Friday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch | Listen | Game Notes
Saturday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
 
LOWELL, Mass.—The No. 15 UMass Lowell men's hockey team (8-3-3, 6-2-1 Hockey East) heads out on their penultimate road trip of the season this weekend, traveling north to take on Vermont (3-9-2, 2-4-2 HEA), Dec. 10 and 11. Puck drop for both tilts is slated for 7 p.m.
 
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell enters tonight's game with an 8-3-3 / 6-2-1 record after earning only a tie and shootout win in home and home series with Massachusetts last weekend.  The River Hawks have just one win in their last four contests.  The team is 5-0-3 at the Tsongas Center and 3-3-0 on the road.  The River Hawks sit in the number 15 slot in both the USCHO and USA Hockey Magazine polls, their sixth week in the Top 20.  Hockey East Coaches, in their pre-season poll, placed the River Hawks seventh in the conference.  They currently sit in a two-team second-place tie with Providence despite having played just nine 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. Andre Lee leads the team in goals with nine while Carl Berglund leads in helpers with ten and points with twelve.  Lee has eleven points and Lucas Condotta is third with ten.  Goaltenders Henry Welsch and Owen Savory combined to start 19 of the team's 20-games a year ago.  Welsch has started four times this season and Savory ten times, each has at least one shutout, Savory has three.  Savory shows a GAA of 1.38 and a save percentage of .944.  Welsch is at 2.71 / .872.
 
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
Vermont enters tonight's game with a 3-9-2 / 2-4-2 record after earning five of six points with a tie and shootout win and a regulation win on the road in Maine last weekend.  The weekend games extended the team's mini unbeaten streak to three.  Vermont is 2-0-2 in overtime and 2-0 in shootouts.  The Catamounts are 2-2-2 on the road and 1-7-0 at home.  The Hockey East Coaches pre-season poll placed Vermont in last place, the number 11 spot.  They currently reside in tenth.  Fourteen different players have scored goals, three have at least three.  Philip Lagunov leads the team with five-goals and is one of three players with eight-points.  Defensemen Andrew Lucas (1g, 7a) and Robbie Stucker (2g, 6a) also have eight-points.  Goaltenders Gabe Carriere and Tyler Harmon have shared the netminding responsibilities.  Carriere's numbers are slightly better at 2.47 / .945.  He has one shutout and turned in a 50-save performance in a 1-1 tie with Maine.  Harmon has been solid with a 2.54 GAA and a .890 save percentage.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. VERMONT
This is the 61st meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1972.  UMass Lowell leads the all-time series, 35-17-8.  UMass Lowell swept the series a year ago and is undefeated in the last eight and is 16-1-2 in the last nineteen contests.  Since Vermont joined Hockey East for the 2005-06 season, UMass Lowell has held a 30-11-8 edge in play.  Twenty-seven of the 49 games have been decided by one goal or less.  The River Hawks have won six of seven Hockey East tournament meetings between the two, including last year, and have eliminated Vermont from the post season on four occasions.
 
VS. THE CATAMOUNTS AT TOURNAMENT TIME
UMass Lowell and Vermont have met just four times in the Hockey East Tournament, twice in quarterfinal series and once in the semifinals and last year in the opening round.  The River Hawks swept Vermont in two at the Gutterson Fieldhouse in 2009.  The first of those games went into overtime after UMass Lowell had come from two goals down in the third period to tie it on a Nick Schaus extra attacker goal in the final minute.  Maury Edwards provided the winner with two-seconds remaining on the clock in the first overtime, 4-3.  The River Hawks won the second night 4-2.  The teams met again in 2014, in Lowell, with the host winning two-out-of-three.  Each of the games was decided by a single goal.  The only semifinal meeting came in 2015 at the TD Garden.  UMass Lowell won that 4-1.  The River Hawks also won last season's opening round match up, 5-3.  It should be noted that the two teams did face each other in the Division II ECAC Tournament in 1972.  Vermont bested ULowell, 7-0 in that game.  It was the first ever playoff for the Chiefs and goalie Mike Geragosian made a school record 62 saves.
 
AT THE GUT
UMass Lowell has been no stranger to the Gutterson Fieldhouse or to success in the recently renovated building.  The River Hawks are 19-11-5 all-time at The Gut including an 16-9-5 record against Vermont.  They are 3-2-0 when the facility is a neutral site.   Norm Bazin led teams are 13-4-1 in the building.
 
200 X 90
The Gutterson Fieldhouse features an ice sheet that measures 200 x 90.  UMass Lowell, during the Norm Bazin Era has had success on such sheets.  The River Hawks are 32-16-4 on the bigger sheet, 10-3-1 versus the Catamounts at the Gut and 3-1-0 when the building has been a neutral site.
 
