LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (6-9-2, 3-6-1 Hockey East) battled to a 2-2 tie against Holy Cross (8-7-3, 4-7-2 AHA) Friday night at the Tsongas Center, before clinching a flawless shootout win thanks to graduate students Filip Fornaa Svensson (Linköping, Sweden) and Alex Peterson (Collegeville, Pa.).
Sophomore Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta) scored the first equalizer for the River Hawks in the first period, sporting the "A" on his sweater for the first time, before Fornää Svensson tied it up once again in the third. Sophomore Mark Cooper (Cambridge, Ontario) and junior goaltender Luke Pavicich (Clarence Center, N.Y.) picked up the assists on Truman's goal, while freshman Sean Kilcullen (Kensington, Md.) and graduate student Jake Stella (Karlstad, Sweden) added helpers on Fornää Svensson's.
Defensively, 11 different skaters blocked at least one shot, as junior Isac Jonsson (Ängleholm, Sweden) led the way with three. Three players picked up two, while seven others collected one block. Pavicich got the starting nod in net, making three saves, before senior Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) entered the game towards the end of the first period, finishing with 19 saves, including two in the shootout.
"We're in the business of grabbing any positive we can," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I was proud of the guys for clawing their way back. I thought they had the winner before regulation was over, but we had to do it in a shootout, and its good karma for our guys. Any type of positive is a big deal for us right now."
It was very back-and-forth to begin the game, with multiple whistles for icing within the first few minutes of play. Holy Cross would eventually get on the board first, with a Matt Guerra goal at 6:35, before the River Hawks successfully killed off a Holy Cross power play to gain momentum. They followed up the penalty kill with a great chance when a junior Matt Crasa (South Setauket, N.Y.) shot ricocheted off Holy Cross goalie Jason Grande and onto the stick of freshman Shawn O'Donnell (Crescent, Pa.), who passed it back to Crasa. However, the Crusaders made a defensive stop to halt Crasa's open-net opportunity.
Truman made it a tie game on an impressive breakaway shot at 14:48 to get the River Hawks on the board. Pavicich got the sequence started with a pass from behind the net to Cooper, who sent a pass to Truman. The forward took the pass at the River Hawks' defensive blue line and flew into the offensive zone, making a move on a defenseman and goalie for the goal. Later, with 58 seconds left, Liam McLinskey gave Holy Cross their second goal, sending the game to intermission at 2-1.
Welsch entered the net for the River Hawks after the second Holy Cross goal and made his presence known. Just before the halfway point of the second period, the goaltender made three crucial, rapid-fire stops, starting with a quick-reaction glove save. The offense then threatened on a power play at 9:41, but to no avail.
Freshman Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) had a great chance at 13:30 with a breakaway, but Grande just got his pads in the way. Both defenses were stout for the remainder of the period, as the teams traded possessions and the score remained the same heading into the third.
It was much of the same for the first half of the third period, until Fornää Svensson lifted one top shelf to beat Grande at 9:43, knotting the game up at two and helping send the game to overtime. Vaarwerk and Stella fought hard for the puck at the boards, before Stella pushed it out to Kilcullen at the blue line. Kilcullen one-timed a shot on goal that was saved, but Fornää Svensson was able to collect the rebound and patiently wait for the right time to strike.
With the game at 2-2, the teams battled it out in a 3-on-3 overtime period where neither team could get anything going in the scoring department. Welsch made four saves to blank the Crusaders, bringing it to a shootout.
Peterson started it off against his former team, starting right and bringing it back to the center, before beating Grande five hole for the opening goal of the shootout. Welsch then made a sliding pad save to deny Holy Cross' Joe Solimine. Fornää Svensson, who had the hot hand, went next, sending one right under the cross bar once again, as Welsch clinched the shootout win with his final save of the evening.
The River Hawks will now travel to Worcester for game two of this series against Holy Cross tomorrow, Saturday, December 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Hart Center Rink. This will mark UMass Lowell's final game before the holidays, as they will return to action for a home matchup against AIC on December 30.
