LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (10-17-0, 6-11-0 Hockey East) fought off No. 19 Massachusetts (16-11-0, 9-8-0 Hockey East) to earn a 3-1 victory on Friday evening at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.

Sophomore Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) scored the game-winner for the River Hawks in the second period, while senior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) and junior Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) joined him as goal scorers in the win. Freshman Luke Shipley (Powell River, B.C.), sophomore Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.), senior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.), freshman Nate Misskey (Melfort, SK), sophomore Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) and senior Connor Eddy (Victoria, B.C.) all picked up helpers as well.

Defensively, freshman David Adaszynski (Burnaby, B.C.)  led the team with two blocked shots, while six other skaters had one apiece. Freshman Austin Elliott (Strathmore, Alberta) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, making 21 saves in the victory.

"Overall, we're obviously pleased with the outcome," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "It's been a while and I thought this was one of the more complete efforts, defensively, that we've had and we will need to bottle that up and try to duplicate it tomorrow."

The River Hawks got out to a hot start offensively, pressuring Massachusetts goaltender, Michael Hrabal, with shots on goal, including good looks from Parks and Eddy. The squad eventually went on the power play at 6:17, collecting opportunities from freshman Diego Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) and Parks, but to no avail. Graduate student Jay Ahearn (Staten Island, N.Y.) followed up the power play with a great chance 1-on-1 with the Hrabal but it was just saved. Massachusetts was called for another penalty at 10:06, and UMass Lowell kept the pressure on with offensive zone possession and more quality chances from Nemec and Vaarwerk. Toward the end of the period, the River Hawks made one final push with under a minute left, and sophomore Dominic Payne (North Vancouver, B.C.) ripped a one-timer that just caught the pad of Hrabal. Elliott did his job on the other end with nine crucial stops to keep it scoreless going into the first intermission.  

Massachusetts went on the power play at the 4:37 mark of the second, and Elliott continued to stay hot, making two pivotal stops on shots from the slot. The River Hawks then opened up the scoring at 7:56, when Mirko Buttazzoni found Shipley at the blue line, and he fed Bentley, who ripped one from the top of the faceoff circle for his 12^th of the year. The Minutemen answered at 11:27 with an equalizer, but Parks gave UMass Lowell the lead once again on a breakaway with 2:48 remaining, taking a long feed from Schweighardt and sending it to the third with a 2-1 score.

The third period was a battle, as the River Hawks held the Minutemen to just four shots on goal for the period that were all corralled by Elliott, while killing off two penalties. They continued to win puck battles and limit the opposition's chances at creating scoring opportunities until Vaarwerk sealed the victory with an empty net goal with 2:07 left with helpers from Nemec and Eddy.

The squad will now travel west to Amherst tomorrow, Saturday, February 7 for game two of the home-and-home series. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Mullins Center.