LOWELL, Mass. - The No. 12/13 UMass Lowell ice hockey team (12-7-3, 5-5-2 Hockey East) played to a hard-fought tie with No. 7/6 Providence (15-5-3, 5-4-3 Hockey East) Friday evening, winning in the shootout, 1-0, at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass.
Graduate student Pierson Brandon (Irvington, N.Y.), freshman Lee Parks (Ottawa, Ontario) and freshman Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) had the goals for the River Hawks. Five different players earned an assist in senior Owen Cole (Dunnville, Ontario), freshman Daniel Buchbinder (Clarence Center, N.Y.), graduate student Nick Anderson (Orono, Minn.), senior Matt Crasa (South Setauket, N.Y.) and graduate student Ian Carpentier (Worcester, Mass.). The squad also went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill on the night.
Eight different players blocked at least one shot, with graduate student Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.) leading the way with four. Brandon tallied three, while three different skaters had two and three different skaters had one. Junior Beni Halasz (Budapest, Hungary) got the nod in net for the River Hawks, making 27 saves, as well as three crucial saves in the shootout to help clinch the shootout victory.
"I thought we were treated to a good hockey game here tonight," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I thought both teams competed hard. It was not the start we were looking for, getting down 2-0, but we clawed back on two different occasions in the game and obviously were able to kill an important penalty in overtime and get the extra point in the shootout, so we'll take that to the bank and then we'll get ready for tomorrow."
It was an eventful first period, with Providence opening it up with two goals at the 3:42 and 8:10 marks. The River Hawks then responded with two goals in 12 seconds, starting at the 11:10 mark when Brandon roofed a backhand for his third of the year after a helper from Crasa. Parks followed it up with an immediate goal, tipping in a Buchbinder wrister after he received a pass from Cole. The two teams battled it out for the remainder, and the game went to intermission with a 2-2 score.
The second period was just as much of a battle as the first, with one goal from each squad. Providence potted one at the 3:05 mark, but the River Hawks answered on the power play exactly three minutes later, when Delaney cleaned up an Anderson rebound after Carpentier fed Anderson to begin the sequence. This marked Delaney's seventh goal of the season, and it brought the River Hawks to the locker room with a tie score yet again.
The River Hawks were buzzing in the third, threatening in the offensive zone and tallying six quality shots on goal that just could not find the back of the net. They killed off a penalty and Halasz made seven saves to keep them in the game the fight continued into a five-minute overtime period.
The defense and penalty kill unit continued their success in overtime killing off a Providence power play and allowing just three total shots on goal, which were all corralled by Halasz to send it to the shootout, where he kept the momentum going to save all three Providence attempts. All it took was one goal from junior Dillan Bentley (Peoria, Ill.) to kick off the shootout and the River Hawks took the extra point in the Hockey East standings.
The team will now travel to Providence tomorrow, January 25 for game two, which is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Schneider Arena on NESN and ESPN+.
