Friday at #10/11 UConn (PeoplesBank Arena): Live Stats | Watch | Listen
Saturday vs. #10/11 UConn: Live Stats | Watch | Listen
LOWELL, Mass. – After splitting last weekend's games at the 2026 Cactus Cup in California, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (7-12-0, 3-6-0 Hockey East) returns to Hockey East play with a home-and-home series with No. 10/11 UConn (11-5-3, 7-3-1 Hockey East). The River Hawks will travel to PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford for game one on Friday, January 9 at 7:00 p.m., before hosting the Huskies for game two the next night at 7:05 p.m. on NESN.
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 two Cactus Cup games last weekend. They picked up a 3-1 victory against #14 Minnesota State, before falling, 3-2, to St. Cloud State the next night.
Dillan Bentley shined during the weekend, scoring twice with an assist against MSU and adding a goal the next night for a four-point weekend. He was named Hockey East Player of the Week for his efforts.
At the moment, Bentley leads the squad with 15 points (10g, 5a).
Dalyn Wakely (5g, 7a) is right behind him with 12 points, while
Jay Ahearn sits in third with 11 (7g, 4a).
Samuel Richard leads the goaltenders with a 2.52 GAA and .910 save percentage in nine appearances, while Austin Elliots boasts a 2.75 GAA with an .896 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
The Huskies enter the weekend with an 11-5-3 overall record, most recently sweeping LIU in a home-and-home series on December 31 and January 1. They earned a 4-1 win in game one before a 3-1 game two win.
UConn is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 23-12-4 (12-8-4 HEA). They fell to Maine in the Hockey East Championship, before falling to Penn Statein the NCAA Regional Final. They return four of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Joey Muldowney, Jake Richard, Ryan Tattle and Tabor Heaslip. Mudowney finished first with 47 points (29g, 18a), while Richard was second with 43 (15g, 28a). Tattle (18g, 14a) and Heaslip (8g, 13a) finished fourth and fifth on the team with 32 and 21 points, respectively. For goaltenders, they return Tyler Muszelik, who finished last season with a 12-6-3 record, 2.28 GAA and .914 save percentage.
This season, Kaden Shahan leads the team with 15 points (5g, 10a), while Tattle (7g, 6a) sits tied for second with Alexandre Blais (5g, 8a) with 13 points each. Muszelik has started in all 17 of his appearances in net with an 11-3-3 record, 1.98 GAA and .935 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL VS. UCONN
The River Hawks have seen a lot of UConn throughout program history, registering a 32-17-3 (.644) all-time mark against the Huskies. The two teams last played on February 8, 2025 and the Huskies picked up a 5-4 win in overtime.
FILLING THE TSONGAS
After 6 regular season home games, UMass Lowell is averaging 5,719 per game, 95.3% of capacity, with 3 sellouts already. They currently rank 27th in the NCAA in total attendance and 9th in average attendance, 2nd in Hockey East to Boston College. The 95.3% of capacity currently ranks 13th in the NCAA.
Last season, over 18 home games the average attendance at Tsongas was 5,138, 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.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
When UMass Lowell scores 3 goals or more, they are 7-1-0 this season, and 232-44-17 since
Norm Bazin took over. When they score 2 goals or less, they are 0-11-0 this season, and 53-153-30 under Norm.
On the flip side, when UMass Lowell allows 3 goals or more they are 2-8-0 this season and 49-159-17 under Norm. When they allow 2 goals or less they are 5-4-0 this season, and 236-38-30 under Norm.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 34th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 567 of their 1,146 faceoffs taken for a .495 faceoff win percentage through their first 19 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 an 8-12-0 record on the season and a 33-17-3 record all-time against the Huskies. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to 16-12-2 against UConn.
UP NEXT
Next, the River Hawks will move on to play Boston University in another home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17. Game one will be on the road at 7:00 p.m., while Saturday's home game is set for 6:05 p.m. For tickets, click
here.
