Friday, January 24th at Boston University (7:30pm)
(Agganis Arena; Boston, Mass.)
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Live Stats |
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Game Notes
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);Â Tim Casagrande (Analyst)
Saturday, January 25th vs. Boston University (6pm)
STAR WARS NIGHT | EDUCATOR APPRECIATION NIGHT
(Tsongas Center; Lowell, Mass.)
Watch (US/Intl $)Â |Â
Listen Live |
Live Stats |
Tickets
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockeyÂ
Television: NESNÂ (Channel Finder)/NESNgo
Talent: Tom Caron (Play by Play); Andrew Raycroft (Analyst); Kendra Middleton (Rinkside)
Aaron King (Producer);
Samantha Pineau (Director)
Commercial Radio: River Hawk Network: 980AMÂ WCAP
Talent:
Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Andy Merritt (Analyst)
Non-Commercial Radio: WUMLÂ 91.5 FM
Talent: Connor Capozzi (Play by Play);Â Tim Casagrande (Analyst)
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is 13-6-4 / 7-3-3 after a weekend with mixed results; a loss to BC and a win against Merrimack. The River Hawks are currently in fourth place, two-points behind first place Massachusetts, two points ahead of fifth place Northeastern. The team is ranked 12th in both the USA Hockey Magazine Poll and the USCHO Poll. The River Hawks were picked for a sixth place finish in both the Hockey East Coaches' and the Media Pre-Season polls. Seventeen players have scored goals this season, five have five or more. Carl Berglund leads the team with ten.  Connor Sodergren and Andre Lee have seven. Kenny Hausinger has six. Matt Brown has five. Brown and Berglund lead the team with 19-points. The top three point scorers, Brown, Berglund and Lee, are freshmen. Goalie Tyler Wall has started twenty-one of the team's twenty-three games with a 1.97 goals against average and a .936 save percentage. Wall has authored two of his nine career shutouts this season.
SCOUTING THE TERRIERS: Boston University, with 12 NHL draft picks on the roster, is 8-8-5 after beating Merrimack, but losing to Boston College last weekend. The Terriers are 6-2-3 at home, but 2-5-2 on the road. They currently sit in sixth place in the Hockey East standings, three points behind UMass Lowell in the final home ice playoff spot and five points behind first place Massachusetts. The Terriers, who lost five of their top eight scorers, were picked for a fifth place finish in both the Hockey East Coaches' the Media Pre-Season Polls. Senior Patrick Curry leads the team with 12-goals. Defenseman David Farrance leads the team with 26-points. Grad student goalie Sam Tucker, a transfer from Yale, has a 2.79 goals against average and .908 save percentage. Freshman goalie Ashton Abel joined the team at mid-season and has started one game and appeared in two.
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. BOSTON UNIVERSITY: This is the 120 th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1983. BU leads the series 77-32-10. These two teams have split the season series in each of the last three years. The Terriers have a 11-5-0 edge in Hockey East Tournament games and ended the River Hawks season two-games-to-one in the quarterfinal a year ago. UMass Lowell swept the Terriers out of the Hockey East tournament, two-games-to-none, in the 2016 Tournament. The two teams have met four times in the Hockey East Championship Game. BU has won three of the four, but UMass Lowell's first Hockey East Championship ended BU's 2013 season and coaching legend Jack Parker's career. The River Hawks hold a 14-10-2 edge since Norm Bazin became the head coach.
BACK IN OCTOBER: UMass Lowell and Boston University battled to a 3-3 tie at the Tsongas Center back on October 25th. The visitors got two goals from Patrick Harper and a goal from David Farrance in building a 3-0 lead by the 7:48 mark of the second period. The River Hawks responded with goals from Chase Blackmun and Kenny Hausinger in the second period and Seth Barton at the 1:20 mark of the third period to tie the game. Tyler Wall made 33 saves and Sam Tucker kicked aside 25 shots.
