Friday at #16/15 Providence: Live Stats | Watch | Listen | Game Notes
Saturday vs. #16/15 Providence: Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | NESN | Listen | Game Notes
LOWELL, Mass. – After a sweep of Mercyhurst last weekend, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (3-3-0, 1-1-0 Hockey East) returns to Hockey East play with a home-and-home series against No. 16/15 Providence on Friday and Saturday, October 31 and November 1. Friday's contest is on the road at Providence at 7:00 p.m., while Saturday's home matchup is set for 5:05 p.m. on NESN.
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell entered the 2025-26 season coming off an 16-16-4 campaign that saw the River Hawks enter the Hockey East Tournament as the #7 seed. The team has graduated a handful of players and have bolstered their lineup of 14 returners with 15 newcomers, including three transfers and 12 freshmen. Of those transfers, one is graduate student, one is a senior and one is a sophomore. The team kicked off the 2025-26 season tied for the seventh spot in the Hockey East Preseason Poll with 53 points. At the moment, they are no longer receiving votes in the USCHO and USA Hockey Polls. They ended last season at No. 19 in the Pairwise rankings.
UMass Lowell enters this weekend after sweeping Mercyhurst last weekend with scores of 4-0 and 4-3.
Dillan Bentley led the way with four points (2g, 2a) and a game two game-winner, while
Mirko Buttazzoni also tallied four points on two goals and two assists.
Dalyn Wakely also found success, picking up three assists.
At the moment, Wakely (6a) leads the team with six points, while Bentley (2g, 3a),
TJ Schweighardt (1g, 4a) and
Mirko Buttazzoni (3g, 2a) are tied with five each.
Samuel Richard leads the goaltenders with a 2.17 GAA and .932 save percentage in his three appearances, while
Austin Elliott holds a 2.48 GAA and .912 save percentage in four appearances.
SCOUTING THE FRIARS
The Friars enter the weekend with a 2-2-1 overall record, most recently going 1-0-1 at St. Thomas last weekend. They tied game one, 2-2, falling in the shootout 2-0, before coming back on night two and picking up a 7-4 win.
Providence is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 21-11-5 (11-8-5 HEA), and fell to UConn, 3-1, in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. They return four of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Hudson Malinoski, Tanner Adams, Graham Gamache and John Mustard. Malinoski finished second on the team with 23 points (11g, 12a), Adams finished third with 22 (11g, 11a), and Gamache (10g, 10a) and Mustard (7g, 13a) tied for fourth on the team with 20. For goaltenders, the team returns Philip Svedebäck, who finished last season with a 14-8-4 record in 26 appearances with a 2.42 GAA and .911 save percentage.
This season, Mustard leads the team with six points (4g, 2a), while three different players are tied for second with four points each. Svedebäck has started all five games in net with a 1-2-1 record, 3.21 GAA and .885 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL VS. PROVIDENCE
The River Hawks have seen a lot of Providence throughout program history, registering a 52-68-12 (.439) all-time mark against the Friars. The two teams last played on February 22, 2025, when the Friars picked up a 4-2 win.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Under
Norm Bazin, UMass Lowell is 85-101-19 against ranked teams, 39-41-13 at home, 30-49-5 on the road, and 16-11-1 at neutral sites.
UMass Lowell is now 0-13-2 in their last 15 games against ranked teams at Tsongas Center, dating back to a 3-1 win over #15 Northeastern on March 3, 2023. The 15 games without a win is their longest such streak on record against ranked teams at Tsongas. The previous record of 11 games was set when they went 0-11-0 between October 31, 1998 and February 19, 2000.
NORM AND NATE
Norm Bazin and Nate Leaman are the longest tenured coaches 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 281-188-47 (162-128-36 in Hockey East), and Nate compiling a record of 280-174-67 (165-117-49 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 UMass 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, 7 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 20-11-1, but in the postseason, it's Norm with 3-2 edge, including a 3OT win in the 2015 Hockey East Semifinal.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 14th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 210 of their 392 faceoffs taken for a .536 faceoff win percentage through their first six games.
IN THE POLLS
At the moment, the River Hawks are no longer receiving votes in the USCHO or USA Hockey Polls. They ended last season at No. 19 in the Pairwise rankings.
A WIN TODAY...
A win today would move the River Hawks to a 4-3-0 record on the season and a 53-68-12 record all-time against the Friars. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to 15-22-1 against Providence.
UP NEXT
Next, the River Hawks will continue conference play with a two-game home-and-home series with New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday, November 7 and 8. Friday's game will be at the Tsongas Center at 7:15 p.m., while Saturday's game two will kick off at 7:00 p.m. at the Whittemore Center in Durham.
