmowski is second on the consecutive games list with 55 and Charlie Levesque is third with 50.  Ryan Lohin, who had not missed a game in his collegiate career, saw his consecutive games streak end at 81 when he was sidelined with an injury earlier this season.  Michael Kapla is the River Hawk record holder with 161 consecutive games played. 

A TIE..?:  The November 9th 2-2 tie with New Hampshire ended a streak of 69 games (703 days) without a tie.  The last time the River Hawks played a game without a winner was December 4, 2016 when UMass Lowell and UConn ended the night with two goals apiece.  UMass Lowell was the only team in the country without a tie during the 2017-18 season. It was only the second time in their 35-year Division I history that the team has completed a full season without at least one tie.  The first occurrence 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.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS:  After leading Hockey East in average home attendance for the last three years, UMass Lowell is looking to do it again.  UMass Lowell holds a slight edge over Massachusetts, 4,738 to 4,518.  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.

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.  He has worked more games than anyone else in any capacity.  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.  He has worked more games The athletic trainer has worked 1,404 games including 1,337 Division I games.  He has missed only one game.  Poitras is working on a consecutive games streak that has now reached 928.  He is the only trainer in College Hockey to work games at both Northern Arizona and Arizona State.