ANCHORAGE, Alaska - With two third-period goals, the UMass Lowell hockey team (1-1-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) concluded its trip to Alaska with a physical, hard-fought 2-1 victory against Alaska Anchorage at Avis Alaska Sports Complex on Saturday evening. The win marks the first of the year for the River Hawks.
Sophomores Nick Rhéaume (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec) and Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta) each picked up their first goals of the season, while freshman Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) collected his first career point, assisting Rhéaume's goal along with senior Brehdan Engum (Burnsville, Minn.). Senior Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.) had the helper on Truman's goal.
Sophomore TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) and junior Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden) led the defense with two blocked shots, respectively, and graduate student transfer Luke Pavicich (Clarence Center, N.Y.) earned the nod in net for the first time as a River Hawk, getting the win with 21 saves.
The River Hawks put the pressure on early in the matchup, drawing a power play at the 4:58 mark. They dominated control of the puck and fired off five shots, but just one on net that was saved by Alaska Anchorage's Jared Whale. The Seawolves picked up a power play of their own at 6:42, and the River Hawk penalty kill unit did their job to keep the score at zeroes.
Despite owning the shot count, 20-6, with six minutes to play in the first, the first real scoring opportunities for the River Hawks came on one-time shots in front of the goalie by sophomore Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) at the 12:53 mark and Schweighhardt at 13:23. Whale was able to corral both shots to keep them in the game, along with a junior Stefan Owens (Midlothian, Va.) wrister with 1:52 remaining that found his glove. The period concluded with a 12-4 River Hawk shots-on-goal lead.
The start of the second seemed familiar, as the River Hawks went on the power play at the 2:16 mark, followed by an Alaska Anchorage power play just after at 5:00. Once again, neither team could light the lamp with the man-up advantage, and both teams went to 0-for-2 on the power play. Later in the period, it was Pavicich who came up huge for the River Hawks, making two crucial quick-reaction, pad saves to keep the Seawolves off the board. The period ended with a junior Owen Cole (Dunnville, Ontario) to Bentley feed and one-timer that just caught the outstretched pad of Whale, and both teams headed to the locker room tied at zero once again.
The third period was a busy one, as both teams combined for three goals. Rhéaume opened up the scoring to give the River Hawks the lead at the 3:57 mark, taking a feed from Vaarwerk on a two-on-one and slipping it past Whale to the back of the net. Engum facilitated the play with the initial pass to Vaarwerk. Just 4:34 later, Scout Truman sniped the upper right corner of the net from the back of the faceoff circle after Meehan pushed him a soft pass at the blue line, making it 2-0 in favor of the River Hawks.
The scoring party continued when Alaska Anchorage answered right back with a Matt Allen power play goal with 8:50 left to play, cutting the deficit to just one. The teams would go back and forth with shots for the remainder, but ultimately, the River Hawks hung on for the 2-1 victory.
Next up, the River Hawks will host Harvard for an exhibition matchup at home on Saturday, October 14, before traveling to Colgate for a two-game set on Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21. Both games will begin at 7:00 p.m.
