UMass Lowell Sweeps Weekend Series With Colgate, 2-1

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After Friday night’s 5-2 victory, the UMass Lowell River Hawks (3-1-0) looked to make it three in a row on the young season on Saturday night vs the Colgate Raiders (1-4-1). With the win, UMass Lowell would have a three-game winning streak for the first time since last October. Coach Norm Bazin decided to ride the hot goalie and put Henry Welsch between the pipes. Colgate’s head coach Mike Harder changed things up in net going with Nick Haas (1-1-1, 3.87 GAA, 892%).

Colgate got the game’s first opportunity on the power play when Chris Delaney of UMass Lowell went off for high sticking at 7:08. The Raiders PP has gotten off to a slow start, and coach Harder was “not too stressed” about it. The Raiders, who were 0-for4 on Friday night, did get a shot on net but no goal. That unit is now 1-for-18 on the PP in the early going. An entertaining up-and-down first period ended with a flurry in front of the Raiders’ net. However, Haas was up to the task and the teams went to the locker room tied at 0-0. Shots on goal were 10 for the River Hawks and 6 for Colgate.

The second period started at even-strength hockey. The Raiders finally scored the game’s first goal at 5:59 when Daniel Panetta scored off a nice chip feed from Simon Labelle. A second assist was handed out to Dominic Foglia. The goal was Panetta’s third of the season as he beat Welsch’s short side just inside the left post. Jake Schneider of Colgate was sent off for hooking at 7:28. The River Hawks power play, which has been good in the early season, struck again. Scout Truman, his third of the season and his second in two nights, scored at 8:16. The assists went to Chris Delaney and Nick Anderson. The game was tied at 1- and with under three minutes left in the period, River Hawks right winger Jacob Macdonald rang one off the left post from the right-wing side.

A very undisciplined major penalty by Raiders defenseman Michael Neumeier for cross-checking at 17:53 set up the River Hawks for a chance to take control of the game. In the time remaining in the second period, UMass Lowell did not score and the period ended 1-1. Shots were 13 for the River Hawks (21 for two periods) and 11 for Colgate (17 for two periods.

The third period started with 2:53 seconds of carry-over power play time for UMass Lowell. The Raiders almost broke the tie as Panetta went in all alone on Welsch (24 saves on 25 shots) and tried to beat him from right to left. But Welsch squeezed the pads and stopped him. UMass Lowell did strike on the PP as Owen Cole, stopped one by Haas (29 saves on 31 shots), picked his rebound, and beat Haas for the go-ahead goal. The goal was his second of the year and it came at 1:50 of the third. Libor Nemec got the lone assist. It was the second power-play goal of the night, the fourth in two nights, and the fifth of the year. Colgate got a chance to get that one back as River Hawks defenseman Jack Robilotti went off for holding at 4:55. The Raiders would get three shots on the power play but could not get the tying goal. They were now 0-2 on the power play, 0-6 on the weekend and 1-for-18 on the season. UMass Lowell was twelve minutes away from a sweep of the weekend.

After a Colgate timeout, coach Harder pulled his goalie with 1:12 left in the third period. With 18.7 seconds left River Hawks coach Norm Bazin called his timeout with a faceoff in his defensive zone. His team won that faceoff and almost scored into the empty net. With 3.6 left, another end zone faceoff in the River Hawks zone. Jak Vaarwerk took the draw for UMass Lowell and won it by directing the puck into the left corner. River Hawks win the game and sweep the weekend 2-1 over Colgate.

After the game, coach Harder believes “we are a good team.” He thought his penalty kill was not good, and said his team “did not score”. He knows that his team has things to work on with the hopes of getting better. Coach Bazin thought this was an “ugly win.” As was the case on Friday night, special teams and his goalie Henry Welsch won the game for the River Hawks.

Next Saturday UMass Lowell heads out on the road for the first time as they take on Merrimack at 7 PM. They head to Lawler Rink with a three-game winning streak.