Friday, October 11th vs. No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth (7pm CT/8pm ET)
(AMSOIL Arena; Duluth, Minn.)
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Game Notes (PDF)Â |
90 Seconds with Norm
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockeyÂ
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)
Non-Commercial Radio: WUMLÂ 91.5 FM
Talent: Connor Capozzi (Play by Play); Tim Casagrande (Analyst)
Saturday, October 12th vs. No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth (7pm CT/8pm ET)
(AMSOIL Arena; Duluth, Minn.)
Watch |Â
Listen Live |
Live Stats |
Tickets
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockeyÂ
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)
Non-Commercial Radio: WUMLÂ 91.5 FM
Talent: Connor Capozzi (Play by Play); Tim Casagrande (Analyst)
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell heads into the weekend with a 2-0-0 record after a weekend sweep of Alabama Huntsville. The River Hawks are not ranked, but are receiving votes in both the USCHO and the USA Hockey Polls. The club was picked for a sixth place finish in both the Hockey East Coaches' and the Media Pre-Season polls. The River Hawks finished the 2018-19 season with a 19-13-5/12-7-5 record. The season ended with a Hockey East Tournament quarterfinals game-three loss to Boston University. The team finished the regular season in fourth place two points behind second place Providence and Northeastern. The River Hawks return 58.9 percent of its offense and four of its top seven scorers. Goalie Tyler Wall appeared in 22 of the team's 37-games and posted a 2.09 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. He authored four of his seven career shutouts during the campaign.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS:  Minnesota Duluth, coming off a 29-11-2 season, is the two-time defending National Champion. The Bulldogs topped the NCHC Media Poll and the College Hockey News Pre-season poll. They are current the top ranked team in both the USCHO and the USA Hockey weekly polls. Six of the Team's top ten scorers are back. Justin Richards (12g, 20a, 32 pts) is the top returning scorer. All-American goalie Hunter Shepard returns for his senior season. His 1.76 goals against average and .923 save percentage helped him earn the Mike Richter Award as the nation's best netminder.
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. MINNESOTA DULUTH: This is just the 18th meeting in a series that dates back to 1985. Minnesota Duluth leads the series 11-3-3, but has won just one of the last four meetings, two of those games ended as ties. Two of UMass Lowell's three wins in the series have come in Duluth. The River Hawks did win the Silverado Shootout hosted by the Bulldogs in 1999, topping the hosts, 3-0, in the Championship Game. The two schools met regularly during the mid and late 1980s when Hockey East and the WCHA, of which Minnesota Duluth was a member, had interlocking schedules. Â
THE LAST TIME: The last time these two teams faced each other was October 7 and 8 in 2016 in Lowell. They played twice and both games ended in a tie. It was 4-4 the first night as the visitors came back from a three-goal deficit, tying the game with under four-minutes to play. An apparent OT winner by UMass Lowell's C.J. Smith was waved off for goalie interference. The following night UMD followed a similar scenario tying the game at one with under four-minutes left on the clock.
THE LAST TIME IN DULUTH: The last time these two teams met in Duluth, October 2015, they split a pair of games. The home team won the first night, 2-1, with all the scoring in the second period. The River Hawks picked up the win on the second night, 6-3. Defenseman Dylan Zink scored twice on the power play :42 apart, to break a 1-1 tie, in a UML three-goal second period.
FACING THE CHAMPIONS: This weekend UMass Lowell faces the defending National Champion. The River Hawks have done reasonably well in such scenarios. UMass Lowell is 15-13-1 all-time when facing the defending National Champ. That includes a 9-6-0 record on the road. All but one of those opponents have been Hockey East schools. The one exception was North Dakota, the 1987 NCAA Champ, and UMass Lowell won that meeting, 6-4, in Grand Forks.
