River Hawks Fall, 4-1, at Merrimack Friday Evening

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (1-1-0, 1-1-0 Hockey East) fell short at Merrimack (1-1-0, 1-1-0 Hockey East), 4-1, Friday night at Lawler Arena in North Andover.

Sophomore Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored for the River Hawks in the second period with an assist from junior Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.). Senior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) led the way with five blocked shots, while freshman Nate Misskey (Melfort, SK) tallied three. Senior Samuel Richard (Ste. Catherine, Quebec) got the nod between the pipes for UMass Lowell, making 26 saves.

The River Hawks came out of the gates firing. It was Bentley that collected the first scoring opportunity of the game in front of the net, but the shot sailed just wide, followed by a near tip-in from freshman Diego Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) not long after and a shot from sophomore Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) that ricocheted off the crossbar at the 6:54 mark. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the first half of the period, but the River Hawks defensive unit and Richard kept the Warriors at bay with stout play in the D-zone and crucial saves, including a sliding save on a Merrimack wraparound attempt at 11:41. Throughout the final four minutes, senior Connor Eddy (Victoria, B.C.) joined in with a pair of scoring chances along with graudate student Jay Ahearn (Staten Island, N.Y.). The teams committed matching roughing penalties to make it 4-on-4 with 2:23 remaining, but neither team could cash in, and Richard made a save at the buzzer to send it to intermission with a 0-0 score and a UMass Lowell shots lead of 12-7.

The game saw more 4-on-4 hockey after matching minors at the 2:48 mark of the second, and senior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) immediately fired a shot off the post for a near-goal. Not long after, during the 4-on-4, Delaney opened up the scoring with his first goal of the year. It all started when Vaarwerk took the puck himself from the defensive zone and found Delaney after crossing into the offensive zone in the slot before he fired one past Merrimack goaltender Max Lundgren.

Later in the period, while shorthanded, the River Hawks put on a complete team effort to keep the Warriors off the board. Richard made acrobatic saves, while the defense sprawled out to block shots in front of the net, keeping the score at 1-0. However, with 2:24 to go, Merrimack scored to tie it up on another power play to bring it to the second period knotted up at one.

Early in the third, Merrimack scored to take the lead at the 3:55 mark, before adding one at 6:18 to make it 3-1. The River Hawks battled back, threatening Merrimack on two different power play opportunities at 8:25 and 11:57 and creating multiple scoring opportunities, but they could not find the back of the net, concluding the game with a 4-1 final score after a Merrimack empty netter.

Next, the River Hawks host the defending national champions, Western Michigan, next weekend on Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18, for a two-game home series.