LAST SEASON: Boston University ended UMass Lowell's season with a 4-1 win in game three of the Hockey East Quarterfinals. The since departed Joel Farabee had four goals in the three-game series. The Terriers won the opener, 3-0, and the decisive third game, 4-1. UMass Lowell forced a winner-take-all third game with a 6-4 win in game two. The team split a pair of games during the regular season, each winning on the road. Five different players scored goals in UMass Lowell's 5-3 win at the Agganis Arena on December 7th. Seth Barton's first collegiate goal was the game winner. The next night BU scored three times, two from Bobo Carpenter, in the first 14:02 of the game and went on to a 5-2 win at the Tsongas Center.
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND: UMass Lowell split a pair of games, first dropping a one-goal decision to Boston College then knocking off Merrimack by a pair. The River Hawks scored twice in the first 71-seconds of hockey Friday night against BC and then never scored again as Boston College came from behind to top the River Hawks, 3-2. Logan Hutsko's third period goal proved to be the difference.  UMass Lowell got goals from six different players, Saturday, against Merrimack en route to a 6-4 win.
OUTSHOT BUT NOT BEATEN: UMass Lowell was outshot by 24 (39-15) in its 6-4 win against Merrimack. The last time that UMass Lowell was outshot by 24 and won was January 12, 1990 when the then-Chiefs beat #8 Maine 2-1 on a Don Parsons goal with 2:12 remaining in the third period despite being outshot 41-17.   Goalie Mark Richards made 40 saves. UMass Lowell is 10-3-2 when outshot in a game this season.
WINNING THE SEASON SERIES: UMass Lowell has won the season series from Merrimack by winning the first two of three games this season. It is the 21st time in 31 years that UMass Lowell has taken the season series from their valley rivals. That 21 is the most season series wins against any opponent. The two teams will meet for a final time on February 8th at the Lawler Rink in North Andover.
200!: UMass Lowell 6-4 win against Merrimack, last Saturday, was Head Coach Norm Bazin 200th win behind the River Hawk bench. It came in his 336 game at the helm. His first win at UMass Lowell came on October 14, 2011 against Minnesota State, 4-2. Bazin is the second UMass Lowell coach to reach the 200 win plateau. Billy Riley won 363 games during a career that brought the program from Division II to Division I. Riley's 200th win came in his 304th games.
THE BOSS' BIRTHDAY: Last Saturday was Head Coach Norm Bazin's 49th birthday. With a 6-4 win against Merrimack, Bazin is 3-1-0 as a coach on his birthday. He was 1-1-0 as a player. UMass Lowell is 12-6-1, all-time, on January 18th.
900: The next win will be UMass Lowell's 900th in program history. The River Hawks will be the 32nd team in college hockey and the sixth in Hockey East to reach that number.
FINALLY: Sophomore Austin O'Rourke scored his first collegiate goal last Saturday night in UMass Lowell's 6-4 victory against Merrimack. The goal came in O'Rourke's 25th collegiate game.
A STEFANSON SIGHTING: After missing the first 19 games of the season Reid Stefanson returned to the ice January 10th at RIT. He has now skated in three games this season. Stefanson, who was the team's top freshman scorer a year ago, did pick up his first point of the season, an assist in his 2019-20 debut. Stefanson scored eight-goals and 20-points a year ago.
A WIN TONIGHT... ...could move UMass Lowell into first place tie, with Massachusetts, in Hockey East. At the very least a win would move the River Hawks ahead of idle Providence. It would also create a five-point edge over Boston University. If Tyler Wall is in nets the win would be his 54th. He is the River Hawks Division I career leader. A win would also be the 900th in the history of the UMass Lowell Hockey program.
BACK-TO-BACK: UMass Lowell has sixteen "back-to-back" weekend series this season. Eleven have been played, this is the twelfth. The team is 6-2-3 on the first night and 6-4-1 on the second. They have swept both Alabama Huntsville and Vermont and had a sweep weekend by beating both Rensselaer and Penn State on consecutive nights. 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.)
NEXT WEEKEND: The River Hawks get a bit of a breather. The hockey club has a bye week before returning to action the following weekend. UMass Lowell will visit Boston College on February 7th and then travel to Merrimack the following night. The River Hawks hve beaten the Warriors twice this season and lead the all-time series 81-40-12. UMass Lowell has not been as successful against Boston College. The Eagles won the first meeting this season, 3-2, and hold a 66-41-10 all-time edge.
