DURHAM, N.H. – The 2023-24 season came to an end Wednesday night, as the No. 11 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (8-24-4, 4-17-3 Hockey East) fell short to No. 6 New Hampshire (20-14-1, 13-11-1 Hockey East), 1-0, in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament at the Whittemore Center.
 
Despite not lighting the lamp, the River Hawks played well defensively, as 10 different skaters blocked at least one shot. Sophomore Mitchell Becker (Rogers, Minn.) and senior Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.) led the way with three blocks each, while sophomore Mark Cooper (Cambridge, Ontario) and graduate student Nick Granowicz (Macomb, Mich.) collected two apiece. Six different players earned one on the night. Senior goaltender Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) played well between the pipes for the River Hawks, finishing with 18 saves.
 
"Congratulations to our opponent," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "They're well-coached and they did a good job today. Obviously, when you get beat three games in a row by the same opponent, they're deserving."  
 
The River Hawks came out of the gates applying lots of pressuring to the Wildcats offensively. The squad had their first great chance at the 4:07 mark, when senior Brehdan Engum (Burnsville, Minn.) brought the puck up from the defensive zone, before dishing a pass to senior Jake Stella (Karlstad, Sweden) in front of the net, who fired a shot just off the pad of New Hampshire goalie, Jakob Hellsten.
 
It was the Wildcats that got on the board first at the 10:46 mark on a Harrison Blaisdell rebound goal. The River Hawks went on to kill off a slashing penalty immediately following the goal, and found momentum offensively, with sophomore Nick Rhéaume (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec) and Cooper shots that found their way to the net. Not long after, the River Hawks picked up a power play chance of their own, collecting good chances from Becker and Stefan Owens, but to no avail, and both teams entered the locker room with a 1-0 score.
 
The second period was hard-fought on both sides, with Welsch and the defensive unit helping blank the Wildcats with six saves and nine blocked shots. The squads went back-and-forth, and the River Hawks killed off two New Hampshire power play opportunities, even grabbing their best scoring chance on a short-handed breakaway from Rhéaume at 17:19. With just nine total shots on the goal in the second, the game went to intermission with the same score.
 
Although it was not the period with the River Hawks' most shots on goal, the third was the most aggressive for the team in terms of creating chances, with seven shots throughout the period. After trading possessions and playing well in the neutral zone for the majority of the period, the River Hawks showed their fight towards the end, keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Sophomore TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) had a great chance at the 7:22 mark, taking an open shot that was glove-saved by Hellsten. Welsch was pulled with 2:15 remaining, and the River Hawks kept the pressure on with three shot attempts with the man advantage, but they were unable to find the back of the net, and the game concluded at 1-0.