Friday, November 6th at Vermont (7:05 p.m.)
(Gutterson Fieldhouse; Burlington, Vt.)
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Saturday, November 7th at Vermont (7:05 p.m.)
(Gutterson Fieldhouse; Burlington, Vt.)
Watch Live | Listen Live (Comm) | Live Stats
Buy Tickets
Follow on Twitter: @RiverHawkNation @RiverHawkHockey

Commercial Radio:
River Hawk Network: (900AM, 1250AM, WCAP 980AM, WSMN 1590AM)
Talent: Bob Ellis (Play by Play); Jim Connelly (Analyst)

 
Quotes from the Coach
Norm Bazin on going to the Gutterson Field House
"It's one of the home ice advantages in our league.  I truly feel they have a little bit of a different ice sheet than most.  It's one of the few home ice advantages left in college hockey.  It's a wonderful rink to play in; it's a tough rink and a great opponent so it should make for a very challenging weekend of hockey."
 
Norm Bazin on Vermont
"Both teams are kind of similar in the type of kids they recruit; they're very competitive kids, some are late bloomers, hardworking teams.  Coach Sneddon and his staff do an excellent job of finding highly competitive kids who work hard."
 
Norm Bazin on the River Hawks
"I feel we're growing.  We're getting better, we're improving from day to day and that's all you can ask for."
 
Junior Defenseman Dylan Zink on playing against Vermont
"Playing in Hockey East no weekend is easy.  We've battled Vermont the last couple of years in the playoffs so this is going to be a good test for us this weekend.  These are going to be hard games."

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: UMass Lowell is ranked 4th in the USCHO poll and 5th in the USA Hockey Magazine poll and has been nationally ranked for 71 consecutive weeks. The River Hawks are 4-1-2 (0-0-2, HEA) through seven games after splitting two games at then No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth last weekend. Eleven different players have scored goals, Senior Adam Chapie leads the team with three.  Chapie (3g, 3a) and junior Joe Gambardella (2g, 4a) lead the team in scoring with six points. Senior goalie Kevin Boyle has started all seven games for the River Hawks and has a 1.40 GAA and a .949 Sv%.   
 
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS: The University orf Vermont is 2-4-1 (1-0-1, HEA) after taking three of four points from Northeastern last weekend.  The Cats were picked eighth in the Hockey East Pre-Season Coaches' Poll.  Seven different players have scored goals for Vermont with Jarrid Privitera topping the lsit with five.  Mario Puskarich leads the club in scoring with seven points (3g, 4a.)  Goalie Mike Santaguida carries a 2.56 GAA and a .911 Sv% into tonight's contest.
 
LAST TIME OUT:  UMass Lowell defeated Minnesota-Duluth, 6-3, in the second of back-to-back games.  Sophomore forward C. J. Smith had a career high four points (1g, 3a) to lead the River Hawk offense.  Junior defenseman Dylan Zink scored two power play goals 42-seconds apart early in the second period breaking a 1-1 tie and giving UMass Lowell a 3-1 lead.  River Hawk senior goalie Kevin Boyle stopped 25 of 28 shots. 
 
TONIGHT: UMass Lowell and Vermont meet tonight for just the 46th time.  It is their first meeting since the River Hawks ended Vermont's season with a 4-1 win at the TD Garden in the Hockey East Tournament semi-final.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. VERMONT: UMass Lowell and Vermont have met 45 times in the past dating back to the 1972 ECAC Division II Tournament.  Vermont won that first meeting, 7-0 despite a school record 62 saves by Lowell Tech goalie Mike Geragosian.  The River Hawks hold a 22-16-7 edge in the series and a 17-10-7 edge since Vermont joined Hockey East for the 2005-06 season.  UMass Lowell is 5-1-0 in Hockey East Tournament play.  UMass Lowell's first win in the series came when the Division II Chiefs defeated the Division I Cats, 7-4, at the Gutterson Field House in 1979.  ULowell went 11-for-11 on the penalty kill in that one.
 
UMASS LOWELL VS. OTHER CONFERENCES: Five of UMass Lowell's first seven games this season were against non-conference opponents.  The River Hawks have taken three of four from the NCHC after sweeping a two game set from Colorado College and splitting two games with Minnesota-Duluth.  UMass Lowell also defeated ECAC member RPI, 3-0, in the season opener.
 
