LOWELL, Mass. – Despite a game-tying goal from sophomore Jack Collins (Canton, N.Y.) in the second period, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (8-20-4, 4-14-3 Hockey East) fell just short against No. 14/12 Massachusetts (18-10-3, 11-8-2 Hockey East), 2-1, in overtime Friday evening at the Tsongas Center.
 
Assisting Collins on the lamp-lighter was junior Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden) and senior Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.). Defensively, sophomores TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) and Mark Cooper (Cambridge, Ontario) led the squad in blocked shots with four apiece. Senior Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) got the nod between the pipes for the River Hawks, making 26 saves.
 
"I think we experienced a good hockey game tonight," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I thought it was back-and-forth and there was a lot of resistance in the neutral zone, and chances were hard to come by for both teams. I thought the goaltending was good on both sides and obviously, we want to score last, but we didn't. And in the 3-on-3, we keep learning lessons, and we'll just keep learning hard lessons until we can score the last one in a game. We've been in those situations eight times this year, and we've won on three occasions, so we have to get better in that area."   
 
The first period was a back-and-forth battle, as both teams entered the locker room with a zero on the scoreboard. Welsch and the River Hawks' defensive unit helped blank the Minutemen, who tallied 22 shots on goal in the period, compared to UMass Lowell's eight. After trading possessions for the majority of the first 20 minutes, the River Hawks managed to kill off a Massachusetts power play at the 15:35 mark, leading to some momentum. Senior Jake Stella (Karlstad, Sweden) had the best chance of the period with a wraparound opportunity, as his shot just clipped the pad of Massachusetts goalie Michael Hrabal. Welsch finished the period with 12 saves on the other end as the period concluded with a 0-0 score.
 
Most of the second was much of the same, with the River Hawks gaining more offensive opportunities throughout. After Massachusetts went on the power play at the 10:48 mark, the River Hawks picked up a near shorthanded-goal on a junior Matt Crasa (South Setauket, N.Y.) and graduate student Alex Peterson (Collegeville, Pa.) 2-on-1, but Crasa's shot was just saved. Later on, when the River Hawks drew a penalty of their own, sophomore Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) had two great shots on goal, but to no avail.
 
Massachusetts broke the scoreless streak with just 1:36 remaining on an Aaron Bohlinger goal, but it was Collins who punched right back with a goal for UMass Lowell just 23 seconds later. Meehan got the play started, passing to Jonsson at the blue line, before he ripped one towards the net that Collins was able to deflect past Hrabal for the equalizer. The retaliation brought the teams to the locker room knotted up at one.
 
The theme continued in the third, with both teams playing evenly in the neutral zone to limit each other's scoring chances. The shots battle was close, with Massachuetts barely edging out the River Hawks, 13-11, and each side picking up 10 faceoff wins. The River Hawks killed off their fourth penalty of the game with just under eight minutes to go, and the game went to an overtime period with the score still 1-1.  
 
The 3-on-3 overtime period saw just three total shots on goal. At 1:57, Welsch came up big again for the River Hawks, making a huge save on a Minutemen breakaway, but it was a Ryan Ufko goal with 2:04 left that concluded the game with a 2-1 score.
 
The River Hawks will now head to Amherst tomorrow for game two, with puck drop scheduled for 6:00 p.m.