River Hawks Drop Closely-Contested Season Opener against Clarkson

Friday, October 9

Lowell, Mass.

7:14pm

University of Massachusetts Lowell

0-1-0

Clarkson

1-0-0

Team	1	2	3	F
Clarkson	1	1	1	3
UMass Lowell	2	0	0	2

River Hawks Drop Closely-Contested Season Opener against Clarkson

10/9/2026 10:44:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Highlights Postgame

LOWELL, Mass. – Juniors Lemor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Jacob MacDonald (Fort Worth, Texas) logged one goal apiece, as the UMass Lowell Hockey team (0-1-0) faced a 3-2 setback against Clarkson (1-0-0) in the 2026-27 season opener at the Tsongas Center on Friday night.

"I thought it was a good hockey game today," said John F. Kennedy Head Hockey Coach Norm Bazin. "Not the result we were looking for, obviously, but a good hockey game, nonetheless. I thought we had a good start. I thought the effort was there and we created some scoring chances. I thought 20 and 25 had opportunities to finish and those were great quality scoring chances, but we couldn't finish and at the end of the day, they made one more play than we did on that 5-minute major power play. That seemed to take a lot of steam out of our better players, having to kill five minutes and we almost did it, but almost doesn't count in this league. Clarkson is a tough college hockey team and they played well, so we have to get back to the drawing board and come back tomorrow and make a quick rebound."

Senior Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.), sophomore Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario) and freshman Nick Wellenreiter (Hamilton, Ontario) each added an assist on the night. On the defensive end, Vaarwerk led the way with four blocks, while senior Thomas Stewart (Toronto, Ontario) and sophomore Nate Misskey (Melfort, SK) chipped in with two each. Sophomore goaltender Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) made 17 saves in between the pipes.

Junior Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) registered the River Hawks' first shot of the night, as both sides fought for an advantage in the opening minutes. The River Hawks continued to pressure early with two more shots before a forced turnover created a 2-on-1 breakaway for the home team to capitalize on, allowing Vaarwerk to slip a pass to Nemec, who finished the first goal of the night at 8:27. Elliot made two good stops in the next 90 seconds to keep UMass Lowell in control and shift play back to the offensive end where three different River Hawks tested the Clarkson keeper.

At 16:10 in the first period, UMass Lowell began an offensive blitz, firing off three consecutive shots to lead to a faceoff in its offensive end. The River Hawks would once again take care of their opportunities, as Wakely won the faceoff and got the puck to MacDonald, who fired a laser into the back of the net to make it 2-0 at 17:10. However, the Golden Knights were able to cut the difference in half in the waning seconds of the period when Adrian Misaljevic put back a rebound to make it 2-1 heading into the first intermission.

Saves by Elliott and blocks from Delaney, Stewart and Vaarwerk kept the River Hawk lead intact in the opening minutes of the second period and helped successfully kill a Clarkson power play. On the offensive end, freshean Kuzma Voronin (Yaroslavl, Russia) and Kolin Sisson (Lincoln, R.I.) put attempts on target at 7:04 and 11:07, respectively. Later in the period at 17:45, the Golden Knights' Talon Sigurdson ripped a shot from inside the blue line towards the net where a waiting Adrian Misaljevic was able to get a final tip on it to even the score, 2-2. Nemec and MacDonald had strong chances on net on the power play in the final minutes of the period, looking for the go-ahead goal, but the teams remained deadlocked at the end of the second.

Less than three minutes into the third period, Misskey and senior Sean Kilcullen (Kensington, Md.) put back-to-back chances on net, although the opposing goaltender came up with the stops. At 9:48, the visitors converted on a power play opportunity when Owen Van Steensel sent a pass across the net to Remi Gelinas for a one-timer that snuck inside the near post, giving Clarkson its first lead of the night, 3-2.

The River Hawks' offense controlled the final 10 minutes of the game. At 13:55, the home team started a power play of its own and was able to put a pair of chances on net. Four minutes later during offsetting penalties that forced the teams to go 4-on-4, UMass Lowell bombarded the net with final shots from sophomore Josh Mori (Richmond, B.C.) and Voronin, but the visitors would hold on to take the decision.

The River Hawks are back in action at home tomorrow, Saturday, October 10 against St. Lawrence. Puck drop is set for 4:05 p.m.