LOWELL, Mass. – The No. 15 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (8-3-0, 4-2-0 Hockey East) fell short, 4-1, against Connecticut (7-5-1, 4-4-1 Hockey East) Friday night at the Tsongas Center in game one of a two-game set.  

Freshman Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) lit the lamp for the first time of his career in the matchup, with helpers from juniors Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) and TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.). Defensively, graduate students Jack Robilotti (New York, N.Y.) and Pierson Brandon (Irvington, N.Y.) led the way with two blocked shots each, while six different skaters each tallied one. Graduate student Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, snagging 26 saves.

"I thought today's loss was earned," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I didn't think we were on and I thought we were off in several respects. I thought our puck battle intensity wasn't what it needed to be in Hockey East and I just thought we were off in many respects. We have to find a way in 24 hours to be better if we hope to salvage a split."   

The River Hawks came out of the gate firing, as they collected 10 shots on goal in the first period compared to UConn's 7. Both goaltenders made big between the pipes to keep it scoreless when the clock struck zero. Junior Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta) had a great chance at the 8:53 mark, first shooting one just wide, before two consecutive shots on goal that were saved. Freshman Jaiden Moriello (Saugus, Mass.) also picked up a prime scoring chance in the slot at 13:43, but the goaltender was able to get a piece of it.

After a UConn power play goal to start off the second period, the River Hawks killed off a Huskies power play and got to work on the offensive end, creating chances with graduate students Ian Carpentier (Worcester, Mass.) and Nick Anderson (Orono, Minn.). The squad then earned a power play of their own at the 15:40 mark, but were unable to capitalize, and UConn added one at 18:33 to bring the game to the second intermission with a 2-0 score.

The River Hawks tallied more opportunities to get on the scoreboard after an early UConn goal in the third period, first with a shot from freshman Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) at 1:36 after a nice feed from fellow freshman Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.), and another pair of shots from senior Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden) at 5:50 and 5:56 that were just saved.

UMass Lowell got on the board at the 12:39 mark when Parks and Nemec zoomed into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 and Parks fired two shots off of goaltender Callum Tung, collected his rebounds and slipped one past the outstretched foot of Tung to cut the deficit to two. With 2:29 remaining, the Huskies scored and the game concluded with the score at 4-1.

The two teams will now return to the Tsongas Center tomorrow, Saturday, November 23 for game two of the series, scheduled for 6:05 p.m.