Friday, March 1st at New Hampshire (7pm)
(Whittemore Center; Durham, N.H.)
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90 Seconds with Norm
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockeyÂ
Television: NESN (Channel Finder)
Talent: Mike Murphy (Play by Play); Patrick Foley (Analyst)
Natalie Noury/Brendan Glasheen (Rinkside)
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP/UMass Lowell Game Day App
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)
Non-Commercial Radio: WUMLÂ 91.5 FM
Talent: Connor Capozzi (Play by Play); Brianne Dillon (Analyst)
Producer: Tim Casagrande
Saturday, March 2nd vs. New Hampshire (7pm)
SENIOR NIGHT
(Tsongas Center; Lowell, Mass.)
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Game Notes (PDF)
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockeyÂ
Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP/UMass Lowell Game Day App
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Andy Merritt (Analyst)
Non-Commercial Radio: WUMLÂ 91.5 FM
Talent: Connor Capozzi (Play by Play); Brianne Dillon (Analyst)
Producer: Tim Casagrande
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is 18-10-3/12-6-3 after taking three of four points from Merrimack last weekend. The club has won 11 of 16 road games, with one tie, and is 7-6-2 at home. UMass Lowell is currently in a third place tie with Northeastern, one point behind second place Providence and with a game in hand over the Friars. They are five points behind Massachusetts. The River Hawks do own the tiebreaker should the two Massachusetts state schools end the season with the same number of points. The team is ranked 14th in both the USA Hockey Magazine and the USCHO polls. 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 scoring with 25-points. Eighteen different players have scored goals, seventeen have scored more than once. Lohin with 12 and Ryan Dmowski with 11 top the list of goal scoring list. Kenny Hausinger has ten goals. Ten players have 11 points or more, six have at least 17. Tyler Wall has started 18 of the team's 30-games and has a 2.09 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. Christoffer Hernberg is 6-1-2 in his last nine starts and has a 2.02 GAA and .930 Sv.% over his last ten appearances. Both Wall and Hernberg have multiple shutouts to their credit.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS:  New Hampshire is 11-12-8 / 7-9-5 after dropping two against Northeastern last weekend. UNH was picked to finish in ninth place in the Coaches' Pre-Season Poll and tenth in the Media Pre-Season Poll. The Wildcats have clinched a playoff spot and currently sit in eighth place. Twenty-one different players have scored goals, twelve have more than one. Senior Ara Nazarian leads the team with 12-goals and junior Liam Blackburn tops the scoring chart with 24-points. Mike Robinson has started 24 of the team's 31 games in nets and has a 2.36 goals against average and a .920 save percentage.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NEW HAMPSHIRE: This is the second meeting between the two teams this season and the 123rd meeting in a series that dates back to 1983. UNH leads the series 62-44-16, but UML has won twelve of the last seventeen, including four by shutout. The Wildcats won this season's first meeting and won the regular season series, a year ago, two-games-to-one. The two teams have met on numerous occasions in the post-season. UMass Lowell holds an 8-6-0 edge in HEA Tournament play including a 4-0 shutout to earn the 2014 title. The River Hawks also defeated UNH 2-0, in Manchester, to win the NCAA Northeast Regional final and advance to the Frozen Four in 2013.
FIRST TIME AROUND VS. UNH: UMass Lowell and New Hampshire battled to a 2-2 tie back on November 9th at the Tsongas Center. Ara Nazarian and Marcus Vela scored first period goals for the visitors. UMass Lowell responded with two goals, both by Ryan Lohin, with an extra attacker in the final 2:13 of the third period. Neither team scored in overtime. UMass Lowell outshot UNH in the game, 34-11.
TWO WITH AN EXTRA ATTACKER: UMass Lowell scored two extra attacker goals November 9th to earn a 2-2 tie with New Hampshire. The River Hawks had not scored two 6-on-5 goals in the same game since October 16, 2010 when they worked the magic in a game at RIT. The first was scored by Michael Scheu on a delayed penalty at 12:22 of the third period. The second came at 19:59 of the third period with the goalie pulled.
A TIE..?:  The November 9th 2-2 tie with New Hampshire ended a streak of 69 games (703 days) without a tie. They have tied opponents twice more since then. Previous to that, 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.
