CANTLON: (FRI) UMASS-LOWELL KNOCKS OFF UCONN 5-2 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – UMASS-Lowell senior and East Lyme native, Ryan Dmowski, scored two goals while goalie Tyler Wall made 38 saves and paced the UMASS-Lowell RiverHawks to a 5-2 win over the UCONN Huskies before an announced crowd of 3,334 at the XL Center on Friday night.

“Certainly we’re pleased we got the two points in a tough environment. I think he (Wall) was solid for the game. Dmowski can really shoot the puck. It was very good that he was able to do it in his home state. He always enjoys coming back here, and he was very excited about that,” UMASS-Lowell head coach, Norm Bazin, said.

UCONN slips to .500 in its overall record (5-5-1 overall, 2-4-1 HEA)  and UMASS-Lowell climbs to the .500 mark (5-5-1 overall, 2-3-1 HEA)

This was the Huskies last home date before leaving for Belfast, Northern Ireland and the Friendship Four tourney in Belfast, Northern Ireland was not the rousing success they hoped for.

The Huskies and UMass-Lowell clash tomorrow at 5 pm at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

“It was a disappointing loss,” UCONN head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “At times we played some of our best hockey. We hadn’t put 40 shots on a goaltender yet this year. We had double digits each period, but margins for winning and losing are so small in this league. You can’t confuse effort with results either.”

In a battle of junior goaltenders drafted by the Rangers and playing in the same building of their AHL affiliate, Wall came out on top over Adam Huska and each got beat on the first goal by plays by great shooters.

Early in the third, Wall, who was solid in the second period when he made 16 saves, committed a big gaffe that led to UCONN’s second goal. Wall mishandled the puck at the side of the net on a clear-in. Karl El-Mir swooped in with speed and chipped in his sixth of the season at 2:28. It gave UCONN a glimmer of hope to get back in the game at 4-2.

The Huskies battled throughout the period and looked like it caught a break at 14:32. Ruslan Ishakov caught a pass off the boards, raced in all alone on the left wing, and beat Wall to the short side.

The ref, however, waved off the goal and called a penalty for Too Many Men on the ice. Cavanaugh was not a happy man with the goal being disallowed and vociferously objected the call, but he didn’t want to use it as an excuse for the loss.

“Our guy jumped on and then jumped off. It wasn’t a factor in the play, but to the letter of the law, it was Too Many Men on the ice, but I’ve seen that let go quite a few times. Not one referee’s call should dictate a game. I‘m more concerned (about) the net front battlers that we lost than the referee’s call. Referees are human. They get a lot more calls right than they do wrong. I can disagree with a referee’s call, but it wasn’t the reason why we lost.”

In a span of 4:01 early in the second period, UMASS-Lowell took control of the game.

Just 16 seconds into the period, the Huskies were caught flat-footed and turned the puck over. The combo of Levesque and Dmowski beat UCONN.

Levesque put the shot on net while Dmowski was up high and won a one-on-one battle before redirecting the puck past Huska who was reacting to the shot from the point.

Ryan Lohin, who scored four goals last weekend for the RiverHawks, added his fifth of the season. Junior Kenny Hausinger was able to come from behind the net on UCONN’s Roman Kinal. On the right wing, he sent a pass to the slot area where Lohin outworked Max Kalter and Carter Turnbull and fired it in to expand their lead to 4-1.

“That was the disappointing part. They won the battles down there. When we got the pucks in their end, we won a couple and then he (Wall) makes the save.” Cavanaugh said.

UCONN did try to get back in the game on the next shift. Jachym Kondelik had two good chances of his five shots for the game, but Wall stood his ground.

“We did a good job getting the puck down there, we had a good forecheck. We hit a post and he made saves on us.”

UCONN grabbed their only lead of the night at 4:28 of the first period. Sasha Payusov swiped the puck from a defenseman in the UMASS-Lowell zone and sent Ishkarov who sped in all alone. Ishkarov deked Wall to the ice and then swept in a forehand shot for his second goal.

“That was one of the better games he’s played so far this year. He managed the puck well, didn’t turn it over, and he was dangerous most of the night,” Cavanaugh said of the freshmen who was also a second-round pick of the New York Islanders.

The RiverHawks struck back to even the game at one with a terrific goal of their own.

Junior Charlie Levesque was at the right wing corner of the Huskies defensive zone. He took a pass from Connor Sodergren (3 assists) and outmuscled Corson Green behind the net in the right wing corner. He spotted Dmowski (Gunnery Prep) coming into the right wing circle before he snapped a shot across the grain, high to the blocker side for his third of the year.

UMASS-Lowell expanded their lead in a play that was not without a little controversy. Wyatt Newpower was tripped up in the Huskies zone and there was no call made. The UCONN squad stopped playing for a second while expecting a whistle and stoppage. The stoppage never came. Lucas Condotta corralled the loose puck and snapped his third goal of the year with a shot low to the stick side with exactly 56 seconds left in the period.

“You have to play to the whistle,” Cavanaugh said. “Everybody assumed there was going to be a call. You can’t do that. It’s something we’re all going to have to learn from.”

NOTES:

The Huskies next home game will be televised on CW Channel 20 against Boston College on Thursday, December 6^th. 

Cavanaugh dropped his first line to second to try to get away from UMass-Lowell’s checking line.

The Top Three teams in the nation are all from Minnesota. Among them is NOT the Golden Gophers of Minnesota, one of the nation’s premier collegiate programs.

Defending national champion, the University of Minnesota Bulldogs are number 1. At number two is the St. Cloud State Huskies followed by Minnesota St.-Mankato at number three.

Three Hockey East teams are in the polls. At #4 is UMASS-Amherst featuring the Calgary Flames draft pick, Cale Makar. At #9 is Providence College and 15^th in USA Today and 13^th in the USHCO, Northeastern.

The USHCO ranks the Top 20. Cracking the barrier of being nationally ranked this week, is Arizona State. They are #18 at (9-3) for the first time in Sun Devils history.

After Thanksgiving, expect the US and host Canada to be the first to announce their WJC (World Junior Championship) rosters for the annual tournament to be held in Vancouver and Victoria, BC starting on Boxing Day December 26th.

UCONN could see Ishkarov and goalie Tomas Vomacka on the Russian and Czech teams respectively.