HARTFORD, Conn. – Junior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) earned a hat trick and the No. 10/9 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (14-10-3, 7-8-2 Hockey East) battled to the very end, falling just short in overtime against No. 11/10 UConn (15-10-3, 8-8-3 Hockey East), 5-4, Saturday afternoon at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Joining Bentley in the goals department was junior Connor Eddy (Victoria, B.C.), while graduate student Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.), junior Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta) and sophomore Jack Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) all tallied one assist each.

"Today the guys responded with a really good effort," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "Unfortunately, there will be no points for that effort but there were several positives. We had a good start, fought back from two goal deficit and the compete was back for the whole night. We will learn from today and continue to strive to keep improving."

The River Hawks got it started, scoring on the power play just over six minutes in on a Bentley slapshot that ricocheted off a UConn defender for the score. Vaarwerk got the play going along the boards, getting it out to Meehan, who found an open Bentley at the top of the faceoff circle. They had another prime opportunity later in the period, going on another power play and firing off five quality shots that were just saved. UConn retaliated at 17:37 on a power play of their own to tie it up at one, before adding one at 18:43 to make it 2-1 heading into the second period.

The River Hawks had a bounce-back second period, outscoring the Huskies 2-1 to tie it up. After the squad controlled the game for much of the period, UConn scored at the 12:47 mark, but Eddy answered back with a goal, sniping it past the goaltender after Silklans jarred the puck loose in the offensive zone to make it 3-2. Just over three minutes later, at the 18:00 mark, Bentley put home his second of the game with a rocket of a wrist shot from the faceoff circle, tying it up and sending the game to the third.

They rode the momentum into the third, firing a plethora of shots on goal to begin the period and applying pressure in the offensive zone, cashing in at the 9:06 mark when Bentley completed his hat trick with a nifty goal. He made a move on both a defender and the goaltender before finishing it to give the River Hawks the lead. Later, at the 15:15 mark, UConn tied it up to force overtime and sealed the 5-4 final score with a power play goal in overtime.

The River Hawks now look forward to a home-and-home series with Norhteastern next weekend, on Friday, February 14 and Saturday, February 15. Game one will be at 7:00 p.m. at Northeastern and the River Hawks will host game two at the Tsongas Center at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday night.