A night after coming off an embarrassing loss at the hands of Boston University, the Massachusetts hockey team had a chance to leave its final two-game road trip of the season on a positive note.
Unfortunately for UMass (7-18-3, 6-11-3 Hockey East) what transpired on the ice at Tsongas Arena was a far too familiar sight – another loss.
With the win Lowell improved to 13-11-3 overall and 6-8-3 HE. But more importantly the River Hawks secured two crucial points in the conference and the tie-breaker if the two teams were to finish in a tie and claimed the Alumni Cup for the fourth year in a row.
‘We got two crucial points tonight,’ Lowell head coach Tim Whitehead said. ‘We’ve climbed to fifth, but we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.’
Lowell got on the board first when Ed McGrane scored the fist of his two power play goals at the 15:47 mark of the first period. Brad Rooney fed a pass to McGrane at the left faceoff circle. The forward then attacked the net and slipped a shot past goalie Mike Johnson for the lead, a lead that would never be relinquished.
McGrane would double the River Hawk lead again on the power play at the 13:24 mark of the second period when Yorick Treille found the sophomore all alone at the side of the cage for the eventual game-winning goal.
‘The biggest thing for us was that we were moving the puck well [on the power play],’ McGrane said. ‘As soon as we had possession, [UMass] kind of backed off and that gave our guys time to see openings and find seams. We just had it together tonight and were able to drive to the net.’
‘Penalties hurt us as we haven’t been a good penalty kill team all year,’ UMass head coach Don Cahoon said. ‘Continually, we’ve made major blunders on the PK, which we made two tonight, and they capitalized.’
The Minutemen would score their only goal of the game on the power play early in the third period when Tim Turner muscled his way through traffic and banged home the rebound of a Samuli Jalkanen slap shot.
But just as it looked as if the Maroon and White were rejuvenated, the River Hawks stormed back for two quick goals to put the game out of reach.
Less than two minutes after Turner cut the Lowell lead in half a defensive blunder by the Minutemen allowed a breakaway to Lowell’s Ron Hainsey.
While one-on-one with Johnson the defenseman made a quick fake and fired a shot through the goalies five-hole for the tally.
Moments after giving up a breakaway to Hainsey UMass, again, allowed a defenseman to streak in alone on Johnson.
Darryl Green took advantage of an odd-man that resulted in the breakaway and the game’s final goal.
The freshman made a series of fakes on Johnson and slipped a shot that hit the left post and trickled behind the junior for the goal.
In goal for the River Hawks for the win was Hockey East Goaltender of the Month Jimi St. John. The junior made 25 saves on the night en route to the win.
‘I think he’s done a real good job,’ Cahoon said. ‘I’ve seen him a couple of times against us and a few more occasions and he does a nice job of squaring himself to the shooter and playing the puck.’
‘He’s really stabilized our defense,’ Whitehead said. ‘The guys are doing a great job in front of him and that’s been a great combo.’
Information from USCHO.com was used in this story.
