With a renewed commitment from the University and community, and a talented roster continuing to develop, the River Hawk hockey team has potential to become one of the elite teams in Hockey East, according to Coach Blaise MacDonald.

With just days before the home opener, season tickets continue to sell at an encouraging pace and excitement is growing for Friday, Oct. 26, at the Tsongas Arena. Individual tickets are still available for all games and will be sold at the door. UMass Lowell students with a valid ID will be admitted free of charge.

To build anticipation and support for the team, faculty, staff and students are encouraged to wear the team colors of red and blue the Wednesdays before home games and on the annual Spirit Day Friday, Oct. 26. (Visit www.goriverhawks.com/spirit for more details.)

The River Hawks are a talented group that blends both youth and experience, according to MacDonald. How quickly the team comes together and how many players reach their potential will determine this squad’s ultimate success, he says.

“When you look at our potential going into the season, the exciting part will be seeing who is going to take the biggest step and improve and use their experience to have a breakthrough season,” he says.

Thanks to a marketing effort led by a volunteer committee of alumni, faculty and staff, almost 1,500 season tickets have been sold so far, including close to 1,000 club seats. Club seats sell for $299 and include extras like access to a hospitality suite with a cash bar and buffet dinner, parking privileges, an annual dinner with the chancellor and first dibs on tickets to other events held at the Tsongas Arena.

These many new season ticket holders will witness a young, but experienced, team with great potential, according to MacDonald. Last year’s team, with a roster of 15 freshmen and four sophomores, dealt with “learning to win” issues for much of the season, he says. The team finished 8-21-7 but won five and tied two of its final nine contests.

“I thought we were very competitive the entire year,” says MacDonald. “We never really got blown out and often times outshot and outplayed our opponents. But we essentially lost nine one-goal games and tied seven. So we were that close, but that far away as well.”

He says the team as a whole needs to take the next step if it’s to return to the Hockey East playoffs. Four players who will shoulder the load are the captains: Junior Mark Roebothan and sophomores Ben Holmstrom, Jeremy Dehner and Barry Goers.

As with any team, leadership is vital to success, says the coach.

“We have great leadership,” says MacDonald. “They all have different skills and abilities when it comes to leadership and their dynamics within leadership. I think they’ll work very well together.

The River Hawks took to the ice on Oct. 13 for an exhibition game against New Brunswick at the Tsongas Arena. The team officially opened its season against UMass Amherst at the Mullins Center in Amherst on Oct. 19. The first two home games of the season are against the University of Alabama-Hunstville on Friday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 27. Saturday’s World Series Red Sox game between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies will be shown on all the flat screens in the concourse and Talon Room – so fans can cheer on two games at once.