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LOWELL, Mass. – After closing out the regular season with a 1-1-0 week against Merrimack and Boston University, the ninth-seeded UMass Lowell ice hockey team (13-21-0, 9-15-0 Hockey East) is prepped and ready for its Hockey East Opening Round game at eighth-seeded Merrimack on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m.
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 after a splitting last weekend against Merrimack and BU. The River Hawks fell, 5-3, in game one at Merrimack and picked up a 4-3 home victory against BU on Saturday.
At the moment, Bentley leads the squad with 24 points (13g, 11a), while
Jak Vaarwerk (7g,13a) sits in second with 20.
Jay Ahearn (13g, 6a) and
Dalyn Wakely (7g, 12a) are tied for third with 19 each.
Samuel Richard leads the goaltenders with a 2.85 GAA to go along with his .903 save percentage in 17 appearances, while
Austin Elliott holds a 3.01 GAA with an .885 save percentage in 22 appearances.
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
The Warriors enter the weekend with an 17-15-2 overall record (10-12-2 Hockey East), most recently ending their regular season with a 5-3 win against UMass Lowell.
Merrimack is coming off a 2024-25 season year where they finished 13-21-1 (9-14-1 Hockey East), falling to Northeastern in the Hockey East First Round. They return four of their top five point-scorers from 2024-25 in Seamus Powell, Caden Cranston, Nick Pierre and Ty Daneault. Powell led the team with 21 points (5g, 16a), while Cranston (7g, 10a) was just behind him with 17 and Pierre (5g, 11a) was fourth with 16 and Daneault (6g, 9a) was fifth with 15. For goaltenders, the team returns Max Lundgren and Ryan Keyes from last yearís roster. Lundgren appeared in 24 games last season, collecting a 2.90 GAA and .909 save percentage with an 8-13-0 record. Keyes made five appearances with a 2.22 GAA and .920 save percentage while going 1-1-1.
This season, Parker Lalonde (12g, 20a) and Justin Gill (16g, 16a) are tied for the team lead with 32 points. Trevor Hoskin (10g, 21a) sits in third with 31 points. Max Lundgren has played and started in all games for the Warriors, boasting a 2.69 GAA and .915 save percentage in 34 games.
UMASS LOWELL VS. MERRIMACK
The River Hawks have seen a lot of Merrimack throughout program history, registering an 87-47-13 (.636) all-time mark against the Warriors. The two teams last played on March 5, when Merrimack picked up a 5-3 victory at home.
POSTSEASON VS. MERRIMACK
All time, Lowell is 8-7 in the postseason against Merrimack, advancing to the next round 7 times. They are 7-3 at home, 0-3 on the road, and 1-1 at neutral sites. In the Hockey East Tournament, they are 3-3, advancing twice. They are 3-2 at home, and 0-1 at neutral sites.
LOWELL IN THE HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT
Lowell is 52-55-3 all-time in the Hockey East Tournament, with 3 Hockey East Tournament titles on their resume. They are just 2-3 in the Opening Round, 36-31-2 in the Quarterfinals, 9-13 in the semifinals, 2-3-1 in the consolation game, and 3-5 in the Championship Game.
HOCKEY EAST POSTSEASON SCORING
No player on the roster has more than 1 career point in the Hockey Eastpostseason. Five players,
Chris Delaney,
Dillan Bentley,
TJ Schweighardt,
Mirko Buttazzoni and
Jack Collins, are all tied with one.
OPENING ROUND RESULTS
In 4 previous first round series, Lowell has advanced twice, winning 2 out of 5 games, losing the only road game in that stretch. In 2018, Lowell was the #7 and hosted #10 Merrimack in a best-of-3 series, losing both games in overtime 2-1 and 3-2. In 2021, Lowell was the #7 seed and hosted #10 Vermont, winning 5-3. In 2024, Lowell was the #11 seed and travelled to #6 New Hampshire, losing 1-0. In 2025, Lowell was the #7 seed and hosted #10 New Hampshire, winning 3-2 in overtime.
NINE SEED
Lowell is the #9 seed in the Hockey East Tournament for the first time. They have now been every seed except for #10. Overall, this is the 11th meeting between the #8 and #9 seeds in the Hockey East tournament. The #9 seed has advanced to the quarterfinals in 4 of the previous 11 matchups (36%).
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
When Lowell scores 3 goals or more, they are now 13-3-0 this season, and 238-46-17 since
Norm Bazin took over. When they score 2 goals or less, they are 0-17-0 this season, and 53-159-30 under Norm.
On the flip side, when Lowell allows 3 goals or more they are 4-14-0 this season and 51-165-17 under Norm, When they allow 2 goals or less they are 9-6-0 this season, and 240-40-30 under Norm.
CAREER BESTS
Dillan Bentley has 13 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 22 points bests his career high of 16 from last season.
Mirko Buttazoni's 4 goals is just 1 shy of the 5 he scored last season as a freshman.
Libor Nemec has 12 assists this season, doubling the 6 he had last season as a freshman. His 15 points bests the 12 he had last season.
T.J. Schweighardt has 4 goals this season. He had 2 over his 1st 3 years combined. His 13 assists eclipses his career high of 10 that he had last season as a junior. His 17 points is not only a career high, but more than the 16 he had during his 1st three seasons in Lowell combined.
Jak Vaarwerk has 7 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 20 points exceeds his career high of 16 he had last season. His 13 assists beats the career high of 11 he set last season.
Sean Kilcullen has 3 goals and 6 assists this season. He had 0 goals and 2 assists in his first 2 seasons combined.
Chris Delaney's 15 assists easily passed the 9 he had as a freshman last season. His 18 points matches the total he had last season as a freshman.
Lee Parks now has 8 assists, edging past the 6 he had as a freshman last season. His 14 points matches the total he had last season as a freshman.
AT THE DOT
UMass Lowell currently ranks 32nd in the nation at the faceoff dot going into this weekend's slate. The River Hawks have won 1,014 of their 2,025 faceoffs taken for a .501 faceoff win percentage through 34 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 advance the River Hawks to the Hockey East Quarterfinal Round and move them to an 88-47-13 record all-time against the Warriors. Head Coach
Norm Bazin would also move to a 20-13-5 career mark against Merrimack.
