LOWELL, Mass. - Sophomore defenseman Chase Blackmun (Hudson, Wis.) scored just 2:43 into overtime to lift the No. 15 ranked UMass Lowell Hockey team to a 3-2 victory against No. 7 Penn State in the Turkey Leg Classic Championship Game on Saturday night at the Tsongas Center.
The River Hawks improve to 9-3-4 overall with the victory, while Penn State drops to 11-4-0 overall.
"It's exciting to win the first tournament, I thought it was a great effort tonight, I thought we had to kill a few more penalties than we would have liked," said UMass Lowell Head Coach Norm Bazin. "It was an emotional shift having to get over that goal, they scored late and we got the winner."
Penn State's Nate Sucese tipped a shot by Cole Hults with an extra attacker to tie the game at 2-2 with 23 seconds to go in regulation. Sucese finished the night with a game-high eight shots on goal.
Evan Barrett tied the game for the Nittany Lions just 3:27 into the second stanza for his fifth tally of the year. Freshman forward Andre Lee (Karlstad, Sweden) struck back less than two middle later on a breakaway to give the River Hawks back the lead at 2-1 for his fourth goal of his collegiate career.
Junior blueliner Anthony Baxter (Oakville, Ont.) notched his second goal of the season to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead with 1:46 to play in the first period.
Sophomore forward Lucas Condotta (Georgetown, Ont.) recorded a team-best 10 face-off victories for the River Hawks, while freshman forward Carl Berglund (Hammaro, Sweden) amassed a team-high four shots on goal in the win. The River Hawks went 5-for-6 on the penalty kill on the evening.
Tyler Wall amassed 34 saves in the victory for the River Hawks, which included 13 stops in the opening frame and 12 saves in the third period for his 49th career victory. Peyton Jones stopped 15 saves in the losing effort for the Nittany Lions.
UMass Lowell returns to action on Friday, December 6th at Providence College. Game time from Schneider Arena is 7:15 pm. The game will be streamed nationally and internationally via CBS All-Access.
