#11/12 Massachusetts Returns To Hockey East Championship Game With 3-1 Win Over #13 UMass Lowell

Team	1	2	3	F
UMass Lowell	0	1	0	1
Massachusetts	2	0	1	3

UMass Lowell

Massachusetts

BOSTON – No. 11/12 University of Massachusetts scored twice in the first period to help the squad earn a 3-1 victory over #13 UMass Lowell in the Hockey East Semifinals at the TD Garden on Friday night. With the win, the Minutemen (21-12-2) return to the Hockey East Championship game for a second straight year, while the River Hawks fall to (21-10-3).

"We went into this game with a very precise game plan, said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "We've played Lowell so much, this was the fourth time this year. I have tremendous respect for that team. They are a very good hockey team. To me they're the toughest team in our league to beat. They're a big, heavy, strong team. It didn't feel like we had a lot of momentum tonight, but I thought we did a good job preventing them from doing what they want to do. They had the puck a lot, but they didn't have it in dangerous areas. We were opportunistic. Murrz has been hot lately, kept that going tonight. Bobby usually finds a way to score a big goal for us. It wasn't pretty, but it's playoff time, you win and you move on. I'm very proud of the group."

Senior Garrett Wait opened the scoring on the first power play opportunity of the night, batting home a puck mid-air at the net front from sophomore Josh Lopina and freshman Scott Morrow at the 12:27 mark of the first period.

Moments later, senior Bobby Trivigno made it a 2-0 margin, collecting a chip pass from Wait out of the UMass end and skating into the offensive zone and sending a wrister past Owen Savory for his 19^th tally of the season at the 14:10 mark.

UMass Lowell cut its deficit in half 16:37 into the second when Matt Crasa's shot bounced over goaltender Matt Murray's pad with Nick Austin and Lucas Condotta earning the assists.

The Minutemen picked up an insurance tally 13 minutes into the third period when junior Jerry Harding's initial shot was stopped, but the puck deflected in off a River Hawk stick.

UMass Lowell finished with a 23-19 shot advantage, while UMass was 1-for-2 on the power play and went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.

Murray ended the night with 22 saves for the Minutemen and Savory had 16 stops for the River Hawks.

UMass will next face UConn for the 2022 Hockey East Championship at the TD Garden on Saturday, March 19, at 7 p.m. on NESN.

Scoreboard