It was a tough Sunday night at the Mullins Center for the Massachusetts hockey team.

The Minutemen (3-5-1, 2-5-1 Hockey East Association) suffered an 8-2 blowout loss at the hands of UMass Lowell in front of 2,426 fans. Three of those goals came courtesy of a hat trick from River Hawks senior center Riley Wetmore and another two came from junior forward Joseph Pendenza.

UMass coach John Micheletto was disappointed with the Minutemen’s performance after the game.

“(It was) not a good night for the Minutemen,” Micheletto said. “It’s certainly not indicative of our talent level nor our discipline. We have a much better team than we revealed tonight.”

Starting his first game of the season for UMass was junior goalie Jeff Teglia, who struggled from the get go.

Teglia played 16 minutes, 26 seconds before being pulled in favor of sophomore goalie Steve Mastalerz. Teglia finished with five saves and three goals allowed.

UMass Lowell (3-5-1, 2-4-1 HEA) got on the board first when Dmitry Sinitsyn put one past Teglia 8:16  into the game. Sinitsyn’s goal initially hit Teglia’s pad and then rolled past him.

Just over two minutes later, the River Hawks struck again, this time on a 4-on-4 goal from Wetmore off a Scott Wilson pass at the 10:42 mark.

Pendenza scored UMass Lowell’s third goal of the night on a power-play goal at the 16:26 mark of the first period.

UMass Lowell picked up right where it left off in the second period with three goals in a span of 1:24. Wetmore scored two of the goals, with the first coming at the 7:07 mark and the second at 8:31. Wilson scored the other goal at the 8:00 mark.

The Minutemen broke through for its first goal of the game 14:46 into the second period on a score from junior forward Michael Pereira. The goal, Pereira’s second of the season, came on a power play and temporarily cut the deficit to 6-1.

But the River Hawks struck back when Pendenza scored a short-handed goal at the 17:19 mark, which extended the lead back to six.

And for good measure, Holmstrom scored UMass Lowell’s eighth goal of the night 5:20 into the third period.

Senior captain Rocco Carzo added a late 5-on-3 power-play goal for UMass at the 10:12 mark withredshirt sophomore forward Steven Guzzo credited with the assist.

In Teglia’s place, Mastalerz made 10 saves and allowed five goals. River Hawks goalie Doug Carr made 24 saves.

UMass earns a 2-2 draw

UMass clawed its way back from a two-goal deficit Friday night in front of 4,231 fans at Alfond Arena, to earn a 2-2 draw with Maine (2-9-1, 1-5-1 HEA).

Conor Allen tied the game up for the Minutemen with only 1:08 left in regulation.Carzo and junior forward Sheary were each credited with an assist on the goal.

UMass’ first goal came courtesy of Guzzo on a power play at the 14:54 mark in the second period.

The Black Bears built their initial 2-0 lead in the first period with a pair of goals.

Mark Nemec scored the first goal at the 7:39 mark off a Devin Shore assist. Jake Rutt scored Maine’s second goal on a power play at the 9:21 mark.

Minutemen junior goalie Kevin Boyle made 27 saves in 64:57 minutes of ice time.

His counterpart in goal, Martin Ouellette, made 30 saves.

Next on the schedule for UMass is a home date with Vermont at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

“Fortunately we have a game on Tuesday so that we can move forward as quickly as possible off of this one,” Micheletto said.

Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.