LOWELL, Mass. — No. 11 Massachusetts-Lowell completed a weekend sweep of Massachusetts with a 5-0 win on Saturday night at Tsongas Arena.
With the win, the Riverhawks recapture the Alumni Cup, the trophy given to the winner of UMass/UML season series.
The Riverhawks wasted little time in this one, as just 4:31 into the first period C.J. Smith got his team on the board first. Smith intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and broke in on a one-on-one, dangling through the legs of Minuteman defenseman Ivan Chukarov and tucking the puck past the reach of goaltender Nic Renyard for the early 1-0 lead.
At 10:11, the Riverhawks’ fourth line broke in on a three-on-one following a turnover in the neutral zone. Joe Gambardella fed a pass to Smith, who fired a shot off the left pad of Renyard. Lowell’s Ryan Collins drove the net and buried the rebound on a backhander under Renyard’s right pad to give Lowell (14-4-4) a 2-0 advantage.
The score remained 2-0 until late in the second period at 17:05 when the Riverhawks again broke into the Minuteman zone on an odd-man rush. Lowell captain A.J. White made a beautiful toe drag move around Minuteman defenseman Jake Horton before feeding a pass to Gage Hough, who fired a shot upstairs, beating Renyard and giving Lowell a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission.
The Riverhawks came out of the gate firing in the third period, determined to put the Minutemen (7-12-4) away.
At 2:46, Ryan Dmowski fed a pass out front from behind the net to Hough, who fired a shot and buried his second goal of the night while going five-hole on Renyard, extending the Riverhawk lead to four.
Following the game, Hough praised the efforts made by his teammates leading to his two goals on Saturday night.
“It’s been a process adjusting to this level of play, but the real key to the success I had tonight is my teammates and coaches,” said Hough. “The team had a good weekend and I was lucky enough to benefit with some production. This is one of the closest groups I’ve ever been apart of and it speaks well for our team.”
Just over two minutes after Hough’s second goal of the night at 4:49, a furious cycle behind the Minuteman net by Evan Campbell and White led to a fifth Riverhawk goal, as White ripped a shot just below the faceoff dot past the glove of Renyard to seal the deal for Lowell.
Lowell goaltender Kevin Boyle posted his sixth shutout of the season in the win, tying the all-time school record for most shutouts in a season with current Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
Riverhawks coach Norm Bazin talked about his goaltender after the game.
“This young man [Boyle] is quietly having an outstanding career at UMass-Lowell,” said Bazin. “He’s right up there with Connor Hellebuyck and is a huge part of our team’s success.”
Following the win, a humbled Boyle gave much of the credit to his stellar play on Saturday night to his teammates.
“Our ‘D’ did a good job of containing their guys in our zone tonight,” said Boyle. “Anytime you can win a trophy in a season, it builds character, and that is exactly what I think this win did for our team tonight.”
