SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS:  UMass Lowell have been 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 CHARGERS:  Alabama Huntsville, coming off an 8-28-2 / 8-18-2 season, was picked for a ninth place finish in both the WCHA Coaches' and Media Pre-Season polls.  The Chargers return three of their top seven scorers from a year ago.  Bauer Neudecker, Jack Jeffers, Austin Bealieu and Christian Rajic each scored 14 points.  Neudecker and Jeffers had seven-goals apiece.  Goalie Mark Sinclair returns to defend the nets after posting a 2.89 goals against average and a .915 save percentage a year ago.

ALL-TIME SERIES vs. ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE:  This is just the 11th meeting in a series that dates back to 1989.  UMass Lowell leads the series 9-1-0 and has won the last six meetings, the last two by shutout, between the two schools.  The two have never met in the post season.

DIVISION II CHAMPS:  Both UMass Lowell and Alabama Huntsville earned distinction as Division II programs.  The ULowell Chiefs won the Division II National Championships in 1979, '81 and '82 before moving to Division I for the 1983-84 season.  The Chargers were the Division II Champions in 1996 and '98 before elevating the program for the 1999-2000 season.  The two schools never faced one another in the post season.

THE LAST TIME:  The last time these two teams faced each other was November 25, 2011.  The River Hawks won that one, 3-0, at the Tsongas Center.  Josh Holmstrom, Derek Arnold and Scott Wilson scored goals.  Doug Carr made 20 saves to earn the shutout.  It was Norm Bazin's first year leading UMass Lowell and the win was the seventh of his River Hawk career.

NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM: The River Hawks have more than held their own in non-conference games over the eight years that Norm Bazin has been behind the bench.  UMass Lowell is 83-36-6 (.688) in non-conference games since 2011-12.  The team was 6-4-0 a year ago.  Over the past 10 years, Lowell has the best non-conference regular season record of any team in Hockey East at 64-27-8 (.687)

TAKING ON THE WCHA: UMass Lowell has done fairly well against teams currently in the WCHA.  The River Hawks have a 27-20-2, .571, record against those schools.  UMass Lowell has not fared as well against schools representing the WCHA showing a 25-56-3, .315, all-time record.  In Hockey East's earliest seasons, the two conferences had an interlocking schedule.

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.

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 886-734-121, .543, and 626-612-114 record (.503) as a DI program.

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 right at the .500 mark when they open the season at home, 10-10-3.  UMass Lowell is 16-14-5 in Hockey East openers and 14-17-4 in Hockey East home openers.  The River Hawks have never opened the season against Alabama Huntsville.  The two did meet in the 2007 home opener.

OPENING NIGHT CROWDS: UMass Lowell is looking for its 12th straight opening night crowd of more than 5,000-people.  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. 

LOOKING TO BREAK A RECORD:  The UMass Lowell single game student attendance record is 2,365 and the university is hoping to break that record on Saturday night.  The event includes a pre-game tailgate with pizza, yard games and entertainment sponsored by Domino's.  The first 1,500-students will receive a #UnitedInBlue Rally Towel.  The record of 2,365 was set on October 10, 2014 in a 5-2 victory against Boston College.

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 12,887.  Since opening 1,487,113 people have attended a UMass Lowell hockey game at the Tsongas Center.

PUCK DROP KICKS OFF 125 YEARS:  UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Maloney will be joined by her grandchildren for the ceremonial puck drop.  The puck drop kicks off the celebration of 125 years of UMass Lowell.  Founded in 1894 in the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, the Lowell Normal School and the Lowell Textile School became places where hardworking students could make a better future for themselves and their communities.  Over the next 125 years, those institutions evolved and then combined, eventually creating UMass Lowell, regarded today among the top public research universities in the nation.

A WIN TONIGHT WOULD...  ...be a nice way to open the season.  It would also be the second year in a row that UMass Lowell has opened with a win.  A year ago the River Hawks topped RIT, 2-1, on a Ryan Dmowski goal late in the third period.

TONIGHT'S PROMOTIONS:  The first 1,500 fans entering the Tsongas Center Saturday evening will receive a River Hawks Hockey Magnetic Schedule, courtesy of Enterprise Bank.

TOMORROW'S PROMOTIONS:  Sunday UMass Lowell will host the "Touch A Truck" event.  It's designed to give kids the opportunity to explore more than a dozen large vehicles.  The event runs from 1:30 to 3:30pm in the Tsongas Center Parking Lot.

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 face off on Saturday, October 5th, it will be 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 was October 6, 2017 when UMass Lowell was beaten 4-3 by UNH.    

NEXT WEEKEND:  The River Hawks face the two-time defending National Champions next weekend.  UMass Lowell will play two games at Minnesota Duluth.  The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 11-3-3.  The two teams last played in October 2016 and battled to a pair of ties at the Tsongas Center.  The last time the River Hawks visited Duluth, October 2015, the two teams split a pair of games.  

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 seven 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. 

