LOWELL — The Tsongas Center continues to be a challenging venue for Hockey East opponents, but a tough place for the River Hawks themselves. UMass Lowell has been piecing together moments of a winning formula at home lately, including scoring five unanswered goals in last Saturday’s overtime loss to Maine. They then staged a similar late comeback in Sunday’s matinee matchup against UMass, facing off against one of the hottest goalies in the nation.
Despite these efforts, the River Hawks are still struggling to play a full 60 minutes in the Mill City. UMass broke a 4-all tie with 2:54 left in the third period on a goal from Cam Dunn. Jack Musa then sealed the win with his third tally of the game, an empty-netter, leading the Minutemen to a 6-4 victory in front of 5,703 fans at the Tsongas Center—who braved frigid temperatures to support the team.
With this loss, the River Hawks fell to a disappointing 2-9-0 record at home and have lost their last four games, all played on home ice. Coming into the game, UMass Lowell (9-17-0 overall, 5-11-0 Hockey East) held a poor 1-13-0 record when trailing after the first goal. Breaking the ice at the 16:16 mark of the first period against the red-hot Michael Hrabal was, therefore, a promising sign for a UML team desperate for a home win.
Even as Musa and the Minutemen (16-10-0 overall, 9-7-0 HE) responded with three straight goals to put the River Hawks on their heels, UML eventually rallied to tie the game at 4-4 in the third period with two goals scored less than a minute apart. However, like Saturday’s painful loss to Maine, the River Hawks couldn’t hold on.
“We have to find a way to capitalize on those moments to go forward and not take a half step back,” said UMass Lowell head coach Norm Bazin.
UMass will return to the Tsongas Center on Friday at 7:15 p.m., before the teams shift the de facto three-game series to the Mullins Center on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. UMass has now won seven straight games.
“My linemates played unbelievable, set me up a bunch,” said Jack Musa. “I think we were just going as a team. We’re on that streak right now, and we’re trying to continue that.”
Josh Mori gave the River Hawks plenty of optimism early with a dazzling first-period goal less than four minutes into action. Skating the puck out of his own end, the freshman defenseman split two defenders at the blue line before firing a perfectly placed shot over Hrabal’s glove to open the scoring in Lowell.
Mori also scored again 3:24 into the third period to cut the UMass lead to 4-3. Prior to Sunday’s game, Mori had one goal and four assists on the season.
“He’s been doing a good job offensively, even though he’s not here for his offense,” Bazin said of Mori. “I’ve liked the way he’s contributed. He competes. And when you compete hard enough, good things happen. So I’m actually very happy with his development.”
Hrabal recently made national headlines for his program-record 191 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal. The Utah Mammoth prospect currently ranks sixth in the country in save percentage (.929). Beating him early was a golden opportunity for UMass Lowell to take control.
Instead, UMass responded with three straight goals from Lukáš Klečka, Musa, and Justin Kerr to take a 3-1 lead. But like in last Saturday’s defeat to Maine, the River Hawks showed a great deal of fight. Diego Buttazzoni scored a power-play goal to narrow the Minutemen’s lead to 3-2 before Musa answered to regain the two-goal cushion.
UML came out flying in the third period, tying the game at 4-4 with goals from Mori and TJ Schweighardt, only for UMass to steal the game late with consecutive goals from Dunn and Musa.
Goal scoring is suddenly not an issue for UML, which has found the back of the net nine times in its last two games. Its team defense, however, has been a concern, giving up 12 goals during that span.
“The last two games, I don’t think the goals have been the problem,” Bazin said. “Keeping it out of our own net has been. That’s where our focus and our attention is going to have to be next week.”
https://www.lowellsun.com/2026/02/01/river-hawks-struggles-at-home-continue/