The No. 8 UMass Lowell men’s hockey team will host No.15 University of Vermont in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East playoffs. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs was 2009, when Lowell went to Vermont and swept the Catamounts with two straight road wins.

This year, UMass Lowell will look to defend its title as reigning Hockey East champions. Fans probably still remember the River Hawks 1-0 victory over Boston University last year in the championship game, but it is a new year with new challenges, the first of which will be beating a feisty Vermont team.

The two squads remain pretty familiar with each other, as they met in the final games of the regular season last weekend. UMass Lowell beat the Catamounts in overtime on Friday night thanks to a Joe Houk goal with under a minute left. Saturday was senior night for the home team, and they used that motivation to win the final game against Lowell and split the regular season series.

While Lowell will certainly enjoy having home ice advantage, they cannot afford to take the Catamounts lightly. Vermont has a number of young talented players, but what makes them dangerous is the way they play as a team.

Luckily for the River Hawks, they also play their best hockey as team hockey. They seem to play best when everybody skates, passes and thinks as a cohesive unit.
Vermont advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to a 2-1 win at home over UMass Amherst last Saturday night.

The rest of the quarterfinal matchups are also set. No. 8 Notre Dame will visit No. 1 Boston College thanks to their 3-2 win over Boston University in the single elimination round.
No. 6 Maine visits No. 3 Providence after shutting out Merrimack 2-0, and No. 5 Northeastern will travel to Durham, NH to take on the No. 4 ranked University of New Hampshire.
All the quarterfinal series begin on Friday just after 7:00 p.m..