THE ROAD AHEAD: There are eleven games and against teams left on the UMass Lowell regular season schedule and that road ahead will not be easy. Two games are against teams (Merrimack and UConn) with records that are under .500, the other nine games are against teams at .500 (BU) or better (BC, Northeastern, UMass and UNH). The River Hawks remaining opponents have a combined record of 137-93-24 and a winning percentage of .587.
ON THE ROAD: UMass Lowell is 7-2-1, .750, playing away from the Tsongas Center this season. That .750 winning percentage is the fifth best in the country.
ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: UMass Lowell is 103-59-12, a .626 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the eight-plus years that Norm Bazin has led the program. That .626 winning percentage is the best in the nation during that period. The River Hawks are 79-48-11, .612, as the road team and 24-11-1, .681, in games played at a neutral site.
HOME SWEET HOME?: UMass Lowell has won six of thirteen with three ties at the Tsongas Center this season and is 97-47-18 (a .654 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.
AFTER A LOSS: UMass Lowell did a terrific job avoiding any extended losing streak a year ago and appear to be doing the same this year. Seven times, a year ago, 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. They have lost consecutive games only twice this season.
TWENTY-THREE GAMES IN:  Twenty-three games into the season and UMass Lowell appears to be on par with where the team was a year ago. The River Hawks are 13-6-4 after being 14-8-1 a year ago. The team is 7-3-3 in league play compared with 8-3-1 a year ago.
AT THE BREAK: The River Hawks reached the winter break with double digit wins for the ninth time in 36 years of Division I hockey. UMass Lowell is 10-4-4. The most wins the team has ever had at the break is 12. That was done twice, 1986-87 and 2001-02.
A CHILD SHALL LEAD:  Freshmen Matt Brown, with 20-points, Carl Berglund, with 19, and Andre Lee, with 17, lead UMass Lowell in scoring. They are three of the top six point producing rookies in Hockey East. UMass Lowell is the only team in the country whose top three scorers are freshmen.
BY THE CLOSEST OF MARGINS: UMass Lowell is 61-48-30, .547, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season. The team is 6-5-4 this season and 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 168-25-10, .852 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 32-81-20, .316, since 2011-12.
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 154-9-10 when leading after two-periods. That includes an 11-0-1 mark this season. They are also 33-22-14 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 162-11-4, 77-5-3 at the Tsongas Center. The club is 9-1-0, this season, with a two-goal lead. 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 6-68-7, 2-31-4 at Tsongas. Last year, they were 0-7-2, 0-6-2 at Tsongas.
WHEN THE GAME IS ON THE LINE:  UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall has been at his best when the game is on the line. He is second in the country in saves in the third period and overtime. Wall has stopped 241 of 259 shots (.931) in the final 25 minutes of hockey.
PROTECTING THE NET: UMass Lowell is one of the top defensive team in Hockey East. The River Hawks have a 2.17 goals against average. That's 11th in the country and third in Hockey East. UMass Lowell has allowed no more than two-goals in 14 of its 23 games.
RIVER HAWK STRONG AT EVEN STRENGTH: UMass Lowell has outscored their opponents by a significant margin when playing even strength hockey. The River Hawks have scored 44-goals while allowing just 29 while the teams have been playing with five skaters apiece.
DOMINATING THE DOT: UMass Lowell has been dominant in the faceoff circle this year and the year before. The River Hawks have won 741 of 1,392, 53.2% of the puck drops. That figure leads Hockey East and is the tenth best in the country. Charlie Levesque (179/294, 60.9%), Sam Knoblauch (32/55, 58.2%), Lucas Condotta (178 of 309, 57.6%), Brian Chambers (29/55, 52.7%) and Kenny Hausinger (36/69, 52.2%), lead the way. Levesque is third in Hockey east and seventh 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. Levesque led the team with a .568 percentage.
FLUXUATIONS IN THE POWER GRID: The UMass Lowell power play is beginning to put it together. The River Hawks have scored a power play goal (15-57, 26.3%) in thirteen of its last sixteen games. The team is just 17 for 85, 20.0%, on the season. That's after starting the year 2-for-28, 7.1%.