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 71 games during his UML career with a 2.36 GAA and a .910 save percentage.  He is in the top ten in most UMass Lowell career goaltending records.

CLEAN SHEETS:  UMass Lowell goalies combined for seven shutouts during the 2018-19 season.  Tyler Wall had four and Christoffer Hernberg had three.  Only in 2001-02 did the River Hawks chalk up more shutouts as a team, eight.  Cam McCormick had six, Jimi St. John had one and the two goalies combined for an eighth.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES:  UMass Lowell forward Connor Sodergren saw his numbers double as he moved from his freshman to his sophomore season.  After scoring four-goals and 10-points in 33-games as a freshman Sodergren scored five goals and 21 points during his sophomore season.

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 63-43-8, a .588 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 (108) and Kenny Hausinger (105) joined the Century Club late last season.  Charlie Levesque (71), Tyler Wall (71) and Connor Sodergren (70) 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. 

86 GAMES:  UMass Lowell forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 86 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 64.  Michael Kapla is the River Hawk record holder with 161 consecutive games played. 

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 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.

RIVER HAWKS IN THE TOURNAMENT:  UMass Lowell has earned a spot in the Hockey East Tournament in 31 of the league's 35 seasons.  They have won the Lamoriello Trophy three times in the last seven years.  The River Hawks are 46-50-3 in Tournament play.  UMass Lowell has played in the tournament championship game seven times including five in a row between 2013 and 2017.

HOME SWEET HOME: UMass Lowell is 90-43-15 (a .659 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.

BACK-TO-BACK:  UMass Lowell has sixteen "back-to-back" weekend series this season.  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 155-23-8, .855 during the last eight 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 143-9-9 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?:  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 153-10-4, 73-4-3 at Tsongas. 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 has 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 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.

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: Norm Bazin begins his ninth season at the reins of UMass Lowell with a 187-100-26 record (.639) in 313 games. He has a 225-131-33 mark (.621) in 389 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). 

SUCCESS IS THE NORM – Part 2: UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin's overall record of 187-100-26 (.639) 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.

THE TOURNAMENT NORM:  Since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench, UMass Lowell is 26-16-0 in the post season, including both the Hockey East and NCAA Tournament play.  Bazin is 20-11-0 in the HEA Tournament and is 6-5-0 in the NCAA Tournament.  The team is looking for its sixth trip to both the Garden and the National Tournament.  The River Hawks won the Hockey East Tournament in 2013, 2014 and again in 2017.  The River Hawks reached the NCAA Frozen Four in 2013.

HOME FOR THE PLAYOFFS:  UMass Lowell, during the "Norm Bazin Era," has never played a road playoff game.  All post season, Hockey East or NCAA Tournament games have been played at either the Tsongas Center or a neutral site.  UMass Lowell is the only Hockey East school that can make that claim during that eight-year period.

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.

SPECIAL (?) TEAMS:  Special teams may be an area that UMass Lowell is looking for improvement.  For the record, the River Hawk power play ranked fifth in Hockey East with an 18.0% success rate while the penalty killing unit, ranked ninth, was successful 81.9% of the time.  The PK unit held opponents scoreless in 18 of 37 games and at the same time the power play failed to convert in 19 of 37 games.

BONUS TIME - NO BONUS: Overtime has not been kind to UMass Lowell over the last three seasons.  The River Hawks are 1-9-8 in their last 18 overtime games (0-2-5 last season) dating back to the start of the 2016-17 season.  The one win came on a Connor Wilson goal, Jan. 19, 2018, 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.

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 1,419 games including 1,352 Division I games.  He has missed only one game.  Poitras is working on a consecutive games streak that has now reached 943.  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.

PLUS/MINUS: The River Hawks return to the ice the team's 2018-19 plus/minus leaders.  Junior forward Connor Sodergren topped the list a year ago at +13.  Sophomore defenseman Chase Blackmun was second at +9.  Twenty-two UMass Lowell players were at a plus or even at the end of the season.  

IN THE CLUTCH:  Kenny Hausinger is the team's top returning "clutch" goal scorer.  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 Hausinger's 13 goals gave Lowell the lead and one more tied the score.

ON TARGET:  UMass Lowell has scored on 10.3% of its shots on goal during the eight years that Norm Bazin has been behind the bench.  Only four teams show greater accuracy during that seven-plus season period of time.  St. Cloud tops the lists at 11.2%.  Boston College and Northeastern are at 10.5%.  Minnesota is also at 10.3%.

DOMINATING THE DOT: UMass Lowell were dominant in the faceoff circle a year ago.  The River Hawks 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.

ON THE CAREER WALL:  UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall is among the leaders in a couple of career categories.  Wall is sixth in career wins among active collegiate goalies with 40.  Penn State's Peyton Jones leads with 58.  Wall is tied for fifth in shutouts with seven.  The national leader is Minnesota Duluth goalie Hunter Shepard with 15.  Wall, with 40 wins, is fifth among UMass Lowell Division I goalies.  Dwayne Roloson tops the list with 51.