THE LAST MEETING
UMass Lowell and Vermont squared off at the Tsongas Center in Lowell in a one-game showdown in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament a year ago.  The River Hawks won the game, 5-3, riding a four-goal second period to overcome a 1-0 first period deficit.  UMass Lowell got two goals from Matt Brown and single markers from Nolan Sawchuk, Anthony Baxter and Seth Barton.  Jacques Bouquot, Bryce Mizley and Simon Boyko scored for Vermont.  Only Bouguot is still on either club's roster.  Owen Savory made 20-saves to earn the win.
 
ABOUT LAST SEASON
UMass Lowell swept Vermont in the regular season weekend series February 26 and 27, 3-1 and 3-2, at the Gutterson Fieldhouse.  In the series opener the River Hawks got goals from Zach Kaiser, Jordan Schulting and Matt Brown before Tristan Mullin's goal got the Catamounts on the board in the third period.  Owen Savory earned the win making ten saves as UMass Lowell outshot their hosts, 33-11.  The second night, Vermont got on the board first on an Andrew Lucas 1st period goal. Chase Blackmun evened the score with a second period power play goal.  Reid Stefanson gave the visitors the lead and Matt Brown added an empty net goal before Mullin picked up his second goal of the weekend in the final seconds of the game.
 
SCORING vs. VERMONT
Seven different UMass Lowell players have scored goals against Vermont, three have scored twice.  Connor Sodergren, Sam Knoblauch and Zach Kaiser have two goals apiece.  Sodergren has averaged nearly a point-a-game against the Catamounts with eight-points (2g-6a-8pts) in nine games.  Sodergren is also a plus-10.  Goalie Owen Savory has faced Vermont five times in his career.  He is 4-1-0 against the Cats with three of those wins coming as a member of the River Hawks.  Savory's first two appearances against Vermont came as a member of the Rensselaer hockey program.  He picked up a win and a loss in two games for the Engineers.  He stopped 46 of 52 shots as a River Hawk last season to earn three victories against the Cats.  Savory in five games against Vermont shows a 1.81 GAA and a .936 save percentage.
 
WORKING OVERTIME AGAINST VERMONT
When these two teams meet, overtime is a distinct possibility.  Twelve of the last 39 games (30.8%) between UMass Lowell and Vermont have required extra time.  Fourteen of the 60 games (23.3%), all-time, between the two have gone into overtime.  Vermont has won three in OT, UMass Lowell has won three and eight have gone into the books as a tie.
 
ONE-GOAL GAMES
Twenty-eight of the 60 games (46.7%) played between the two teams have been decided by one-goal or less.  Lowell has won twelve, Vermont has won eight, eight have ended as a tie.  UMass Lowell has played seven one-goal games (2-2-3) this year, Vermont ten (3-5-2).
 
1-0
UMass Lowell and Vermont have played four 1-0 games since 2008.  Vermont won the first of those 1-0 games, UML won the remaining three including one in overtime on a Joe Houk goal with 15-seconds remaining on the clock.
 
ELEVEN! GOALS
When UMass Lowell and Vermont combined for 11-goals in UMass Lowell's 6-5 win on Jan. 18, 2019, it was the highest scoring game between the two in more than three-decades and it was the highest scoring one-goal game ever played by the two.  The last time the two teams combined for more than 11 goals was on February 21, 1984 when UMass Lowell defeated Vermont 9-4.
 
NOT GOING TO THE BOX
UMass Lowell, typically among least penalized teams in Hockey East, is working toward that end.  The River Hawks are averaging 10.50 minutes in penalties per game.  That's the fourth fewest penalty minutes.  Vermont is also among the least penalized.  The Catamounts are second in the league averaging 9.36-minutes per game.
 
A WIN TODAY...
Would get the River Hawks back on the right track after earning only a tie last weekend and help avoid any extended winless streak.  It also could move UMass Lowell into a second-place tie with Massachusetts.
 
DOUBLE DIGITS BEFORE THE BREAK?
Nine times in UMass Lowell's Division I history the team has entered the winter break with at least ten-wins.  The River Hawks have the chance to make it ten seasons.  With an 8-3-3 record the team would need to win their final two first-half games in Vermont to reach double digits.  The last ten-win first half was in 2019-20 when the team was 10-4-4 at the break.  Twice in the past UMass Lowell had a dozen wins at the midpoint.  In 1986-87 the team headed home for the holidays with a 12-2-1 record and in 2001-02 the club was 12-2-0 at the point of final exams.

Related Videos

Now Playing:

• Play Video