C.J. Smith continued his hot streak by tallying a goal and an assist in Friday night’s 4-2 victory over UMass Amherst. (Photo courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics)
UMass Lowell got goals from four different players, and came out of Friday night’s nonconference matchup against rival UMass Amherst with a 4-2 win.
The victory completed a season sweep of the Minutemen, and was the River Hawk’s twentieth win of the season. This is the fifth straight season that UMass Lowell has won at least twenty games.
“It’s not easy to get twenty wins in a season, so I’m extremely proud of the group in that room,” Head Coach Norm Bazin said in the postgame press conference.
It was a big game for sophomore forward C.J. Smith, who recorded two points – the team’s first goal, and an assist on John Edwardh’s shorthanded tally.
“I was coming off of a couple games where I didn’t think I was playing my best hockey, and I was kind of able to sit down with Coach [Bazin] and have a good talk with him,” said Smith. “I got my mind right, and I went out there and I was able to play hard, and was able to get rewarded.”
Smith was recently named the most valuable college hockey player hailing from Iowa.
Smith said that it was “cool” to be named to the list. He said he found out from a text his mother sent him, but that it’s his job to just keep playing.
“C.J. will be an excellent player in college,” said Bazin. “He already is, I think his upside is tremendous.” This should prove quite exciting to River Hawks fans of the present and future.”
Despite a slow start, the River Hawks surged offensively during the last ten minutes of the first period, finally taking control of possession and getting shots on net. It led to a rousingly successful second period, in which the River Hawks scored three times, once on a shorthanded goal by sophomore forward John Edwardh.
The game was full of chances for the River Hawks to score, some of the most promising ones breaking down only because of bad bounces and near misses.
Bazin called a timeout during the waning minutes of the second period, confessing that he thought his defensemen were “gassed, and [he] didn’t want to wait for something bad to happen. It was just to get their energy back, so they could go out and get a productive shift.”
Unfortunately, despite being up 4-0 for more than half of the third period, UMass Amherst turned up the heat and scored a power play goal. The Minutemen had twenty shots on goal in the third period, and eventually scored twice. It was a disappointing turn of events for those hoping to see senior goaltender Kevin Boyle end the night with his tenth career shutout. But the buzzer ran out and UMass Lowell came out of Friday night with a win.
The River Hawks will take on the No. 2 ranked Boston College Eagles next weekend in a home-and-home series to close out the regular season. Friday night’s contest will be played in the Conte Forum, and the final game of the regular season will be played Saturday night in the Tsongas Center at 7 pm.
