LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell ice hockey team (3-1-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) grinded out a 2-1 victory against Colgate (1-4-1, 0-0 ECAC) Saturday evening, securing the two-game series sweep.
Senior Owen Cole (Dunnville, Ontario) netted a goal in his second consecutive game for the game-winner, while junior Scout Truman (Lethbridge, Alberta) scored his third of the year to help the River Hawks to the victory. Freshmen Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) tallied one helper each, joining graduate students Nick Anderson (Orono, Minn.) and Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.) in the assist department.
Defensively, junior Mitchell Becker (Rogers, Minn.) and sophomore Jak Vaarwerk (Clarence, N.Y.) lead the way with two blocks each, while five other skaters picked up one apiece. Graduate student Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) got the nod between the pipes, racking up 24 saves.
"I'm excited to be done with that game," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I thought it was in the category of an ugly win, and you need some of those during the season. I thought the special teams and goaltending were big factors, and the guys hung together and supported each other, and I thought the bench energy was excellent. So, it's just one of those games that you just grind out and fortunately for us, we came out on top."
The River Hawks went on the offensive early, tallying seven of the first eight shots on goal. The first great scoring chance came off a rebound of a freshman Jacob MacDonald (Fort Worth, Texas) shot, that fellow freshman Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) collected in the middle of the offensive zone and fired at the net, but it was just saved.
Becker sent a pass across the slot to Eddy with 4:44 to go in the period, in an attempt to beat Colgate goaltender, Nick Haas, but Eddy was unable to get a good stick on it and the game went to the first intermission with a 0-0 score.
Once again, the River Hawks put the pressure on early in the second period, but it was Colgate that got on the board first, scoring at the 5:58 mark. The Raiders then got called for hooking just after, and Truman capitalized, potting a power play goal at 8:15. Anderson got the play started from the blue line, feeding Delaney near the net, who pushed a pass to Truman in the faceoff circle. Truman one-timed it past Haas for the goal.
The River Hawks earned a handful of scoring chances at the end of the second, as they went on the power play after a Colgate major, but both teams went to the locker room with 2:53 remaining on the power play.
Cole potted the second power play goal of the night for the squad just 1:50 into the third period. Parks received a pass from Meehan in front of the net, attempted a shot, but could not get enough of it. The puck found its way to Cole's stick, and he buried his second chance shot to give the River Hawks the lead.
UMass Lowell then successfully killed off another Colgate power play at the 6:56 mark and hung on to the 2-1 lead for the victory.
The River Hawks will now hit the road for the first time to face off against Hockey East foe, Merrimack, next Saturday, October 26 in a standalone game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Lawler Arena.
