UMass Lowell Gains a Point in 2-2 SO vs Boston College

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If you ever wonder what New Englanders do on a balmy sub-zero night in early February the answer is, go watch a college hockey game. That’s what 5,063 did in Lowell, MA. on Friday night as the UMass Lowell River Hawks played host to the Boston College Eagles. The River Hawks are coming off a good month of January in which they went 5-1-0 overall with four of those wins coming in the league. They have won their last three in a row. The River Hawks outscored their opponents 15-10. The Boston College Eagles were looking to snap a five-game losing streak. A bright spot for the Eagles has been their power play, which is second in the league and 12th in the nation at 84.4%. The Eagles have scored at least one PPG in 16 of their last 25 games.

The starting goalies for Friday night’s game were Mitch Benson for the Eagles and for Lowell it was Gustavis Davis Grigals. A feeling-out process took place over the first three minutes of the game. Jon McDonald set up Owen Cole of the River Hawks with a great cross-ice feed but Cole’s shot was stopped by Benson. The Eagles had the first power play chance at 4:39 and the River Hawks did allow two shots on goal, but the game remained scoreless. Lowell received their first man advantage at 6:59 of the first. Mike Posma went off for a five-minute major for contact to the head. The River Hawks power play was very unimpressive getting only one shot on net in the five minutes. Eagles penalty killers did a good job in their zone with good sticks. With seven minutes left in the period the game was still scoreless.

Eagles defenseman, Luckas Gustafsson broke into the Lowell zone on the right-wing side and got off a close-in shot that Grigals handled in his chest. UMass Lowell went back on the PP at 16:38 when Oskar Jellvik was sent off for cross-checking. This time the River Hawks cashed in as Scott Truman beat Benson to the glove side with a wrist shot off the left side. For Truman, the PPG was his sixth of the season. Isac Jonsson and Matt Crasa got assists. Lowell took a 1-0 lead with them to the locker room. The River Hawks are 5-1-0 when leading after one period.

The second period started with the teams playing five-on-five hockey. Four minutes into the period, the game was being played more on natural ice. BC tied the game off an end zone faceoff in the Lowell zone. Trevor Kuntar scored it with a low wrister to the far side of Grigals. The goal was his ninth of the year and it came at 4:26 of the second. The lone assist went to Cutter Gauthier who won the faceoff to set up the goal. The Eagles went on the PP when Carl Berglund was sent off for closing his hand on the puck at 6:09 BC had some good scoring chances on the power play, but Grigals was equal to the task. Benson had to come up with a big glove stop for BC after his defense gave the puck away on his end of the ice. The River Hawks Zach Kaiser had the shot on goal from the high slot.

Under seven minutes in the period, and the game was still 1-1. BC was buzzing around the River Hawks net and it produced the lead for the Eagles. Seamus Powell scored on a high wrist shot on the blocker side. The goal was his first of the season and the assists went to Powell (2nd point of the night) and Andre Gasseau. The time of the goal was 15:04. The River Hawks went back on the PP to try and tie the game up as Liam Izyk went off at 18:39 for tripping. Lowell would get their second PPG of the night just before the period ended. Fllp Fornaa Svensson scored his third of the year, ripping a shot past Benson at 19:55. Ben Meeham and Carl Berglund had the helpers. The teams went to the dressing room tied at 2-2. River Hawks are 3-1-1 when tied after two, and BC is 3-3-1.

The third period started with even-strength hockey. In the first five-plus minutes of the period, BC had the better of the action. The Eagles went on the power play at 6:57 when River Hawks defenseman Ben Meeham was sent off for high-sticking. UMass Lowell killed off the short-handed situation and the game was now an eleven-minute affair. Each team picked up a minor at 13:29 and we had four-on-four hockey for two minutes. Neither team did anything so with 3:23 left the game was still in the balance. With less than a minute to play in the third and a faceoff in the BC zone, the River Hawks were looking for the game-winner. Instead, the period ended in a 2-2 tie. Shots after three periods saw that BC had a 30-25 advantage. Three-on-three overtime hockey was next.

In the overtime, BC had better chances. Nikitta Nesterenko was stopped twice by Grigals. The overtime period came to an end, a shootout was on tap. In the shootout, the River Hawks would get the win as they outscored BC 2-1. The shootout goals were by Svensson, and Chambers for Lowell. Powell scored the Eagles’ shootout goal. The River Hawks improved to 15-9-2, 9-5-2 in HE. BC is now 9-10-6, 5-7-5 in HE

After the game, Eagles head coach Greg Brown said “this was a good hard hockey game.” He thought his team gave “a better effort” and played “much smarter.” River Hawks head coach Norm Bazin thought his team “played better after the first period”, especially 5-on-5. Overall coach Bazin believed this was “an even hockey game.” UMass Lowell is right back at it on Saturday night when they host UNH at 6 PM.