SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS:  UMass Lowell is 15-7-5 / 9-4-4 after beating Boston College and Merrimack on the road last weekend.  The team is 9-3-1 on the road this season.  The River Hawks are in sole possession of second place, two points behind Massachusetts and two-points ahead of Boston College and Maine.  The team is ranked 11th 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.  Nineteen players have scored goals this season, five have six or more. Carl Berglund leads the team with eleven.  Connor Sodergren has eight while Kenny Hausinger and Andre Lee have seven.  Matt Brown has six. Brown leads the team with 23-points.  The top three point scorers, Brown, Berglund and Lee, are freshmen.  Goalie Tyler Wall has started twenty-five of the team's twenty-seven games with a 2.09 goals against average and a .931 save percentage.  Wall has authored two of his nine career shutouts this season.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES:  Northeastern is 15-8-3 / 8-7-1 after defeating Boston University, 5-4 in double overtime, Monday night in the Beanpot Championships game at the TD Garden.  Because the game went into a second overtime, under NCAA rules, it is officially a tie.  The Huskies are 8-2-1 at home and 4-6-1 on the road.  They are in ninth place in the Hockey East standings, one-point out of the playoffs, three points behind the final home ice playoff spot and just seven points back of first place Massachusetts.  They trail the second place River Hawks by five points, but do hold a game in hand.  The team was picked to finish fourth in both the Coaches' Pre-Season Polls and in the Media Pre-Season Poll.  Northeastern lost their top three 2018-19 point scorers, but did return their top two goal scorers.  Seventeen different players have scored goals, seven have five or more.  Tyler Madden leads the squad with 18-goals and 36-points.  Zach Solow has 13-goals 28-points.  Defenseman Ryan Shea leads the team with 23-assists.  Graduate transfer goalie Craig Pantano has started all 26 games the team has played.  He carries a 2.48 goals against average and an .914 save percentage into tonight's contest.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NORTHEASTERN:  This is the 121st meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1983.  UMass Lowell leads the series 62-48-10, but the more recent meetings show Northeastern with a slight edge.  That edge is reflected in the last ten games between the two teams, Northeastern leads 6-3-1.  The Huskies took two of three from the River Hawks in each of the last two seasons.  The two met in the 2016 Hockey East Championship Game.  Northeastern won that match up, 3-2, but UMass Lowell does hold an edge in HEA Tournament play 10-5-0.  The two teams met in one of the first NCAA regular season games played outside the United States.  UML won that match up in the opening game of the Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland in November of 2015. 

RANKED vs. RANKED:  This is just the sixth time that UMass Lowell and Northeastern have met when both were ranked in the top 15 in the country.  The River Hawks are ranked 11th in both the USCHO and USA Hockey Polls; the Huskies are 12th.  This is the first time they have met as Top 15 teams since March of 2016.  Of those previous five meetings UMass Lowell has won three, Northeastern two.

BONUS HOCKEY?: When UMass Lowell and Northeastern meet 60-minutes is often not enough time to decide matters.  Seventeen of the last 49 games between the two teams have gone to overtime.  UMass Lowell holds 7-4-6 edge in those OT games, and 10-5-10 overtime advantage all-time in long history between the two.  More recently nine of the last 22 games have required extra time with the results evenly split, 3-3-3.

LAST YEAR VERSUS NORTHEASTERN:  Northeastern won the season series, taking two of the contests.  The Huskies won the first two meetings, 4-1, on October 26th and 5-4 in overtime 15 days later.  The first game was a 1-0 battle into the third period before Northeastern got goals from Zach Solow and Grant Josefek to take a 3-1 lead before Patrick Schule's empty net goal, his second marker of the contest, made it a 4-1 final.  In the second meeting Northeastern overcame a two-goal third-period deficit to win 5-4 on Patrick Schule's overtime goal.  UMass Lowell won the final meeting, February 1, 3-1.  The River Hawks got goals from Kenny Hausinger, Ryan Lohin and Reid Stefanson to support a 26-save performance by Tyler Wall.