FACING NUMBER ONE: UMass Lowell has not had success against teams ranked atop the USCHO Poll. Since the USCHO Poll began during the 1997-98 season the River Hawks have never beaten the number one team in the country. UMass Lowell is 0-17-2 against the top ranked team in the USCHO Poll. The River Hawks have had some success against team placed number one in other polls. The last win against a number one team was a 4-1 win against Boston College, part of a sweep weekend, in February of 2005.Â
NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM: The River Hawks have more than held their own in non-conference games over the eight-plus years that Norm Bazin has been behind the bench. UMass Lowell is 85-36-6 (.693) in non-conference games since 2011-12. The team is 2-0-0 this year and was 6-4-0 a year ago. Over the past 10-plus years, Lowell has the best non-conference regular season record of any team in Hockey East at 66-27-8 (.693)
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VERSUS THE NCHC: UMass Lowell has found some success in games against the teams in the NCHC. The River Hawks hold an 8-5-2 edge against team representing the NCHC, but are only 23-37-4 against teams that are currently members of the conference. Last year UMass Lowell was 1-2-0 against the NCHC, splitting with Miami but losing to Denver.Â
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AN ALL-INCLUSIVE SCHEDULE: The UMass Lowell 2019-20 schedule finds the River Hawks playing games against teams from each of the six Division I hockey conferences. In addition to the 24 Hockey East games, the team will play three games against teams representing the ECAC, two each against the NCHC, the WCHA and Atlantic Hockey and one against the Big Ten.
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND: Talk about a mix of youth and experience. UMass Lowell swept Alabama Huntsville, 5-1 and 3-1, to open the 2019-20 season. Three of the River Hawks' eight goals were scored by seniors while the other five came off the sticks of freshmen. Senior Kenny Hausinger led the weekend scoring with two goals and three assists. Freshman Andre Lee, one of four freshmen to score, added two goals. Freshman Carl Berglund chalked up a goal and a pair of helpers. Goalie Tyler Wall turned aside 30 of 32 shots to pick up a couple of wins.
TAKING ON THE WCHA: UMass Lowell has done fairly well against teams currently in the WCHA. The River Hawks have a 29-20-2, .588, record against those schools. UMass Lowell has not fared as well against schools representing the WCHA showing a 26-56-3, .324, all-time record. In Hockey East's earliest seasons the two conferences had an interlocking schedule.
DOMINATING THE DOT: UMass Lowell was dominant in the faceoff circle a year ago and last weekend was no different. The River Hawks won 80 of 112, 71.4% of the puck drops with Lucas Condotta (18 of 20, 90.0%) and Colin O'Neil (23/29, 79.3%) leading the way. The numbers are the best in the country. A year ago UMass Lowell won 1,179 of 2,240 puck drops, a winning percentage of 52.6%, the best in Hockey East and 54.0% in conference play. Returners Charlie Levesque, Lucas Condotta and Connor Sodergren were all at .515 or better. Levesque led the team with a .568 percentage, fifth best in Hockey East.
FIRST NOTCH: Four UMass Lowell freshmen scored their first collegiate goals during the season's first weekend. Matt Brown (1g, 1a), Zach Kaiser and Andre Lee all scored third-period goals on Saturday and freshman Carl Berglund, who had two-assists on Saturday, scored the game's first goal on Sunday.
LEADING THE COUNTRY: It may be early but, Kenny Hausinger leads the nation in scoring with five points. He had a goal and two assists in season opener against Alabama Huntsville and following that with a goal and an assist against the same opponent the second night.Â
FIVE GOALS: When UMass Lowell scored five goals in the opener against Alabama Huntsville it was the most the River Hawks had scored in a season or home opener since beating Boston College, 5-2, on October 10, 2014. The last time they scored more than five goals in a season opener was when they defeated Niagara, 7-3, to open the 2001-02 season. UMass Lowell is 64-0-1, .992, when scoring five or more goals during the Norm Bazin era.
53rd SEASON OF UMASS LOWELL HOCKEY: This is the 53rd 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 888-734-121, .543, and 628-612-114 record (.503) as a DI program.
