ERIE, PA. – Senior goaltender Samuel Richard (Sainte-Catherine, Quebec) earned a 30 save shutout, as the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (2-3-0, 1-1-0 Hockey East) topped Mercyhurst (0-6-0, 0-1-0 AHA), 4-0, on Friday evening at Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie, Pa.

Graduate student Jay Ahearn (Staten Island, N.Y.), senior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.), sophomore Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) and senior Connor Eddy (Victoria, B.C.) each lit the lamp for the River Hawks. Senior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) led the way with two points on two assists, while freshman Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario), sophomore Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.), freshman Luke Shipley (Powell River, B.C.) and sophomore Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) each had one assist apiece.

Defensively, junior Sean Kilcullen (Kensington, Md.), Eddy, and sophomore Dominic Payne (North Vancouver, B.C.) each had one block for the River Hawks. Richard got the nod between the pipes, stopping all shots that came his way.

"It was a good effort tonight," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "The guys battled for each other and withstood a late push. The goaltending was strong throughout and the team defense got better as the game progressed. It is a good step forward on the road for our team in several categories. We'll recover tonight and get ready for a quick turnaround tomorrow." 

The River Hawks started the game on the offensive, collecting the game's first few shots on goal. Mercyhurst then challenged a shot that hit the post at the 7:31 mark, hoping for a goal, but the call on the ice stood and it was no goal. Junior Jaiden Moriello (Saugus, Mass,) then created a great scoring opportunity when he made a move around a defender and charged the net, but it was just saved.

The scoring started at the 16:00 mark of the first, when Wakely found Ahearn, who passed it off to Shipley near the blue line. Shipley fired one toward the net that Ahearn was able to redirect past the goaltender to put the River Hawks on the board. It was not long after that Schweighardt found the back of the net at 18:58. He took a pass from Bentley at the top of the faceoff circle and sent a wrist shot home to send it to intermission with a 2-0 score.

The second period was more of a back-and-forth battle, but the River Hawks came out of it on top, scoring on one of their three power plays of the period. Richard kept them in the game with key saves throughout the second including a sliding save to stop a charging Mercyhurst player, before Parks potted his first of the year on the power play with just over four minutes left. Delaney controlled the puck in the corner, finding Buttazzoni at the top of the faceoff circle, who made a nifty move on a defender and fed a backhanded pass across the zone to Parks, who buried it for the 3-0 lead.

The third period was similar to the second in terms of an even shots-on-goal battle that was won by the River Hawks 11-10. Richard impressed yet again in net, stopping all 10 Mercyhurst shots on goal to clinch his first NCAA shutout and first in a UMass Lowell uniform. Late in the period, at the 18:33 mark, Eddy potted his first of the year on an empty net, helping conclude the game with a 4-0 score.

Next the River Hawks return to Mercyhurst Ice Center tomorrow, Saturday, October 25 for game two of the road series at 5:00 p.m.