BAZIN VS. MADIGAN:  Both coaches, Norm Bazin and NU's Jim Madigan came on board for the 2011-12 season and since that time the two teams have shown an even split in the series, 9-9-3.  Madigan has a 162-125-36 record since taking over the reins at Northeastern, Bazin is 202-107-31 at UMass Lowell during that period of time.

FAMILY CONNECTION:  Northeastern defenseman Jordan Harris is the son of former UMass Lowell goalie Peter Harris.  The elder Harris played in 16 games between 1986 and 1990 with a 4.56 goals against average and a 4-5-1 record.  Peter Harris was drafted by the New York Islanders.  His son Jordan is a Montreal Canadiens draft pick.

LAWLER AND MATTHEWS:  With last Saturday night's 4-3 win at Merrimack, UMass Lowell has won 37 games at the Lawler Rink, the most of any enemy building.  Thirty-three of those wins have come against Merrimack, the others have come in tournament play against various teams.   The River Hawks have 30 wins at Northeastern's Matthews Arena.  That is the second most of any opposing team's building and does include games against teams other than Northeastern.

AT MATTHEWS ARENA: This will be UMass Lowell's 62nd game at the Matthews Arena.  The River Hawks have only visited two buildings more often, Maine's Alfond Arena in Orono and Merrimack's Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass.  The River Hawks are 28-22-6 against Northeastern at the Matthews and also played Boston College at the Matthews when the Conte Forum was under construction.

THE COACH AS A PLAYER AT MATTHEWS: UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin scored his first collegiate goal at the Matthews Arena.  That goal came on November 9, 1990 at the 1:06 mark of the second period.  It cut Northeastern's lead to 4-3 in a game that would eventually go in the books as an 8-8 tie, the highest scoring tie in program history.  Dave Pensa and Tim Smallwood picked up the assists on Bazin's first goal.  It was also Bazin's first collegiate point.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: UMass Lowell and Northeastern have faced one another on eight different ice surfaces.  The two have battled at the Tsongas Center, Matthews Arena, Tully Forum (Billerica, Mass.), Fenway Park, Thompson Arena (Hanover, N.H.), Boston Garden, TD Garden and the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2015.  UMass Lowell has played Boston College, Maine and New Hampshire in nine different buildings.  UMass Lowell has played Clarkson in ten different buildings.

IN NHL BUILDINGS:  The XL Center in Hartford, where UMass Lowell and UConn played on November 15th, once was home to the NHL's Hartford Whalers.  The River Hawks have a 46-43-10 record in buildings that have been the home to an NHL team.  UMass Lowell is 9-9-1 in the TD Garden/Fleet Center, 4-5-0 in the old Boston Garden, 1-2-0 at the CONSOL Energy Center, 1-0-1 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, 2-2-2 at the XL Center and 29-25-6 in the Matthews Arena, the original home of the Boston Bruins then known as the Boston Arena.  Excluding the Matthews Arena, UMass Lowell is 17-18-4 in NHL Buildings.

TIEBREAKER:  With Nine teams separated by seven points and only the top four getting home ice in the opening round of the Hockey East playoffs winning the season series becomes magnified.  The season series is the first in a series of tiebreakers.  UMass Lowell holds that first tiebreaker with Providence and with Maine, but has lost the season series to Boston University.  The River Hawks trail, 0-1-1, in the season series with UConn with one game still to play.  UMass Lowell and Boston College split the season series, 1-1-0.  The River Hawks have yet to play Northeastern or Massachusetts.  UMass Lowell also has the tiebreaker with Merrimack and Vermont.

ABOUT LAST WEEKEND:  Defenseman Marek Korencik scored his first and second collegiate goals and each proved to be the game winner.  The first came midway through the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give the River Hawks at win against Boston College at the Conte Forum last night.  UMass Lowell also got goals from Carl Berglund and Kenny Hausinger.  Korencik's second goal came the following night against Merrimack and gave UMass Lowell and 4-1 lead en route to a 4-3 win.  Matt Brown, Connor Sodergren and Blake Wells also found the back of the net.

WINNING THE SEASON SERIES:  UMass Lowell has won the season series from Merrimack by winning all three contests.  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.  It was also the ninth time that UMass Lowell has swept the season series from Merrimack.

