February 19 at Northeastern (7 p.m. - NESN)
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February 20 vs. Northeastern (6 p.m.)
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LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell hockey team will take to the ice for a pair of games against No. 16 Northeastern this Friday-Saturday, February 19-20.

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell enters tonight's contest with a 4-7-0 record after dropping a pair of games last weekend against Number One in the Nation Boston College, 7-1 and 4-3.  The team is 1-3-0 on the road and 3-4-0 at the Tsongas Center.  UMass Lowell is not ranked in either the USCHO Poll or the USA Hockey Magazine Poll.  The Hockey East Coaches' Pre Season polls placed the River Hawks fourth.  The club is currently seventh in the Hockey East Power Index.  UMass Lowell is fifth averaging three-goals per game.  Sophomore Carl Berglund, eleven games into the season leads the team in scoring with 11-points, including a team leading eight-assists.  Twelve players have scored goals, six have at least three each.  Sophomore forward Andre Lee is atop the goal scoring list with six.  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 2.86 and a .900 save percentage.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northeastern is 8-5-2 after sweeping New Hampshire last weekend, 6-2 and 5-4.  The club is 4-3-1 at home and 4-2-1 on the road.  The team is ranked at number 16 in the USCHO Poll and receiving votes in the USA Hockey Magazine Poll.  Northeastern is sixth in the Hockey East Power Index.  The Hockey East coaches' Pre-Season Poll slotted the Huskies in the number five spot.  Northeastern is averaging 3.73 goals per game, second best in the Conference.  The power play is the most successful in Hockey East, hitting at a 30.6% rate.  Fourteen different players have scored goals, six have at least five apiece.  Senior Zach Solow and sophomore Aidan McDonnough lead the squad with 8-goals apiece, Solow lead the team with 19-points. Sophomore Connor Murphy has started all 15 of the team's games.  He has a 2.69 GAA and an .912 save percentage.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NORTHEASTERN
This is the 123rd meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1983.  UMass Lowell leads the series 62-50-10, but the more recent meetings show Northeastern with a slight edge.  That edge is reflected in the last dozen games between the two teams, Northeastern leads 8-3-1.  The Huskies swept the two-game season series a year ago after taking two of three from the River Hawks in each of the two previous seasons.  The two met in the 2016 Hockey East Championship Game.  Northeastern won that match up, 3-2, but UMass Lowell does hold an edge in HEA Tournament play 10-5-0.  The two teams met in one of the first NCAA regular season games played outside the United States.  UML won that match up in the opening game of the Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland in November of 2015. 
 
RANKED vs. RANKED
UMass Lowell and Northeastern have met seven times when both were ranked in the top 15 in the country.  The Huskies hold a 4-3-0 edge in those seven games.  Northeastern is currently ranked 16th, UMass Lowell is not ranked.
 
EXTRA TIME?
When UMass Lowell and Northeastern meet 60-minutes is often not enough time to decide matters.  Seventeen of the last 51 games between the two teams have gone to overtime.  UMass Lowell holds 7-4-6 edge in those OT games, and 10-5-10 overtime advantage all-time in long history between the two.  More recently nine of the last 23 games have required extra time with the results evenly split, 3-3-3.
 
ABOUT LAST SEASON
Northeastern swept the two-game series winning the first meeting in Lowell, 3-0.  The Huskies got a first period power play goal from Tyler Madden, Ryan Shea made it 2-0 with a second period goal and Grant Josefek added an empty net marker for the 3-0 final.  Craig Pantano made 24 saves in earning the shutout.  The second meeting was another tight affair. Northeastern won it 2-1.  Reid Stefanson had given UMass Lowell a 1-0 first period lead, but the Huskies got goals from Michael Kesselring in the second period and Matt Demelis in the third period to earn the victory.
 
BAZIN VS. MADIGAN
Both coaches, Norm Bazin and NU's Jim Madigan came on board for the 2011-12 season and since that time the two teams have shown a nearly even split in the series with Northeastern holding a 11-9-3 edge.  Madigan has a 173-135-38 record since taking over the reins at Northeastern, Bazin is 209-117-32 at UMass Lowell during that period of time.  The Huskies have won two Hockey East Tournament Championships and UMass Lowell has earned the trophy three times.
 
FAMILY CONNECTION
Northeastern defenseman Jordan Harris is the son of former UMass Lowell goalie Peter Harris.  The elder Harris played in 16 games between 1986 and 1990 with a 4.56 goals against average and a 4-5-1 record.  Peter Harris was drafted by the New York Islanders.  His son, Jordan, is a Montreal Canadiens draft pick.
 
AT MATTHEWS ARENA
This will be UMass Lowell's 63rd game at the Matthews Arena.  The River Hawks have only visited two buildings more often, Maine's Alfond Arena in Orono and Merrimack's Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass.  The River Hawks are 28-23-6 against Northeastern at the Matthews and also played Boston College at the Matthews when the Conte Forum was under construction.  In all UMass Lowell has 30 wins at the Matthews Arena.  That is the second most wins in any opponents building.  Only at Merrimack's Lawler Rink have the River Hawks won more often, 37 times.
 
THE COACH AS A PLAYER AT MATTHEWS
UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin scored his first collegiate goal at the Matthews Arena.  That goal came on November 9, 1990 at the 1:06 mark of the second period.  It cut Northeastern's lead to 4-3 in a game that would eventually go in the books as an 8-8 tie, the highest scoring tie in program history.  Dave Pensa and Tim Smallwood picked up the assists on Bazin's first goal.  It was also Bazin's first collegiate point.
 
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
UMass Lowell and Northeastern have faced one another on eight different ice surfaces.  The two have battled at the Tsongas Center, Matthews Arena, Tully Forum (Billerica, Mass.), Fenway Park, Thompson Arena (Hanover, N.H.), Boston Garden, TD Garden and the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2015.  UMass Lowell has played Boston College, Maine and New Hampshire in nine different buildings.  UMass Lowell has played Clarkson in ten different buildings.
 
IN NHL BUILDINGS
The Matthews Arena, known at the time as the Boston Arena, was the original home of the Boston Bruins.  The River Hawks have a 46-44-10 record in buildings that have been the home to an NHL team.  UMass Lowell is 9-9-1 in the TD Garden/Fleet Center, 4-5-0 in the old Boston Garden, 1-2-0 at the CONSOL Energy Center, 1-0-1 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, 2-2-2 at the XL Center and 29-25-6 in the Matthews Arena.  Excluding the Matthews Arena, UMass Lowell is 17-18-4 in NHL Buildings.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND
UMass Lowell dropped a pair of games to top ranked Boston College, 7-1 and 4-3.  Alex Newhook and Mike Hardman had two goals and an assist in the first game of the home-and-home series while Matt Boldy added a goal and four assists and Boston College defeated UMass Lowell, 7-1, at the Conte Forum in Boston.  Lucas Condotta's shorthanded goal was the visitor's only marker in the contest.  Saturday night back in the Tsongas Center goals by Brian Chambers and Andre Lee gave UMass Lowell a 2-0 lead, but BC came roaring back with two goals during a four-on-four in the second period to tie the game.  Nikita Nesterenko scored in the first minute of the third period as the Eagles went on to a 4-3 win.
 
HEATING IT UP
Several River Hawks have begun to catch fire in the last couple of games.  Andre Lee, who had the game winner on Tuesday, has scored four-goals and added an assist in the last four games.  Reid Stefanson has two-goals and six points over that stretch and Carl Berglund has added four-assists.  Lucas Condotta has three goals in his last four games and five-goal and 8-points in his last eight contests.
 

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