Friday at UConn: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
Sunday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
LOWELL, Mass.— The UMass Lowell hockey team (5-8-1, 2-5-1 Hockey East) will follow up last week's Turkey Leg Classic Tournament with their return to conference play. The River Hawks will hit the road and face off against UConn (6-8-1, 3-5-0 Hockey East) on Friday, December 1 at the Toscano Family Ice Forum, before heading to Vermont (3-5-1, 2-3-1 Hockey East) two days later, on Sunday, December 3. Friday's game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop, while Sunday's will begin at 3:00 p.m.
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell enters the weekend after finishing 0-2-0 last week against Bentley and Army. The team dropped game one against the Falcons, 4-1, before their comeback fell short against Army, 4-2.
Dillan Bentley scored the River Hawks' lone goal of game one, assisted by freshman
Jak Vaarwerk. Bentley scored again in game two, with helpers from freshman
Jaiden Moriello and junior
Isac Jonsson. Graduate student captain
Jake Stella scored his first goal of the season in game two, as both Vaarwerk and Moriello earned their second assists of the weekend.
Scout Truman leads the team with 12 points (3g, 9a) through 14 games this season, as
Owen Cole (3g, 7a) is just behind him with 10.
Matt Crasa ranks third on the team with nine points (6g, 3a) and first in goals. Defensively,
TJ Schweighardt leads the way with 20 blocked shots, as
Brehdan Engum has collected 18.
After losing some marquee names from the 2022-23 lineup, the River Hawks bolstered their stacked roster of 20 returners with three experienced transfers and eight talented freshmen eager to contribute. They also return two of their top 5 point-getters from a year ago in defensemen
Isac Jonsson and
Ben Meehan, while
Henry Welsch returns between the pipes and has a 3-4-1 record with a GAA of 2.11 and SV% of .929. His counterpart, junior transfer
Luke Pavicich has a 2-4-0 record, 3.01 GAA and .901 SV%. The team was picked to finish seventh in the Hockey East Preseason Poll.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
UConn enters the series with the River Hawks after a 6-1 victory against Dartmouth last weekend. The Saturday prior, the Huskies dropped a two-game series to Boston College, falling 5-4 in overtime in game one before facing a 3-0 shutout the next game. They hold a 6-8-1 overall record with wins against Colgate, Union, UMass Lowell, Vermont, and Merrimack, in addition to Dartmouth. Matthew Wood holds the solo team-lead with 12 points through 15 games thus far (7g, 5a), while Hudson Schandor is just behind him with 11 (1g, 10a). Chase Bradley (6g, 4a) sits in third with 10 points, while Schandor and Harrison Rees lead the way with a +6 rating. Goaltenders Ethan Haider and Aresenii Sergeev have each played and started games this season. Haider has a 4-4-1 record with a GAA of 2.12 and save percentage of .922 in nine starts, while Sergeev has played to a 2-4-0 record with a 2.82 GAA and .897 save percentage in six starts.
Coming off a 20-12-3 season last year and a trip to the Hockey East Quarterfinals, the Huskies return 3 of their top five scorers from last season in Wood, Schandor and Ryan Tverberg. Sergeev is the only returning netminder to play this season, coming off a 2022-23 season where he appeared in 20 games and started a team-high 18, while tallying an 11-6-1 record, 2.61 GAA and .912 SV%.
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
Vermont enters this weekend with a 3-5-1 overall record through nine games and Hockey East record of 2-3-1. They will also face off against #10 UMass on Friday, December 1 before Sunday's game and are coming off a 2-1 loss to AIC two weekends ago. The Catamounts' first win came against St. Lawrence in the season opener, before defeating UConn, 4-1, on November 3 and UMass, 6-2, the next week on November 11. Jeremie Bucheler (2g, 3a) and Will Zapernick (1g, 4a) each sit atop the team with five points, while there are five players tied with four points in Simon Jellus, Jens Richards, Isak Walther, Massimo Lombardi and Philip Törnqvist. Goaltender Gabe Carriere holds a 3-4-1 record, along with a GAA of 2.61 and save percentage of .923.
In the 2022-23 season, Vermont played to a 11-20-5 record, defeating Maine, 4-2, in their first Hockey East Tournament game, before falling to Boston University, 7-3, to end their year. They return four of their top five point-getters from last season in Walther, Buyalsky, Zapernick and Joel Määttä. Carriere also returns to the net after starting 24 games for the Catamount with a 9-12-3 record, 2.49 GAA and .914 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL HISTORY VS UCONN
The River Hawks have seen quite a bit of success against UConn throughout program history, registering a 31-14-3 (.677) all-time mark against the Huskies. Last season, UMass Lowell racked up a 2-1-0 record against them, including a 2-1 Hockey East Tournament victory on March 11. So far this season, the River Hawks and Huskies split their two-game series and are 1-1-0 against each other, making Friday's game the rubber match.
UMASS LOWELL HISTORY VS VERMONT
The River Hawks have also seen a lot of success against Vermont in their history, earning a 39-17-8 record against the Catamounts. During the 2022-23 season, the River Hawks swept Vermont, going 2-0-0 against them with two shutouts, 4-0 and 2-0. The last time Vermont picked up a victory in this matchup is on January 20, 2018, when they picked up a 6-3 victory.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 21st in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 442 of their 849 faceoffs taken for a .521 faceoff win percentage through their first 13 games. Out of players that take the majority of the faceoffs for the River Hawks, leading the charge is freshman
Jak Vaarwerk, who has a faceoff win percentage of .570 with 98 wins. Not far behind is sophomore
Dillan Bentley who has collected a .557 faceoff win percentage with 108 wins.
HOMECOMING
One River Hawk hails from the state of Connecticut in freshman
Jonathan Horn. He is from Southbury, Connecticut and will be returning to his home state when the team travels to the Toscano Family Ice Forum on Friday. Zero River Hawks are from the state of Vermont.
A WIN FRIDAY…
A win on Friday would move the River Hawks to a 6-8-1 record on the season and a 32-14-3 record all-time against the Huskies, last defeating them on October 28 of this year with a 1-0 shutout.
UP NEXT
Next weekend, the River Hawks will take on Holy Cross in a non-conference home-and-home series. Game one will be at home at the Tsongas Center on Friday, December 8 at 7:15 p.m., while game two will take place at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts the next evening at 7:00 p.m.
