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LOWELL, Mass.—The No. 15 UMass Lowell men's hockey team (7-2-2, 5-1-0 Hockey East) returns to the ice after the Thanksgiving break for a Saturday tilt with Maine (1-9-2, 1-6-1 HEA) on Nov. 27. Puck drop for the post-holiday matchup is set for 5 p.m. at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine.
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell enters this late afternoon contest against Maine with a 7-2-2 / 5-1-0 record after last weekend's split with UConn. After earning a 3-0 shutout on Saturday, the River Hawks saw their nine-game unbeaten streak come to an end in a 2-1 loss on Sunday in Hartford. The team is 5-0-2 at the Tsongas Center and 2-2-0 on the road. The River Hawks are slotted at number 15 in the USCHO poll, their fourth week in the Top 20, and continue to be listed as "receiving votes" in the USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 poll. Hockey East Coaches, in their pre-season poll, placed the River Hawks seventh in the conference. They currently sit in 5th place despite having played just six conference games. The River Hawks lost eight players from last year's squad which finished out a much-interrupted season with a 10-9-1 record and a trip to the Hockey East Championship Game. This year's roster shows eight new faces; six are freshmen, two are transfers. The club finds six of last year's top ten scorers returning this season.
Andre Lee leads the team in goals with eight and points with ten.
Carl Berglund leads in helpers with seven and is second in points with nine.
Lucas Condotta is third in points with eight equally split between goals and assists. Goaltenders
Henry Welsch and
Owen Savory combined to start 19 of the team's 20-games a year ago. Welsch has started three times this season and Savory eight times, each has at least one shutout. Savory shows a GAA of 1.24 and a save percentage of .947. Welsch is at 2.61 / .884.
SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS
Maine enters today's game with a 1-9-2 / 1-6-1 record after earning two of six points, with a tie and shootout win, in a weekend series against Boston College in Chestnut Hill. The Black Bears first win of the season came a week earlier with a 6-5 overtime win against Merrimack. The team is 1-4-1 at home and 0-5-1 on the road. This contest is their first of the season at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine. The Hockey East Coaches pre-season poll pegged Maine for a tenth place finish and it is in tenth where they currently reside. Twelve different players have scored goals for the Black Bears. Two, Grant Hebert and Donavan Villeneuve-Houle, have hit the back of the net four times to lead the squad in goals. Defensemen Jakub Sirota and David Breazeale lead the team in points with seven apiece. Goalies Victor Ostman and Matthew Thiessen have split the netminding responsibilities. Ostman shows a 3.45 GAA and a .886 save percentage and has the team's only win. Thiessen numbers are similar; 3.49/.892.
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. MAINE
This is the 131st meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1978. Maine holds a significant edge in the all-time record, 81-42-7, but UMass Lowell has been the more dominant team in recent years. The River Hawks are 12-4-2 in the last 18 meetings and 15-7-2 in the twenty-four games with
Norm Bazin behind the bench. The River Hawks are 4-0-1 in the last five. The River Hawks have won the season series in four of the last seven years with the teams splitting the series in the other three-years. Maine holds a 14-3-0 edge in Hockey East Tournament play, but UMass Lowell swept Maine out of the playoffs in their last post-season meeting in 2013.
STREAKING...?
UMass Lowell is unbeaten in its last five games (4-0-1) against Maine, that matches the River Hawks best ever stretch against the Black Bears. They had a five game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) against Maine January 17, 2014 to November 15, 2015. The current run began November 3, 2018 with a 1-0 win at the Alfond Arena. The other four games in the stretch were played at the Tsongas Center.
ABOUT LAST YEAR
UMass Lowell swept the two-game season series at the Tsongas Center in early January. UMass Lowell broke open a 2-2 tie, the first night, with three goals in a span of 3:59 early in the third period and went on to a 5-3 win.
Carl Berglund broke the tie and
Andre Lee added the eventual game winner. Lee finished the night with two-goals and four-points.
Ben Meehan had three assists.
Henry Welsch made 11 saves in picking up his second win in goal. The second night was a slugfest. Seven different River Hawks scored goals as UMass Lowell grabbed the win 9-5. Defenseman
Chase Blackmun led the way with a hat trick. The nine-goals were the most UMass Lowell had ever scored in a Hockey East game and the most they'd scored in a game in more than 20-years. The 58 shots on goal was one off the school's Division I record.
A FAMILIAR FACE
UMass Lowell and Maine have played one another 130 times. The River Hawks have faced just one opponent more often. The Lowell/Maine series dates back to 1978 when both were Division II programs. That most frequent opponent is Merrimack. The River Hawks and Warriors have faced off 134 times. UMass Lowell leads that series 82-40-12.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
UMass Lowell and Maine have faced one another on nine different ice surfaces, the second greatest variety of locations that UMass Lowell has played any one opponent. And... this year will make it ten different ice surfaces. The two have battled at the Tsongas Center, Alfond Arena, Tully Forum (Billerica, Mass.), Germain Arena (Estero, Fla.), Boston Garden, TD Garden, Gutterson Fieldhouse (Burlington, Vt.), the Central Maine Civic Center (Lewiston, Maine) and at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough, Mass. This year the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine will be added to that list. UMass Lowell and Boston College have also faced one another on nine different ice surfaces. Clarkson tops the list, but now will have to share the honor. UMass Lowell and Clarkson have played at ten different locations.
THE SHORTER DISTANCE
UMass Lowell and Maine meet today in Portland, Maine. It is a home game for the Black Bears, but it is a shorter trip from campus to rink for the River Hawks. The journey for UMass Lowell from the Tsongas Center, through a portion of Massachusetts and New Hampshire into Maine and to the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland is 98.2-miles. For the Maine Black Bears, it is an in-state drive of 140-miles from the Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine to the Cross Insurance Arena.