LAST SEASON VS. UNH: New Hampshire swept a season opening weekend series from the River Hawks 4-3 and 3-1. UMass Lowell notched a 2-1 win a month later on the strength of two Ryan Lohin goals. Lohin had a hand in five of UMass Lowell's six goals against New Hampshire during the three games. Christoffer Hernberg was in the nets for the win, Tyler Wall had played in the first two games between the clubs. Â
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: These two teams have played each other in nine different buildings, the second greatest number of venues for UMass Lowell against any one opponent. UMass Lowell and UNH have faced off at Tully Forum (Billerica, MA), Snively Arena (Durham, NH), Boston Garden (Boston, MA), JFK Coliseum (Manchester, NH), Alfond Arena (Orono, ME), Whittemore Center (Durham, NH), Tsongas Center (Lowell, MA), Fleet Center/TD Garden (Boston, MA) and the Verizon Wireless Arena (Manchester, NH.) UMass Lowell has also played Maine and Boston College in nine different buildings, but Clarkson tops the list with ten different venues.
NOT THE FRIENDLY CONFINES: UMass Lowell has not had the greatest success at the Whittemore Center. The River Hawks are only 11-25-4, .325, in the building. That includes games in the 1997 Governor's Cup Tournament (4-0 loss to Vermont.) The UML winning percentage at the Whit is the lowest in any current Hockey East building. Recent years have been more favorable. The River Hawks are 6-3-0 at the Whittemore Center during the Norm Bazin Era.
BIG ICE: The Norm Bazin led River Hawks have played well on "Big Ice." The River Hawks are 43-18-5 on ice sheets larger than the standard/NHL 200 x 85 during Bazin's six-plus years behind the bench. They are 13-3-1 on the Olympic, 200 x 100, sheet including a 6-3-0 record at the Whittemore Center.
A WIN FRIDAY NIGHT WOULD... ...at the very least keep the River Hawks in a third place tie with Northeastern in the Hockey East standings. It, potentially, could move UMass Lowell into second place and to within three points of first place Massachusetts. There is also the potential that UMass Lowell could clinch home ice with a win. That is dependent upon what other teams do.
FIGHTING FOR HOME ICE:  UMass Lowell can clinch home ice for the Hockey East Quarterfinals as early as Friday night. A River Hawk win combined with a Boston University loss, Thursday night, would guarantee that UMass Lowell could finish no worse than fourth place.
CLINCHED:  UMass Lowell, earning four-points with wins against Boston College and UMass three weeks ago, has clinched a spot in the Hockey East playoffs. The playoff seeding is far from being determined. The River Hawks can finish anywhere from first to sixth place. It is the 31st time in 35 years that the River Hawks have made the playoffs. They have won the Hockey East Tournament three times.
THE 2019 SENIOR CLASS: UMass Lowell, Saturday, will hold its Senior Night ceremonies prior to the game against UNH. The five-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 87-50-11, a .625 winning percentage. The class ranks second in Hockey East in both wins and 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 in wins, fourth in winning percentage, among UML teams. The 2016 senior class tops the list with 100 victories.
ANOTHER SENIOR NIGHT: By the time this season is over the River Hawks will have attended six different senior night celebrations. They have witnessed senior night festivities as the visiting team against Bentley, Providence and Merrimack. New Hampshire holds its ceremonies tonight, UMass Lowell will honor its seniors on Saturday and it will be more of the same next Friday at Vermont.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Six members of the UMass Lowell roster have played more than 100 games in their collegiate careers and a seventh will join that club tonight. Nick Master leads the group with 144 games in a River Hawk uniform. Connor Wilson (128), Ryan Dmowski (126), Ryan Lohin (104), Mattias Göransson (103) and Colin O'Neill (102) joined the club earlier this season. Next on the list is Kenny Hausinger (99). 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 will wrap up the regular season with a Friday night meeting with Vermont at the Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington. UMass Lowell swept a weekend series against Vermont, 6-5 and 2-0, on January 18 and 19 and hold a 3-17-7 edge in the all-time series.
IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: For the sixth week in a row UMass Lowell has earned a spot in the USCHO poll and for the fourth time this year made an appearance in the USA Hockey Magazine poll. The club is currently 14th in both polls. Although missing from the polls for 28 weeks, 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.
BACK-TO-BACK: This the fifteenth "back-to-back" weekend this season. UMass Lowell is 9-4-1 on the first night and 7-5-2 on the second. They have four weekend sweeps on the board. The sweeps have come against UConn, Colgate, Vermont and BC/UMass. The River Hawks have been swept once this season (Providence.) 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.
ON THE ROAD: UMass Lowell is 11-4-1, a .719 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center this season. The eleven wins are the third most in the country and that .719 road winning percentage is fourth best in the country.
ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: UMass Lowell is 96-56-10, a .624 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the nearly eight years that Norm Bazin has led the program. That .624 winning percentage is the second best in the nation during that period. The River Hawks are 72-45-9, .608, as the road team and 24-11-1, .681, in games played at a neutral site.
