Friday vs. Clarkson: Live Stats | Watch | Listen | Game Notes
Saturday vs. St. Lawrence: Live Stats | Watch | Listen | Game Notes
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – After falling to Union and RPI two weekends ago, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (5-7-0, 3-3-0 Hockey East) focuses their attention to the Adirondack Winter Invitational and are seeking their second consecutive win at the tournament after hoisting the trophy last season. It all starts against Clarkson on Friday, November 28 at 7:30 p.m., before facing off against St. Lawrence the next day at 4:00 p.m. at the historic Olympic Center 1980 Rink at Herb Brooks Arena.
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 not recieving votes in the USCHO or USA Hockey Polls. They ended last season at No. 19 in the Pairwise rankings.
UMass Lowell enters this weekend after dropping games at Union and RPI last weekend. The River Hawks fell at Union, 7-1, before coming up just short against RPI, 2-0.
Dalyn Wakely led the team with the only goal of the weekend, coming unassisted.
At the moment, Wakely leads the squad with nine points on two goals and seven assists.
Jay Ahearn is second with eight points (5g, 3a), while
Jak Vaarwerk sits third with seven (3g, 4a).
Austin Elliott leads the goaltenders with a 2.48 GAA and .910 save percentage in his nine appearances, while
Samuel Richard holds a 2.62 GAA and .911 save percentage in six appearances.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
The Golden Knights enter the weekend with a 4-10-0 overall record, most recently going 0-2-0 against Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend. They fell against QU, 4-1, before getting edged out by Princeton, 4-3.
Clarkson is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 24-12-3 (15-6-1 ECAC), and fell to Cornell in the ECAC Championship Game. They return just one of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Tristan Sarsland. He finished fifth on the team with 23 points (8g, 15a). The team does not return any goaltenders from last seasons squad.
This season, Ryan Bottrill leads the team with 14 points (2g, 12a), while Erik Bargholtz sits in second with nine points (4g, 5a) and Owen Van Steensel (5g, 3a) and Talon Sigurdson (4g, 4a) are tied for third with eight points each. Shane Soderwall has started 12 games for the Golden Knights in net, holding a 4-8-0 record with a 3.16 GAA and .895 save percentage. Keenan Rancier has made five appearances with an 0-2-0 record, 4.18 GAA and .836 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL VS. CLARKSON
The River Hawks have seen a fair amount of Clarkson throughout program history, registering a 15-11-2 (.571) all-time mark against the Golden Knights. The two teams last played in the 2024 Adirondack Winter Invitational, where the teams played to a 4-4 tie and the River Hawks earned a 3-2 shootout victory to win the tournament.
UMASS LOWELL VS. ST. LAWRENCE
The River Hawks have seen a fair amount of St. Lawrence throughout program history, registering a 16-9-1 (.635) all-time mark against the Saints. The two teams last played in the first round of the 2024 Adirondack Winter Invitational, where the River Hawks earned the 2-0 shutout.
AGAINST THE ECAC
UMass Lowell has done well over the years when playing teams representing the ECAC. Dating back to their Division 2 days in 1978-79 and games against Division 1 Clarkson and Boston College, UMass Lowell is 117-79-14 (.591) all-time against teams representing the conference. After this weekend, UMass Lowell could also matchup against Yale on Day 2 of the Cactus Cup in Palm Springs, CA in January. Against teams that are currently in the ECAC, Lowell is 106-64-12 (.615) all-time. They have a winning record against every current member of the conference except Quinnipiac (2-2-1), and Brown (2-4-5).
UMass Lowell is unbeaten in their last 14 games against teams from the ECAC (12-0-2), dating back to a 4-3 overtime loss to Colgate at Tsongas Center on October 18, 2019.
IN-SEASON TOURNAMENTS
UMass Lowell has now participated in 45 in-season tournaments all time, winning 14 of them. They have now competed in 14 of them under Norm Bazin, winning 8 of them, and losing the title game 3 other times.
DEFENDING A TITLE
This season, Lowell will get the chance to defend titles that they won at 2 separate tournaments last season. The last time Lowell won a tournament title and got a chance to defend it in the next version of the tournament was when they won the 2019 Turkey Leg, but then finished last in the 2023 Turkey Leg.
The last time they played in the same tournament in consecutive years was in 1995 through 1998, when they competed in the Governorís Cup against Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire each time, finishing 3rd in 1995 and 4th the other 3 seasons. The other times they played in the same tournament in back-to-back years was in 1992 and 1993 when they competed in the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament, finishing 4th and then 2nd. They also competed in the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament in back to back seasons in 1982 and 1983, losing the championship game to Rensselaer both times.
CENTURY MARK
Both T.J. Schweighardt and Jay Ahearn have appeared in 99 career games, so their next one will be #100. For Ahearn, the 1st 87 games of his career came while playing for Niagara. Dillan Bentley is just behind these two at 98 career games, and could reach the century mark if he appears in both games this weekend. Connor Eddy is the current team leader with 117 games played, 69 at Northern Michigan, and 48 in Lowell.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 29th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 379 of their 753 faceoffs taken for a .503 faceoff win percentage through their first 12 games.
IN THE POLLS
At the moment, the River Hawks are not receiving votes in the USCHO or USA Hockey Polls. They ended last season at No. 19 in the Pairwise rankings.
WHAT WINS WOULD DO…
A win today would move the River Hawks to a 6-7-0 record on the season and a 16-11-2 record all-time against the Golden Knights. Head Coach Norm Bazin would also move to a 7-1-2 career mark against Clarkson. A win against St. Lawrence on Saturday would move the River Hawks to a 17-9-1 mark against the Saints, while bringing Coach Bazin to a 6-1-0 mark.
UP NEXT
Following the tournament, the River Hawks will take on Boston College in a home-and-home series on Friday, December 5 and Saturday, December 6. They will host game one at 7:15 p.m., before hitting the city for game two at Boston College at 7:00 p.m.
