0
0
The 60th season of UMass Lowell hockey kicked off on Friday night with an exhibition game against the Concordia University Stingers. This marked the seventh time the two programs have met—the most the River Hawks have played any international opponent. UMass Lowell has five wins against the Stingers, which is also the program’s most against a foreign opponent.
Thomas Fontaine started in goal for the Stingers, while Austin Elliott started for the River Hawks. Concordia opened the scoring at the 4:29 mark when Anthony Cliche collected a rebound and beat Elliott on the short side from the right circle, with assists from Alex Gaudio and Nathan Baril.
UMass Lowell started to buzz around the Concordia net following the goal. Helped by a couple of power plays, the River Hawks spent plenty of time in the offensive zone, which eventually paid off with a tying goal at 14:50. Misha Volotovskii walked in and fired a wrist shot past Fontaine’s blocker side into the top shelf, with assists going to Kolin Sisson and Dominic Payne. The first period came to an end tied at 1-1, with shots heavily favoring the River Hawks 17-2. UMass Lowell went 0-for-2 on the power play in the first frame, while Concordia went on its first power play late in the period, carrying 54 seconds of advantage into the second.
VOLOTOVSKII x2 🤩
📺ESPN+: https://t.co/slXPNMwrUk#UnitedInBlue | #HockeyEast | @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/nn8gsv5x22
— UMass Lowell Hockey (@RiverHawkHockey) October 3, 2026
Concordia’s power play ended early in the second period, and soon after, the River Hawks took their first lead. At the 1:08 mark, captain Jak Vaarwerk scored with an assist from Chris Delaney to make it 2-1. At the halfway point of the period, both teams made a change in net. Cole Moore, a transfer from Bowling Green, made his UMass Lowell debut, while Brady James took over for Concordia. The River Hawks took their 2-1 lead into the second intermission, outshooting the Stingers 8-5 in the period. UMass Lowell came up empty on another power play, dropping to 0-for-3 on the night. The Stingers were working on their second man-advantage when the period ended.
With seven seconds remaining on their power play early in the third period, the Stingers tied the game at 2-2, and then took a 3-2 lead a short while later. Libor Nemec of UMass Lowell answered, tying the game at 3-3 with a shot from the left faceoff circle. With 4:26 left in regulation, the River Hawks reclaimed the lead for good. Nemec stole the puck just outside the Concordia blue line, created a 2-on-1 rush, and slid a pass from right to left to Volotovskii, who found the back of the net for his second goal of the game.
Concordia pulled its goalie for an extra attacker with 1:12 left, but Delaney scored an empty-net goal with 32.7 seconds remaining to seal a 5-3 UMass Lowell victory. Although regulation ended with a River Hawks win, the teams still played a five-minute overtime period followed by a shootout for the fans in attendance. Final shots on goal were 35-15 in favor of UMass Lowell.
Author Profile
- John is VP of NGSC Sports and head of our New England operations. He covers sports in the America East, Big East, ACC, Hockey East conferences.
Latest entries
America East ConferenceOctober 3, 2026Season 60 Begins with a Win: UMass Lowell Pulls Away Late from Concordia
ACCOctober 1, 2026ACC Football News & Notes: Looking Back at a Wild Month of September
ACCSeptember 30, 2026Road Trip to Big D: Boston College Seeks ACC Bounce-Back Against Ranked SMU
America East ConferenceSeptember 29, 2026America East Commissioner Brad Walker Steps Into Key NCAA Oversight Role
About the Author
