Billy Riley holding trophy being lifted up by players

50th Anniversary Celebration: Forged on Ice

4/2/2026 9:48:00 AM

From its earliest days, UMass Lowell hockey was never handed anything.

It was built, shift by shift, on belief, persistence and progress with a group of players and coaches who wanted something more.

Long before the banners, the packed Tsongas Center crowds and national recognition, there was simply an idea: that something special could grow in Lowell.

For former head coach and UMass Lowell Hall of Famer Billy Riley, that idea started with opportunity.

“I was interested in getting closer to home,” explained Riley, a native of Medford, Mass. “I had a nice job at Lehigh University as the head football trainer and hockey coach. Then the situation at Lowell Tech opened up, they were looking for an athletic trainer and hockey coach.”

When he came to Lowell in 1969, he found more than a job; there was a foundation waiting to be built. Riley took over a team that practiced outdoors and didn't play more than 15 games in the season. It was several years, and three rinks, before the team could declare an official home, which it did with the Billerica Forum in the mid-1970s, although there was still no heat or hot water.

“I had a dream,” said Riley. “I always say, ‘What the mind can conceive, the heart can believe, we can achieve.’”

The early years were defined by long days, limited resources and a commitment to building something that could last. When Lowell State and Lowell Tech merged in 1975, Riley worked with the University of Lowell’s first president and fellow Hall of Famer, Dr. John Duff, to establish structures for scholarship money to benefit student-athletes from all the sports.

“I was going to work here from like 8 o’clock in the morning until 7 o’clock at night,” recalled Riley. “When you’re young, and full of vim and vigor, you don’t mind working.”

That effort laid the groundwork. Through relationships, persistence and an eye for the right players, the program began to take shape and within 10 years of Riley's arrival, the whole country would know about ULowell hockey.

Dean Jenkins holding trophy being carried on teammates shoulders

“I knew that Lowell was on the verge of having huge success,” reminisced Hall of Famer Dean Jenkins, who was a two-time All-American from 1977-81. “I was kind of a late bloomer. I only played one year of varsity hockey at Billerica High School. I wanted to go to a place that I could prove myself. I wasn’t offered a scholarship, so I said, ‘I’ll come here as a walk-on and prove to you that I’m good enough to warrant one.’”

That mindset quickly became a defining trait of the program. It showed up in how those early teams played, how they practiced and how they approached every opportunity.

“Fortunately, we had kids that were hungry, kids that wanted to win,” commented Riley.

By the late 1970s, that hunger had turned into expectation.

“We got very good very fast. It was special. We had finally gotten to that pinnacle as a group,” Jenkins stated.

Lowell put the rest of the hockey world on notice early in the 1978-79 season. After starting the season just 3-4, the team exploded for a 24-2 record the rest of the way, including a pivotal win at Boston College in December.

“We had a game at BC and we beat them, 3-0,” Riley recalled. “We’re a Division II team beating teams like Boston College.”

“It wasn’t like they didn’t play,” Jenkins added. “They played everybody. They played their best. But we had Billy motivating us, letting us know where we stood in the pecking order of the hockey world. We were going to show these teams that we didn’t have to take a backseat to anybody.”

Billy Riley on players shoulders celebrating

That belief changed everything. Lowell rolled to its first ECAC title and eventually won the NCAA Division II National Championship with a 6-4 victory against Mankato State at Merrimack on March 17, 1979.

“We expected to win,” Jenkins shared. “We expected that we were going to be the national champs. I don’t think our thinking was anything but that at the start of that season.”

Two more national championships followed in 1981 and 1982. Sensing the need to bring it to a new level, Riley was instrumental in elevating the program to NCAA Division I status in 1983 and to Hockey East as a charter member in 1984.

“There was a lot of momentum and I said, ‘it’s time to go Division I.’ I was doing it for the good of the school and the reputation,” Riley reminisced.

As the program transitioned and evolved, new generations carried the same mentality forward. For current head coach and 1994 alumnus Norm Bazin, it began with a leap of faith.

“I was playing in Wilcox, Saskatchewan. A scout came out and a lot of people ended up committing without even a visit. When I did show up later on, I thought Lowell was a great place,” Bazin explained.

What followed was steady, deliberate growth.

“We went from 10 wins our freshman year to 10 losses our senior year. It was a great ascension from year one to year four,” he said. “It’s all about making small steps.”

Years later, that foundation came full circle.

Coach Norm Bazin talking to players on the bench

“When we learned that it was an alumni and it was Norm, we were excited,” Derek Arnold ’14 said about the hiring of Bazin as head coach of the River Hawks ahead of the 2011-12 season. “Just knowing that he was in our shoes put us at ease a little bit.”

