Four-Goal Second Period Lifts River Hawks Past Union, 5-4

Friday, November 13

Lowell, Mass.

7:14pm

University of Massachusetts Lowell

3-8-0

Union

5-5-0

Team	1	2	3	F
Union (NY)	1	0	3	4
UMass Lowell	1	4	0	5

11/13/2026 11:35:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Postgame Highlights

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (3-8-0, 0-4-0 Hockey East) scored four goals in the second period to build a commanding lead on its way to a 5-4 victory against Union (5-5-0, 2-2-0 ECAC) on Friday night at the Tsongas Center.

Five different skaters found the back of the net for the River Hawks in the win. Sophomore Dalyn Wakely (Port Hope, Ontario), freshman Nick Wellenreiter (Hamilton, Ontario), junior Jacob MacDonald (Fort Worth, Texas), freshman Misha Volotovskii (Calgary, Alberta) and junior Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) all scored.

Senior Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) led the way with three assists, while Wakely and Nemec each finished with two points. Five other River Hawks recorded an assist apiece: junior Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.), sophomore Nate Misskey (Melfort, Sask.), sophomore David Adaszynski (Burnaby, B.C.), freshman Kolin Sisson (Lincoln, R.I.) and freshman Joey McGraw (Sugar Land, Texas).

Defensively, five skaters tied for the team lead with two blocked shots each, including Nemec, who made a crucial play in the final seconds by blocking a shot and clearing the puck with his hand after losing his stick to help preserve the lead. Five other skaters added a block apiece. Sophomore Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) earned the win between the pipes, stopping 26 shots.

"I thought it was a good hockey game tonight," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "Obviously, it's nice to finish on the right side of the ledger for a change and I thought the guys deserved the game."

The first period featured a back-and-forth battle, with the River Hawks holding a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal and striking first at the 10:06 mark. On the power play, Vaarwerk controlled the puck in the offensive zone before finding Nemec along the goal line, who quickly fed Wakely in the slot for a shot past the goaltender's blocker to give UMass Lowell a 1-0 lead. Just over four minutes later, Union evened the score with a shorthanded goal at 14:16. The River Hawks controlled much of the play over the remainder of the period and generated several more scoring chances, but the teams headed into the first intermission tied at one.

UMass Lowell broke the game open in the second period, scoring four times without allowing a goal to take a 5-1 lead into the final frame. Wellenreiter got things started just 3:32 into the period, collecting a rebound off an Adaszynski shot before backhanding it into the net. MacDonald followed with his seventh goal of the season on the power play at 8:53, firing a shot past the goaltender off a feed from Vaarwerk to double the River Hawks' lead.

At 13:32, Delaney entered the offensive zone and found Volotovskii breaking toward the net, where the freshman finished the opportunity to make it 4-1. Just over a minute later, at 15:04, Nemec scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on another power play. After a Union player attempted to catch the puck out of the air, Wakely collected it off his glove and delivered a nifty backhand pass to Nemec in the slot, who fired it home to extend the lead to 5-1.

The River Hawks continued to compete defensively in the third period, with Elliott turning aside nine shots to help secure the 5-4 victory. Union scored three times in the final frame, but UMass Lowell's defensive effort in the closing minutes preserved the one-goal advantage and gave the River Hawks the victory.

The River Hawks return to the Tsongas Center tomorrow, Saturday, November 14, to take on RPI at 4:05 p.m.