River Hawks Come Up Just Short Against Arizona State, 5-4

Friday, October 16

Lowell, Mass.

7:14pm

University of Massachusetts Lowell

1-2-0

Arizona State

3-2-0

Team	1	2	3	F
Arizona St.	3	1	1	5
UMass Lowell	2	0	2	4

River Hawks Come Up Just Short Against Arizona State, 5-4

10/16/2026 11:40:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Highlights Postgame

LOWELL, Mass. – Despite two-point performances from three different players, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (1-2-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) dropped a hard-fought battle against Arizona State (3-2-0, 0-0-0 NCHC), 5-4, Friday night at the Tsongas Center.

Senior Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) recorded a goal and an assist, while junior Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) and senior Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario) joined him with two assists each. Freshman Kuzma Voronin (Yaroslavl, Russia) and sophomore Tobias Pitka (Poprad, Slovakia) scored their first goals in a UMass Lowell uniform, while junior Jacob MacDonald (Fort Worth, Texas) scored his third goal in as many games. Sophomores Nate Misskey (Melfort, Sask.), Josh Mori (Richmond, B.C.) and Cole Lonsdale (Mississauga, Ontario) also added one assist apiece.

Defensively, junior Dominic Payne (North Vancouver, B.C.) led the way with three blocked shots, while Misskey added two and five other skaters recorded one each. Sophomore Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) got the start in net for the River Hawks, making 32 saves.

"Overall, I thought it was a pretty tight hockey game after we got over the jitters in the first period," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "It wasn't the result we were looking for, so we're going to have to do better tomorrow."

It was an eventful first period, as Arizona State scored the first three goals before the River Hawks responded with two of their own within 49 seconds to close the period trailing 3-2. At the 17:09 mark, Pitka got the River Hawks on the board, taking a feed from Vaarwerk in front of the net and burying it. Under a minute later, MacDonald scored his third goal of the year after finding a loose puck behind the net, wrapping around the goal and collecting his own rebound before sending it past the goaltender to cut the deficit to one.

The second period was back-and-forth, with the River Hawks holding a 13-7 advantage in shots, but Arizona State scored the lone goal of the frame to take a 4-2 lead into the third period.

At the 6:16 mark of the third, Vaarwerk cut the deficit to one once again with a wraparound goal to give the River Hawks some momentum, but the Sun Devils responded with just 2:23 remaining to make it 5-3. With just 44.7 seconds left, Voronin scored his first career goal, but it was not enough as the River Hawks fell, 5-4.

The River Hawks return to the Tsongas Center tomorrow, October 17, for the second game of the series, beginning at 6:05 p.m.