ON THE NATIONAL STAGE!: UMass Lowell is ranked fourth in the USCHO Poll and fifth in the USA Hockey Magazine Poll.  It is the first time the team has been ranked in the Top Five in both polls since January 19, 2015 when they came in at number five in both polls.  The last time they reached number four in the USCHO poll was November 24, 2014.  The River Hawks have been nationally ranked, in either the USCHO or USA Today poll, for 71 consecutive weeks.  The stretch began when UMass Lowell appeared at #20 in the USCHO Poll on January 7, 2013.  Of those 71 weeks more than half, 43, have been spent in the top ten.
 
QUICK START: This is just the fifth time, in their Division I history, that UMass Lowell has been tagged with just one loss through its first seven games.  A year ago the River Hawks did not pick up their second loss until their eleventh game (7-1-2 through ten games.)  The 1981-82 ULowell Chiefs hold the school record winning their first 19 games and finished 31-4-0.
 
KEVIN BOYLING HOT: UMass Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle has given up no more than two goals in six of seven starts.  In four of those starts he has allowed one goal or less.  Boyle has one shutout and has allowed three goals just once.   The senior has a 1.40 GAA and a .949 Sv%.
  
DUELING SAVES LEADERS: The two goalies likely to face one another this weekend are the Hockey East overall saves leaders.  Both UMass Lowell's Kevin Boyle and Vermont's Mike Santaguida stopped 185 shots to to top the leader board.  Boyle, with a .949 Sv%, has kicked out all but ten of the 195 shots he has seen.  Santaguida (.911 Sv%) has allowed 18 to slip by.
 
CIRCLE OF DOMINANCE: UMass Lowell has the 13th best face-off win percentage in college hockey (54.2%) and the third best in Hockey East.  The River Hawks have won 253 of 467 puck drops.   Entering tonight's contest senior center Michael Fallon is the top face-off man winning 61.3% (57-38) of draws.  Junior Evan Campbell has a 64-43 (59.8%) edge while freshman Nick Master (49 of 91, 53.8%) is also over the .500 mark.
 
PLUGGED BACK INTO THE POWER: UMass Lowell scored two power play goals, last Saturday night, against Minnesota-Duluth snapping an 0-for-17 man advantage slump.  The River Hawks have scored two power play goals in three different games and are 6-for-30 (20%) on the season.
 
PENALTY KILLING: Playing shorthanded has been no disadvantage for the UMass Lowell hockey club.  The River Hawks have the seventh ranked penalty unit in the country with a 92% success rate (23-for-25.)   UMass Lowell was successful in their first 19 man down situations this season.
 
STAYING OUT OF THE BOX: UMass Lowell is the least penalized team in Hockey East averaging just 8.9-minutes of penalty time per game.  That number places the River Hawks as the 11th least penalized team in the country.  Vermont, averaging a minute more (9.9-minutes) per game is fourth in Hockey East and 23rd in the country.
 
NOT STUCK ON ONE: Saturday night in Duluth the River Hawks exploded for six goals ending a stretch of three games during which UMass Lowell were limited to just one goal per game, the longest such stretch since Norm Bazin took over behind the bench more than four years ago.  Despite scoring just three goals in those last three games, the River Hawks lost only once (0-1-2.)
 
BACK TO BACK: UMass Lowell is playing games on back-to-back nights for the fourth time this season.  The River Hawks are 1-1-1 on the first night and 2-0-1 on the second night after splitting a weekend set at Minnesota-Duluth.  The River Hawks are 8-1-2 against the Catamounts on the first night and 5-3-3 on the second night.  UMass Lowell was a winner the only time the two teams played a game on a third consecutive night.  A year ago the River Hawks were 9-4-1 on the first of consecutive nights, but only 6-5-3 on the second night.
 
I CAN SEE FOR MILES AND MILES AND MILES: The UMass Lowell hockey team is spending an inordinate amount of time on the road this season, especially during the first half of the year.  By season's end the River Hawks will have logged 11,469.56 miles thanks in large part to trips to Minnesota-Duluth, Pittsburgh and Belfast, Northern Ireland to take part in the Friendship Four Tournament.  Most of the travelling, 10,747.76 miles, takes place during the first half of the schedule.