ON THE ROAD, AGAIN AND AGAIN: The loss, February 16th, in Providence ended UMass Lowell's eight-game road winning streak. It was their longest road winning streak since taking a school Division I record nine in a row in 2013. The school record is 20 straight road wins set over two seasons beginning in January of 1981 and ending more than a year later.
ROAD WARRIORS: Several River Hawks appear to feel right at home when they are on the road. Ryan Lohin has scored 14 of his 25-points and seven of his 12-goals on the road.   Connor Sodergren has scored 12 of his 20-points in enemy rinks. Sam Knoblauch has scored seven (3g, 4a) of his eight points this season on the road. Charlie Levesque scored nine of his 15-points and Lucas Condotta has scored seven-points (3g, 4a) of his eight points in enemy buildings. Kenny Hausinger has seen ten of his 17-points come on the road. Reid Stefanson has accumulated eleven of his 16-points away from the Tsongas Center.Â
HOME SWEET HOME: UMass Lowell is 89-41-14 (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 7-6-2 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 the team with six-goals and 13-points in fifteen home games. Kenny Hausinger has five Tsongas Center goals. Ryan Lohin has 11-points at the Tsongas Center.
AT THIS POINT: UMass Lowell has 18 wins through 31 games this season and that is on the lower end of the Bazin Era Spectrum. In five of the last eight years UMass Lowell had 19 wins or more, including three seasons with 20 wins. In two other years they had 16 or 17 wins. For the third time in the Bazin Era UMass Lowell has at least 12 wins in its first 21 Hockey East Games, they had 14 in 2011-12.
THE REST OF THE WAY: UMass Lowell has just three games remaining on the regular season schedule. Those three games are against two different Hockey East opponents. The duo has a combined record of 23-30-10, a .444 winning percentage. The numbers change a bit once you factor in the number of games versus each opponent, 34-42-18 .458.
LAST WEEKEND vs. MERRIMACK: UMass Lowell earned a win and a tie against Merrimack last weekend. The River Hawks got goals from six different players en route to a 6-3 win, last Friday, at the Tsongas Center. After the River Hawks opened a 3-0 lead after one, Merrimack responded with three goals in the first 2:42 of the second period. Reid Stefanson broke the tie with a goal late in the second period and the home team added two markers in the third period. Saturday night in North Andover UMass Lowell, after trailing 1-0, held leads of 2-1 and 3-2 before the Warriors tied the game with an extra attacker goal with :48 remaining on the clock.
BONUS TIME - NO BONUS: Overtime has not been kind to UMass Lowell over the last two-plus seasons. The River Hawks are 1-9-6 in their last 16 overtime games 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.
NO GOALS:Â When UMass Lowell lost to Providence 1-0, it was the first time the River Hawks had been shutout since losing to UMass, 3-0, on February 10, 2018. It was the first 1-0 loss since February 1, 2013 when Merrimack beat UMass Lowell by that score.
FLUXUATIONS IN THE POWER GRID: The UMass Lowell power play has been on on-again off-again proposition. After scoring power play goals in four straight games and eight of eleven, the River Hawks have scored power play goals (2) in just one of the team's last five games. The PP Unit has a 16.9% success rate for the season.
PENALTY KILLING?: The UMass Lowell penalty killing unit has been playing some of its best hockey after a rough stretch. The PK unit has killed 33 of the last 37 shorthanded situations over an ten-game period, an 89.2% success rate. Â
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: UMass Lowell forward Connor Sodergren has four-goals and twenty-points in 31-games. A year ago Sodergren did not get to 20. He finished the year with four goals and ten points. His fourth goal and tenth point came in his 32nd, the team's 35th, game. Defenseman Mattias Göransson has also surpassed last year's totals. Göransson has four goals and 18-points. A year ago he finished with four-goals and 13-points.
CLEAN SHEETS:  UMass Lowell goalies have combined for seven shutouts this season. Tyler Wall has four and Christoffer Hernberg has 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.
BACK-TO-BACK ZEROES:  UMass Lowell posted consecutive shutouts, February 8 and 9, for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The River Hawks, with Connor Hellebuyck in nets, shutout Notre Dame and New Hampshire, both 4-0, in the Hockey East Tournament semi-final and championship games.
DIFFERENT GOALIE; SAME RESULT:  When UMass Lowell recorded consecutive shutout wins, February 8 and 9, it was the first time that multiple goaltenders, Wall and Hernberg, had played in consecutive shutouts since 2001. UMass Lowell shutout Army, 4-0 on November 24, 2001 using both Cam McCormick and Jimi St. John in nets and then followed that up with a 3-0 shutout at Union on November 28th with McCormick going the distance.
