ECH “Out East” WEEK 1: UMD @ UMASS LOWELL
BY Brendan locke - october 16, 2024Welcome to the 2024 Everything College Hockey Blog!
I’ll be guiding you through this journey covering all things Hockey East and maybe just maybe, some ECAC if that small school in Cambridge can bounce back from a down year last season.
So how will this work? Quite frankly I’m asking many of the same questions. Still, we’re going to have fun writing, talking, and covering college hockey all season.
The concepts of the plan that we are currently rolling out is one Hockey East series highlighted per week, along with potentially some midweek roundups or previews heading into the weekend.
So, let’s get started, shall we?
I made my way up the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts this past weekend as the visiting Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth took a trip to the east coast for a 2 game set with the River Hawks of UMass Lowell. The beginning of the hockey season is always an exciting one, as hope springs eternal for every team and the memories of a fantastic or disastrous previous season fade. Or simply put in the words of UML coach Norm Bazin “we aren’t talking about last year.” The River Hawks finished with a record of 8-24-4 last season, ending the year on a 7-game losing streak before getting bounced in the first round of the Hockey East tournament by UNH. But, I will abide by Coach Bazin’s wishes and from here on out, will not mention the Riverhawk's woes last season.
As for Duluth, they are looking to return to national prominence after back-to-back losing seasons, as it wasn’t long ago they were hoisting back-to-back trophy’s in April (2018, 2019). This year’s Bulldogs roster is thoroughly bolstered by 11 NHL draft picks and talent across all 3 phases of the game. The difficulty with this roster is that 15 of 26 players are underclassmen with 11 of them being freshmen. So, the good news is that two losing seasons have been replaced by 11 freshmen with new talent that should rejuvenate the team. The bad news, however, is that they have 11 freshmen they need to rely on.
Game 1
That is the problem that the Bulldogs found themselves in on Saturday night. But let’s talk Friday night first. A non-conference series is always an interesting one and I love seeing Hockey East teams jetting to America's heartland to faceoff in Big 10 Country or the NCHC, and likewise when those teams come to New England. I still remember seeing Notre Dame’s helmets in person for the first time at Conte Forum, and that was almost worth the price of admission by itself.
As for the actual hockey being played UML jumped out to an early 1-0 with Chris Delaney converting with 7:25 remaining in first, in what would be Delaney’s first career goal in a River Hawks uniform. This was followed by a Dominic James (UMD Captain) penalty shortly after, and it felt like UML may be able to jump out to an early lead. But the story for UML on Friday night was the giveaways. Less than a minute after UML took a 1-0 lead, a turnover in the neutral zone was scooped up by Joe Molenaar who walked in and undressed UML goalie Beni Halasz for his first goal of the season. That also happened to be Molenaar’s first goal as a Bulldog, as the graduate transfer spent his first 4 seasons with NCHC rival St. Cloud State.
Molenaar also happens to be one the few remaining players in college that was born before the turn of the century - however, the ’99 somehow does not hold the title of oldest player in college hockey, as Michigan goalie Andrew Albano born ‘98 holds that distinction. Albano controls the thermostat in the locker room for sure.
Back to the game, about a minute and a half later the young guns kept firing for the Bulldogs. Dominic James walked in a breakaway that was denied by Halasz on the first attempt but could not be cleared by UML in the crease, as freshman Callum Arnott knotted the first goal of his Bulldog career.
The River Hawks responded well and tried to make a push to tie the game at 2-2, but more defensive zone breakouts fell apart and the Bulldogs pounced.
Disclaimer: Avert your eyes if you have ever been involved in a D-Zone breakout in your entire life.
Yuck.
UMD would add another in the 3rd to expand the lead to 4-1 and despite a final push from UMass Lowell, the Bulldogs were able to secure a 4-2 win in their first road game of the season.
Game 2
On Saturday, the River Hawks looked to bounce back and try to level a series against a young and talented UMD team and prove that they too, belong in the NCAA Tournament discussion.
After getting my media credential and making my way up the steps at Tsongas, I was greeted by the clamorous screeches of young children running around the concourse. Now despite being a credentialed media member (not sure if I mentioned that) I have not reached the curmudgeonly old sports media member phase of my life yet. I was unbothered and assumed that it must have been a Lowell youth hockey team or maybe a surrounding town that brought the kids in to watch the big boys and take in a little college hockey. As my youth hockey team did as well as so many others around Massachusetts.
