The UMass Lowell men’s hockey team could soon be the delight of frugal hockey fans everywhere.
Thanks to a promotion called “pay the rank,” for a cool $12 a fan could enjoy Lowell’s thrilling 4-3 win over Maine last Saturday night, since the River Hawks were ranked No. 12 in that week’s DCU/USCHO.com poll.
The latest poll has Lowell (13-3-3, 10-2-1 Hockey East) ranked 10th. Should the River Hawks continue to play as well as they have all season (and if the school holds the promotion again), UMass Lowell fans could be able to see their favorite team at bargain-basement prices.
A balanced scoring attack has been key for the River Hawks so far, with eight players having recorded at least 10 points, led by Carl Berglund (four goals, 12 assists, 16 points) and Andre Lee (11-4-15). Ten different skaters contributed at least a point in Saturday’s win against Maine.
“That’s part of our formula every year,” Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “We need scoring by committee, and we need multiple threats throughout the lineup. I’m really proud of them for that.”
Not enough can be said about Lowell goalie Owen Savory. With a 1.52 GAA and a .940 save percentage, Savory is the River Hawks’ Hobey Baker Award nominee. Savory hasn’t suffered a loss since a 2-1 setback at UConn on Nov. 21.
“If he’s not one of the best goalies in the country, I don’t know who is,” Bazin said. “He’s had a tremendous season.”
Looming for the River Hawks is a home-and-home series against Merrimack (10-10-1, 5-7-0) which is unbeaten in six of its last seven contests, including three straight wins.
Merrimack coach Scott Borek said getting the puck past Savory will be challenging enough for the Warriors, but first they must get through some tough layers of defense in front of him.
“They’re rarely, if ever, outnumbered at the net front in between the hash marks,” Borek said. “It’s hard to get to that area of the ice. It takes a real persistent effort to get there. You have to go through people, through traffic. (The) most important thing won’t be Owen Savory, it’ll be us getting inside ice.”
Max Newton leads the Warriors in scoring (9-14-23) followed by Filip Forsmark (9-8-17).
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Feb. 8, 2020, a 4-3 win for the River Hawks in North Andover, Mass. A COVID-truncated schedule last season kept the two clubs apart. Despite not having any film from recent matchups to work with, Borek said Lowell’s formula for success speaks for itself.
“One of the strengths of Lowell is that they do the same thing over and over,” Borek said. “And they do it really, really well. (They’re) just a really methodical, consistent physical group that makes it real hard to find ice and hard to get to their net. They protect the puck really well. You could watch them from five years ago, and you’d know what they were trying to do.”
The teams will meet in North Andover at 7 p.m. on Friday and 6:05 p.m. in Lowell on Saturday.