PK OK?: The UMass Lowell penalty killing unit hit another bump in the road last Saturday. After killing off 19 consecutive shorthanded situations the River Hawks allowed a 5-on-3 goal and then two 6-on-4 goals. On the season UMass Lowell has successfully killed 77 of 91 man down situations. With an 84.6% success rate the PK Unit is fourth in Hockey East and 17th in the nation.
WALL NOMINATED FOR HOBEY BAKER AWARD:  Goaltender Tyler Wall has been nominated for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The announcement was made last week. Online fan voting has now commenced for the most prestigious individual award in college hockey and will continue through the night of March 10th. Wall has posted a 12-3-4 record in 19 starts in his senior season with a 1.81 GAA, a .941 save percentage and two shutouts. His .941 save percentage is ranks tied for second among Div. I goaltenders and his GAA ranks sixth in the nation. He has allowed two goals or fewer in 14 of 19 starts this season and has registered 30+ saves in 11 contests so far this season. Goalie Dwayne Roloson is the only UMass Lowell player to be named a finalist for the award. That was in 1994.
NON-CONFERENCE: The games on January 10 and 11 at R I T wrapped up the River Hawks non-conference schedule for the 2019-20 regular season. UMass Lowell finished the run at 6-3-1 in ten non-conference games. The .650 non-conference winning percentage is 14th best in the country.
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 89-39-7 (.685) in non-conference games since 2011-12. The team is 6-3-1 this year and was 6-4-0 a year ago.
GET ON THE BUS: For UMass Lowell the ride to the Gene Polisseni Center and games with R I T was their longest bus ride of the season. It's a 397-mile trip from the Tsongas Center to the Polisseni Center, in Rochester, N.Y. It is not the greatest distance that UMass Lowell has traveled this season to play hockey. That longest trip was for a pair of games at the Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minnesota. A 1,057-mile journey by air.
CAREER WIN 52:  Goalie Tyler Wall picked up his 52nd career win January 10 at RIT. That moved Wall to the top of the list as the winningest goalie in UMass Lowell's Division I history. Dwayne Roloson had held the record, at 51, since wrapping up his collegiate career in 1994. Marty Fillion who's playing days ended in 1998 in now third with 50 career wins. Wall has now upped his win total to 53.
94 AND COUNTING: UMass Lowell's visit January 10th and 11th to the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, a building that opened for business during the 2014-15 season, pushed the number of buildings in which UMass Lowell has played hockey to at least 94. Visits last season to Bentley and Colgate pushed the number to 92 and 93. The long list includes stops stretching from Alaska to Belfast, Northern Ireland and from Arizona to Maine.
28 DAYS: It was 28 days between games when UMass Lowell played Merrimack last Saturday night. That break, December 7 to January 4, is the longest in the school's Division I history. It should be noted that UMass Lowell did play an exhibition game, a 3-1 win, on December 29th against the CCHL All-Stars. The River Hawks did have a 27-day break during the 2010-11 season.Â
FLYING SOLO: The January 4th game at Merrimack, a 3-1 win, was the first time this year that UMass Lowell played a stand-alone game. The only other stand-alone game on the River Hawk schedule is the season finale against UConn on March 6. A year ago UMass Lowell was 2-2-1 in five stand-alone games.
DEFENSE: Over the past eight-plus seasons, UMass Lowell has allowed just 2.26 goals per game and has a .921 save percentage. Those number are among the best in the country. Only three teams, (Cornell 2.17, Quinnipiac 2.22 and Minnesota State 2.22), have a better goals against average and just one, (Denver .922) has a higher save percentage.
ON TARGET: UMass Lowell has scored on 10.3% of its shots on goal during the eight-plus years that Norm Bazin has been behind the bench. Only four teams show greater accuracy. St. Cloud tops the lists at 11.2%. Boston College is at 10.6% and Northeastern is at 10.5%. Minnesota is at 10.3%.
ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT: UMass Lowell has played fifteen games decided by one-goal or less. Seven of those came consecutively and is the most one-goal games in a row the River Hawks have ever played in their 53 years of hockey. The team was 3-2-2 in that stretch and is 6-5-4 in one-goal games this season.
EXTRA TIME:  Seven of the River Hawks 23 games have gone into overtime. That's more than three quarters of the way to equaling the school record. The most overtime games that the River Hawks have played in a year is nine. That's happened three times. The most recent was during the 2015-16 season when the club went 3-1-5 in overtime. UMass Lowell is 2-1-4 in overtime this season.
