LOWELL, Mass. -- The No. 14 ranked UMass Lowell Hockey team skated to a 2-2 tie with New Hampshire on Saturday night in the series finale at the Tsongas Center in front of 5,188 fans in Hockey East play.
UMass Lowell now owns a 18-11-4 overall record (12-7-4 HEA), while the Wildcats move to 12-12-9 overall and 8-9-6 in league play. The River Hawks currently sit in the fourth spot in the Hockey East standings with one game to play in the regular season.
"A better effort tonight, I thought the first period didn't go as planned, but we rebounded and I thought we got better as the game went along," said UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin.
Senior forward Connor Wilson (Calgary, Alta.) scored his seventh of the season to even the game at 2-2 for the River Hawks on the power play with 4:34 left in the middle stanza, which capped off the scoring in the game.
UNH responded just 3:40 later to tie the game at 1-1 on a goal by Will MacKinnon for his first career goal, then less than two minutes later Max Gildon gave the Wildcats a 2-1 lead with his sixth of the year.
Junior forward Kenny Hausinger (Anchorage, Alaska) opened the scoring in the game just 4:14 into the opening stanza for his 11th tally of the year for UMass Lowell. Hausinger and senior forward Ryan Dmowski (East Lyme, Conn.) each notched a team-high four shots on goal in the contest.
Junior netminder Tyler Wall (Leamington, Ont.) totaled 30 saves in his 19th start of the season for the River Hawks, while his counterpart Mike Robinson recorded 19 stops for UNH in the tie. Wall's 30-save effort was his fourth of the season and it was the 13th start this year where he allowed two goals or fewer.
Sophomore forward Charlie Levesque (Russell, Ont.) notched a game-high 11-of-13 (85%) face off wins for the River Hawks, while senior forward Nick Master (Broomall, Pa.) went 10-of-14 (71%) on face offs.
UMass Lowell honored its five-member graduating senior class in a pre-game ceremony, as the game marked the final home regular-season contest for Wilson, Christoffer Hernberg (Espoo, Finland), Dmowski, Master and Avni Berisha (Lake Ariel, Pa.)
The River Hawks return to action on Friday, March 8th for the regular-season finale at Vermont. Game time from Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt. is 7 p.m.