FOUR LOSSES: UMass Lowell has the fewest losses in Hockey East conference play.  With 17 league games played, the River Hawks have just four losses.  Boston University has five losses, everyone else has at least six.

WEEKLY HONORS: UMass Lowell goalie Tyler Wall has been honored by Hockey East six times this season as the Defensive Player of the Week.  He picked up the award first on October 14th and then again on three consecutive weeks, October 28th, and November 4th and 11th.  He added another award on December 2.  That was five awards in an eight-week span.  He was honored a sixth time this past Monday after wins against Boston College and Merrimack.

GETTING ON THE BOARD FIRST:  UMass Lowell is 9-2-3 this season when they score the first goal of the game.  Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching responsibilities, the River Hawks are 148-26-17 when they score the first goal of the game.  That's a .819 winning percentage. That figure is the best in the nation.  Minnesota State is a close second at 165-32-13 (.817), and Denver is 3rd at 161-33-19 (.800).  BC comes in 4th at 157-33-18 (.798).  For reference, the national average over the last 9 years is .697, and this year it's .704.  Oddly enough UMass Lowell's last two wins have come when the opponent scored the first goal of the game.

A WIN TONIGHT...  ...could move UMass Lowell into first place tie, with idle Massachusetts, in Hockey East.  At the very least it would keep the River Hawks in no worse than a sole possession of second place.  If Tyler Wall is in nets the win would be his 56th.  He is the River Hawks Division I career leader.

BACK-TO-BACK:  UMass Lowell has sixteen "back-to-back" weekend series this season.  Thirteen have been played, this is the fourteenth.  The team is 7-3-3 on the first night and 7-4-2 on the second.  They have swept both Alabama Huntsville and Vermont and had a sweep weekend by beating both Rensselaer and Penn State and Boston College and Merrimack on consecutive nights.

NEXT WEEKEND:  The River Hawks face Massachusetts for the first and only times during this regular season.  The two will meet in a home-and-home series; Friday they play at the Tsongas Center, Saturday at the Mullins Center.  The River Hawks hold the edge in the all-time series, 50-26-7, and are 19-2-1 in the last 22.

THE ROAD AHEAD:  There are seven games against four different teams left on the UMass Lowell regular season schedule and that road ahead will not be easy.  Just one game is against a team (UConn, 11-12-4) with a sub .500 record.  The other six games are against teams at .500 or better (Northeastern, UMass and UNH).  The River Hawks remaining opponents have a combined record of 107-68-18 and a winning percentage of .601.

ON THE ROAD: UMass Lowell is 9-3-1, .731, playing away from the Tsongas Center this season.  That .731 winning percentage is the sixth best in the country and second best among Hockey East schools.

ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: UMass Lowell is 105-60-12, a .627 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the almost nine years that Norm Bazin has led the program.  That .627 winning percentage is the best in the nation during that period.  Quinnipiac, at 103-58-20, .624, is second. The River Hawks are 81-49-11, .614, 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 fourteen with four ties at the Tsongas Center this season and is 97-47-19 (a .653 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.  They have followed losses with wins three times and twice with ties.

TWENTY-SEVEN GAMES IN:  Twenty-Seven games into the season and UMass Lowell appears to slipped behind last year's pace.  The River Hawks are 15-7-5 after being 17-8-2 a year ago.  The team is 9-4-4 in league play compared with 11-3-2 a year ago.

NO TIME FOR PENALTIES:  No penalties, none at all.  When UMass Lowell played Boston University of January 25th the River Hawks were not whistled for a single penalty in the hockey game.  It is only the fifth time the team has played a penalty-free game in its history.  The night before UMass Lowell was whistled for 35-minutes in penalties in a game against BU.  The last time UMass Lowell played a game without a single penalty call against them was March 18, 2016 when the River Hawks beat Providence 2-1 in triple overtime in the Hockey East Semifinals.

