UMass Lowell Set to Drop Puck for 2024-25 Season

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Friday night at Tsongas Center, the UMass Lowell River Hawks will begin their 2024-25 hockey season with a pair of games against Minnesota-Duluth on Friday and Saturday night. UMass Lowell will be looking to bounce back from a tough 2023-24 season with a record of 8-24-4, 4-18-3. Protecting home ice was a real problem for this team a year ago, as they won only twice at Tsongas Center while losing 11 and tying three times.

Scoring goals was a major part of the problem for the River Hawks in 2023-24. In 36 games played, the team scored 72 goals while allowing 113. They averaged only two goals a game, while their opponent averaged 3.1. They were also outshot getting 27 shots on net per game while their opponents averaged 28.9 shots a game. In a league like Hockey East, with many good teams in it, putting the puck in the back of the net is really important.

Recently, the team selected their captains for the year ahead. This year the team will go with Tri-Captains. Forward Owen Cole, who led the team in goal scoring with 10 goals will serve as one of those tri-captains. As a junior last season, Cole wore the “A” on his sweater serving as an assistant captain, and played in all 36 games for UMass Lowell. Cole ranked second on the team in points with 17. He has been described as “vocal, detailed, and accountable” by his teammates. His Coach, Norm Bazin likes the way he leads by example. As the leading returning goal scorer from a year ago, a lot will be asked of Cole this year.

Returning for a graduate season, defenseman Ben Meeham will be a tri-captain this season. For Ben, this will be the second straight year of wearing the “C” on his sweater. Last year was a tough one for Meeham as injuries cut short his season. Surgery was required and recovery time was long. Ben brings lots of experience to the River Hawks blue line defenders having played 109 career games with 51 points in those games on 10 goals and 41 assists.

The third member of the tri-captain group comes from the transfer portal. Pierson Brandon played 125 career games at Colgate University before entering the portal and arriving at UMass Lowell. He was the Red Raiders captain as a senior and he was an assistant captain his junior season. For his career at Colgate, Brandon had 46 points on 13 goals and 33 assists. His experience playing on the blue line should be a big help to the River Hawks.

Brandon is one of three portal pickups by coach Bazin. The other two are Nick Anderson who will be a senior defenseman who also comes to Lowell from Colgate. He played in 36 games for the Red Raiders scoring two goals with 19 assists for 21 points. He leaves Colgate tied for fifth in program history with 69 assists. The other portal pickup is defenseman Jack Robilotti who a season ago was at Holy Cross. A stay-at-home type, Robilotti blocked a team-high 51 shots and finished the season with a +10. He played in 35 games scoring a career-high nine points on three goals with six assists. He was named an assistant captain last year as well as Atlantic League All-Academic team three times.

Like most teams, it starts between the pipes. Graduate senior Henry Welsch will get the call on most nights. He appeared in a career-high 22 games a season ago. His record was 5-13-4, with a 2.45 GAA, and a .907% save percentage. In Hockey East action, Welsch had a 2.34 GAA which put him in the top five in the league. His save percentage of .913% had him tied for fourth in Hockey East. He was named the MVP at the team’s award banquet. Welsch will be a big key toward any success this team may have.

It all gets started on Friday night.