
On Saturday night, the #9 UMass Lowell River Hawks (12-7-2) took their final break from league play to welcome the Stonehill College Skyhawks (8-19-0) to Tsongas Center before a crowd of 4,308. This is the first time these two schools have met on the ice. The Skyhawks came into this game having lost eight of their last nine games and scoring goals has been a bit of a problem for them. They have been shut out three times during this stretch and they have not scored more than one goal in any of their recent games.
UMass Lowell looked to rebound from a tough home weekend with the Maine Black Bears where they lost both games and scored only two goals on the weekend. On Saturday night, they were hoping to use this non-league game to get back on track. Graduate senior Henry Welsch (3-3-1, 2.13 GAA, .926%) got the start for the River Hawks at goal. For Stonehill, Connor Androlewicz (7-14-0, 3.39 GAA, .896%) got the start. Connor has started all but three games for the Skyhawks.
The first period saw the Skyhawks take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Dominick Campione, his 2nd of the season at 18:07. The goal was the 47th of the season for Stonehill College. The assists went to Joel Lehtinen and Anthony Galante. The goal came by way of a stuffed shot at the side of the crease by Campione on the right side. Prior to that goal, Stonehill’s best chance came off the stick of Zach Aben at the 8:59 mark of the period. The River Hawks’s best chance came from Matt Crasa from the high slot that was stopped by Androlewicz at the 12:19 mark. Both teams had powerplay chances. Crasa went off for slashing at 19 seconds, then at 19:25 Dillian Bentley went off for slashing. That penalty would carry over to the second period. The Skyhawks’ PP is 62nd in the nation at 9.5%. The River Hawks had one PP chance. Stonehill’s Frank Ireland also went to the box for slashing at 11:09. The best chance for UML, whose power play is 11th in the country at 23.7%, was Bentley ringing the post with a wrist shot from the left circle. Shots in the first period were 12 for UML and 10 for Stonehill College.
The second period started with Stonehill College on a PP that had 1:26 left on it. UML had a great chance to tie the game as Jak Vaarwerk off a turnover in center ice broke in alone and fired a wrist shot that was turned aside by the pad of Androlewicz. UML tied the game at 1-1 on the 3rd goal of the year by Vaarwerk from Ian Carpentier and TJ Schweighardt at 6:02. From the high slot. Vaarwerk ripped a low wrist shot past Androlewicz. Both Carpentier and Schweighardt did a good job keeping the puck in the offensive zone that would lead to the goal. The River Hawks power play gave the team the lead at 2-1. Owen Cole got his 6th of the year from Isac Jonsson and Vaarwerk (1G, 1A) at 15:40. It was a rebound that Cole jumped on and buried into the back of the net. The River Hawks were now 1-for-2 on the man advantage. The 2nd period ended with UML up 2-1. Shots were 9 for River Hawks and 21 for two periods. Stonehill College got 8 for a two-period total of 18.
At the very end of the second period, Stonehill went back on the power play for the fifth time. The carry-over penalty was for too many men on the ice at 19:50. Stonehill College was 0-for-4 to this point. That number would become 0-5 after the River Hawks killed off another man advantage. In the first six minutes of the third, each team had already used their timeouts and with under ten minutes left in the 3rd, the game was still there for either team to take. With two minutes left, Stonehill College needed to start thinking about pulling their goalie, and with 42 seconds left they did and it worked. Teddy Lagerback got his fourth of the year as he stuffed one past Welsch at 19:25. The assists went to Evan Orr and Aben. The game was now heading to overtime tied at 2-2.
The OT did not last very long as it would take the Skyhawks 36 seconds to win the game 3-2. Orr (1G,1A) netted his 6th of the year off a centering pass from Henri Shreifels and put home the game-winner from the low slot. Devlin O’Brien also assisted on the goal.
For the River Hawks, it was a loss that will be hard to explain. They will have to put this one in the rearview mirror and get ready for next weekend’s series with #6 Providence College which will start at Tsongas Center next Friday night. For the Skyhawks, they go home with one of the biggest wins of their season to play St. Anselm on Tuesday night.
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