FIVE GOALS ALLOWED:  When UMass Lowell allowed five goals in a 5-0 loss to Boston University, January 24, it had been nearly a year since the River Hawks had given up that many goals in a game.  The last time was February 15, 2019 when the River Hawks lost to Providence, 6-1.  BU's five-goal third period was the first time that UMass Lowell has allowed five goals in a period since Minnesota State scored five times in the second period in a game on December 26, 2010.

OUTSHOT BUT NOT BEATEN:  UMass Lowell was outshot by 24 (39-15) in its January 18th 6-4 win against Merrimack.  The last time that UMass Lowell was outshot by at least 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 41-15.    Goalie Mark Richards made 40 saves.  UMass Lowell is 10-4-3 when outshot in a game this season.

200!:  UMass Lowell 6-4 win against Merrimack, January 18th, 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.

900:  Last Friday night's 3-2 win at Boston College was UMass Lowell's 900th in program history.  The River Hawks are the 32nd team in college hockey and the sixth in Hockey East to reach that number.  The River Hawks are currently at win # 901 and still counting.

FINALLY:  Sophomore Austin O'Rourke scored his first collegiate goal January 18 in UMass Lowell's 6-4 victory against Merrimack.  The goal came in O'Rourke's 25th collegiate game.  Two games later he added his second career goal

A STEFANSON SIGHTING:  After missing the first 19 games of the season, while recovering from an injury, Reid Stefanson returned to the ice January 10th at RIT.  He has now skated in seven 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; he has four assists this season.

A CHILD SHALL LEAD:  Freshmen Matt Brown, with 23-points, Carl Berglund, with 20, and Andre Lee along with senior Kenney Hausinger, with 18, lead UMass Lowell in scoring.  They are three of the top nine 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 63-48-31, .553, in one-goal games since the 2011-12 season.  The team is 7-5-5 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 170-25-10, .854 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 32-82-21, .315, since 2011-12.

PROTECTING THE LEAD: Since Norm Bazin took over the coaching reins at UMass Lowell, the River Hawks are 156-9-11 when leading after two-periods.  That includes a 13-0-2 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 163-11-4, 77-5-3 at the Tsongas Center. The club is 10-1-0, 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 274 of 300 shots (.913) 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 2.30 goals against average.  That's 11th in the country and third in Hockey East.  UMass Lowell has allowed no more than two-goals in 16 of its 27 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 52-goals while allowing just 33 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 872 of 1,636, 53.3% of the puck drops.  That figure leads Hockey East and is the ninth best in the country.  Charlie Levesque (211/345, 61.2%), Lucas Condotta (221 of 378, 58.6%), Sam Knoblauch (32/55, 58.2%), Brian Chambers (35/63, 55.6%), Kenny Hausinger (50/97, 51.5%) and Connor Sodergren (100/199, .503), lead the way.  Levesque is second 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 (17-65, 26.2%) in fifteen of its last twenty games.  The team is just 19 for 93, 20.4%, on the season.  That's after starting the year 2-for-28, 7.1%.

PK OK?: The UMass Lowell penalty killing unit hit another couple of bumps in the road.  After killing off 19 consecutive shorthanded situations the River Hawks allowed nine power play goals in a five-game stretch.  On the season UMass Lowell has successfully killed 84 of 104 man down situations.  With an 80.8% success rate the PK Unit is seventh in Hockey East and 32nd in the nation.

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.

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 is now third with 50 career wins.  Wall has now upped his win total to 55.

DEFENSE:  Over the past eight-plus 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 three teams, (Cornell 2.18, Quinnipiac 2.21 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 10.2% 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 11.1%.  Boston College is at 10.6% and Northeastern is at 10.6%.  Minnesota is at 10.4%.

ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT:  UMass Lowell has played eighteen 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 8-5-5 in one-goal games this season.

EXTRA TIME:  Eight of the River Hawks 25 games have gone into overtime.  That's one away from 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 2-1-5 in overtime this season.

OT AGAIN:  UMass Lowell has played eight overtime games this season, only five teams have played overtime more often.  St. Lawrence has played in the greatest number; ten.  Seven other teams have played in eight.

