The No. 13 River Hawks of Massachusetts-Lowell have little room for error as the regular season begins to wind down, currently sitting on the NCAA tournament bubble. On Friday, Lowell faced off against in-state rival Massachusetts at Tsongas Center in what was a must-win game in order for the River Hawks to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
The game remained scoreless after one period of play thanks to the effort by UMass goaltender Alex Wakaluk, who stoned A.J. White on a breakaway just 34 seconds into the game. The River Hawks offense turned it on the second frame, however, registering three goals on 33 shots on net through two periods of play.
Just 2:29 into the second period, Lowell’s Connor Wilson fed a pass to C.J. Smith at center ice. Smith broke in on a breakaway and was tripped by UMass’s Jake Horton. Somehow, Smith still managed to fiddle the puck through the legs of Wakaluk and into the back of the net while laying on the ice, giving the River Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later at 5:11, Lowell struck again when C.J. Smith fed a pass to Ryan Collins at the bottom of the right face-off circle. Collins turned and fired a wrist shot through the pads of Wakaluk, and the River Hawks were up by two.
At 16:03, the River Hawks were assessed a bench minor for too many men (served by Michael Louria). While short-handed, Smith and John Edwardh broke in on a two-on-one after a miscommunication in the neutral zone by the Minutemen power play. Smith, who fell down on the play, still made a perfect tape-to-tape cross-ice pass to Edwardh on the left side. Edwardh deked and tucked the puck past the right pad of Wakaluk to put Lowell up by three at the second intermission and giving Smith his third point of the night.
After the game, Smith credited his coach, Norm Bazin, and his ability to clear his head over the last several weeks, for his solid performance on Friday night.
“(I was) coming off a couple of games where I wasn’t playing my best hockey, so I sat down with coach and we talked about it and I cleared my head. Tonight, I played hard and used a lot of the advice coach gave me and it ended up working out pretty well.”
Bazin praised his sophomore forward and stated how Smith could be a big part of Lowell’s future.
“C.J. is going to be an excellent player in college. He’s definitely an all-league candidate this year, and if not he certainly will be next year or later in the future. I was proud of the way he performed tonight.”
Ryan Dmowski gave the River Hawks a four-goal lead at 5:40 of the third period when he received a pass from Nick Master and broke in on a breakaway, where he fired a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Wakaluk.
UMass didn’t go away, however, as the Minutemen struck at 12:10 when Shane Walsh fired a one-timer off of a dish from Dennis Kraychenko at the point. Walsh’s shot found its way past the right pad of Kevin Boyle, spoiling the shutout bid for Lowell.
The Minutemen cut the deficit to two at 17:06 when Ivan Chukarov slammed one home past the blocker of Boyle off of a nifty set of behind-the-back passes by Ray Pigozzi and Kurt Keats to help set up the goal. The Minutemen pulled the goaltender with just over a minute to play but were unable to put another puck in the back of the net as the River Hawks held on for the 4-2 victory.
Bazin recognized the magnitude of next weekend’s home-and-home series with No. 3. Boston College following the win over UMass on Friday.
“Hopefully, our guys take full advantage of tomorrow (no game). We need our rest. We have a tough opponent ahead of us next weekend in BC. How we play in those two games next week will have a big impact on our season.”
