UMass Lowell Getting Ready for Another Hockey Season

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On Saturday night October 7, the UMass Lowell Riverhawks picked to finish seventh in the Hockey East preseason poll, begin their season in Anchorage, Alaska to face the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in a two-game weekend series. Head coach Norm Bazin has added 11 new faces to this year’s roster. Seven forwards, three defensemen, and a goalie have joined the program. Here is a look at the new faces who now call themselves River Hawks.

The goalie who has been added comes from the transfer portal. Luke Pavicich spent last year with the University of Massachusetts. He was in 27 games with a record of 9-11-4. He had a goals-against of 2.75 with a save percentage of .920. He will join Henry Welsch and Edvard Norglund, as the three will battle it out for playing time this season.

The three new members of the UMass Lowell River Hawks blue line start with Sean Kilcullen, a six-foot 190 lb. defenseman out of Gonzaga High School in Kensington, MD. For the past three years, he has played for the Maryland Black Bears of the NAHL. In 152 regular season games, Sean posted 77 points (10 goals, 67 assists). In 17 playoff games, his numbers were (2 goals, 7 assists). Adam Cardona is 6-2, 200 lb. from Beaconsfield, Quebec. Last year, he played in the USHL for the Omaha Lancers. In 62 games, he collected five goals and 13 assists for 18 points. A year earlier, he played for the Waterloo Black Hawks. In 42 games his numbers were three goals and five assists for eight points. Ben Brunette is six feet 190 pounds from North Bay Ontario, St.Joseph Scollard Hall. He played in the BCHL for the Penticton Vees. In 40 games he had six goals and 14 assists for 20 points. Previously, Ben has played for Waterloo and the Power River Kings of the BCHL.

Up front, the River Hawks hope to add some scoring punch to their forward lines. Two transfers are a part of the mix. Nick Granowicz played for four years at the University of Michigan. He played in 101 games, and had 17 goals and 19 assists in his career at Ann Arbor. He had a hat trick and two game-winning goals, to go along with a +28 rating and 35 blocked shots. Alex Peterson a 5-10, 180 pounder was with Holy Cross the past four seasons. He was an assistant captain a season ago. In 121 career games for the Crusaders, Alex had 55 points on 18 goals and 37 assists.

The remaining forward is Jonathan Horn, six foot 190 from Southbay, Conn. The Hotchkiss School. He played for two teams in the BCHL, the Wenatchee Wild and the Vernon Vipers. For the Wild in 21 games, he had six goals, and seven assists, and had five goals and four assists in 30 games for the Vipers. Jaiden Moriello, 6-2 190 pounds from Saguas, MA. Kimball Union played in the BCHL for the West Kelowna Warriors where he totaled 55 points on 25 goals and 30 assists in 54 games. Girts Sllkalns 6-2, 187 pounds from Talsi, Latvia. He was a part of two teams in the USHL. First, he played for the Des Moines Buccaneers, and in 15 games he had two goals and four assists. Then he went to the Fargo Force where in 40 games he totaled eight goals and 16 assists. Shawn O’Donnell, 5-11 190 pounds from Crescent, PA. North Catholic, was with Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL. He totaled 28 points in the regular season (8 goals, 20 assists) and two points in the postseason (1 goal, 1 assist). Jak Vaarwerk, six foot 180 pounds from Clarence NY, played last year for Des Moines. In 61 games he had 13 goals and 32 assists for 45 points.

In the preseason Hockey East poll, UMass Lowell received 62 points. They finished last season at 18-15-3 overall and 11-10-3 in HE. They made it to the semi-finals of the Hockey East tournament where they were eliminated by Merrimack in overtime. The coach has made it clear It will be up to the younger players on this roster to step up and take on a larger role for this team to have any success.