LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (12-20-0, 8-14-0 Hockey East) faced an 8-2 setback against Northeastern (15-15-1, 10-11-0 Hockey East) on Saturday evening at the Tsongas Center.

Senior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) and sophomore Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) were the goal scorers for the River Hawks, while sophomore Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.), freshman Luke Shipley (Powell River, B.C.), junior Sean Kilcullen (Kensington, Md.) and Parks all added one assist each.

Defensively, three skaters blocked one shot each and senior Samuel Richard (Sainte-Catherine, Quebec) got the start between the pipes for the River Hawks, making two saves, before freshman Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) entered the game and made 10 saves.

"I did not see this coming," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I thought we were going to come out pretty well tonight. I thought we had some good extended offensive zone time and better than yesterday, but we could not solve the puzzle as far as their goalie. He played well and everything that was shot towards our net went in today."

UMass Lowell won the shots on goal battle in the first, 14-6, and won 11 of 17 faceoffs, but it was Northeastern that found themselves on the right side of a 3-0 score when the period concluded.

The squad continued to apply pressure offensively and fire 12 shots on goal in the second, fighting back after a Northeastern goal at the 8:29 mark. Elliott entered the game in net and the River Hawks eventually got on the board 45 seconds into a power play at the 9:32 mark. Delaney and Parks got the play started and Schweighardt took a pass from Delaney and skated along the blue line before burying a wrister to cut into the deficit and send the game to the third with a 4-1 score.   

The third saw a fair number of penalties from both sides, and Northeastern scored four goals throughout the period, before the River Hawks scored their second goal of the game with four seconds remaining when Shipley took a pass from Kilcullen and put the puck on net for Parks to get his stick on for his fifth of the season, leading to an 8-2 final score.

UMass Lowell will now have a week of no competition, before returning to play on Thursday, March 5 at Merrimack at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 7 against Boston University in the season finale at the Tsongas Center at 6:05 p.m.