NOT GOING TO THE ALFOND
UMass Lowell is not going to the Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine this year, but it is worth noting that the River Hawks have played more games in the Alfond Arena than on any other opposing team's ice. UMass Lowell has played 70 games in the Alfond Arena and has a record of 24-45-1. Most but not all of those games were against Maine. The River Hawks are 4-2-0 in six games against teams other than the Black Bears. Those non-Maine games came in various tournaments including the Governor's Cup and the Dexter Show Classic. UMass Lowell did not visit the Alfond Arena last season because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Maine chose to play its regular season games as the road team and the two games scheduled for the Alfond were moved to the Tsongas Center.
ON THE ROAD
UMass Lowell has split four road games this season after winning six of ten a year ago. The River Hawks were 10-5-1, .656, playing away from the Tsongas Center during the 2019-20 season. The team has a 2-1-0 record on the road this season.
ON THE ROAD, AGAIN
UMass Lowell is 114-68-12, a .619 winning percentage when playing away from the Tsongas Center in the ten years that
Norm Bazin has led the program. That .619 winning percentage is the second best in the nation during that period. Quinnipiac, at 114-61-26, .632, is first. The National Average is .447. The River Hawks are 90-57-11, .604, as the road team and 24-11-1, .681, in games played at a neutral site.
HOME SWEET HOME
UMass Lowell is undefeated in the early going at the Tsongas Center. The team is 5-0-2 on the familiar ice after winning just four of its ten home games (4-5-1) during the 2020-21 season. It was the first time the River Hawks have had a losing record at home since 2010-11 when the home team went 4-12-0. The River Hawks are 107-53-23 (a .648 winning percentage) at the Tsongas Center since
Norm Bazin took over behind the bench for the 2011-12 season. That .648 winning percentage is tenth best in the country. The national average over that span of time is .562. That includes a 13-9-0 record in playoff games.
SCORING AGAINST MAINE
Nine different members of the River Hawks have scored goals against Maine, four have scored more than once.
Carl Berglund leads the way with four-goals and seven-points in four-games against the Black Bears.
Andre Lee,
Lucas Condotta and
Sam Knoblauch have two-goals apiece against Maine.
Ryan Brushett has a goal and an assist in two-games against Maine as a member of the Nebraska Omaha hockey program. Both goalies
Henry Welsch and
Owen Savory picked up wins tending net against the Black Bears. Savory's win was his first at UMass Lowell. He had played the two previous seasons at Rensselaer.
A TIE vs. MAINE
Of all the various results possible when these two teams meet, a tie rarely happens. In the last 71 meetings, going back to the 1997-98 season, there have been just three. There have been seven games decided in overtime during that period. The 1-1 tie in November of 2019 is the most recent in which there was not winner. By comparison UMass Lowell and Vermont have battled to eight ties in their last 41 meetings.
FINISHING STRONG
UMass Lowell has a third period edge. The River Hawks have outscored their opponents 11-6 in the third period. It's been most impressive in three of the team's last four games. Over that stretch UML holds a 6-0 scoring edge. Of those games they entered the final period trailing (Northeastern) in one of those games and tied in the other two (BC and UConn). They won all three,
GETTING STREAKY
UMass Lowell junior forward
Andre Lee has scored goals in three consecutive games (vs. Boston College and UConn twice.) He is the second River Hawk to do that this season.
Lucas Condotta scored goals against in consecutive games against Boston University, LIU and Northeastern. Condotta's streak totaled three goals, Lee's is still going and has produced five goals. Only one River Hawk,
Matt Brown, had a three game goal scoring streak last season.
CAREER NUMBERS
River Hawk junior forward
Andre Lee has matched his career high for goals in a season. His eighth goal of the season came last Sunday in the XL Center against UConn. It was the team's eleventh game of the year. Lee scored eight times as a freshman playing in 33-games. During the abridged 20 game sophomore season Lee scored seven-goals. This year he has eight goals including five in his last three-games.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
UMass Lowell goalie
Owen Savory is among the best in the country in both Goals Against Average and Save Percentage. The senior netminder carries a 1.24 GAA into today game. That is number two in the country, trailing just Yaniv Perets, 1.06, of Quinnipiac, and tops the chart in Hockey East. Savory's .947 save percentage is second in both the nation and Hockey East. Only Northeastern's Devon Levi, with a .949, ranks better.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST - Part II
Andre Lee is among the nation's best when it comes to goals per game. Scoring .73-goals per game ranks Lee 11th in the country and second in Hockey East. Ethen Frank of Western Michigan leads the country with 12-goals in 12-games, a 1.00 average. Northeastern's Aidan McDonnough leads Hockey East with 11-goals in 14-games a .79 average. Lee also is fifth in game winning goals with three. There is a four-tie atop the list with four-goals. Lee's three puts him in a tie for the number one spot in the conference. McDonnough and New Hampshire's Jackson Pierson also have three.
JOING THE CENTURY CLUB
UMass Lowell senior forward
Lucas Condotta is expected to join the Century Club today when he skates this afternoon against the Maine Black Bears in the Cross Insurance Arena. Condotta, with 99 games played at this point, will become just third player on the current roster with 100 or more collegiate games played and just the second to do it in a River Hawk uniform.
Connor Sodergren leads the way with 131 games.
Nick Austin has played in 121 games, but the first 110 were with Colgate, he's played eleven for UMass Lowell.
Jon McDonald (86) is next on the list.
