LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (8-13-0, 4-7-0 Hockey East) dropped game two of its series with No. 10/11 UConn, 5-1, on Saturday night at the Tsongas Center.

Freshman Luke Shipley (Powell River, B.C.) picked up his second goal in as many games in the effort, with assists from freshmen Diego Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) and Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario). Defensively, senior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) led the team with three blocked shots, while Shipley was just behind him with two, and seven other skaters blocked one shot apiece. Freshman Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, making 25 saves.

"Overall, I thought it was a good hockey game for 58 minutes," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "Things kind of fell apart at the end and that's a learning and maturity thing that we're going to have to get through. Overall, I think it was a matter of getting the special teams to raise their level of intensity at the right time and their penalty kill outworked our power play, I thought, at crucial times in the third. So that was the difference in the game."

The River Hawks started out hot, immediately creating chances. It did not take long for them to cash in on those chances, as Shipley's second goal of the series gave the River Hawks the 1-0 lead just 2:41 into the game on the power play. Elliott made great saves on the other end to keep that lead until the 10:29 mark, when UConn evened the score with a goal. The remainder of the period was back-and-forth, with the River Hawks collecting more scoring chances, including a 2-on-1 with sophomore Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) and graduate student Jay Ahearn (Staten Island, N.Y.), but they were not able to find the back of the net and the squad went to the locker room with the score knotted up at one.

It was an even second period, as each team finished with 15 shots on goal. The River Hawks tallied chances, but it was UConn that got on the board with a goal at the 5:20 mark to make it 2-1. UMass Lowell answered with more offensive pressure, peppering 13 shots on goal that were saved, and the game went to the third with a one-goal deficit for the River Hawks.

The back-and-forth battle continued into the third period and once again the River Hawks had their chances, including three power plays, but could not get the game-tying goal. Elliott was eventually pulled the just over two minutes remaining, and the Huskies scored on the empty net to start a string of three unanswered goals and conclude the game with a 5-1 score.

Next, the River Hawks take on Boston University in a home-and-home conference series next weekend on Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17. Game one will be at Boston University at 7:00 p.m., with Saturday's game two set for 6:05 p.m.