OT AGAIN:  UMass Lowell has played seven overtime games this season, only four teams have played overtime more often. St. Lawrence has played in nine overtime games. New Hampshire, Providence and Princeton have played in eight.
FIT TO BE TIED:  The November 15th 3-3 tie was the River Hawks fourth tie of the season. That is fourth in the nation. UMass Lowell is one of ten teams with four ties on their record. Only Boston University, Providence and Holy Cross have five.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Things have changed for River Hawk defenseman Chase Blackmun. A year ago Blackmun had just one-goal and three-points through 23 games. This time around he's got three-goals and eleven-points.   Two of his goals have been game winners.
JUST THREE: With a record of 6-3-3 in Hockey East play, UMass Lowell has the fewest losses in league play. The River Hawks are the one of two teams with just three losses.  Boston College is the other. BC has played 12 games, UMass Lowell has played thirteen league contests.
BACK IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT:  UMass Lowell is receiving recognition in the polls for the 12th straight week. The team is slotted at number 12 in the USA Hockey Magazine poll and in the USCHO Poll. It is the 12th week in a row and the 13th time this season that UMass Lowell has appeared in at least one of the two polls. The team 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 River Hawks are no stranger to the polls, the team had been nationally ranked for 116 consecutive polls between Jan. 7, 2013 and Oct. 23, 2017.
THE NEW YEAR'S PAIRWISE:  UMass Lowell was ranked 12th in the Pairwise as the calendar flipped from 2019 to 2020. During the previous eight season with Norm Bazin at the helm UMass Lowell has been as high as number five in 2017 and as low as number 30 a year ago. In five of the previous eight years the River Hawks earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, three times they did not. During the 2012-13 season UMass Lowell made it to the Frozen Four after sitting at number 21 at mid-year. They were number 12 in 2014-15, but missed the post season.
PENALTY SHOT: Kenny Hausinger's penalty shot goal December 6 against Providence was the first successful penalty shot by a River Hawk since Jake Kamrass scored against Nebraska Omaha October 29, 2016. Mattias Göransson was stopped on a penalty shot attempt against Vermont January 19, 2019.
TIEBREAKER: The December 6th UMass Lowell win in Providence gave the River Hawks the upper hand in the season series and the tiebreaker should the two teams finish the season tied in the Hockey East standings. UMass Lowell won the three-game season series two-games-to-one.
DOWN BUT NOT OUT: The December 6th come-from-behind, 3-2, win at Providence was the first time UMass Lowell has won a game in which it trailed by two-goals since defeating Vermont, 3-2, in overtime on January 19, 2018. The River Hawks are 1-1-1 in games in which they have trailed by two goals this season. It was also the first time this season that UMass Lowell won a game when trailing entering the third period.Â
A CLASS ABOVE: The UMass Lowell rookie class is one of the highest scoring freshmen class in the country. River Hawk freshmen, in 23 games, have scored 27-goals and 43-assists for 70-points. That ranks UMass Lowell third in the country. Providence tops the charts with 73-points. Merrimack is second with 71. Matt Brown and Carl Berglund with 20 and 19-points respectively are sixth and eighth in scoring among first year player in the country and just two and three-points behind the national leaders. Carl Berglund, with ten-goals, is third among rookie goal scorers.
109 GAMES:  UMass Lowell forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 109 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. Sophomore Defenseman Chase Blackmun is second on the consecutive games list with 51. Michael Kapla is the River Hawk record holder with 161 consecutive games played.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Only two members of the UMass Lowell roster have played more than 100 games in their collegiate careers. Colin O'Neill (131) and Kenny Hausinger (125) joined the Century Club late last season. Charlie Levesque (93), Tyler Wall (92), Connor Sodergren (90) and Anthony Baxter (89) are next on the list.Â
THE 2020 SENIOR CLASS: The three-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 76-49-12, a .599 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. The class ranks sixth 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. They are one of nine teams with just three seniors, no school has fewer. Boston College's roster shows 11 seniors.
