“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.’”

“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. 

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.

“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.”

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. 

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.

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.