UMass Lowell Gets a 1-0 Win and Split With UConn

Read Time:3 Minute, 20 Second

On Saturday, with members of the PWHL Boston Fleet in attendance, the UMass Lowell River Hawks (9-3-0, 5-2-0) looked for a weekend split with the UConn Huskies (7-6-1, 4-5-1) before a crowd of 5,389. The River Hawks changed their starting netminder for Saturday night’s game. Beni Halasz got the start (0-1-0, 3.99 GAA, 854%). The Huskies came right back with Callum Tung who was very good in his season debut on Friday night. (1-0-0, 1.00 GAA).

Halfway through the first period, not much going on, as was the case on Friday night. River Hawks Center Dillian Bentley had two whacks in front of Tung but was denied. The game’s first penalty went to the Huskies, as Ethan Whitcomb went off for hooking at 12:11. On Friday night, the River Hawks were shut out on the power play. On Saturday night, they were not. Libor Nemce on a redirect of a Nick Anderson point shot scored his fourth of the year at 13:06. 1-0 River Hawks.

UConn went on the power play as Bentley went off for interference at 13:52. The Huskies power play was excellent as they scored three PP goals on Friday night. UConn got two good scoring attempts off the stick of Joey Muldowney that were stopped by Halasz. The period came to an end with UMass Lowell up 1-0. Shots were 11-8 in favor of the Huskies, which included a cross bar late in the period.

The second period started at even strength. Halfway through the game, the River Hawks maintained the slim one goal lead. Their defense was also getting the job done. The River Hawks, who for the most part were spending too much time in their own zone, got a PPG at 15:44 as Jake Percival went off for charging. It did not last long as Lee Parks was sent off for interference at 16:23. 4-on-4 hockey was now in play. The penalties came to an uneventful end. At 19:38, UConn’s Ryan Tattle was sent off for slashing. That penalty would carry over to the third period. Shots were 11-6 UMass Lowell. For two periods it was 19-17 River Hawks.

The third period got underway with the River Hawks hanging on to that one goal lead. UConn was still applying the pressure looking for the tying goal. The River Hawks came close to a two-goal lead as Parks shot which was deflected, hit the left post and stayed out. The Huskies picked up a power play chance at 9:34 as Jak Vaarwerk went off for holding. Both teams had an opportunity on the man-advantage. For UConn, Whitcomb was stopped by Halasz from the bottom of the right circle. UMass Lowell defenseman Ben Meeham on a partial breakaway was stopped by Tung. UMass Lowell received a power play chance at 12:31 when a two minute boarding penalty was given to defeseman Nick Carabin. River Hawks forward Scout Truman had a grade-A chance off a cross ice pass that went left to right. His shot was stopped by Tung (25 saves on 26 shots) who slid over from left to right, did the splits, and made the save. The penalty ended and with 4:51 left it was still 1-0.

With 2:33 left the Huskies pulled their goalie. UConn called a timeout with 1:22 left to set up an offensive zone faceoff. Despite pressure from the Huskies, the River Hawks were able to hang on and get the 1-0 shutout win.

After the game, head coach Norm Bazin said “he thought there was a better level of urgency.” He liked the puck management of his team, as well as the goaltending of Halasz who stopped 32 shots for the shutout victory.

UMass Lowell will spend Thanksgiving in Lake Placid in a holiday tournament on Friday and Saturday.