DOMINATING THE DOT: UMass Lowell is dominating at the faceoff circle. The River Hawks have won 984 of 1,883 puck drops, a winning percentage of 52.3%, second best in Hockey East. Charlie Levesque, Lucas Condotta, Nick Master and Connor Sodergren are all at .515 or better.
GETTING IN THE WAY: UMass Lowell is third in Hockey East in blocked shots per game. The River Hawks have blocked 372 shots in 31-games this season, an average of 12.00 shots blocked per game. Defenseman Mattias Göransson leads the team and his sixth in Hockey East with 52 blocks. Six players have 20 or more blocks.
STINGY D:  UMass Lowell held opponents to one goal or fewer in ten of its last 14 games. That stretch includes four shutouts. The River Hawks have a 1.86-goals against average during the 14-game span. Those numbers are the best in Hockey East in the new year.
BY THE CLOSEST OF MARGINS: UMass Lowell is 55-42-24, .554, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season. The team is 4-6-3 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 154-23-8, .854 during the last seven-plus years. The River Hawks are 13-3-2 this season and 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 29-73-16, .319, since 2011-12.
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 142-9-9 when leading after two-periods. They are also 32-20-10 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 12-2-0 this season.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Ryan Dmowski has eleven game winning goals in his career. That ranks him first in Hockey East and second in the nation among active players. Denver's Jarid Lukosevicius leads the country with 18, three others also have 11. His six game winning goals this season is tied for the national lead.
IN THE CLUTCH: Ryan Dmowski leads UMass Lowell with nine 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. Seven of Dmowski's nine 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.
Defense: Over the past seven-plus seasons, UMass Lowell has allowed just 2.25 goals per game and has a .920 save percentage. Those number are among the best in the country. Only two teams, (Quinnipiac 2.19 and Cornell 2.23), have a better goals against average and just one, (Denver .921) has a higher save percentage.
PUTTING THE D IN THE O: The UMass Lowell defense corps has become a significant contributor to the River Hawk offense during the last 20 games. After scoring just one-goal and adding ten-assists during the first eight games of the season the blueliners have contributed 13-goals and 53-points to the offense in the last 23 games. During that stretch the River Hawks have averaged 3.04-goals per game after averaging 2.38-goals per game during the first eight contests of the year. The 13-goals is the third most by a Hockey East defense since November 9. The UMass Lowell defense corps is fifth in Hockey East in both goals and points. A year ago the UMass Lowell defensemen were among the highest scoring in the nation with 26-goals and 89-points.
ON TARGET: UMass Lowell has scored on 10.3% of its shots on goal during the nearly eight years that Norm Bazin has been behind the bench. Only three teams show greater accuracy during that seven-plus season period of time.  St. Cloud tops the lists at 11.1%. Boston College and Northeastern are at 10.6% and 10.4% respectively.
A GOOD START: UMass Lowell has allowed just 18 first period goals 31 games into the season. That's an average of 0.58 goals per first period. That ranks UMass Lowell eighth in the nation and only one Hockey East team has better numbers. UMass has allowed 0.52 first period goals, a total of 16 in 31 games. The River Hawks have outscored opponents 27-18 in the first period. That goal differential, +9, is the third highest in Hockey East.
THE FINAL THIRD: Thirty-one games into the season and the River Hawks have outscored their opponents 35-goals to 24 in the third period of play. The plus-11 is third best in Hockey East and is 13th in the country. Only one Hockey East team has given up fewer third period goals. 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 eleventh highest goal differential in the country.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The UMass Lowell freshmen class has been key to the River Hawk offense. The group, with 24-goals and 67-points, is second in scoring of the four classes. The class is second in Hockey East in goals and third in points. Reid Stefanson, with 17-points (7g, 10a), is the top scoring River Hawk freshmen.
BEFORE AND AFTER THE BREAK: UMass Lowell, during the Norm Bazin Era, has a better winning percentage after the winter break than before it. The River Hawks are 74-43-12, .620, before the break and 112-54-12, .663, after the break. BUT, the numbers can be misleading. In five of the previous seven years the team had a slightly better winning percentage during the first half of the season.
80 GAMES: UMass Lowell forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 80 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 64 and Charlie Levesque is third with 59. 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.Â
ATTENDANCE NUMBERS:  After leading Hockey East in average home attendance for the last three years, UMass Lowell is hoping to do it again. UMass Lowell trails Massachusetts, 4,972 to 4,949. 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. The athletic trainer has worked 1,413 games including 1,346 Division I games. He has missed only one game. Poitras is working on a consecutive games streak that has now reached 937. He is the only trainer in College Hockey to work games at both Northern Arizona and Arizona State.