FIT TO BE TIED:  The January 25th 2-2 tie with Boston University was the River Hawks fifth tie of the season.  That is fourth in the nation.  UMass Lowell is one of ten teams with five ties on their record.  Only Boston University, with eight, and Colgate and Alaska Anchorage, with six, have more.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES:  Things have changed for River Hawk defenseman Chase Blackmun.  A year ago Blackmun had just two-goals and eight-points through 27 games.  This time around he's got four-goals and 14-points.    Two of his goals have been game winners.

BACK IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT:  UMass Lowell is receiving recognition in the polls for the 15th straight week.  The team is slotted at number 11 in the USA Hockey Magazine poll and in the USCHO Poll.  It is the 15th week in a row and the 16th 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.

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. 

A CLASS ABOVE: The UMass Lowell rookie class is one of the highest scoring freshmen class in the country.  River Hawk freshmen, in 27 games, have scored 32-goals and 47-assists for 79-points.  That ranks UMass Lowell third in the country.  Merrimack, with 16 freshmen, tops the charts with 97-points.  Boston University is second with 95.  Wisconsin is fourth with 78-points from feshmen and Providence is fifth with 77-points.  The River Hawks are second in goals with 32.  Wisconsin with 34 leads.  Matt Brown and Carl Berglund with 23 and 20-points respectively are 7th and 15th in scoring among first year players in the country.  Carl Berglund, with eleven-goals, is fourth among rookie goal scorers.

113 GAMES:  UMass Lowell forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 113 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 54.  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 (135) and Kenny Hausinger (128) joined the Century Club late last season.  Charlie Levesque (97), Tyler Wall (96), Connor Sodergren (94) and Anthony Baxter (93) are next on the list. 

THE 2020 SENIOR CLASS: The three-member UMass Lowell senior class has accumulated a record of 78-50-13, 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.

TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM: UMass Lowell is right in the middle in Hockey East when it comes to blocking shots.  The River Hawks are ranked fourth in the league with 320 blocked shots, an average of 11.85 per game.

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 2.09 GAA.  That's number twelve in the country and his .931 save percentage ranks seventh.  He is second in Hockey East in save percentage and fourth in goals against average.

A GOOD START: UMass Lowell allowed just 13 first period goals in 27 games this season.  That's just 0.48 goals per first period and that's ranks the River Hawks 5th best in the country and number two among Hockey East teams.  On the other side of the equation UMass Lowell has scored just 17 first period goals and that ranks the team 45th in the country.  The team is 6-1-1 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 27 games this season.  That's seventh in the country, but just two goals off the lead.  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-five of the River Hawks 75 goals this season have come in the first five-minutes of a period.  That number, twenty-five, is eighth in the nation.

FIRST NOTCH: Seven UMass Lowell freshmen scored their first collegiate goals during this season, and four got on the scoresheet during the opening weekend and a fifth added his name to the tally sheet in early November.  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 and Marek Korencik got his first February 7 at Boston College.  Blake Wells was the latest to join the club scoring his first collegiate goal February 8 at 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 eight clutch goals, five have given the team the lead, three have tied the score.  Matt Brown has four clutch goals and five players have three.  Berglund also leads the team with three game winning goals.  Andre Lee, Chase Blackmun and Marek Korencik have two.

TIME IS ON OUR SIDE, YES IT IS:  UMass Lowell has played 24 hockey games and has only trailed for 286:54 (17.4%) of a total of 1,652-minutes and 12-seconds of hockey.  The River Hawks have skated with the lead for 685:38 or 41.5% of the time.  The two teams have been tied for 627:38 or 38% of the time.

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 1,445 games including 1,379 Division I games.  He has missed only one game.  Poitras is working on a consecutive games streak that has now reached 970.  He is the only trainer in College Hockey to work games at both Northern Arizona and Arizona State.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS:  UMass Lowell is fourth in average attendance among Hockey East schools.  The River Hawks are averaging 4,185 fans per game after fourteen home games.  Boston College leads the conference drawing 5,822 after eleven home games, New Hampshire is second with an average of 4,591 after fourteen home games and Massachusetts is third, fourteen home games into the season, averaging 4,581.  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.