LOWELL, Mass. –  The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (12-19-0, 8-13-0 Hockey East) fell short, 2-0, against Northeastern (14-15-1, 9-11-0 Hockey East) on Friday night at the Tsongas Center.

Defensively, freshman Nate Misskey (Melfort, SK) led the team with five blocked shots, while freshman Luke Shipley (Powell River, B.C.) and junior Sean Kilcullen (Kensington, Md.) each collected three and eight other skaters had one apiece. Senior Samuel Richard (Sainte-Catherine, Quebec) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, making 24 saves.

"It was not the result we were looking for at home," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I thought we lacked in a few areas, but we did have some positives. I thought our faceoffs were good, I thought we had plenty of chances at one point in the grade A area but couldn't bury anything. We'll need to address several things that we can do better tomorrow to get more quality chances."

It was a scoreless first, with the River Hawks holding a 14-10 shots on goal lead at the conclusion of the period. Richard played well between the pipes to keep the Huskies quiet, and the River Hawks collected plenty of scoring opportunities for themselves, including a near-goal that was called off because of the goaltender's helmet falling off. Towards the end of the period, the teams were called for matching minors, but neither could find the back of the net during 4-on-4 play and the first concluded with a 0-0 score.

Despite a Northeastern goal at the 13:11 mark of the second period, the River Hawks managed to create scoring opportunities, including a couple from senior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) and a breakaway chance from graduate student Jay Ahearn (Staten Island, N.Y.). UMass Lowell was called for major penalty with 2:23 left in the period and successfully kept the Huskies off the board before the period concluded with a 1-0 score.

The squad eventually killed off the major penalty to start the third, which gave them momentum offensively. They fired off shots, opening up multiple good looks. Sophomore Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) sent a backhand just wide of the post from the front of the net at the 8:03 mark, followed by quality opportunities from Bentley and sophomore Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia). Towards the end of the period, each team received matching minors, followed by the River Hawks pulling Richard from the net. With the empty net, the River Hawks put the pressure on, but to no avail and Northeastern scored an empty netter to conclude the game with a 2-0 score.

The River Hawks will return to the Tsongas Center tomorrow, Saturday, February 21 for game two of the series at 6:05 p.m.