Saturday at Providence: Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Listen |
Game Notes
LOWELL, Mass. – The No. 13 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (15-11-3, 8-9-2 Hockey East) will hit the road for one game this weekend at No. 8/9 Providence. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Schneider Arena.
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 29 games this season, they hold a 15-11-3 record (8-9-2 Hockey East). Nationally, they rank #13 in the USCHO Poll and #13 in the USA Hockey Poll. In the Pairwise Rankings, they sit at #11.
UMass Lowell enters this weekend after a series sweep with Northeastern last weekend. They fell, 2-0, in game one, before picking up a home victory in game two by a score of 3-1.
Lee Parks,
Pierson Brandon and Jack Vaarwerk scored for the River Hawks in game two, with Brandon netting the game-winner.
At the moment,
Owen Cole (7g, 10a) and
Mirko Buttazzoni (5g, 12a) lead the way with 17 points each, while
Scout Truman (8g, 8a) is just behind with 16.
Henry Welsch leads the two goaltenders with a 2.38 GAA and .902 save percentage, while
Beni Halasz is also posting a productive season with a 2.49 GAA and .911 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE FRIARS
The Friars enter the weekend with a 17-8-5 overall record (7-7-5 Hockey East), most recently splitting a series with Boston University last weekend.
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, Malinoski (9g, 11a) and Logan Will (8g, 12a) lead the team with 20 points each, while Adams (10g, 9a) is third with 19 points and John Mustard (7g, 11a) is just behind with 18.
UMASS LOWELL vs. PROVIDENCE
The River Hawks have seen a lot of Providence throughout program history, registering a 52-67-12 (.443) all-time mark against the Friars. The two teams last played on January 25, 2025 when the River Hawks picked up a 1-0 win.
SCORING AGAINST THE FRIARS
26 players have played at least one game against Providence in their careers.
Ben Meehan leads the way with 10 games played, but it is
Owen Cole that leads the way in points with five (2g, 3a).
Isac Jonsson has four (0g, 4a), while Meehan (1g, 2a) and
Matt Crasa (2g, 1a) each have three against the Friars.
IN THE POLLS
UMass Lowell ranks #13 in the USCHO Poll and #13 in the USA Hockey Poll this week. They also rank #11 in the Pairwise Rankings going to into this set with Providence.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 36th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 849 of their 1,717 faceoffs taken for a .494 faceoff win percentage through their first 29 games.
CAREER BESTS
Dillan Bentley already has 8 goals this season, doubling his career best of 4 from last year. His 14 points is also a career-best, eclipsing the 12 he had last season.
Matt Crasa has 9 assists, tied with the career-best 9 he had as a freshman.
T.J. Schweighardt has 8 points this season (all assists). He only had 6 points (2 goals 4 assists) in his freshman and sophomore years combined.
Scout Truman's 8 goals this season matches his career-best 8 that he had as a freshman. His 35 PIM is by far a career-high, beating the 18 he had as a sophomore.
Owen Cole's 10 assists is a new career-best, beating the 8 that he had as a sophomore. His 17 points is tied with the career-best 17 he had as a junior.
Ben Meehan's 11 assists are 2 shy of his career-best 13 as a junior.
Jak Vaarwerk has 5 goals and 9 assists, the 5 goals ties the 5 he had as a freshman last season, and the 9 assists are 1 shy of the 10 assists he registered as a freshman.
Henry Welsch already has 10 wins, beating the career-best 6 he had as a freshman and again as a junior.
Beni Halasz has 3 shutouts, matching the career-best 3 he had as a freshman with Northern Michigan.
A WIN ON SATURDAY…
A win today would move the River Hawks to a 16-11-3 record on the season and a 53-67-12 record all-time against the Friars. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to 15-21-1 against Providence.
UP NEXT
The River Hawks will follow up this game with a home-and-home series against No. 16 Massachusetts, traveling to Amherst on Thursday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m. Game two will be at the Tsongas Center on Saturday, March 1 at 6:05 p.m.
