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TEMPE, Ariz.—In a long-awaited return to normalcy, the UMass Lowell men's hockey team opens its season on the road with a pair of games against Arizona State on Saturday, Oct. 2 and Sunday, Oct. 3. Saturday night's puck drop is set for 7 p.m. MST (10 p.m. EST) while Sunday's matinee matchup is slated for 4 p.m. MST (7 p.m. EST).
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell enters the 2021-22 season coming off a 10-9-1 season and a visit to the Hockey East Championship game. The River Hawks lost eight players from last year's squad. Some turned pro, others to graduation and some transfer. This year's roster shows nine new faces; seven are freshmen, two are transfers. UMass Lowell has received votes in both the USCHO and USA Hockey Magazine polls, but are not ranked in the top twenty. Hockey East Coaches have placed the River Hawks seventh in the eleven team conference. The club sees six of last year's top ten scorers returning this season.
Andre Lee and
Reid Stefanson led the team with 16 and 15-points in 20-contests a year ago. Goaltenders
Henry Welsch and
Owen Savory combined to start 19 of the team's 20-games a year ago. Welsch showed a goals against average of 2.54, Savory registered a 3.35 mark.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
It has been more than a year since Arizona State played a home game. The Sun Devils played all 26 games a year ago as the road team, they finished the year with a 7-16-3 record. Arizona State is a Division I Independent, but worked out a scheduling agreement with the Big Ten a year ago. Eight of last year's top ten scorers return for another season. Matthew Kopperud led the club in both goals (13) and points (19). Sophomore goalie Cole Brady, a New Jersey Devil draft choice, returns for his second season. Brady started 12 of the team's 26 games a year ago. He posted a 3.31 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. ARIZONA STATE
This weekend's games will be just the fifth and sixth between the two schools in a series that dates back to 2016. UMass Lowell leads the series with a 3-1-0 record. The River Hawks swept the two game series played in Lowell in 2016. The two teams split a pair of games played at the Oceanside Ice Arena in 2018 each winning by a 4-0 score. Tyler Wall had the shutout for the River Hawks, Joey Daccord notched the Sun Devil whitewash.
SCORING AGAINST ARIZONA STATE
Only three River Hawks have ever played games against Arizona State and only one has done so in the UMass Lowell uniform.
Connor Sodergren, playing in his fifth UMass Lowell season, is pointless in two contests. Graduate transfer
Nick Austin also faced ASU twice during his freshman year at Colgate. He was held without a point, but was a plus-2. Junior transfer
Ryan Brushett has earned a single point, an assist while playing for Nebraska Omaha.
HOCKEY IN THE DESERT
UMass Lowell is one of a handful of college programs to play Division I hockey against both Arizona State and Northern Arizona. The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks were a member of the short lived Great West Hockey Conference along with US International and the two Alaska schools. The ULowell Chiefs and Northern Arizona split four-games during the 1983-84 season. The Chiefs won, 6-5, when the two met in the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament and 4-3 later in the season at the Tully Forum. The Lumberjacks won twice, 7-1 and 7-3, in Flagstaff.
THE OCEANSIDE ICE ARENA
UMass Lowell and Arizona State play this weekend in the Oceanside Ice Arena. How far is it from the arena to an ocean beach...? It is some 358-miles from the arena to Laguna Beach, California. Why the "Oceanside" moniker...? It got the Oceanside name to match the west coast theming of an adjacent complex that included a waterpark featuring one of the first wave pools.
Vs. BIG TIME FOOTBALL SCHOOLS
UMass Lowell is 62-29-7 against schools with big time football programs (FBS members) since
Norm Bazin took over behind the bench. That includes an 9-3-2 record against Notre Dame, 4-1-0 record against Penn State and 3-1-0 against Arizona State and an 20-5-1 mark against Massachusetts. The River Hawks are also 12-12-2 against Boston College and 9-6-2 against UConn. They also have winning records against Michigan State, Wisconsin and Miami.
TIME ZONES
When UMass Lowell and Arizona State play this weekend in the Oceanside Ice Arena they will be in the Mountain Time Zone. At the moment there is a three-hour difference. The River Hawks have not done well in the Mountain Time Zone. They are 4-11-1 all time. One win and a tie have come against teams from the Eastern Time Zone. They have beaten Harvard and tied Brown in Denver Cup Tournament games. Two of their time zone wins came against Colorado College and one against Arizona State.
OPENERS
UMass Lowell is 28-21-5, all-time, in season openers and 2-2-1 in the last five and 5-3-2 in
Norm Bazin's ten openers. The River Hawks are 31-20-4 in home openers but are just at the .500 mark when they open the season at home, 11-11-3. UMass Lowell is 16-14-5 in Hockey East openers and 14-17-5 in Hockey East home openers. When the River Hawks open the season on the road they are 17-10-2.
STARTING ON THE ROAD
This is only the second time since
Norm Bazin took over the hockey program that the River Hawks have started the season on the road. The last time the team was the visitor for game one was in the 2011-12 season. UMass Lowell opened the year at Minnesota State and swept the weekend series, 4-2 and 4-1. The wins were the first two of Bazin's Division I coaching career.
