LOWELL, Mass. – Despite two third-period goals, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (4-5-0, 1-4-0 Hockey East) came up short, 3-2, against in-state conference foe No. 8/9 Boston University (5-3-1, 2-1-1 Hockey East) on Friday night at the Tsongas Center.
Both UMass Lowell goals were scored by defensemen in the matchup, as freshman
Ben Brunette (North Bay, Ontario) collected his first collegiate goal, before junior
Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden) potted his first of the season. Junior
Owen Cole (Dunnville, Ontario) and sophomore
Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta) each picked up an assist on both of the team's goals, finishing with two helpers a piece. In net, senior
Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) made 27 saves in his fifth appearance.
"I thought we had decent details to start the game. Probably didn't have enough of an attack mentality early and made a push in the third period," said Head Coach
Norm Bazin. "We finally scored a power play goal, which was healthy for us. Two goals by defensemen, that's another thing I enjoyed, but we didn't have enough of an attack mentality and that's what reflects in the 20 shots. They're a good team and we've got to be better."
Both defenses were stout in the first period, with just 12 shots on goal combined between the two squads. The River Hawks dominated at the dot, winning 16 of 19 faceoffs, and were the first to earn a man-up opportunity after BU was called for tripping at 5:21. They were unable to capitalize but managed to create some scoring opportunities throughout the period. Graduate student
Alex Peterson (Collegeville, Pa.) had a great one just past the halfway point, intercepting an errant BU pass, rifling a wrister that was saved, before collecting his own rebound and attempting a wraparound that was just barely saved by the Terriers' goalie Mathieu Caron. Welsch impressed at the other end as well, keeping the game scoreless with seven saves, including an impressive sliding pad save at 8:17 to halt a BU breakaway.
The opening faceoff of the second went to the River Hawks, but it was BU that got the first chance of the period, hitting the post on a Zabaneh shot at 3:11, followed by a power play goal from Ryan Greene at 6:05 to give them the lead.
Both defenses made their mark, blocking a combined 13 shots, and Welsch had a great end to the period after the teams traded off power play opportunities, making five crucial saves to help keep the score at 1-0 heading into the second intermission.
It was UMass Lowell who found the pipe to begin the third period, as graduate student
Nick Granowicz (Macomb, Mich.) fired a shot that was deflected into the post, narrowly missing the equalizer. Later, sophomore
Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) sent a centering pass to graduate student
Filip Fornää Svensson (Linköping, Sweden) in front of the net, but his one-timer was broken up by Caron.
Peterson threatened again at 9:02, snapping a hard shot off Caron's blocker, as the River Hawks gained momentum offensively. After rapid-fire shots on goal from sophomore
Jack Collins (Canton, N.Y.) and Jonsson that could not find their way into the cage, the Terriers increased their lead to two with a Quinn Hutson goal just before Brunette answered back with a goal of his own at 14:06. Truman and Cole passed quickly back-and-forth as they entered the offensive zone, and Truman sent one towards the net that Cole redirected to the stick of Brunette, who quickly deflected it into the back of the net to make it a one-goal game yet again.
With less than three minutes to go, the Terriers took advantage of a power play again to score their third goal of the night, before Jonsson got the River Hawks their first power play goal of the game with just 19 seconds remaining. He collected a Truman rebound that bounced off the skate of Cole and finished it. However, it was not enough, as the game concluded with a 3-2 score in favor of the Terriers.
The River Hawks will now travel to Agganis Arena in Boston for game two of the home-and-home series tomorrow, Saturday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m.
