LOWELL, Mass. - In the final game of the Turkey Leg Classic on Saturday afternoon, the UMass Lowell ice hockey team (5-8-1, 2-5-1 Hockey East) fell short to the Army West Point Black Knights (3-10-0, 2-6-0 AHA), 4-2, at the Tsongas Center.
Graduate student Jake Stella (Karlstad, Sweden) got on the scoresheet with his first goal of the season, while sophomore Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) potted his second goal of the tournament. Freshman Jaiden Moriello (Saugus, Mass.) collected an assist on both River Hawk goals, joining classmate Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) and junior Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden), who also picked up helpers. Junior Luke Pavicich (Clarence Center, N.Y.) got the nod in net, totaling 22 saves.
"Not the result we were looking for certainly. However, I liked the effort much better today than I did yesterday," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "So, I thought we made some improvements off what we saw yesterday. Hopefully our team is moving in the right direction."
The River Hawks won the shots on goal battle in the first period, 9-8, and won 9 of 15 faceoffs. Army drew the first two penalties of the game at 1:53 and 6:47, eventually scoring on a Ricky Lyle power play goal at 8:24. UMass Lowell's first great scoring opportunity came with just under eight minutes to go, when junior Owen Cole (Dunnville, Ontario) zoomed towards the goalie and sent a backhand shot off Army goalie Evan Szary that left a juicy rebound in front of the net for graduate student Nick Granowicz (Macomb, Mich.), but the shot attempt was disrupted.
With three minutes remaining, the River Hawks picked up a power play, and Bentley ripped a shot off the cross bar, followed by two more UMass Lowell shots on goal, but the squad could not find the back of the net. With 34 seconds remaining, Army's Jake Hewitt gave them their second goal and the game went into the first intermission with a 2-0 score.
The River Hawks continued to have the edge in the faceoff battle in the second, winning 13 of 21. Both teams traded off possessions for most of the period and the River Hawks managed to kill off two Army power plays.
Stella gave the River Hawks' offense a spark at 13:34, picking up his first goal of the year to get them on the board and make it a one-goal game. Moriello got the play started from their defensive zone, feeding a pass along the boards to Stella, who gave it to Vaarwerk as he entered the offensive zone. Directly after, Vaarwerk found an open Stella and he finished it shortside for the goal.
The momentum continued for UMass Lowell as sophomore Nick Rhéaume (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec) had a great scoring chance not long after, when Bentley fed him a pass from behind the net, but Joey Baez then scored for Army with eight seconds left in the period, making it 3-1 heading into the third.
The Black Knights made it 4-1 just 51 seconds into the third to make it 4-1. A few minutes later, at 5:33, Moriello had a great scoring chance after sophomore Mitchell Becker (Rogers, Minn.) stole the puck from an Army player in the offensive zone and dished a pass to Moriello, who seemingly had an open net, but it just caught the glove of Szary. Freshman Jonathan Horn (Southbury, Conn.), in his first collegiate game, also had an opportunity to score at 7:15 on the right side of the net, narrowly missing a goal, hitting the side of the pipe.
At the 8:54 mark, Bentley scored his second goal of the weekend, collecting his own blocked shot after passes from Jonsson and Moriello and sending it top shelf for the goal to make it 4-2. The comeback effort fell short throughout the remainder of the game, and it concluded with the same score.
Next up, the River Hawks will travel to UConn on Friday, December 1 for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop, before heading to Vermont for a 3:00 p.m. game on Sunday, December 3.
