Friday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
Saturday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
BURLINGTON, Vt. – After a 6-2-0 start to the 2024-25 season and a series split last weekend against then-ranked No. 9 Boston University, the No. 15 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (6-2-0, 2-1-0 Hockey East) will head north to take on Vermont (2-4-3, 2-2-2 Hockey East) in a two-game road series at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt.
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell entered the 2024-25 season coming off an 8-24-4 campaign that saw the River Hawks enter the Hockey East Tournament as the #11 seed. The team has graduate a handful of players and have bolstered their lineup of 17 returners with 15 newcomers, including seven transfers and eight freshmen. Of those transfers, five are graduate students and two are juniors. The team kicked off the 2024-25 season in the ninth spot in the Hockey East Preseason Poll with 40 points. Through eight games this season, they hold a 6-2-0 record (2-1-0 Hockey East). Nationally, in the USCHO poll, they are currently ranked No. 15, while also ranking No. 15 in the USA Hockey poll.
UMass Lowell enters this game with Vermont after a home-and-home series with Boston University last weekend, where the squad split the series. The River Hawks picked up a road victory in game one, 5-3, with
Libor Nemec potting the game-winning goal in the third period. In Saturday's game two at the Tsongas Center, the team fell short, 5-2, for the series split. Nemec went on to score again in game two, along with
Isac Jonsson. In game one, the team had five different goal scorers. Joining Nemec were
Connor Eddy,
Ben Meehan,
Dillan Bentley and
Ian Carpentier.
Henry Welsch got the starting nod in both games, earning the win in game one with 26 saves. In game two, Welsch played the first two periods, making 13 saves, before
Beni Halasz entered the net for the third period, stopping all seven shots he faced.
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
The Catamounts enter the weekend with a 2-4-3 overall record, and are riding a 2-1-1 record in their last four games. They split with UConn in two overtime games, before facing off in a two-game series at #17 Massachusetts where they tied game one and went on to win the shootout, before shutting out the Minutemen, 4-0, in game two.
The Catamounts are coming off a 13-19-3 year where they fell to UConn in the Hockey East Opening Round. They return two of their top five point-scorers from 2023-24 in Jens Richards and Timofei Spitserov. Richards led the squad with 21 points (10g, 11a) last year, while Spitserov ranked tied for fifth with 14 (7g, 7a). For goaltenders, the team returned Axel Mangbo from last year's roster. He only appeared in three games last season, collecting a 5.00 GAA and .857 save percentage with a 0-1-0 record.
This season, Massimo Lombardi (4g, 4a) and Max Strand (1g, 7a) lead the team with eight points each, while Colin Kessler sits just behind them with seven (4g, 3a).
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 37th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 260 of their 524 faceoffs taken for a .496 faceoff win percentage through their first eight games.
UMASS LOWELL vs. VERMONT
The River Hawks have seen quite a bit of Vermont throughout program history, registering a 40-17-10 (.672) all-time mark against the Catamounts. Last season, UMass Lowell concluded the year with a 1-0-2 record against them. The River Hawks edged them 2-1 in their first matchup, before playing to a tie in both games of a two-game series later in the year.
IN THE POLLS
After a 1-1-0 weekend against then-ranked No.9 Boston University to secure a 6-2-0 start to the year, the River Hawks continue to move up in the rankings. They rank 15
th in the nation in both the USCHO poll and USA Hockey Poll.
A WIN TODAY...
A win today would move the River Hawks to a 7-2-0 record on the season and a 41-17-10 record all-time against the Catamounts. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to a 28-4-5 career mark against Vermont.
UP NEXT
Next, the River Hawks will head back home to the Tsongas Center for two homes games against UConn on Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23. Game one is set for 7:15 p.m., while Saturday's game two will begin at 6:05 p.m. Group Tickets are available for those with 10 or more by contacting
groupsales@uml.edu, including a pre-game River Hawk Experience for a youth group on Saturday, Nov. 23. Single game tickets can be purchased online at
TsongasCenter.com.