OPENERS: UMass Lowell is now 28-20-5, all-time, in season openers and 3-1-1 in the last five. The River Hawks are 31-18-4 in home openers but are just above the .500 mark when they open the season at home, 11-10-3. UMass Lowell is 16-14-5 in Hockey East openers and 14-17-4 in Hockey East home openers. The River Hawks have never before opened the season against Alabama Huntsville. The two did meet in the 2007 home opener.
OPENING NIGHT CROWDS: UMass Lowell's streak of eleven straight opening night crowds of more than 5,000-people has come to an end. Attendance last night was 4,207. A year ago the River Hawks opened in front of a gathering of 5,673. It was the 11th consecutive opening night crowd of more than five-thousand 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 5,841. The last sub 5,000 opening night crowd was in October 2007 when the River Hawks opened against Alabama-Huntsville.Â
ATTENDANCE NUMBERS:  After leading Hockey East in average home attendance for three years, UMass Lowell finished second in total attendance, 87,682, and third in average attendance, 4,615. During the last three years an average of 5,339 fans have filled the Tsongas Center nightly to watch UMass Lowell play.
COUNTDOWN TO 1.5 MILLION:  UMass Lowell and the Tsongas Center should reach an attendance milestone early in the 2019-20 season. The building is approaching 1.5 million fans to see River Hawk hockey since the building opened in the later stages of the 1997-98 season. The countdown is at 7,178. Since opening 1,492,822 people have attended a UMass Lowell hockey game at the Tsongas Center.
A WIN TONIGHT WOULD... ...give the River Hawks a 3-0-0 start. It would be the second time since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins that the team started the year with three straight wins. It has only happened five times in the program's Division I history.
SATURDAY START TIME: This season UMass Lowell Saturday home games will start at 6:00 p.m. That is an hour earlier than in the past. The charge was made in response to fan polling and in hopes that the 6:00 p.m. start would be more fan, student and Family friendly.
GETTING AN EARLY START: When UMass Lowell and Alabama-Huntsville faced off last Saturday night, October 5th, it was the earliest calendar date on which the River Hawks have ever played a regular season game. Exhibition games have been played on dates as early as September 30th, but the earliest regular season game had been October 6, 2017 when UMass Lowell was beaten 4-3 by UNH.   Â
NEXT WEEKEND: The River Hawks return home next weekend for Homecoming and a pair of games against ECAC member Colgate. UMass Lowell holds a 13-7-0 edge in the all-time series. They have won the last four meetings, including two last season, between the two teams. The River Hawks are 7-1-0 at home against Colgate.
NESN AND HOCKEY EAST: Hockey East and the New England Sports Network (NESN), last week, announced a new multi-year partnership. Under the new agreement, Hockey East becomes NESN's premier college partner and will appear on NESN or NESNplus nearly 100 times in 2019-20. UMass Lowell is expected to be featured in at least six of those broadcasts.
CBS AND HOCKEY EAST: Hockey East has partnered with CBS Sports Digital to begin the 2019-20 season, making all home men's and women's games available on CBS Sports Digital properties. The partnership kicks off with an early-season schedule that includes games provided for free on CBS SportsLive.
The NHL and UML: Five former River Hawks were on National Hockey League Opening Night Rosters this week. Defensemen Christian Folin (Montreal), Ron Hainsey (Ottawa) and Chad Ruhwedel (Pittsburgh), goaltenders Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg) and goaltender Carter Hutton (Buffalo) are the group of five. Folin, Hellebuyck and Ruhwedel played for Head Coach Norm Bazin.
TOP SCORER: Senior forward Kenny Hausinger is the River Hawks top returning scorer. Hausinger finished the 2018-19 season with 13 goals and 22 points. He was second on the team in goals and third in points. Hausinger has seen his number climb in each of his three seasons at UMass Lowell.Â
THE WALL: Goalie Tyler Wall returns for his senior season. Wall appeared in 22 of the team's 37-games and posted a 2.09 goals against average and a .921 save percentage while sporting a 11-7-3 record. Wall has appeared in 73 games during his UML career with a 2.32 GAA and a .911 save percentage. He is in the top ten in most UMass Lowell career goaltending records.
IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: UMass Lowell closed out the 2018-19 season earning a spot in the USCHO poll in each of the final eleven weeks of the season and finished the year at number 19. The club had been ranked as high as tenth. After missing from the polls for 28 weeks UMass Lowell reappeared among the top-twenty on January 21st. The River Hawks are no stranger to the polls, the team had been nationally ranked for 116 consecutive polls between January 7, 2013 and October 23, 2017.
THE 2020 SENIOR CLASS: The three-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 65-43-8, a .595 winning percentage. The class ranks third in Hockey East in both wins and winning percentage. The class which includes forwards Kenny Hausinger and Colin O'Neill and goalie Tyler Wall has won one HEA regular season title, a tournament championship, earned home ice for the Hockey East playoffs three times and made one trip to the NCAA Tournament. four in-season tournaments and made two appearances in the NCAA tournament. The class ranks seventh in wins and in winning percentage, among UML teams. The 2016 senior class tops the list with 100 victories.
JUST THREE: The UMass Lowell senior class is one of the smallest in the country. The River Hawks are one of nine teams with just three seniors, no school has a smaller senior class.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Only two members of the UMass Lowell roster have played more than 100 games in their collegiate careers. Colin O'Neill (110) and Kenny Hausinger (107) joined the Century Club late last season. Charlie Levesque (73), Tyler Wall (73) and Connor Sodergren (72) are next on the list. A year ago UMass Lowell had seven players on the roster with more than 100 games played in their collegiate careers.Â
88 GAMES: UMass Lowell forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 88 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. Charlie Levesque is second on the consecutive games list with 66. Michael Kapla is the River Hawk record holder with 161 consecutive games played.Â
FRESH FACES: There are nine new names on the UMass Lowell hockey roster. The 2019-20 freshman class includes six forwards, two defensemen and one goalie. The group represents four countries, three states and three Canadian provinces. Defenseman Marek Korencik has travelled the greatest distance. His home in Zilina, Slovakia is separated from the UMass Lowell campus by some 4,089 miles.
YOUTH MUST BE SERVED: With a nine-member freshman class, twenty-one of the 28 players on the UMass Lowell roster are underclassmen. Seventy-five percent of the roster has no more than one year of college hockey experience. There are nine are freshmen, twelve sophomores, four juniors and three seniors on the roster. The River Hawks, going into the season, average 27.5-games experience per player. Last year 19 of 30 players were freshmen or sophomores. It is the largest group of underclassmen since the 2003-04 season when 25 of 30 players on the roster were underclassmen. The team also had 21 underclassmen during the 2007-08 season.
UNDERCLASSMEN: The UMass Lowell underclass (9 freshmen and 12 sophomores), at 21, is one of the largest in the country. Only Quinnipiac with 22 has more. Merrimack also has 21.
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.
GOOD BLOODLINES II: Goalie Logan Neaton's father Patrick played for the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1993-94 season. Patrick Neaton played his college hockey at the University of Michigan.
STRIPES IN THE BLOOD: Sophomore 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.
HOME SWEET HOME: UMass Lowell is 92-43-15 (a .663 winning percentage) at the Tsongas Center since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench for the 2011-12 season. In 2018-19 the River Hawks were 8-8-3 on home ice. The last time the River Hawks had a losing record at home was 2010-11 when the home team went 4-12-0.
ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: UMass Lowell is 96-57-11, a .619 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the eight years that Norm Bazin has led the program. That .619 winning percentage is the second best in the nation during that period. The River Hawks are 72-46-10, .602, as the road team and 24-11-1, .681, in games played at a neutral site. UMass Lowell was 11-5-2, a .667 winning percentage, when playing away from the Tsongas Center last season.
