ORONO, Maine—Despite a career night from senior Brian Chambers (Weymouth, Mass.), the No. 17/19 UMass Lowell men's hockey team (12-9-1, 6-5-1 Hockey East) dropped a 5-3 battle to the Maine Black Bears (9-10-2, 3-6-1 HEA) on Saturday night at Alfond Arena to split the two-game series.
Chambers led the River Hawks offensively in the Hockey East bout, knocking in a career-best two goals for his first multi-goal performance. Senior Carl Berglund (Hammaro, Sweden) matched Chambers' two-point with a pair of helpers to cap his weekend with three assists. Sophomore Matt Crasa (South Setauket, N.Y.) logged his second of the year off a power play tally late in the second period. Rounding out the points column for the River Hawks, juniors Brehdan Engum (Lakeville, Minn.) and Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.), freshman Owen Fowler (Tewksbury, Mass.), and senior Ryan Brushett (Montreal, Quebec) all added an assist in the tilt.
Defensively, freshman TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) led the blue line with three blocks to match his season best. Between the pipes, Grigals stopped 30 of 34 shots faced.
The home team controlled momentum in the first period, coming out hot and immediately putting pressure high in the River Hawks' defensive zone. An early strike in the opening minutes from Maine's David Breazeale sparked a three-goal run for the Black Bears to stunt UMass Lowell's offensive push.
The River Hawks found their spark late in the period to finally break their scoring silence. Berglund sent a long pass through the neutral zone to Meehan, who sped up the boards into the far corner. Meehan clocked an open spot in the slot and fired off a centering pass to Chambers, who clapped in a quick one-timer to cut down Maine's lead to 3-1 heading into the first intermission.
UMass Lowell ramped up the intensity in the second period, clawing back within one just 1:55 into play. Breaking into the zone, Brushett maneuvered his way through a wall of Black Bears as we waited for backup from McDonald. Passing off possession to the defenseman, McDonald and Chambers hit rapid-fire passes just off the blueline to shake their defender. Chambers settled himself at the top of the blueline until he found an open channel to send in a shot. Unable to track the shot, Ostman failed to stop the long-range strike, and the River Hawks began closing the gap.
The Black Bears pushed back UMass Lowell as they smacked in a retaliation shot at 7:16. Maine nearly extended their lead back to three, but steady goaltending by Grigals on the breakaway kept them at bay.
The teams traded breakaways as Crasa barrelled down the ice one-on-one with Ostman, but the sophomore was denied at the doorstep. The forward earned another try later in the frame, however, as the Black Bears headed to the box and awarded UMass Lowell the man advantage.
Fighting through a hard-hitting Maine penalty kill unit, time was ticking down on the River Hawks' power play opportunity. Engum set up the play down low, branching out from behind UMass Lowell's goal to start their press up the ice. Engum dumped the puck into the zone as both teams chased the play. With several players tangled up along the boards behind Ostman, Crasa swooped in to steal the loose puck and planted himself just off the short-side circle before finding twine and slicing the lead to 4-3 heading into the final 20 minutes.
Although the River Hawks started the third with over four minutes remaining on the power play, Maine's defense held strong and staved off the UMass Lowell power play attempt. With 1:09 left in regulation and the one-goal deficit unmoving, Grigals left the net in favor of the extra skater. An unlucky turnover on the blue line, however, gave way to a Maine empty net goal, solidifying the 4-2 road loss for the River Hawks.
UMass Lowell returns to the Mill City next Friday, January 20, to host New Hampshire at 7:15 p.m., before traveling to Durham to close out the weekend on Saturday, Jan. 21.
