LOWELL, Mass. (Oct. 26, 2007) - Sophomore D Barry Goers (Ivyland, Pa.) assisted on two goals - including the game-breaker in the third period - to lead UMass Lowell over the University of Alabama-Huntsville, 4-1, Friday night in a non-conference hockey clash at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena.
The River Hawks (1-0-1) and Chargers (1-2-0) meet again Saturday night at 7:00.
UML jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from freshman forwards Patrick Cey (Saskatoon, Sask.) and Jason DeLuca (East Moriches, N.Y.). Cey opened the scoring 7:47 into the first period with help from freshman F Scott Campbell (Navan, Ont.) and Goers.
DeLuca doubled the lead at 15:54 when sophomore G Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, Ont.) dished to freshman D Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alb.) who found DeLuca for the goal.
UAH cut the lead in half less then two minutes later on a goal from junior F Josh Murray (Terrace, B.C.) with assists to junior D Scott Kalinchuk (Bowsman, Man.) and sophomore F Tom Train (Hurst, Texas).
Following a scoreless second period, Goers set up a goal by junior F Mike Potacco (Kinnelon, N.J.) 8:53 into the third and sophomore F Ian Schaser (Eden Prairie, Minn.) added the insurance at 12:23 with help from freshman D Ryan Blair (Ashburn, Va.).
UML outshot the Chargers 34-10 as Hutton had nine saves. Sophomore G Blake MacNicol (Milan, OH) had 30 saves for the Chargers.
"It was a nice crowd, nice atmosphere," said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. "I'm thankful for everybody's effort to put this together. I thought the students were terrific.
"I thought we started the game very well and had a lot of real quality chances, good opportunities to score," MacDonald continued. "I thought we were going to break the game open, but we didn’t quite do that. (Alabama-Huntsville) is a gritty team. They hung in there and that’s a tough game to win. I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in there and getting it done."
The River Hawks return to the ice Saturday night to host the Chargers in the second of the two-game series. Game time is 7:00 p.m.