PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Nov. 16, 2007) – Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, Ont.) made 27 saves as UMass Lowell and Providence skated to a 2-2 tie Friday night in Hockey East action at the Schneider Arena.

The tie is the third straight for the River Hawks who improve to 2-2-4 overall and 0-2-4 in league play. The Friars move to 3-5-2 overall and 3-2-2 in Hockey East play.

Mark Roebothan (St. John’s, Nfld.) and Patrick Cey (Saskatoon, Sask.) scored for UML. Pierce Norton (South Boston, Mass.) had both PC goals.

Norton and the Friars opened the scoring at 12:16 when he, stationed in front of the net in the slot, tapped home a centering pass from Cody Wild (No. Providence, R.I.). Matt Taormina (Wash. Township, Mich.) had the second assist. The goal was a power play marker, on PC’s only man-advantage of the night.

Roebothan evened the score just 1:48 into the second period on a partial two-on-one, slipping the puck past PC netminder Tyler Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.) off a centering feed from Mike Potacco (Kinnelon, N.J.).

The Friars took their second lead of the night at 6:05 of the second on Norton’s second of the night. With Kyle Laughlin (Gambrills, Md.) and UML defenseman Ryan Blair (Ashburn, Va.) tied up in front of the net, Norton collected the loose puck and lifted a backhanded shot past Hutton. Laughlin had the assist.

Cey netted the game-tying goal at 8:53 of the second with a wrist shot from the top of the slot. Ben Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Nick Schaus (Buffalo, N.Y.) picked up the assists.

Each team had a premium chance to win the game in the third period. At the start of the third, PC’s Greg Collins (Hingham, Mass.) had a shorthanded breakaway denied by Hutton.

Chris Auger (Belleville, Ont.) had the River Hawks best chance to win the game in the closing seconds of the third, but he couldn’t control the centering pass from Potacco and the puck trickled wide of the net.

Hutton made 27 saves to earn his second consecutive tie. The sophomore netminder is 1-1-2 on the season with a 1.68 goals-against average and a .934 save-percentage in four starts.

Sims, coming off back-to-back wins at Maine, stopped 33 UMass Lowell shots to record his first tie of the season. The senior goaltender is 2-4-1 on the year.

The River Hawks out-shot the Friars 35 to 29 for the game. UML domindated the second period in shots, totaling 18 to PC’s five.

The River Hawks were 0-for-2 on the power play. Providence was 1-for-1.

“I thought it was a good road effort,” said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. “I was happy with the first period. The second period was the best period of hockey I’ve seen a UMass Lowell team play since I’ve been here. It’s arguably one of the best periods of hockey I’ve seen a team play in my 22 years of coaching.

“I’m extremely proud of the poise, the skill and the decisions we made. I’m extremely proud of how these guys played and battled. It was a tremendous effort.”

UML returns to the ice Saturday night at Northeastern. The Huskies are coming off a 4-1 victory at New Hampshire Friday night. The Friars host UNH Saturday night