However, I was not prepared to come around a corner and be met by this…
This, I’m told is Bluey.
Now I, being a 22 college student without younger siblings and being out of the loop on cartoons for longer than I would like to admit, was not familiar with this “Bluey”, if that even is his/her real name.
Apparently, it was “Bluey Night” at Tsongas and that meant that every small child in the Merrimack Valley made their way to pay a visit to their favorite cartoon dog.
Turns out, being face to face with an oversized Australian Cattle Dog that looks like it went on a vacation with the Smurfs will really get you amped up because after giving Bluey a fist bump, I made my way to press box was ready to roll.
Game 2 got off to a significantly different start with the River Hawks flying out of the gate and jumping on the Bulldogs. UML dominated the early stages of the game and kept Duluth out of the offensive zone for nearly the entire 1st period, as UMD did not register a shot on net through the 1st 10 minutes of the game. As they did in game 1, the River Hawks found the opening goal again, this time Scout Truman was the beneficiary of a spectacular pass by Mirko Buttazzoni.
Told you.
The 2nd period was more of the same, as UML was in control from start to finish and made sure to capitalize on another Duluth mistake in the defensive zone - this time Ben Meehan got his first of the season just 50 seconds into the 2nd.
Duluth’s inability to create offensively became very apparent, as they were struggling to get the puck past the red line at times. In an effort to show how this is done, the Riverhawks decided to turn up their domination and kept the puck in Duluth’s zone for over 4 minutes straight, eventually leading to Jacob MacDonald tipping in the 3rd goal of the night.
But it would not stop there as the UML would tack on a 4th goal just a minute and a half later, as Jak Vaarwerk jammed home a puck after a scramble in front of the net. Before the Bulldogs even knew what hit them it was 4-0. The rest of the 2nd was more of the same for UML as they took over and limited every shot attempt to low-scoring opportunities and kept UMD to just 8 shots in the 2nd frame.
Things went from bad to worse for UMD as Carter Looney (Senior Forward) got kicked out of the game for a crosscheck to the back of the head to UML’s Isac Johnson. No penalty was called at the moment as it happened behind the play, but a swift review took place and Looney hit the locker room early.
I sat next to one of the video guys for Duluth in the press box throughout the game and he just shook his head returning to the press box for the 3rd “That was not a fun locker room”.
Despite the stern talking to that the boys from Duluth got the 3rd was more of the same, this time registering just 4 shots in the entire period. They were able to tack on a goal to break up Henry Welsch’s shutout with 7 minutes remaining in the game, but could not generate much more than that.
Weekend Takeaways
Duluth is young but exceptionally talented, if they get going they could be a serious problem for some teams out west. But to me, the one who stood out the most is their senior forward Dominic James, the 6th-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks was just about the only one who showed up on Saturday night, despite getting called for a (questionable) embellishment penalty. When he is on the ice the tempo of the game changes and he can change a game quickly. The young guns are some interesting pieces for the Bulldogs, especially as they get more comfortable as the season continues to roll on. First things first, they’ll need to figure out which line combinations work best now that it’s been announced that NTDP Freshman Max Plante is out an estimated 4-6 weeks. His Freshman linemates - brother Zam Plante and Jayson Shaugabay, saw 0 points on the weekend after the trio tallied 7 points vs Bemidji State on October 5th.
For UMass Lowell things are a bit more interesting, in a loaded Hockey East they find themselves somewhere above Vermont but probably below UNH. They have the ability to knock off any team given that they are a big and heavy roster with an effective powerplay. Their leading goal scorer last season, Owen Cole, scored just 10 goals. That’s because the River Hawks were ranked 60th in the NCAA in total goals scored with just 72 lamps lit on the season. I understand that the River Hawks may want to muck it up and win ugly but even when winning ugly you need more than 2 goals per game as they did last year. Chris Delaney is a Freshman with 2 goals already this season and will need to continue to produce if the River Hawks want to create any sort of noise in Hockey East this season.
Lastly, just a shoutout to this UMass Lowell student who was there 45 minutes to puck drop standing and waving a "Saturdays are for the River Hawks" for the entire warmup.
Dudes rock.
Next week
Presented without comment.
