(Photo courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics) “The River Hawks skate around the ice thanking the fans for their support in the regular season opener.”

Jake Messer

Connector Editor

On Friday, Oct. 3, the River Hawks bested Merrimack at home by a score of 4-0. Captain and graduate Jay Ahearn was the man for the River Hawks, as his two goals, combined with freshman goalie Austin Elliott’s 17 saves and the shutout, propelled the team past the Warriors in a thrashing. 

The first period was off to a feisty start, as the River Hawks came out with more energy and more physicality, finishing body checks through the boards chasing the puck in deep. Pushing and shoving after the whistle were frequent and got the crowd into it early.

“I thought the crowd was outstanding,” Head Coach Norm Bazin said, “It gave us a lift and we were able to score first.”

That first goal of the game came off of sophomore Mirko Buttazzoni’s stick who slotted the juicy rebound into the far side of the net. The rebound came from senior Dillian Bentley who blasted a puck in from the blue line. 1-0 River Hawks three minutes in.

With just four minutes left in the first, senior Libor Nemec stole the puck in front of the net, who tried to backhand it into the net, which was saved, as was the subsequent rebound. Eventually, Merrimack’s netminder Max Lundgren fell onto the puck. 

A scrum would ensue and just when things were dying down, Merrimack’s Ty Daneault would swoop in and body check Nemec well after the whistle had blown. Tempers briefly flared, but at the end of it all, no penalties were called, much to the fans Ire. 

The action would pick back up in the second period, when four minutes in, Lowell would go onto the powerplay for the first time thanks to Merrimack’s Nolan Flammand clipping a River Hawk on the way to the bench. Despite a penalty killer with a broken stick for a brief moment, the man advantage would end with little threat of scoring for Lowell.

13 minutes into the period, senior Jack Collins would be antsy and would slash the stick of a Merrimack player, putting Lowell on the penalty kill for the first time. Instead of Merrimack capitalizing on this opportunity, it would be Lowell seizing the advantage.

Down a man, Lowell was able to break away and get a two on one, catching the Warriors on the backheel. Freshman Dalyn Wakely would slow down and deliver an open net to freshman Tnias Mathurin, who easily buried the puck into the back of the net, making it 2-0 Lowell. 

With three minutes left in the second, Lowell would expand on their lead thanks to Ahearn and sophomore Lee Parks. A puck was thrown into the far side of Merrimack’s zone, where Parks dug out the puck and fed it perfectly to Ahearn, who sniped the puck over the shoulder of the goalie and into the back of the net, making it 3-0 Lowell. 

Things would only get worse for Merrimack, as Daneault would get called for slashing, 32 seconds before the end of the period, just not the way Merrimack wanted to start the final frame of this contest. 

Four minutes into the third period, things just weren’t going Merrimack’s way, as they took yet another penalty. This time it was Warrior Filip Nordberg who was called for elbowing and Lowell made them pay with yet another goal.

Ahearn got his second of the night after cleaning up another rebound left in the paint. This rebound came off the stick of senior TJ Schweighardt who sent a blast in from the blue line. After two tries, the River Hawks finally found the back of the net on the man advantage, making it 4-0 with Lowell in full control until the final horn. 

Lowell dominated in nearly every aspect of this game. From the time of possession, to the shots, to the physicality, all the way up to playing smother defense. Lowell outclassed Merrimack on Opening night, winning 4-0. However, coach Bazin believes this is only the beginning, and the River Hawks have many things to work on in the coming days.

“I’ve got 15 things… Conditioning, playing connected and finishing a shift,” coach Bazin said after the game. “When you come out of summer play, where everybody is cute on the outside, and you get back into real play, you forget that simple is best. You have to get shots through to the net in order to get secondary opportunities, etc. We’ve got plenty to work on, and we’ll be starting tomorrow.”