AMHERST, Mass. – Playing for the first time in 25 days, the No. 16 UMass Lowell hockey team (3-2-0) dropped a 5-0 decision at No. 10 Massachusetts (10-5-3) on Friday evening.
"I thought we started with some energy and enthusiasm, obviously after a long layoff, the guys were excited to play," said Head Coach
Norm Bazin. "From an effort standpoint, I didn't think the first period was bad at all. I thought we got into a little bit of a pickle with some goals going in that normally don't, but that's just the way hockey is. So the first period was decent, but as the game went on, I think we showed that we're not at the conditioning level that we need to be at in Hockey East."
Although the River Hawks were perfect on the penalty kill in the outing, the Minutemen took a 27-16 advantage in shots on goal.
Sophomore
Carl Berglund (Hammaro, Sweden) paced UMass Lowell with five shots, three of which were on target. Classmate
Andre Lee (Karlstad, Sweden) and senior
Anthony Baxter (Oakville, Ontario) each added two shots on goal, as well. Junior
Owen Savory (Cambridge, Ontario) recorded his first start in net for the River Hawks, making 13 saves.
The River Hawks took a slight edge in shots in the opening minutes of the contest, but it was Massachusetts' Bobby Trivigno who scored a pair of first-period, short-side goals to give the Minutemen an early, 2-0 advantage.
The home team then created a three-goal buffer on a wrist shot from the slot by Matthew Kessel at 3:33 in the second. Just about halfway through the period, the River Hawks earned the first power play opportunity of the night and got three shots off, including a breakaway attempt by sophomore
Matt Brown (Woodridge, N.J.), but it was batted away by goalie Filip Lindberg.
Massachusetts added two more, second-period tallies, including Jerry Harding's tip-in from just in front of the crease that made the score, 5-0.
UMass Lowell totaled 13 shots in the third, compared to 19 for Massachusetts, however, neither side allowed a goal in the final frame, as the 5-0 mark would stand.
The River Hawks and Minutemen will now wrap up the weekend Hockey East series tomorrow night, January 30, at 7 p.m. in Lowell.
