Friday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Listen
Saturday at Vermont: Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Listen
LOWELL, Mass. – After splitting the home-and-home series last weekend with No. 19 Massachusetts, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (10-18-0, 6-12-0 Hockey East) will now hit the road for a pair of games against Vermont (12-15-0, 7-10-0 Hockey East) at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt. Friday's series opener is set for 7:00 p.m., while Saturday's matchup will have a 6:00 p.m. puck drop.
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 splitting last weekendís home-and-home series with UMass.
Jak Vaarwerk stod out in the series, collecting three points on a goal and two assists, while
Josh Mori scored a goal with an assist in Saturdayís 5-2 loss.
At the moment, Bentley leads the squad with 21 points (12g, 9a), while Vaarwerk (6g,11a) sits in second with 17 and
Jay Ahearn (9g, 6a) and
Dalyn Wakely (5g, 10a) are tied for third with 15 each.
Austin Elliott leads the goaltenders with a 2.80 GAA to go along with his .893 save percentage in 20 appearances, while
Samuel Richard holds a 2.96 GAA with a .901 save percentage in 12 appearances.
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
The Catamounts enter the weekend with a 12-15-0 overall record and 7-10-0 conference record, most recently splitting last weekend with a 6-1 win over Boston College and a 6-1 loss at Providence.
Vermont is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 11-21-3 (6-16-2 Hockey East). They fell, 2-1, to UMass in the Hockey East Opening Round to close out their season. They return two of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Colin Kessler and Max Strand. Kessler finished second with 23 points (12g, 11a) and Strand finished in third with 22 (8g, 14a). For goaltenders, they return Axel Mangbo, who made 25 appearances with 22 starts for a 9-13-0 record, 3.06 GAA and .890 saver percentage.
This season, Kessler leads the team with 19 points (5g, 14a), while Jens Richards (6g, 5a) and Sebastian Tornqvist (4g, 7a) sit tied for second with 11. Aiden Wright has started in net in 23 games with 24 appearances for the Catamounts with an 11-12-0 record, 2.80 GAA and .905 save percentage, while Mangbo has appeared in nine games with four starts, with a 1-3-0 record, 3.18 GAA and .887 save percentage.
UMASS LOWELL VS. VERMONT
The River Hawks have seen a lot of Vermont throughout program history, registering a 42-18-10 (.671) all-time mark against the Catamounts. The two teams last played on February 7, 2025, when the River Hawks fell, 5-3, at home.
STAYING OUT OF THE BOX
Dillan Bentley has now appeared in 26 games so far this season and has not spent any time in the penalty box, while adding 12 goals and 9 assists. That ties him with Boston Collegeís Will Vote for the leading point-scorer in the nation among forwards without any penalty minutes so far this season. Only defenseman Evan Murr of Minnesota State has registered more points (6G 16A) without getting whistled for a penalty. No player has more goals than Bentley without taking a penalty.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Before being held to 2 goals on Saturday, Lowell had scored 3 goals or more in 3 straight games, something they havenít done since February 1-8, 2025 (when they also went 1-2). The last time they did so in 4 games in a row was December 30, 2023 - January 19, 2024 (Lowell lost 3 of the 4 games in that stretch).
When Lowell scores 3 goals or more, they are now 10-3-0 this season, and 235-46-17 since
Norm Bazin took over. When they score 2 goals or less, they are 0-15-0 this season, and 53-157-30 under Norm.
On the flip side, when Lowell allows 3 goals or more they are 3-13-0 this season and 50-164-17 under Norm, When they allow 2 goals or less they are 7-5-0 this season, and 238-39-30 under Norm.
CAREER BESTS
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Dillan Bentley has 12 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 21 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 10 assists this season, topping the 6 he had last season as a freshman. His 13 points bests the 12 he had last season.
-T.J. Schweighardt has 3 goals this season. He had 2 over his 1st 3 years combined. His 10 assists ties his career high of 10 that he had last season as a junior. His 13 points is a career high, topping the 10 he had last season.
-Jak Vaarwerk has 6 goals thus far, topping the 5 he had 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 17 points exceeds to career high of 16 he had last season. His 11 assists matches the career high he set last season.
-Sean Kilcullen has 3 goals and 4 assists this season. He had 0 goals and 2 assists in his first 2 seasons combined.
-Chris Delaneyís 8 assists is 1 shy of the 9 he had as a freshman last season.
-Lee Parks now has 6 assists, matching the 6 he had as a freshman last season.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 36th in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 832 of their 1,686 faceoffs taken for a .494 faceoff win percentage through their first 28 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 11-18-0 record on the season and a 43-18-10 record all-time against the Catamounts. Head Coach Norm Bazin would also move to 30-5-5 against Vermont.
UP NEXT
Next up, the River Hawks host Northeastern for a two-game home series on Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21 at the Tsongas Center. Friday will have a 7:15 p.m. puck drop, while game two is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
