Durham, New Hampshire – The 2023-24 season concludes Wednesday night, with the 11th place Massachusetts Lowell ice hockey team (8-24-4 Hockey East Division, 4-17-3) taking on the 6th-place University of New Hampshire (20-14). 3 minutes). 1, 13-11-1 Hockey East), 1-0 in Hockey East tournament opener at Whitmore Center.
Although the lights weren't lit, the River Hawks played well defensively, with 10 different skaters blocking at least one shot. 2nd grade mitchell becker (Rogers, Minnesota) and Sen. ben meehan (Walpole, Mass.) led the way with three blocks each, but the sophomores mark cooper (Cambridge, Ontario) Graduate student Nick Granowitz (Macomb, Michigan) collected two each. Six different players got one of his that night.senior goaltender henry welsh (Lakeville, Minn.) played well between the pipes for the River Hawks, finishing with 18 saves.
Head coach: “Congratulations to our opponent.” Noam Bazin. “They're well-coached and they did a good job today. It's natural to lose three games in a row to the same opponent.”
The River Hawks came out of the gate and put a lot of pressure on the Wildcats offensively. The team had its first big chance at the 4:07 mark. Bradan Engham (Burnsville, Minn.) lifted the puck from the defensive zone before passing to the senior. Jake Stella (Karlstad, Sweden) In front of the net, he took a shot just off the pads of New Hampshire goaltender Jakob Hellsten.
The Wildcats scored first on Harrison Blaisdell's rebound goal at 10:46. The River Hawks took strong penalties right after the goal, and shots from sophomore Nick Rome (Trois-Rivières, Quebec) and Cooper found the back of the net, giving the River Hawks some momentum on offense. Shortly thereafter, the River Hawks collected good opportunities from Becker and Becker and had a power play opportunity of their own. Stephen Owensbut in vain, both teams went into the locker room with a score of 1-0.
The second period was a tough one for both teams, with Welsh and the defensive unit contributing to the Wildcats' victory with six saves and nine blocked shots. Both teams battled back and forth, with the River Hawks destroying New Hampshire's power play opportunities twice and getting their best chance to score on a shorthanded breakaway from Rome at 17:19. In the second, only nine total shots were on goal, and the game went into intermission with the score tied.
While this wasn't the period when the River Hawks had the most shots on goal, the third was the team's most active in terms of creating chances, with seven shots over the period. After exchanging possession and playing well in the neutral zone for most of the period, the River Hawks showed some fight towards the end and kept the puck in the offensive zone. 2nd grade TJ Schweighardt (Manahawkin, N.J.) had a great chance at the 7:22 mark, taking an open shot but Hellsten made the save with his glove. Welsh was pulled with 2:15 remaining, and the River Hawks continued to apply pressure by attempting three shots on the man advantage, but were unable to find the back of the net, and the game ended 1-0.
