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River Hawks allow eight goals in loss to Michigan

“We lacked a little urgency to come out, and certainly lost a lot of foot races, and our sticks weren’t strong enough,” said River Hawks Hockey Head Coach Norm Bazin. “A Lowell-style team needs to have more urgency.”

He was speaking about the eight goals Michigan managed to score last Friday night. Michigan’s Zach Hyman scored a hat trick as the Wolverines enjoyed an 8-4 victory.

The Michigan Wolverines did a remarkable job of keeping the puck in the River Hawks’ end. They dominated puck possession, dominated face-offs, and dominated shots on goal. Only after the second period, Michigan had shot the puck 32 times, where UMass Lowell only had 19.

Michigan Head Coach Red Berenson mentioned how critical it was for his team to shoot at the goal. The team’s previous game was a loss to UNH, where Michigan shot the puck 70 times, but only met the net around 20 times.

“We’ve got to get our shots on the net,” said Berenson.

The high offensive play was a result of a very aggressive style that Michigan utilized against the River Hawks. Hyman, who scored three goals, mentioned how dumping the puck down the ice and moving propelled his team to victory.

“Our fore-check is a five man fore-check,” said Hyman.

Surprisingly, while the final score was so large, the first period was actually pretty close. Michigan scored two initial goals, but UMass Lowell was quick to retaliate with one of their own. Adam Chapie was able to put in his first goal of the game, resulting from a 3-2 breakaway, and a beautiful pass from John Edwardh.

Tensions ran quite high in the first period. Several times whistles were followed by trash talking and shoving after live play had been stopped.

At one point, during a face off in UMass Lowell’s end, the referee quickly whistled after the puck had dropped to stop play. Tony Calderone, taking the face off, exchanged some words with his River Hawk counterpart, and then tapped him on the shoulder in a taunting motion. This already raised the tempers that were flaring on both sides.

Michigan broke away in the second period. They scored four goals including two from Hyman, compared to only two by UMass Lowell. Terence Wallin put one on the board for the River Hawks, and A.J. White took an assist from Evan Campbell, who wrapped around the goal and fed it to White for his first goal of the season.

Hyman scored the third goal of his hat trick with 1:52 to go in the second period. At that point, Bazin pulled goalie Kevin Boyle and put in freshman Jeff Smith. Smith later gave up two goals in the third period.

“I didn’t take Boyle out because he was poor,” said Bazin. “I took him out because I didn’t want to hang him out to dry.”

​On a lighter note, the River Hawks played to a big crowd during homecoming weekend here on campus. While the singer of the national anthem did have a functioning microphone, the student section still joined in on the national anthem. They have proven loyal support in victory and defeat.