Image by George Deluca
03/21/2016
Lowell Sun
By Barry Scanlon
DRACUT -- They woke up still feeling the sting of falling to Northeastern in Saturday night's Hockey East championship game.
Shortly after noon, however, their spirits were lifted.
Gathering at the Sports Zone, surrounded by school officials and loyal fans, the UMass Lowell hockey team officially received its invitation to the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
UML will play Yale University on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) in Albany, N.Y., in an East Regional first-round game.
"We know how good the opponent is. But guess what? We're a really good club. We're going after a national championship," head coach Norm Bazin told the large gathering.
The second-seeded River Hawks (24-9-5) haven't played third-seeded Yale (19-8-4) since UML's only Frozen Four appearance, an overtime loss in Pittsburgh in 2013.
Yale went on to win the national title.
Incredibly, UML is one of six teams from Hockey East to make the tournament, a league record.
"Our league is second to none. It challenges you every single night. It's ruthless. It's such a grind. I am proud of these guys," Bazin said.
Tournament overall No. 1 seed Quinnipiac will face RIT prior to the UML-Yale clash. The winners will meet Sunday for the right to advance to the Frozen Four.
What about Yale?
"I haven't seen them on film. We'll do our homework, our due diligence. They're a good hockey club," Bazin said.
The teams feature top-flight goalies, senior Kevin Boyle for the River Hawks and junior Alex Lyon for Yale.
"The observation from afar is we're two of the best defensive teams in the country. But we both know that someone is going to have to score to win the game. I wouldn't necessarily say it's going to be a low-scoring game," Bazin said.
UML is coming off an exhausting weekend in Boston. The River Hawks defeated Providence, 2-1, in triple overtime in the longest game in program history before being nipped by Northeastern, 3-2, in the Hockey East title game.
"You've got to have short-term memory.
We know how fine a line it is in Hockey East between winning and losing," Bazin said.
Yale hasn't played since March 12 when Dartmouth pulled off a two-game upset sweep in the ECAC quarterfinals.
Bazin thanked the fans who have supported the team all year. UMass Lowell led Hockey East in home attendance for the first time.
"We have the best fans in college hockey," said Bazin, urging them to make the 3 1/2 hour journey to Albany to support the team.
UML senior Evan White said the team will bounce back from Saturday's tough loss.
"It definitely still stings a little bit. But to know we get to play more hockey definitely helps. Maybe getting to watch another team celebrate gives you that fire burning inside and I think that's going to help us," White said. "Obviously they're a great opponent. Every team left is really good. We played them my freshman year when they knocked us out in the Frozen Four. We've got that kind of stuck in the back of our minds. It's going to be a fun game, that's for sure."
White's senior class can win its 100th career game by defeating Yale.