Vermont Upsets #10 UMass Lowell 5-3 in Hockey East

Read Time:4 Minute, 37 Second

Friday night was a special night at Tsongas Center. It was the 500th game in the head coaching career of UMass Lowell’s Norm Bazin. Meanwhile, his team was looking to start the weekend off well as they took to the ice to face the Vermont Catamounts. The Catamounts (10-13-3, 5-9-2) arrived in Lowell having lost three of their last four games while the River Hawks won their last time out vs Merrimack.

This is a big Hockey East weekend for the River Hawks. After last night’s game, UML (14-9-3, 7-7-2) will make the trip down to Hartford to face UConn in a big road game. First things first, and that was Friday night’s game. Vermont started Axel Mangbo (7-8-0, 2.67 GAA, .898%) for the River Hawks, it was Beni Halasz (5-4-2, 2.15 GAA, .922%).

The first period was scoreless but the River Hawks did have two great opportunities. First, RW Connor Eddy had a partial breakaway that was stopped by Mangbo. UML’s best chance came later when on the doorstep, LW Scout Truman was stopped by Mangbo. It was easily his best save of the first twenty minutes. The teams left the ice playing 4-on-4 hockey as each team picked up a minor penalty. Vermont had a short-lived power play toward the end of the frame when Ben Meehan went off for high-sticking at 18:36. The Catamounts PP was at a 17.9% success rate while the UML PK was at 82.2%. That power play lasted less than a minute as Vermont’s Sebastian Tornqvist was called for tripping at 19:27. The period ended with no score.

The second period started 4-on-4 and it would become a UML PP for 31 seconds. The River Hawks PP was at 22.9% and Vermont’s kill was at 81.3%. Vermont received another power play chance just after their kill off the UM PP. Isac Jonsson went off at 1:16 for hooking. Vermont would capitalize as a turnover in front of Halasz (23 saves on 27 shots) led to the Catamounts taking a 1-0 lead at 3:17 when Joel Maatta notched his fifth of the season. Isak Walther picked up the assist. Walther picked up a loose puck in front of the Lowell net and fed Maatta for the goal. 42 seconds later Vermont made it 2-0 on a goal by Xavier Henry, his fourth of the season, at 4:00. Daniel Sambluco and Blake Stevenson got the assists. The goal was scored from the high slot on Halasz.

It got worse, as Vermont made it 3-0 on a goal by Jens Richards, his fifth at 4:52. Tornqvist was credited with the assist. In the first five minutes of the second period, the River Hawks dug themselves a very deep hole to climb out of. They would get one back on the right side Owen Cole scored on the doorstep at 10:02 seconds after a power play ended. Dillian Bentley and Jonsson got the assists. It was a Bentley shot that was stopped by Mangbo (29 saves on 32 shots). Cole had two whacks at it with the second one ending up in the net. For Cole, it was his seventh of the year. It was now a 3-1 game. UML would make it a one-goal game at 15:45 as Chris Delaney took a cross-ice pass from left to right and beat Mangbo on the backhand for his eighth of the season. Mirko Buttazzoni and Pierson Brandon with the assists to make it 3-2 Vermont. The Catamounts made it 4-2 on a goal by Timofei Spitserov at 17:15 as he beat Halasz in the five-hole. Colin Kessler had the assist.

While the shots favored Vermont through two periods, UML needed a big third period. With UConn already losing their game at home, the River Hawks had to find a way to turn this around. The River Hawks got it back to a one-goal game as Ben Meehan took advantage of a Vermont miscue and beat Mangbo at 8:23 from the top of the circle. Delaney with the only assist. It was now a 4-3 game with ten minutes left. UMass Lowell kept the pressure on trying to get the tying goal. With 4:16 left the Catamounts called time to regroup from the attack UML was putting on. UML pulled Halasz with two minutes left. Vermont would get an empty net goal from Spitserov as he chased down a loose puck on the left wing side and put it into the empty net at 18:21. It was his second of the night and 10th of the year. Lowell pulled their goalie again down two at 5-3 with over a minute left in the game. It was all she wrote for UMass Lowell as they would lose 5-3 on Friday night.

Vermont’s head coach Steve Wiedler liked the way his group played Friday night game. He praised his goalie Mangbo for making big stops when his team had the lead. He liked the way his team played with the lead on the road. River Hawks coach Norm Bazin thought his team “Played a good half game.” He thought Vermont was hungry for pucks on Friday. It will be a quick turnaround as UML will head to Hartford to face the Huskies on Saturday afternoon.