After Colorado College was outshot 55-18 in Friday night’s one-goal defeat, it was clear that the Tigers needed to produce more offensive chances, as well as do more to contain the Mass.-Lowell offense. On Saturday, the No. 9 River Hawks came out on top of yet another tight one-goal game at Tsongas Arena, 2-1 over the Tigers.
Lowell got off to a start very similar to the one they did on Friday night by flurrying the Colorado College end of the ice. Unlike Friday night, however, the River Hawks were rewarded for their hard work early in the game. At 15:05, Adam Chapie drove to the net on a three-on-two and was fed a beautiful pass by Niklas Folin. Chapie one-handedly deflected puck on net and it found its way through the glove side of Colorado College goaltender Tyler Marble.
Chapie praised the work done by his teammates in allowing him to give the River Hawks the early 1-0 lead after one period of play.
“We always want to drive the net, and we make it a big part of our game plan; I went there and got a good pass from Nick (Folin) and it ended up working out real well.”
At 4:17 of the second period, Ryan McGrath whacked home the rebound of an Evan Campbell shot from the point, giving Lowell a 2-0 lead.
At 11:17, Colorado College’s Teemu Kivihalme’s fired a shot from the point that took a hard bounce off the boards. Trey Bradley picked up the rebound and fired it through the pads of Kevin Boyle to cut the River Hawks lead to one. Following the goal, Colorado College picked up its play with big hits and controlling of the puck in the Lowell zone.
“We talked a lot about taking away time and space,” said Colorado College coach Mike Haviland. “Our compete level had to improve, I thought they out-competed us in most areas of the game last night. I thought we played with a very high compete level tonight, especially toward the end of that second period, which gave us a better chance to win.”
The third period remained scoreless, resulting in Colorado College pulling its goaltender for the extra attacker with just over a minute to play. The Tigers failed to generate a solid scoring chance and the clock ran out for the 2-1 River Hawks victory,
Lowell coach Norm Bazin complemented his goaltender, Kevin Boyle (23 saves), as well as seniors Ryan McGrath and Adam Chapie for their effort.
“We had some great goaltending from Kevin (Boyle); there was a lot of that this weekend from all the goalies on both teams. I also thought (Adam) Chapie and (Ryan) McGrath were great energy guys for us tonight. They brought a lot to the table in all three areas of the ice.”
Looking forward, Lowell is excited to start conference play at Merrimack next Friday night.
“Its going to be a good test for us, but we are looking forward to it.” said Bazin. “It’s never easy going in there and getting a win. There’s nowhere to hide in that rink, that’s for sure.”