For Bazin, the opportunity meant more than a return. It was a chance to reshape the future.

“The program had success in the past, but it was every three or four years,” he said. “I did feel I knew how we could sustain success.”

That vision started with culture.

“I wasn’t focused on what they might have done in the past or didn’t do,” Bazin added. “We were more focused on how we competed every day. Competing was the biggest tagline every day.”

Upon Bazin’s arrival, the players quickly bought in.

“Our group was just so hungry to win games,” Arnold explained. “We were kind of a group of 25 sponges that were just taking it all in.”

That buy-in quickly translated to the ice. The team improved from five wins the year before Bazin’s arrival to 24 wins and a trip to the NCAA Regional final in his first season.

“That whole regional weekend was a massive moment for us collectively to be able to believe in ourselves that we could beat a team like Miami (Ohio), who was always in the NCAA Tournament, coming off the season we had the year before,” Arnold recalled.

River Hawks celebrate championship-winning goal

The River Hawks looked to build on the momentum in 2012-13. From top to bottom, that year’s roster reflected the identity that had defined Lowell for decades.

“All four lines were just so well balanced,” Arnold said. “We were extremely close. We had gone through the lowest lows and we just kept it rolling.”

The team put together an 11-game unbeaten streak en route to a No. 1 seed in the Hockey East Tournament. UMass Lowell swept Maine in the opening round before topping Providence in the semifinals, earning a spot in the title game against Boston University. Late in the third period of a scoreless game, Arnold had a once-in-a-career shot.

“I can’t tell you I had a single wrap-around goal in my 20 years of playing. Next thing I know, I’m actually attempting a wrap-around here and it worked,” Arnold recalled about the goal that lifted the River Hawks to their first Hockey East Tournament Championship in their 29-year membership, setting up a run to the Frozen Four.

River Hawks pose with 2013 Hockey East Championship banner

Arnold and the River Hawks remained hungry for more after their first Frozen Four visit and would look to repeat their success in 2013-14 with the help of some new additions.

“Lowell just seemed blue-collar from everything I had read and saw online,” said Joe Gambardella ’17. “You walk through those doors, and it was hockey and nothing else mattered. You’re here to do a job, and you’re here to get better."

However, the team once again faced adversity, turning in a 1-3-1 record to open the new season.

“That start was tough on everyone, and especially the freshmen that had never experienced anything like that before,” Arnold commented.

But in true River Hawk fashion, the team stepped up to the challenge.

“We looked at every day as just a little bit closer to getting where we wanted to be at the end of the year,” stated Gambardella.

And they got exactly where they wanted to be when they raised a UMass Lowell banner to the rafters at the TD Garden as Hockey East Champions for the second consecutive year.

“Norm would always talk to us about being the underdogs,” Gambardella shared. “We were always the underdogs, no matter who we were playing on any given night. That was the way that people viewed us and we didn't care. We let it fuel our fire, making it well known that we’re here to stay and that we were building a dynasty.”

River Hawks pose with 2014 Hockey East Championship banner

Two more trips to the Hockey East title game followed and although the River Hawks were on the wrong side of those matchups, Gambardella said that he and the team did not feel any added pressure going into his senior season in 2016-17, but instead were just enjoying the moment.

“You would think a lot of people going in might feel that tension and pressure, but we went in with absolutely none,” Gambardella explained. “You look at us warming up, we have nothing but smiles on our faces. That's the loose moment that you recognize. You just know what you have to do and you're going to go out and execute it.”

Gambardella and the River Hawks did just that, defeating Boston College, 4-3, to earn their third Hockey East title in five years.

“I was really excited because beating BC in the final was setting a new standard for the program,” shared Bazin.

River Hawks pose with 2017 Hockey East Championship banner

Fifty years later, the legacy of UMass Lowell hockey isn’t just measured in those banners.

“I have a lot of pride in being a small part of those successful teams,” Bazin said. “There’s several games that maybe didn’t add up to a championship, but they were key for our development.”

From humble beginnings to national prominence, the story of River Hawk hockey is one of steady growth, relentless belief and a culture that refuses to back down.

“In the moment, you don't realize it, but after the fact, being removed at this point in our lives as a group, we can look back and just appreciate what we did and how hard it was,” added Arnold.

A program built over decades and strengthened by generations, UMass Lowell hockey continues to create an impact that goes far beyond the rink.

“I look at the four years as the best four years of my life,” Gambardella concluded. “Not only did it shape my hockey career, but it shaped me into the person I am today.”

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