Friday vs. Providence: Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Listen | Game Notes
Saturday at Providence: Live Stats | Watch (NESN & ESPN+) | Listen | Game Notes
LOWELL, Mass. – The No. 12/13 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (12-7-2, 5-5-1 Hockey East) is ready to take on No. 7/6 Providence (15-5-2, 5-4-2 Hockey East) in a ranked conference home-and-home series, beginning Friday night at 7:15 p.m. at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, followed by a road matchup Saturday at Providence at 4:30 p.m. at Schneider Arena in Providence, R.I.
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 21 games this season, they hold a 12-7-2 record (5-5-1 Hockey East). Nationally, they rank #12 in the USCHO Poll and #13 in the USA Hockey Poll. They also rank #13 in the Pairwise Rankings.
UMass Lowell enters this series after falling short to Stonehill, 3-2, in overtime last Saturday night.
Jak Vaarwerk and
Owen Cole scored the UMass Lowell goals, with Vaarwrk adding an assist to finish with two points.
At the moment,
Mirko Buttazzoni (5g, 10a) and
Scout Truman (8g, 7a) lead the way with 15 points each, while
Owen Cole (6g, 7a) sits in third on the team with 13.
Ben Meehan (2g, 9a),
Matt Crasa (4g, 7a) and
Jak Vaarwerk (3g, 8a) are tied for fourth on the team with 11 points each.
Beni Halasz leads the two goaltenders with a 2.13 GAA and .926 save percentage, while
Henry Welsch boasts a 2.50 GAA and .895 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE FRIARS
The Friars enter the weekend with a 15-5-2 overall record (5-4-2 Hockey East), most recently losing both games of a two-game series with Boston College last weekend. They fell, 3-0, in game one, before a 4-1 loss the next night.
The Friars are coming off a 2023-24 season year where they finished 18-13-4 (11-9-4 Hockey East), falling to Massachusetts, 3-1, in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. They return all of their top five point-scorers from 2023-24 in graduate student Nick Poisson, sophomore Tanner Adams, graduate student Chase Yoder, sophomore Hudson Malinoski and senior Guillaume Richard. Poisson led the way with 24 points (9g, 15a), while Adams had 21 (6g, 15a) and Yoder tallied 20 (11g, 9a). Malinoski (9g, 9a) and Richard (3g, 15a) tied with 18 each. They returned two goaltenders in junior Philip Svedeback and senior John Driscoll. Svedeback started all 35 games with a 2.32 GAA and .900 SV%, while Driscoll did not have any minutes in net.
This season, Logan Will leads the team with 18 points (7g, 11a), while Tanner Adams (9g, 6a) is behind him with 15 points and John Mustard (5g, 9a) is third with 14 points.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 36th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekendís slate. The River Hawks have won 622 of their 1,259 faceoffs taken for a .494 faceoff win percentage through their first 21 games.
UMASS LOWELL vs. PROVIDENCE
The River Hawks have seen a lot of Providence throughout program history, registering a 51-67-11 (.438) all-time mark against the Friars. The two teams last played on February 24, 2024 when Providence picked up a 2-1 victory.
NORM AND NATE
Norm Bazin and Nate Leaman are the longest tenured coached in Hockey East, both taking over their respective programs for the 2011-12 season. Their records have been pretty similar over that span, with Norm compiling a record of 274-176-45 (158-119-36 in Hockey East), and Nate compiling a record of 274-168-64 (159-113-46 in Hockey East). While Norm has had more postseason success in Hockey East, Nate has had more success in the NCAA Tournament. Norm has led Lowell to 3 Hockey East tournament titles, 2 Hockey East regular season titles, 6 NCAA appearances, and 1 Frozen Four. Nate has led Providence to 1 Hockey East Regular season title, 6 NCAA appearances, 2 Frozen Fours, and 1 National Championship. In the regular season, Nate has the edge head-to-head in the regular season, with a record 19-10-0, but in the postseason, it's Norm with 3-2 edge, including a 3OT win in the 2015 Hockey East Semifinal.
IN THE POLLS
UMass Lowell ranks #12 in the USCHO Poll and #13 in the USA Hockey Poll this week. They also rank #13 in the Pairwise Rankings going to into this series with Providence.
A WIN TODAY...
A win today would move the River Hawks to a 13-7-2 record on the season and a 52-67-11 record all-time against the Friars. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to 14-21-0 against Providence.
UP NEXT
The River Hawks will follow up this Providence series with another weekend of Hockey East play, traveling to take on No. 1 Boston College on Friday, January 31, before hosting Merrimack the next night at the Tsongas Center.
