Defenseman Niklas Folin tangles with A. J. Fossen (26). Chris Forney (4) and Tyler Wall (33) follow the play. Fossen had 2 goals, Jordan Boucher (28) had 1 goal and 1 assist. (George DeLuca/Connector)
Andrew Sciascia
Connector Staff
After a full three-period back and forth scoring bout, the UMass Lowell River Hawks fell 4-3 to the Clarkson University Golden Knights, not only suffering their first defeat of the season, but also their first regulation loss to Clarkson in their last ten out-of-conference meetings.
“It was a good hockey game. I thought we played good in the first period… But we made some critical errors at key times and they scored on the power play to win the game,” said UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin.
The third period began with a score of two goals apiece, but ended with a decisive power play goal. The knife was netted by Clarkson University senior winger A.J. Fossen. Fossen’s second goal of the night, a tip in, came in the closing minutes of play off a slap shot from the point by James de Haas. Though the River Hawks desperately fought to bring the game into overtime, their late period efforts were to no avail and their first loss was in the books.
“I thought we were on our heels in the first period. That first goal really set us back. It kind of got us back on our heels. They were phenomenal that first period,” said Clarkson University Head Coach Casey Jones.
The first period was, for the most part, controlled by UMass Lowell. Despite the ability of both teams to shut down play in the neutral zone the River Hawks were able to find holes in the defense and exploit them twice.
The first goal came from junior winger C.J. Smith on the power play and was assisted by freshman defenseman Mattias Göransson and junior forward John Edwardh. The second goal put UMass Lowell ahead by two. A long pass from junior forward Gage Hough across the neutral zone came to Ryan Lohin, who connected with Kenny Hausinger across the crease for the score.
The second period began with a strong lead from UMass Lowell. After a few minutes, however, UMass Lowell lost control of the game.
“They had a lot more urgency than we did, and usually that’s not an issue for us, but it was today.” said Norm Bazin said of the second period of play.
Although Clarkson’s surge did not come immediately, the second period ended in a 2-2 tie. Wings Devin Brosseau and Jordan Boucher both scored in the second. UMass Lowell answered with multiple rush attempts but nothing broke through and the final period was necessary to decide the game.
The third period was a back and forth battle, kicked off with a power play goal from Clarkson’s A.J. Fossen which was assisted by Jordan Boucher, his second point of the night, and Sam Vigneault.
Despite having difficulties settling the puck and getting things going on the man advantage the River Hawks answered just after the midpoint of the third. C.J. Smith scored his second goal to knot the game at three with a wrist shot over the shoulder of Clarkson goaltender Jake Kelly, assisted by Mattias Goransson and Captain Michael Kapla. Despite a strong effort UMass Lowell was finished with A.J. Fossen’s second goal of the night and walked away with the loss.
“I don’t think anybody played at the top of their game… We’ve got some guys who have got to simplify their game to have success. There’s a lot to work on. Sometimes a loss can work as a reset button. You have to really focus and get back to fundamentals. And I think that’s going to be the key to us,” said Coach Bazin.
With two games coming in the next weekend against a strong University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, Coach Bazin says that UMass Lowell intends to tighten up on fundamentals and special teams in hopes of coming away with a couple of wins. Homecoming weekend resulted in a win, a loss and lessons learned for the upcoming games against University of Nebraska.
The River Hawks will return to the Tsongas Center on Nov. 4 for a weekend series against the University of Vermont.
