The 2020–21 UMass Lowell River Hawks men's ice hockey season was the 54th season of play for the program, the 38th season competing at the Division I level, and the 37th season in the Hockey East conference. The River Hawks represented the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) and were coached by Norm Bazin, in his 10th season.
Season As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of UML's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
UML was heavily impacted by COVID-19 early in the season. After a delayed start, the team played just four games in the first two months of the campaign. Entering their game with UMass on 29 January, Lowell had played just four games while the Minutemen had competed in 17. The lack of playing time appeared to hurt the River Hawks since the team, which had been highly ranked entering the season, swiftly fell out of the top 20. UML appeared to regain its form by the end of the regular season, but by then their only path into the NCAA tournament was with a conference championship. The River Hawks won their first postseason game without much difficulty and entered the quarterfinals having to beat Boston University to stay alive. Despite being on a four-game unbeaten streak, Owen Savory was replaced as the starting goaltender by freshman Henry Welsch and the move paid off. While he only faced 17 shots in the game, Welsch turned aside all but one and helped UML advance to the semifinals. Here the team's run was expected to end as they faced the top ranked team in the nation, Boston College (BC). The Eagles built a three-goal lead after two periods and looked to be sailing into the championship, but the River Hawks' offense awoke in the third, scoring three times to tie the game. Less than two minutes later, however, BC was again in the lead with a power play goal. Welsch was pulled for an extra attacker and in less than a minute UML had again tied the score. It took another 34 minutes of game time for the winning goal to be scored and UML's Matt Brown netted the biggest goal for the River Hawks all season.
Lowell faced off against Massachusetts for the Hockey East championship. Welsch continued his strong play but the Minutemen defense was stifling, allowed the Hawks only 16 shots on goal, none of which found the back of the net. UML has to settle for second place but the team had redeemed itself for an otherwise disappointing campaign.
Ben McEvoy sat out the season.
Departures Eric Green Goaltender Left program Kenny Hausinger Forward Graduation Cale List Defenseman Transferred to Norwich Colin O'Neill Forward Graduation Derek Osik Forward Transferred to Long Island Chris Schutz Forward Graduation (Signed with Tulsa Oilers) Tyler Wall Goaltender Graduation (Signed with New York Rangers)
Recruiting Matt Allen Forward 20 Minco, OK Nik Armstrong-Kingcade Forward 21 Rostock, GER Brehdan Engum Defenseman 20 Burnsville, MN Matt Kinash Forward 20 Edmonton, AB Josh Latta Forward 22 West Vancouver, BC; transfer from Alabama–Huntsville Ben Meehan Defenseman 21 Walpole, MA; Selected 140th overall in 2020 Owen Savory Goaltender 22 Cambridge, ON; transfer from Rensselaer Jackson Sterrett Defenseman 21 Hendersonville, TN Henry Welsch Goaltender 19 Lakeville, MN
Roster As of February 12, 2021
Standings
Schedule and results Source:
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular season
!colspan=12 style=";" |
Scoring statistics C/LW 20 7 9 16 18 LW 19 5 10 15 4 LW 19 8 5 13 10 C 20 6 6 12 2 D 19 6 5 11 8 C/RW 11 3 8 11 2 D 20 2 9 11 4 F 20 6 4 10 14 D 17 0 8 8 4 D 17 0 8 8 27 C/LW 20 4 2 6 2 F 18 2 4 6 2 D 16 3 2 5 25 RW 18 3 2 5 4 D 6 1 3 4 4 F 12 1 3 4 4 D 15 1 2 3 8 F 5 0 3 3 0 F 18 1 1 2 4 D 2 0 1 1 0 F 9 0 1 1 4 D 12 0 1 1 10 RW 15 0 1 1 4 D 17 0 1 1 4 F 2 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 0 G 3 0 0 0 0 G 8 0 0 0 0 F 11 0 0 0 2 G 12 0 0 0 0 Bench - - - - - 6 Total 59 99 158 186 Source:
Goaltending statistics 12 686 6 5 0 29 258 0 .899 2.54 8 447 4 3 1 25 137 0 .846 3.35 3 99 0 1 0 8 47 0 .855 4.85 Empty Net - 8 - - - 1 - - - - Total 20 1241 10 9 1 63 442 0 .875 3.05
Rankings
PollWeekPre123456789101112131415161718192021 (Final) USCHO.com1112111081517171515151620NRNRNRNRNRNR19-19 USA Today11121210915NRNR1315NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
References