Sunday vs. Simon Fraser (Exhibition): Live Stats | Watch | Listen
LOWELL, Mass. – After a 10-4-2 first half, the No. 10/9 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (10-4-2, 5-3-1 Hockey East) returns to action on Sunday in a home exhibition matchup against Simon Fraser University.
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 16 games this season, they hold a 10-4-2 record (5-3-1 Hockey East). Nationally, in the USCHO poll, they rank No. 10, while sitting at No. 9 in the USA Hockey Poll.
UMass Lowell enters this exhibition with Simon Fraser after concluding the first half of the season with a 0-1-1 series against No. 2 Boston College. The teams played to a 3-3 tie in game one at the Tsongas Center, with the River Hawks taking the shootout win, before a hard-fought 3-2 loss in game two. Freshman
Mirko Buttazzoni (Langely, B.C.) was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Week for his two-goal performance in the game one tie and shootout win.
SCOUTING THE RED LEAFS
The Red Leafs' non-conference team enters the weekend with an record of 5-9-0 in their non-conference schedule, most recently defeating the University of Victoria by a score of 5-1 on November 29. They face off against Massachusetts on Saturday, December 28 before they make the trek to Lowell.
Through 14 games, Lucas Ceccarelli leads the team with 16 points (8g, 8a), while Walker Erickson is just behind him with 14 (5g, 9a). Both Zachary Maxwell and Maxim Potvin are tied for third on the team with 12 points each (5g, 7a), as Caleb Huffman rounds out the top five with 11 points (3g, 8a).
AT THE BREAK
UMass Lowell headed into the Christmas break tied for second in Hockey East. Under
Norm Bazin, UMass Lowell has been in second place in Hockey East at the Christmas break 2 times previously. The first was in 2016-17, when they were four points behind Boston College. UMass Lowell finished tied for first with Boston College and Boston University, and won the Hockey East Tournament, eventually losing in overtime to Notre Dame in the NCAA Northeast Regional final in Manchester, N.H.
The second time was in 2019-20, when the team tied for second place at the break, one point behind Providence. Lowell finished 3rd, six points behind Boston College. The post season was cancelled due to COVID.
In
Norm Bazin's 13 years at the helm (not counting the COVID season which didn't start until December), this is the ninth time UMass Lowell entered the break with 10 or more wins. In the 28 seasons of Division 1 hockey UMass Lowell played before that, they had 10 or more wins at the break just three times (1986-87, 1992-93, 2001-02). On the previous eight times UMass Lowell had 10+ wins at the break under Norm, they made either the Hockey East Championship Game, NCAA Tournament, or both, six times, only missing in 2019-20, when the postseason was cancelled due to COVID, and 2022-23, when they lost to Merrimack in 2OT in the Hockey East Semifinals at the Garden.
SECOND HALF
In
Norm Bazin's 13 seasons behind the bench, UMass Lowell has gone .500 or better in the second half 10 times, .600 or better six times, and .700 or better twice (22-4-1 .833 in 2012-13; 17-6-0 .739 in 2016-17).
In those 13 seasons, in Hockey East play, UMass Lowell has gone .500 or better in the second half nine times, .600 or better 6 times, and .700 or better once (13-3-1 .793 in 2012-13).
HOT START
At 10-4-2, this is UMass Lowell's sixth-best start through 15 games in their Division 1 history:
13-2-1 1986-87
13-3-0 2001-02
10-2-4 2015-16
10-3-3 2014-15
10-3-3 2021-22
EXHIBITION GAMES
UMass Lowell is 34-7-5 in exhibition games all time, 30-7-5 at home, including 17-1-2 at the Tsongas Center. Against Canadian teams, UMass Lowell is 25-3-4
UMass Lowell is unbeaten in their last 20 exhibition games (17-0-3), winning their last 8. The last loss was a 4-3 setback against Ottawa at Tsongas Arena on October 7, 2000, the start of Tim Whitehead's final season as head coach. This is, by far, the longest current winning and unbeaten streak in Hockey East. This is also both the second-longest winning streak and second-longest unbeaten streak in exhibition games in the nation.
The longest winning streak belongs to the University of Alaska, who have won 16 straight exhibition games since a 5-3 loss to the US Under-18 team at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage on September 29, 2006.
The longest unbeaten streak belongs to the Cornell Big Red, who are 24-0-2 since a 3-2 loss to the US Under-18 Team at Lynah Rink on October 24, 2009.
UMass Lowell is 25-1-4 in their last 30 exhibition games.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 36th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 491 of their 986 faceoffs taken for a .498 faceoff win percentage through their first 16 games.
IN THE POLLS
UMass Lowell is ranked #10 in the USCHO poll and #9 in the USA Hockey poll this week. When UMass Lowell is ranked in the USCHO poll (back to 1997-98), they are 249-168-45, including 122-71-25 at home, 95-78-18 on the road, and 32-15-2 at neutral sites.
The squad is also ranked #8 in the PairWise Rankings.
UP NEXT
After the exhibition, the team will head to Palm Springs, California for the Coachella Valley Cactus Cup, where they will take on Michigan Tech in game one on Friday, January 3 at 3:30 p.m., and depending on the result, will play either Holy Cross or Omaha in game two the next day.
