LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (9-14-0, 5-8-0 Hockey East) fell to No. 20 Boston University (12-10-1, 8-7-0 Hockey East), 3-0, on Saturday night at the Tsongas Center.

Defensively, five different skaters had at least one blocked shot, with senior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) leading the way with four. Junior Sean Kilcullen (Kensington, Md.) was next with two, while three others had one apiece. Freshman Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, making 17 saves.

"I thought it was a good hockey game for the bulk of the night," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I didn't have a problem with the effort. The execution wasn't there tonight, and we certainly made it hard on ourselves in the offensive zone and weren't able to get shots through. We need to do a better job that way and figure out what we can do to create more offense in the offensive zone because I thought the effort was there, the first touches, for the most part were there and the guys were hungry, but had nothing to show for it."    

The first 20 minutes was back-and-forth with stout defensive play from both sides and UMass Lowell killing off two penalties throughout that span. The period only saw 10 total shots on goal, as the River Hawks finished the period with a 6-4 shots on goal lead, but neither team were able to cash in, as the period concluded with a 0-0 score.

UMass Lowell was buzzing to begin the second, putting pressure on the Terriers' goaltender, including a pair of great looks from senior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) and freshman Diego Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C) that just could not find the back of the net. Elliott made pivotal stops on the other end to keep it scoreless, until the final second of the period, when Boston University opened up the scoring before the buzzer sounded to make it 1-0.

UMass Lowell maintained their fight in the third, stacking scoring chances, including a freshman Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario) chance in front of the net at the 5:58 mark and two Bentley chances – one at 9:19 that was saved and another that hit the pipe, while Elliott continued to keep the River Hawks in the game with great stops. Boston University then added a goal at 11:38 and an empty netter at 17:45, concluding the game with the 3-0 final score.

Next, the River Hawks will host Maine for two games next weekend on Friday and Saturday, January 23 and 24. Game one is set for 7:15 p.m., while Saturday's game two will have a 6:05 p.m. puck drop.