LOWELL, Mass.-Two goal nights from freshman Owen Fowler (Tewksbury, Mass.) and senior Zack Kaiser (Orangeville, Ontario) lifted the No. 19/20 UMass Lowell men's hockey team (13-9-1, 7-5-1 Hockey East) to an explosive 6-2 victory over New Hampshire (7-17-1, 2-12-1 HEA) Friday night at the Tsongas Center. With the win, the River Hawks snapped the Wildcats' three-game win streak in front of an electrified crowd of 6,016.
Fowler and Kaiser led the River Hawks in the 6-2 rout and picked up their first collegiate multi-goal games along the way. Fowler bolstered his impressive stat line with two blocks and a +2 rating on top of his scoring success. In addition to Kaiser and Fowler, senior Brian Chambers (Weymouth, Mass.) and freshman Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden) finished with two points off a goal and an assist.
Special teams shone for sixty minutes. The River Hawks' penalty kill unit continued to be an impenetrable force, shutting down all three UNH power plays including a 5-on-3 disadvantage. The power play came to life on home ice in the win, lighting the lamp in two of the five extra-man chances.
Between the pipes, graduate student Gustavs Davis Grigals (Riga, Latvia) stopped 23 shots to improve to an 8-5-1 mark.
"I thought it was a very good hockey game. Obviously, we haven't had many of these games this year where we're capitalizing on our chances. It was nice to see that. It was nice to see some guys get rewarded. I thought there were quite a few positives. We know it's going to be a monumental challenge tomorrow," remarked Head Coach Norm Bazin following the win.
The Wildcats came out hot, scoring just 2:46 into the action. New Hampshire's Jake Dunlap ripped one in from a distance to catch Grigals off guard and snag the 1-0 lead. UNH's advantage was short-lived, however, as the River Hawks surged back into the zone and earned the first power play of the night just 31 seconds later.
With a hoard of Wildcats battling along the boards, the River Hawks' power play unit reorganized and brought the puck back out to the blue line. With an open Stella at the nearside faceoff dot, Jonsson passed the puck into the play as Stella battled to take a shot on target. Unable to find a lane, Stella centered a pass to Chambers, who stood eager on the doorstep. The senior took an initial shot which bounced off UNH's David Fessenden back into the action. Chambers worked quickly to corral the puck and knock in a beautiful backhanded shot off the crossbar into the goal for the equalizer.
An uneventful end to the opening frame brought both teams out with all eyes on the next goal. The River Hawks were first to the chase, quickly putting pressure on Fessenden and the rest of the UNH defense. As the Wildcats set up play behind their net and looked to push up ice, freshman Nick Rhéaume (Trois Rivieres, Quebec) and Fowler backchecked aggressively. Rhéaume's pestering paid off as New Hampshire lost control of the puck, and Fowler swiftly capitalized on the defensive breakdown and snapped in a nifty wrister to capture the lead.
The River Hawks nearly escaped the second period unscathed, but an unusual bounce gave way to a 2-2 tie with six minutes until the final break. As Grigals looked to clear the puck, Wildcats' Cam Gendron skated his way across and collided with the puck, sending it into the unmanned goal.
Scoring bursts to bookend the final frame ultimately secured the knockout victory for the River Hawks on home ice. Jonsson sparked the offensive flurry just 44 seconds after puck drop with a seemingly impossible long-range rocket on the man advantage. With time expiring, Chambers fed the pass along the boards to Jonsson alone at the blue line. Jonsson, eyeing classmate Matt Crasa (South Setauket, N.Y.) on the doorstep for a tip-in, cracked a hard shot at the net that zipped past Fessenden for the eventual game-winner.
Kaiser took advantage of the explosive energy and kept the scoring run alive just over a minute later. Picking the pocket of a UNH skater, Kaiser darted down the ice and beat both his defenders to tuck in another to elicit a roar from the crowd as the River Hawks claimed their largest lead of the evening.
Though the River Hawks owned a comfortable two-goal margin with two minutes remaining, Fowler and Kaiser went back on the charge to add a pair of insurance goals just 52 seconds apart. Fowler came up to bat first, striking with an empty net goal to ignite the final scoring spurt. Kaiser followed up quickly with his second of the evening to cap the offensive explosion and clinch three critical Hockey East points.
The River Hawks close out the weekend at the Whittemore Center on Saturday, Jan. 21. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.
