Friday vs. #17 Maine: Live Stats | NESN | Watch (ESPN+) | Listen
Saturday vs. #17 Maine: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
LOWELL, Mass. – After splitting last weekend's home-and-home series with No. 20 Boston University, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (9-14-0, 5-8-0 Hockey East) will move on to host No. 17 Maine (12-9-2, 6-7-0 Hockey East) for a two-game set at the Tsongas Center. Game one will kick off at 7:05 p.m. on NESN, with Saturday's game two set for a 6:05 p.m. puck drop.
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
UMass Lowell entered the 2025-26 season coming off an 16-16-4 campaign that saw the River Hawks enter the Hockey East Tournament as the #7 seed. The team has graduated a handful of players and have bolstered their lineup of 14 returners with 15 newcomers, including three transfers and 12 freshmen. Of those transfers, one is graduate student, one is a senior and one is a sophomore. The team kicked off the 2025-26 season tied for the seventh spot in the Hockey East Preseason Poll with 53 points. At the moment, they are not recieving votes in the USCHO or USA Hockey Polls. They ended last season at No. 19 in the Pairwise rankings.
UMass Lowell enters this weekend after splitting their home-and-home series with #20 Boston University last week. They won game one on the road, 4-3, in overtime, before falling, 3-0, at home the next night.
Nate Misskey was the hero Friday night, scoring the game-winner in overtime for the win.
Jak Vaarwerk also shined, scoring a goal with an assist for two points.
At the moment, Bentley leads the squad with 17 points (10g, 7a), while Ahearn (9g, 5a) is behind him with 14.
Samuel Richard leads the goaltenders with a 2.57 GAA and .911 save percentage in 10 appearances, while Austin Elliots boasts a 2.74 GAA with an .896 save percentage in 16 appearances.
SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS
The Black Bears enter the weekend with a 12-9-2 overall record, most recently getting swept by Providence by scores of 6-1 and 3-0 two weeks ago.
Maine is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 24-8-6 (13-5-6 Hockey East). They won the Hockey East Championship with a 5-2 victory over UConn and fell to Penn State in the NCAA Regional Semifinal. They return three of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Josh Nadeau, Frank Djurasevic and Charlie Russell. Nadeau finished third with 29 points (10g, 19a), while Djurasevic finished fourth with 28 points (7g, 21a) and Russell finished fifth with 26 (7g, 19a). For goaltenders, they return Albin Boija, who finished last season with a 23-8-6 record, 1.82 GAA and .928 save percentage.
This season, Justin Poirier leads the team with 28 points (17g, 11a), while Brandon Holt (5g, 15a) sits in second with 20. Josh Nadeau is third with 17 (10g, 7a). Albin Boija has started in net in 16 games for the Black Bears with an 8-6-2 record, 2.58 GAA and .899 save percentage, while Mathis Rousseau has appeared in nine games with seven starts, with a 4-30 record, 2.80 GAA and .893 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL VS. MAINE
The River Hawks have seen a lot of Maine throughout program history, registering a 46-88-8 (.352) all-time mark against the Black Bears. The two teams last played on December 10, 2025 when the River Hawks fell, 5-4 in overtime in Portland.
FILLING THE TSONGAS
After 8 regular season home games, UMass Lowell is averaging 5687 per game, 94.7% of capacity, with 3 sellouts already. They currently rank 19th in the NCAA in total attendance and 9th in average attendance, 2nd in Hockey East to Boston College. The 94.7% of capacity currently ranks 13th in the NCAA.
Last season, over 18 home games the average attendance at Tsongas was 5138, ranking UMass Lowell 13th in the nation. This was the 5th best number in the 27 full seasons that Tsongas has been open. There were 6 official sellouts last season, tied with 2012-13, 2014-15, and 2015-16 for the 2nd most in a single season. Only 2016-17, with 7, had more. (Capacity for Tsongas is 6003).
Overall, UMass Lowell is 27-20-8 when Tsongas is sold out.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
UMass Lowell is now 89-107-19 against ranked teams under
Norm Bazin, 40-44-13 at home, 31-52-5 on the road, and 17-11-1 at neutral sites.
UMass Lowell has won their last 3 games against ranked teams on the road. The last time UMass Lowell won 3 straight games against ranked teams away from Tsongas was between February 19, 2021 and March 17, 2021. This is tied for the 3rd longest such streak and 5th longest unbeaten streak away from Tsongas against ranked teams.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
When UMass Lowell scores 3 goals or more, they are 9-1-0 this season, and 234-44-17 since
Norm Bazin took over. When they score 2 goals or less, they are 0-13-0 this season, and 53-155-30 under Norm.
On the flip side, when UMass Lowell allows 3 goals or more they are 3-10-0 this season and 50-161-17 under Norm, When they allow 2 goals or less they are 6-4-0 this season, and 237-38-30 under Norm.
CAREER BESTS
Dillan Bentley has 10 goals this season. His career best was 9, set last season. His 4 power play goals is a career best, topping the 3 he had as a sophomore. His 17 points bests his career high of 16 from last season.
Mirko Buttazonis 4 goals is just 1 shy of the 5 he scored last season as a freshman.
Libor Nemec has 8 assists this season, topping the 6 he had last season as a freshman.
T.J. Schweighardt has 2 goals this season. He had 2 over his 1st 3 years combined. His 9 assists is just 1 behind his career high of 10 that he had last season as a junior.
Jak Vaarwerk has 5 goals thus far, matching 5 in each of his freshman and sophomore seasons. He has 3 power play goals this season after only scoring once on the man-advantage in his first 2 seasons.
Sean Kilcullen has 2 goals and 3 assists this season. He had 0 goals and 2 assists in his first 2 seasons combined.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 39th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 673 of their 1,371 faceoffs taken for a .491 faceoff win percentage through their first 23 games.
IN THE POLLS
At the moment, the River Hawks are not receiving votes in the USCHO or USA Hockey Polls. They ended last season at No. 19 in the Pairwise rankings.
A WIN TODAY..
A win today would move the River Hawks to a 10-14-0 record on the season and a 48-88-8 record all-time against the Black Bears. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to 21-14-3 against Maine.
UP NEXT
Next, the River Hawks will move on to play Massachusetts in a standalone game next Sunday, February 1 at home. Puck drop is set for 3:30 p.m. For tickets, click here.
