LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (2-1-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) collected five different goal scorers on its way to a 5-2 victory against Colgate (1-3-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) Friday night at the Tsongas Center.
Senior Owen Cole (Dunnville, Ontario), junior Mitchell Becker (Rogers, Minn.), junior Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta), freshman Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) and graduate student Pierson Brandon (Irvington, N.Y.) all lit the lamp for the River Hawks in the matchup. Sophomore Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) tallied two assists, while senior Isac Jonsson (Ängelholm, Sweden), junior Connor Eddy (Victoria, B.C.), freshman Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) and freshman Libor Nemec (Bratislava, Slovakia) all added one helper apiece.
Defensively, 10 different skaters blocked at least one shot, with graduate student Jack Robilotti (New York, N.Y.), junior TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) and Truman grabbing two. Graduate student Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) got the nod between the pipes for the River Hawks, making 20 saves.
"We are excited about the win," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "We knew we were getting a quality opponent. I thought we got some key saves from Welsch to catch our breath and then had a decent (first) period and thought the second period was the difference and the third period was give-and-take. Overall, I thought it was a good game for us."
UMass Lowell came out firing, collecting the first six shots on goal and ending the first period with a 14-7 shots advantage. The River Hawks also picked up a crucial penalty kill at the 8:01 mark, before both teams were called for a penalty at 8:59 with Colgate getting a five-minute major and misconduct.
Colgate got on the board at 10:42, but not long after, with the man advantage from the major, UMass Lowell responded. Jonsson fed the puck to Vaarwerk, who rifled a shot that was blocked and popped in the air for Cole to tap into the back of the net for the equalizer and his first of the year.
Vaarwerk got involved again on the second River Hawk goal at the 17:53 mark of the second period when he sent a no-look, behind-the-back pass to Becker, who fired a rocket of a wrister to the top shelf to give the River Hawks the lead heading into the intermission.
The eventful second period began similarly to the first, with the River Hawks putting pressure on the Raiders' defensive unit and controlling the puck. It did not take long to find the back of the net, as Truman took a beautiful spinning backhand pass from Eddy and potted the third goal of the game from the middle of the offensive zone. Three freshmen helped make it 4-1 with 4:46 remaining in the period when Buttazzoni sent a pass off a Colgate player's skate to the stick of Nemec, who found Delaney in front of the net for the goal.
The fifth UMass Lowell goal came less than two minutes into the third, when Brandon scored on a long empty-netter from behind the River Hawks' goal. Colgate found the back of the net at the 12:52 mark, but the River Hawks held on for the 5-2 victory.
The two teams will return to the Tsongas Center tomorrow night, Saturday, October 19 for game two of the series, beginning at 6:05 p.m.
