DURHAM, N.H. — All of a sudden, New Hampshire finds itself uncomfortably thin at the forward position.
The No. 9 Wildcats skated the majority of their 2-1 loss to UMass Lowell Friday night at the Whittemore Center down four forwards.
New Hampshire left wing Brendan van Riemsdyk left the contest early in the second period with a shoulder injury. The sophomore suffered the injury 8:19 into the contest after colliding with two River Hawks and missed the rest of the first period. He skated on the Wildcats’ second line alongside Patrick Grasso and Liam Blackburn and on a penalty kill early in the second period but did not return to the game.
Ara Nazarian, who scored New Hampshire’s lone goal, replaced van Riemsdyk on the line, marking the first time he had skated with Grasso and Blackburn all season.
New Hampshire forwards Charlie Kelleher (shoulder), Shane Eiserman (knee) and Marcus Vela, who had his appendix removed last Sunday, missed the contest and will not play at No. 15 Boston University Saturday.
Wildcats coach Dick Umile said his team was making up lines on the fly throughout Friday’s contest. New Hampshire only had enough forwards to utilize three lines after van Riemsdyk left the game.
“I think that whenever you can roll four lines it’s good for everyone but it’s hockey. Stuff happens,” Nazarian said. “You just kind of have to deal with what happens and just play as hard as you can every shift and not worry about what’s going on.”
Umile did not use injuries as an excuse for the loss.
Ryan Lohin provided both goals for UMass Lowell (5-6-0, 2-5-0 Hockey East).
The sophomore center broke a 1-1 deadlock with 3:45 remaining when he tipped in a shot from classmate Colin O’Neill from the slot. Lohin tied the game at 16:26 of the second period – 25 seconds after Nazarian gave UNH a 1-0 lead.
Nazarian scored on a low shot that went through UMass Lowell goaltender Chris Hernberg’s legs. Lohin answered right back with a goal from the doorstep off a feed from O’Neill.
“We’re excited to get two Hockey East points,” River Hawks coach Norm Bazin said. “They haven’t come easy for us so far this year and [we were] playing a great opponent who hadn’t lost in Hockey East yet. It was a tight game all the way through and fortunately for us we got the last one.”
New Hampshire (6-2-1, 3-1-1 Hockey East) put together a flurry after pulling goaltender Danny Tirone (26 saves) with 1:53 remaining. The Wildcats launched four shots but none of them found their way past UMass Lowell netminder Chris Hernberg. Michael McNicholas got the closest to recording the equalizer when he rang a shot off the post during the frenzy.
Hernberg made 19 saves. New Hampshire’s 20 shots on goal marked its lowest output of the season.
“Injuries or no injuries, you can’t feel sorry and you’ve got to find ways to pull it out,” Umile said.
Hockey East Roundup
Northeastern 6, No. 15 Boston University 1
Northeastern took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission and scored the game’s final four goals to secure the Huskies’ first conference sweep of Boston University since the 1988-89 season.
NU also improved to 4-0-0 in Hockey East play and 6-2-1 overall.
Nolan Stevens and Adam Gaudette each scored within the first 6:17 of the contest for Northeastern. Gaudette also tallied a power-play goal at 16:30 of the second period to give the Huskies a 3-1 advantage.
The Huskies added two goals from Lincoln Griffin and another from Bobby Hampton in the final period.
Northeastern went 3-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Cayden Primeau made a season-high 33 saves for the Huskies.
Patrick Harper scored the Terriers’ lone goal 42 seconds into the middle stanza. Jake Oettinger and Max Prawdzik combined for 17 saves for Boston University.
Boston College 4, Vermont 3
Aapeli Rasanen helped Boston College secure the road win by scoring the game-winning goal with 3:06 left. Rasanen found the back of the net on a turnaround backhander, which marked his second tally of the contest.
Boston College freshman Logan Hutsko’s second goal of the game and third of his career at 9:03 of the second period broke a 2-2 deadlock. Vermont’s Matt O’Donnell tied the game back up 5:37 into the third frame.
Vermont’s Max Kaufman and Anthony Petruzzelli scored the game’s first two goals over the opening 11:31. Boston College countered with goals from Hutsko and Rasanen before the end of the first period to knot the score at 2-2.
Boston College out shot the Catamounts, 34-13, through two periods and 45-21 overall.
Merrimack 5, Bentley 2
Merrimack had a one-goal lead entering the third period and put the nonconference game out of reach with two power-play goals from Brett Seney over the last 20 minutes. The five goals matched a single-game season high for the Warriors.
Merrimack senior Marc Biega broke a 1-1 tie just 42 seconds in the middle frame and classmate Jace Hennig added the eventual game-winner less than two minutes later on a Warriors power play. Bentley sophomore Tanner Jago cut Merrimack’s lead to 3-2 with his goal at the 13:49 mark of the second period.
Bentley’s Brett Orr and Merrimack’s Michael Babcock both scored their first goals of the season in the opening period to make it a 1-1 game entering the first intermission.
Craig Pantano made 24 saves for Merrimack. Aidan Pelino made 22 stops for Bentley.
No. 17 Ohio State 5, Connecticut 4
Ohio State led by as many as three goals and never trailed on their way to the nonleague road triumph.
Matthew Weis scored twice off assists from Tanner Laczynski over the opening 7:57 to give Ohio State a 2-0 advantage. Dakota Joshua’s power-play goal at 4:13 of the second period pushed the Buckeyes’ advantage to 3-0.
Christian Lampasso provided the game-winning goal 7:37 into the final period when he put the Buckeyes ahead 5-3. Teammate Mason Jobst gave Ohio State a 4-2 advantage with his power-play goal earlier in the frame.
Connecticut received two goals from Jesse Schwartz and one each from Max Kalter and Spencer Nass. Kalter’s tally came with two minutes left while the Huskies had an extra attacker on the ice.
Tanner Creel, who allowed all five goals, and Adam Huska combined for 16 saves for the Huskies. Tommy Nappier made 35 saves for Ohio State.
