DURHAM, N.H. – Graduate student
Jay Ahearn (Staten Island, N.Y.) collected four points, and the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (5-5-0, 3-3-0 Hockey East) had six different goal scorers on their way to a 6-1 victory against New Hampshire (4-5-0, 2-3-0 Hockey East) Saturday night at the Whittemore Center.
Ahearn's four points came on one goal and three assists, while freshman
Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario), senior
Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.), junior
Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.), sophomores
Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) and
Jaiden Moriello (Saugus, Mass.) joined him in the goal scoring department. Wakely also had a multi-point night, adding an assist to his goal, while freshman
Luke Shipley (Powell River, B.C.), freshman
Nate Misskey (Melfort, SK) and sophomore
Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) all had helpers as well.
Defensively, sophomore
Dominick Rivelli (Highland Park, Ill.) led the way with three blocked shots, while three players tallied two and four had one apiece. Freshman
Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, making 26 saves in the victory.
"I was pleased with tonight's effort," said Head Coach
Norm Bazin. "Six different scorers contributed, and we had more intensity overall. Special teams were a factor early which seemed to give us a lift. We will turn our attention to non-conference play next week."
The River Hawks immediately got to work, picking up two power play opportunities within the first four minutes and scoring on the second. It all started when Misskey controlled the puck in the offensive zone and took advantage of a New Hampshire broken stick to create space and make a crisp pass to Buttazzoni, who did the same to Vaarwerk before he ripped a one-timer to the back of the net.
UMass Lowell then followed up the goal with two penalty kills and scored a 4-on-4 goal at 9:39. Wakely did it all himself, dumping the puck to the corner, chasing it down, and stealing it from a New Hampshire skater and wrapping around for the five-hole goal all in one motion. Just over a minute later, Bentley cashed in on the power play to make it 3-0 when he cleaned up a rebound from a Wakely deflection from Ahearn. Both teams battled for the remainder of the period, and the game went to intermission with a 3-0 score.
The momentum was maintained to begin the second, as the team put together some solid shifts, especially during a power play that started at the 5:30 mark. They moved the puck efficiently and Ahearn, Buttazzoni and sophomore
Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) tallied quality scoring looks. Despite a New Hampshire power play goal at 9:46, the squad continued to apply pressure in the offensive zone, while also limiting the Wildcats with solid play from Elliott and the defensive unit. Towards the end of the period, at the 17:42 mark, Nemec got one back for the River Hawks while shorthanded, giving the team a three-goal lead once again. It started when Ahearn poked the puck away from a New Hampshire player in the defensive zone to the stick of Mori, who skated into the offensive zone and found Nemec in the slot before he buried it in the top left corner to close out the period.
It did not take long to add to the score in the third, as Ahearn sniped one to the top right corner at the 3:17 mark. Shipley made a great play to snag the puck with his glove at the blue line to keep it in, before feeding Ahearn to help make it 5-1. It was Moriello's turn next, as he scored his first career goal at the 17:02 mark. Ahearn brought the puck past the offensive blue line before finding Mori, who skated towards the goal line and passed it back to Moriello in the faceoff circle. Moriello then loaded up and fired a wrist shot above the goaltender's glove to help secure the 6-1 final score.
Next, the River Hawks will travel to New York to take on Union on Friday, November 14 and RPI the next night on Saturday, November 15. Friday's game will be at 7:00 p.m., while Saturday's game is set for a 4:00 p.m. puck drop.
