January 29 at Massachusetts (8 p.m.)
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January 30 vs. Massachusetts (7 p.m.)
Live Stats | Watch Live | Listen Live | Game Notes

LOWELL, Mass. - The No. 16 UMass Lowell hockey team returns to action this weekend, January 29-30, with a home-and-home series against in-state foe No. 10 Massachusetts.

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
After a series of starts and stops UMass Lowell enters this evening's contest with a 3-1-0 record after sweeping Maine, January 3rd and 4th, 5-3 and 9-5, at the Tsongas Center. It was the third win in a row after topping UConn, 2-1, on December 21st.  UMass Lowell is ranked 16th in the USCHO Poll and is "receiving votes" in the USA Hockey Magazine Poll.  The Hockey East Coaches' Pre Season polls placed the River Hawks fourth.  They currently sit eighth in the league standings based on points.  The River Hawks return nine of their top eleven scorers, from a team that went 18-10-6 a year ago, including their top three; sophomores Matt Brown, Carl Berglund and Andre Lee.  In all the team brings back 83.6-percent of its offense.  Berglund, four games into the season leads the team with a trio of goals and seven points.  He's on a four-game scoring streak. At the back end the defense is virtually intact, but goaltending will see a new face taking over the netminding responsibilities.  Sophomore Logan Neaton, freshman Henry Welsch and transfer Owen Savory have all seen action in the early going this season.  Welsch has earned two wins and has a GAA of 2.00 and a .913 save percentage.
 
SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
With 17 games played tenth-ranked Massachusetts has been the busiest team in Hockey East.  The Minutemen bring a 9-5-3 record into Friday night's contest.  The club is winless in their last four after dropping a pair of games against Boston University and then tying twice in a home-and-home series with Providence.  UMass and Providence each earned a shootout win during the weekend.  The Hockey East coaches' Pre-Season Poll parked the Minutemen in the number two slot.  Fifteen different players have scored goals for UMass.  Senior Carson Gicewicz leads the team with ten.  Junior Bobby Trivigno tops the point chart with 18, sophomore defenseman Zac Jones is second with 15.  Senior Matt Murray has played the majority of games in net and has a 2.01 GAA and a .913 save percentage.  Junior goalie Filip Lindberg allowed just one-goal in 130-minutes of hockey last weekend.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. UMASS
This is the first meeting between the two teams this season and the 86th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1968.  After splitting the two games a year ago, UMass Lowell leads the series 51-27-7.  The River Hawks have won 20 of the last 24 (20-3-1) over the last nine-plus seasons.  The River Hawks did not get their first win the series until 1974, a 5-1 win.  The two have met once in the Hockey East Tournament with the Minutemen sweeping that series two-games to none.
 
ABOUT LAST SEASON
UMass Lowell and Massachusetts split a pair of games a year ago.  The River Hawks got a pair of third period goals in a come-from-behind 3-2 win, February 21, 2020, at the Tsongas Center.  Carl Berglund tied the game in the middle of the third period and Chris Schutz got the game winner with just 27.5-seconds remaining in the third period.  Tyler Wall made 38 saves in picking up his 56th career win.  John Leonard and Bobby Trivigno scored for the visitors.  Zach Kaiser also had a first period goal for the River Hawks.  The next night, at the Mullins Center, the results were different.  UMass came away with a 5-3 win.  John Leonard led the way with a hat trick.  Leonard's game winner came with less than four-minutes remaining in the contest.
 
RANKED vs. RANKED
This is just the eighth time UMass Lowell and Massachusetts have faced each other when both were nationally ranked.  UMass Lowell holds a 4-3-0 edge in the previous seven contests.  The lower ranked team has won five of seven.  This is the third year in a row in which the two teams have been ranked nationally when they faced one another.  UMass is ranked 10th in both polls, the River Hawks are number 16 in the USCHO Poll.
 
SCORING vs. UMASS
Eleven different River Hawks have scored points against Massachusetts, seven have scored goals.  Reid Stefanson leads the point parade with four in four games.  While seven players have scored goals, it has been spread evenly, no one has more than one.  None of UMass Lowell's goalies have faced UMass while wearing a River Hawk jersey.  Owen Savory took a loss at the hands of the Minutemen while playing at Rensselaer.
 
OVERTIME vs. UMASS
These two teams have gone to overtime 11 times in their competitive history, but not once in the last six years.  The last overtime game was February 13, 2015 when they ended the evening knotted at three.  UMass Lowell and Massachusetts have split their 11 overtime meetings right down the middle, 2-2-7.
 
KENNEDY CUP
The Kennedy Cup Challenge was established in the fall of 2018 and is awarded annually to the team with the most wins in the cumulative season series between the UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst.  The schools took turns grabbing the title during the first two years and both will take a winner's share this third year of competition.  Massachusetts won the 2019-20 edition of the Kennedy Cup Challenge 8-4-1, UMass Lowell won the inaugural challenge, 8-6.  The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the 2020-21 edition and both schools will be awarded the winners' share of financial support.  John Kennedy is a longtime supporter of the UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst athletic programs. Kennedy holds degrees from both schools.  For 23 years the two hockey programs competed in a three-game series for the Alumni Cup.  UMass Lowell won or retained the Cup 17 times.  That series was discontinued following the 2016-17 season.
 
STARTS AND STOPS AND STARTS AGAIN
When the River Hawks hit the ice tonight it will have been 25 days since they last played a game.  That is the longest in-season break since the 2010-11 season when UMass Lowell played at Princeton on December 11th and then waited until January 7th to play at New Hampshire, a span of 26 days.  This year's 25-day break follows a 13-day break tween the team's second and third games of the year.
 
THE SCHEDULE...?
In a decision aimed at allowing the maximum amount of games to be scheduled for each member school, the Hockey East Association announced, January 19th, that previously released composite schedules will be set aside and the remainder of the 2020-21 season will continue to be scheduled on a weekly basis. The move comes with a stated goal to create as much variety and parity in the schedule as possible while adhering to all required health and safety protocols with a maximum of seven weeks remaining in the regular season.
 

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