SUCCESS IS THE NORM: Norm Bazin now in his ninth season at the reins of UMass Lowell with a 189-100-26 record (.641) in 315 games. He has a 227-131-33 mark (.623) in 391 games now in his twelfth 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
BACK-TO-BACK: UMass Lowell has sixteen "back-to-back" weekend series this season. The team is 1-0-0 on both the first and second nights after one weekend of hockey. A year ago the River Hawks were 9-6-1 on the first night and 8-5-3 on the second. They had four weekend sweeps. The sweeps came against UConn, Colgate, Vermont and BC/UMass. The River Hawks were swept just once (Providence.)
BY THE CLOSEST OF MARGINS: UMass Lowell is 55-43-26, .548, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season. The team was 4-7-5 last year and 10-13-5 over the last two years in one-goal games.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: When UMass Lowell scores three or more goals in a game it is 157-23-8, .856 during the last eight-plus years. The River Hawks were 13-3-2 last season and 53-10-3, .826 over the last three seasons. When scoring two goals or less in a game the River Hawks are 29-75-18, .312, since 2011-12.
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 145-9-9 when leading after two-periods. They are also 32-20-12 when the score is tied after two periods. The River Hawks were 16-2-0 when leading after two periods during the 2018-19 season and 50-5-2 during the last three seasons. The River Hawks were also 2-0-3, a year ago, when tied after two periods.
THE WORST LEAD IN HOCKEY?:Â Not when Lowell is involved. Since Norm Bazin became head coach, when Lowell has a 2-goal lead at any point in a game, they are 155-10-4, 75-4-3 at the Tsongas Center. Last season, they were 17-3-0, 7-1-0 at Tsongas. When Lowell trails by 2 goals at any point in a game, they are 5-66-6, 2-30-3 at Tsongas. Last year, they were 0-7-2, 0-6-2 at Tsongas.
A GOOD START: UMass Lowell allowed just 24 first period goals in 37 games last season. That's an average of 0.65 goals per first period. That ranked UMass Lowell 4th in Hockey East. The River Hawks have outscored opponents 32-24 in the first period. UMass Lowell was 12-2-0 when leading after the first period. The River Hawks have not allowed a first period goal this season.
THE FINAL THIRD:  The River Hawks outscored their opponents 37-goals to 26 in the third period of play. The 0.30 per game margin was third best in Hockey East and is 11th in the country. No Hockey East team gave up fewer third period goals. UMass Lowell has outscored its opponents, 4-1, in the third period this season.
DEFENSE: Over the past eight seasons, UMass Lowell has allowed just 2.27 goals per game and has a .920 save percentage. Those number are among the best in the country. Only two teams, (Quinnipiac 2.20 and Cornell 2.22), have a better goals against average and just one, (Denver .922) has a higher save percentage.
SUCCESS IS THE NORM – Part 2: UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin's overall record of 189-100-26 (.641) over his first eight seasons as a Hockey East coach is the second best for any Hockey East coach during his first eight seasons. Only, the now retired, Dick Umile at 195-88-37 (.667) shows better numbers.
AFTER A LOSS: UMass Lowell did a terrific job avoiding any extended losing streak a year ago. Seven times the River Hawks followed a loss with a win or a tie, only on three occasions did the hockey club lose consecutive games and never dropped three in a row.
SIZE MATTERS: UMass Lowell is one of the tallest and heaviest teams in the country. The River Hawks measure at an average of six-feet, one-inch, the fourth tallest team in college hockey. The team tips the scales at an average 192.04-pounds, the sixth heaviest team in the nation. They are both the tallest and heaviest team in Hockey East.
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 38 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 1,421 games including 1,354 Division I games. He has missed only one game. Poitras is working on a consecutive games streak that has now reached 945. He is the only trainer in College Hockey to work games at both Northern Arizona and Arizona State.
THE 19th MAN: College hockey teams, last year for the first time, were allowed to dress 19 skaters. The NCAA made the change citing a desire to give more student-athletes a playing opportunity. UML used the rule change to dress a seventh defenseman in all but three of the team's 37 games.
