LOWELL, Mass. - The River Hawks suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of #5 Boston University on Friday night in front of 4,120 fans in the Tsongas Center. The Terriers continually killed UMass Lowell's momentum, scoring a pair of short-handed goals during River Hawk power plays.
The loss drops UMass Lowell to 1-3-2 on the season and 1-3-0 in Hockey East competition. Boston University remains undefeated, improving to 5-0-1 overall and 3-0-1 in conference contests.
The River Hawks seemingly outplayed the Terriers in a fast paced first period, but a late power play back-fired on UMass Lowell at 17:31. Boston University broke into the River Hawks' zone and Alex Chiasson (St. Augustin, Que.) knocked in a pass from David Warsofsky (Marshfield, Mass.) to stun UMass Lowell shortly before the period's expiration.
The pain continued in the second as the Terriers scored another goal at 1:59 into the middle frame. Chris Connolly (Duluth, Minn.) sunk a shot from Ryan Santana (Yorba Linda, Calif.) in what was ultimately the game-winner.
Things got worse as Chiasson's wide shot bounced off the boards and directly to Corey Trivino (Toronto, Ont.) on the weak-side for an easy score at 4:15.
The Terriers picked up two more goals before the second period was over. Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass.) scored at 5:10 and Sahir Gill (Terrace, B.C.) notched a short-hander at 16:11 to extend Boston University's lead to 5-0.
The River Hawks finally got on the board late in the third as Caveney knocked in a rebound goal with just 5:50 remaining on the clock. Joe Caveney (Fitchburg, Mass.) took the initial pass from Michael Budd (Burlington, Ont.) and Josh Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, Colo.) for his first goal of the season.
Terrier netminder Kieran Millan (Edmonton, Alta.) was strong between the pipes, stopping 27-of-28 UMass Lowell shots to improve to 4-0-1 on the season. River Hawk freshman Marc Boulanger (Olds, Alta.) struggled as he allowed all five goals while making just 15 saves. Boulanger was relieved by Doug Carr (Hanover, Mass.) at the start of the third period, Carr made three saves.
Despite the special teams' action, both clubs came up empty on the power play as the River Hawks were 0-for-5 with the man advantage and Boston University blanked on four chances.
With the loss fresh in its memory, UMass Lowell will rematch the Terriers tomorrow night at the Agganis Arena at 7 p.m.