#2 Western Michigan defeats UMass Lowell 2-1

It has been quite a while between games for the Western Michigan Broncos (2-1-0) and the UMass Lowell River Hawks (1-2-0). In fact, the only other meeting took place in 1994, with the River Hawks winning 3-2 on neutral ice. A lot has happened since that game — most notably, the Broncos have become national champs, a title they claimed last spring.

Western Michigan arrived in Lowell after splitting a series last weekend vs. Ferris State, while the River Hawks did the same over two weekends with Merrimack.

Your starting goalies for Friday night’s game were sophomore Hampton Slukynsky (1-1-0, 3.58 GAA, .806 save percentage) for the Broncos, and Austin Elliott (1-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 save percentage) for the River Hawks.

It took less than three minutes for Western Michigan to take a 1-0 lead. Freshman Jamison Sluys took an indirect pass off the boards from linemate freshman Bobby Cowan on the right-wing side in the neutral zone, broke in alone, and beat Elliott top-shelf at 2:06. The goal was Sluys’ first of the season.

The pressure from the Broncos did not stop there. They made it 2-0 on a goal by William Whitelaw, his second of the season, with Colby Woogk picking up an assist. The goal came at 6:44. The River Hawks were digging themselves an early hole against the defending champs.

There would be no more scoring in the period. Three penalties were called — the Broncos had a short-lived power play, producing one shot, while the River Hawks had two power plays that resulted in a couple of shots on goal. Shots for the period were 8-4 in favor of Western Michigan.

The second period started with UML on a power play that carried over from the first (called at 18:42). They had 42 seconds left on it. While there were several penalties on both sides throughout the period, neither team could find the back of the net. A bright spot for the River Hawks through two periods was their penalty killing — Western Michigan went 0-for-7 with nine shots on goal.

The third period started with the Broncos on the power play for the seventh time. Once again, UML killed it off. It was now time for the River Hawks to put pucks on net and try to get something going. With less than ten minutes left, the River Hawks finally cashed in. On the power play at 10:13, Diego Buttazzoni fired a blast from the right point that beat Slukynsky (17 shots, 16 saves) to get UML back in the game, down 2-1. Assists went to TJ Schvueighardt and Dalyn Wakely. The goal was Buttazzoni’s first career college goal.

The River Hawks pulled Elliott (32 saves on 34 shots) with under two minutes left, trying to get the tying goal, but they could not convert. Western Michigan came to Lowell and earned a 2-1 victory.

After the game, both coaches admitted things needed to be cleaned up ahead of Saturday night’s rematch. On the Western Michigan side, head coach Pat Ferschweiler thought his power play was “no good,” and he was especially unhappy with a 5-on-3 that he said his team “threw away.” When asked about the River Hawks, Ferschweiler said what they saw on film was exactly what they faced.

UML head coach Norm Bazin did not like his team’s start nor the seven penalties they took, saying he felt like his team “was the road team tonight.” UMass Lowell was outshot 32-17 for the game; Bazin noted they needed better traffic in front of the Western Michigan net and more shots on target.

The teams played game two of the weekend series on Saturday night, with puck drop at 6 p.m.