THE LEADERSHIP:  The UMass Lowell leadership includes six Alternate Captains, but no Captain. Seniors Kenny Hausinger, Colin O'Neill and Tyler Wall along with juniors Charlie Levesque, Connor Sodergren and Anthony Baxter all have an "A" on the front of their jerseys. Wall is the first goalie to wear either an "A" or a "C" on the uniform since Dwayne Roloson during the 1993-94 season.
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL: When UMass Lowell beat Rensselaer 4-0, November 29th, it was the ninth shutout of Tyler Wall's career. He is fourth on the school's career shutout list moving ahead of Cam McCormick and Christoffer Hernberg who had eight. The all-time leader is Connor Hellebuyck who blanked opponents 12 times. Carter Hutton and Kevin Boyle are second with ten.
THE GREAT WALL:  UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall is among the nation's leaders in goals against average and save percentage. Wall has a 1.97 GAA. That's number twelve in the country and his .936 save percentage ranks seventh. He leads Hockey East in save percentage and is second in goals against average.
A GOOD START: UMass Lowell allowed just twelve first period goals in 23 games this season. That's just 0.52 goals per first period and that's ranks the River Hawks 9th best in the country and number three among Hockey East teams. On the other side of the equation UMass Lowell has scored just 16 first period goals and that ranks the team 31st in the country. The team is 6-1-0 when leading after one period.
THE FIRST 5:  UMass Lowell has scored a goal in the first five minutes of play in eight of their first 23 games this season. That's leads the country. They did it in victories against Alabama Huntsville twice, Minnesota Duluth, Vermont, Rensselaer and Merrimack but lost after taking a 1-0 lead at the 4:40 mark of the first period against Colgate and lost after scoring twice in the first 71-seconds against Boston College. Twenty-four of the River Hawks 66 goals this season have come in the first five-minutes of a period. That number, twenty-four, is fourth in the nation.
THE FINAL THIRD: The River Hawks outscored their opponents 37-goals to 26 in the third period of play a year ago. 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, 23-21, in the third period this season.
FIRST NOTCH: Four UMass Lowell freshmen scored their first collegiate goals during the season's first weekend and a fifth added his name to the tally sheet in early November and sophomore got goal number one last weekend. Matt Brown, Zach Kaiser and Andre Lee all scored third-period goals on Saturday, October 5, and freshman Carl Berglund, who had two-assists on Saturday, scored the game's first goal on Sunday, October 6. Brian Chambers picked up his first collegiate goal with an empty net marker against Vermont November 2. Sophomore Austin O'Rourke added his first goal January 18th against Merrimack.
MULTI GOAL GAMES: Four River Hawks have recorded a total of five multi-goal games this season. Lucas Condotta was the first when he scored twice in the River Hawks 3-2 win at Minnesota-Duluth, October 12. It was also the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career. He added another January 10th at RIT. Chris Schutz added his name to the list with a pair of goals November 2nd at Vermont in a 5-3 win. Connor Sodergren joined the group with two-goals against Rensselaer on November 29th. Freshman Carl Berglund had a two-goal game last Friday night at RIT.
IN THE CLUTCH: River Hawk freshman Carl Berglund has stepped up in the clutch. A "clutch goal" is defined as a goal that either ties the score or gives the team the lead in a hockey game. Berglund leads the team with seven clutch goals, five have given the team the lead, two have tied the score. Matt Brown has four clutch goals and Zach Kaiser, Lucas Condotta and Andre Lee have three. Berglund also leads the team with three game winning goals. Andre Lee and Chase Blackmun have two.
TIME IS ON OUR SIDE, YES IT IS: UMass Lowell has played 23 hockey games and has only trailed for 260:59 (18.6%) of a total of 1,407-minutes and 12-seconds of hockey. The River Hawks have skated with the lead for 594:19 or 42.2% of the time. The two teams have been tied for 552:39 or 39.3% of the time.
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.
ATTENDANCE NUMBERS: UMass Lowell is fourth in average attendance among Hockey East schools. The River Hawks are averaging 4,028 fans per game after thirteen home games. Boston College leads the conference drawing 6,224 after eight home games, New Hampshire is second with an average of 4,481 after ten home games and Massachusetts is third, eleven home games into the season, averaging 4,339. 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 2018-19 season.
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 899-740-124, .544, and 639-618-117 record (.506) as a DI program.
