LOWELL, Mass. (Dec. 1, 2007) – Nevin Hamilton (Ashland, Mass.) made 30 saves and Mark Roebothan (St. John’s, Nfld.) scored for the third straight game as UMass Lowell defeated No. 6 New Hampshire, 3-2, in Hockey East action Saturday night at the Tsongas Arena.

With the win, the River Hawks improve to 5-4-4 overall and 3-4-4 in Hockey East play. UML has won three of its last four games. The Wildcats fall to 8-3-1 overall and 5-3-1 in league play with the loss.

In addition to Roebothan, Jason DeLuca (East Moriches, N.Y.) and Kory Falite (Billerica, Mass.) scored for the River Hawks. James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) and Bobby Butler (Marlboro, Mass.) scored for the Wildcats.

The River Hawks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and led 3-0 by the 4:21 mark of the second period. DeLuca opened the scoring for UML when his shot from the top of the right face off circle pinballed past UNH goaltender Kevin Regan (South Boston, Mass.).

Falite made it 2-0 River Hawks just 43 seconds into the second period re-directing a Jeremy Dehner (Madison, Wis.) shot from the left point. Ben Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had the secondary assist on the goal.

Roebothan, who netted a hat trick a week ago against Merrimack, scored his fifth goal in the last three games and eighth overall tapping in a centering pass from Mike Potacco (Kinnelon, N.J.). Potacco has points in five of the last seven games (2 goals, 5 assists). Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alb.) had the second assist.

After being out-shot 15-2 in the opening period, New Hampshire rallied with 30 shots over the final two periods, and scored two unanswered goals in the second period. James vanRiemsbyk got the Wildcats on the board with his sixth goal of the season on a breakaway at 12:22. Brad Flaishans (Glendale, Ariz.), who sprung vanRiemsdyk with a blue line-to-blue line pass, had the assist on the tally.

Bobby Butler made it a one-goal game at 15:19 with his second of the season. Peter LeBlanc (Hamilton, Ont.) and Jerry Pallastrone (Revere, Mass.) picked up the assists.

Hamilton made his third straight start between the pipes for UML and stopped 30 shots for his third victory of the season. The sophomore goaltender made 28 of his 30 saves over the final 40 minutes of the contest.

Regan made 24 saves for UNH, but took the loss, his third of the season.

New Hampshire out-shot UMass Lowell 30 to 12 over the final two periods and 32 to 27 for the game. UNH was 1-for-6 with seven shots on the power play. UML was 0-for-3 with three shots on the man-advantage.

“It’s a huge win and I’m ecstatic for our players to experience that type of victory,” said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. “There were a lot of trials and tribulations throughout the game. We came out and had a couple of huge penalty kills early [in the third period] and got the momentum back. We simplified our game. And Nevin Hamilton did his job. That’s what goalies do in this league. Our team was immensely confident that he was going to shut the door.”

The River Hawks return to the ice Friday night when they host Boston University at the Tsongas Arena. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. The Wildcats next play Saturday at Massachusetts.