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LOWELL, Mass. – After dropping both games against No. 17 Maine last weekend, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (9-16-0, 5-10-0 Hockey East) is looking to bounce back with a standalone matchup with Massachusetts (15-10-0, 8-7-0 Hockey East) on Sunday, February 1 at 3:30 p.m. at the Tsongas Center.
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 dropping both games against #17 Maine last week. They fell, 2-0, in game one, before losing a hard-fought 6-5 battle in overtime the next night.
Dillan Bentley led the squad with three points (1g, 2a) in game two, while three others tallied two points apiece.
At the moment, Bentley leads the squad with 20 points (11g, 9a), while Ahearn (9g, 6a) is behind him with 15.
Austin Elliott leads the goaltenders with a 2.70 GAA with a .898 save percentage in 17 appearances, while
Samuel Richard holds a 2.93 GAA with a .901 save percentage in 11 appearances.
SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
The Minutemen enter the weekend with a 15-10-0 overall record and 8-7-0 conference record, most recently defeating Northeastern, 3-2, in overtime this past Friday night.
UMass is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 21-14-5 (10-9-5 Hockey East). They They fell, 3-2, in overtime to Boston University in the Hockey East Quarterfinal but advanced to the NCAA Fargo Regional Final, where they fell, 2-1, to eventual national champions Western Michigan. They return just one of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Jack Musa. Musa finished third with 34 points (18g, 16a). For goaltenders, they return all three from a year ago, including their lead goaltender, Michael Hrabal, who finished last season with a 19-11-5 record, 2.38 GAA and .924 save percentage.
This season, Musa leads the team with 24 points (10g, 14a), while V·clav Nestraöil (11g, 12a) sits in second with 23. Jack Galanek (3g, 13a) and Francesco DellíElce (3g, 13a) are tied for third with 16 each. Hrabal has started in net in 18 games for the Minutemen with a 12-6-0 record, 2.15 GAA and .929 save percentage, while Jackson Irving has appeared in eight games with seven starts, with a 3-4-0 record, 2.75 GAA and .934 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL VS. UMASS
The River Hawks have seen a lot of UMass throughout program history, registering a 52-37-10 (.576) all-time mark against the Minutemen. The two teams last played on March 1, 2025 when the River Hawks fell, 5-3 at home.
FILLING THE TSONGAS
After 10 regular season home games, Lowell is averaging 5646 per game, 94.1% of capacity, with 3 sellouts. They currently rank 16th in the NCAA in total attendance and 9th in average attendance, 2nd in Hockey East to Boston College. The 94.1% of capacity currently ranks 14th in the NCAA.
Last season, over 18 home games the average attendance at Tsongas was 5138, ranking 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).
The current average of 5646 would be Lowellís highest all-time for a full-season, topping the average of 5592 in 2015-16. (Note: Lowell averaged 5646 during the inaugural Tsongas season of 1997-98, but that only included the final 5 home games of the season after the arena opened on January 27)
Overall, Lowell is 27-20-8 when Tsongas is sold out.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Lowell is now 89-109-19 against ranked teams under Norm Bazin, 40-46-13 at home, 31-52-5 on the road, and 17-11-1 at neutral sites.
Lowell has won their last 3 games against ranked teams on the road. The last time 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 Lowell scores 3 goals or more, they are 9-2-0 this season, and 234-45-17 since Norm Bazin took over. When they score 2 goals or less, they are 0-14-0 this season, and 53-156-30 under Norm.
On the flip side, when Lowell allows 3 goals or more they are 3-11-0 this season and 50-162-17 under Norm, When they allow 2 goals or less they are 6-5-0 this season, and 237-39-30 under Norm.
CAREER BESTS
Dillan Bentley has 11 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 20 points bests his career high of 16 from last season.
Mirko Buttazoniís 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.His 10 points thus far is 2 shy of the 12 had had last season.
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. His 9 assists and 14 points are both 2 behind the career highs of 11 and 16 he had last season.
Sean Kilcullen has 3 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 45th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 727 of their 1,494 faceoffs taken for a .487 faceoff win percentage through their first 25 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 10-16-0 record on the season and a 53-37-10 record all-time against the Minutemen. Head Coach Norm Bazin would also move to 22-13-4 against UMass.
UP NEXT
Next, the River Hawks will move on to play Massachusetts again in a home-and-home series game next Friday and Saturday, February 6 and 7. Friday's game one is set for 7:15 p.m. at home, while game two in Amherst is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. For tickets to Friday's game, click here.
