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When Blaise MacDonald and his staff put this River Hawks team together four years ago, they did it the right way, building from the net out. With strong goaltending and deep defense, the River Hawks were in almost every game they played for the next four years, even through an 8-21-7 campaign in the team's freshman year that included a school-record 20-game winless streak.
Unfortunately for MacDonald and the River Hawks, they came up short on forwards, and it was a void they could never quite fill in four years.
For two years the River Hawks skated the youngest team in Division I college hockey. They looked like a potential NCAA Tournament team as juniors and won 20 games while advancing to the Hockey East championship game. But that game was a microcosm of the last four years. The River Hawks lost 1-0 to Boston University, and coupled with a scoring slump that led to a six-game losing streak in mid-season, they failed to earn a bid to the nationals.
With the most experienced team in Hockey East this winter and picked to finish second by the league's coaches in the preseason poll, the River Hawks looked like a virtual lock to qualify for the NCAA Tournament this year, if not even make it to the Frozen Four.
But the goals never came, not often enough anyway, and they had their season ended by Maine in the first round of the Hockey East Tournament when they tallied just four goals in three games.
How punchless were the River Hawks, who lose 12 seniors? Here are some eye-opening numbers for you.
During their four years at UML, the seniors compiled a 63-70-17 record. In 70 of those 150 games -- 47% -- the River Hawks scored two goals or less and won just eight of them while tying 10.
Even more painful, in 21 of those 70 defeats -- a staggering 30% -- the River Hawks surrendered two goals or less. They lost 16 games by a 2-1 score, 2 by 2-0 scores, and 3 games 1-0.
With just a little more offense, especially the last two seasons, the River Hawks would have made the NCAA Tournament twice.
Of the 12 seniors, only Kory Falite reached 50 goals and 100 points in career scoring. Jeremy Dehner finished as the third-leading career scorer among Division I defensemen, and Nick Schaus is eighth while junior Maury Edwards has also cracked the top ten.
But the River Hawks had to rely too much on their defensemen for offense the last two seasons. The defensemen finished second in Hockey East in scoring last year with 98 points, including 20 goals. This year they weren't quite as productive, netting 15 goals and 80 points.
Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton depart as the two best goaltenders -- from a statistical standpoint anyway -- in school history. Hutton had a 2.33 career GA average and .913 save percentage and a school-record 10 shutouts, while Hamilton ended at 2.46 with a similar .913 percentage and 5 shutouts. Yet despite those excellent numbers, Hutton's career record was 32-41-10.
The bottom line was that the forwards did not produce enough offense during their four years to get the River Hawks back to the national tournament.

Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

UMass Lowell sophomore guard Kyle Caiola was honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) as a 2010 First Team East Region selection, as announced by the NABC office on Wednesday.

Caiola is one of six members of the East Region First Team, and is eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division II All-America teams, chosen by the NABC.

The guard finished the year averaging 20.2 points per game while shooting 46.9 percent from the floor (40.1 percent 3-pointers). He led the conference in free throw shooting (89.9 percent).

Caiola was joined on the First Team by Bentley's Jason Westrol, Le Moyne's Laurence Ekperigin, Merrimack's Darren Duncan, Stonehill's A.J. Rudowitz and Bloomfield's Gage Daye.

The River Hawks' six-game unbeaten streak has enhanced their chances of being selected for the NCAA Hockey Tournament after a 14-year absence. The pairwise rankings have always been a reliable predictor of which teams are going to make the tournament, and after last night's 2-1 triumph over Maine the River Hawks find themselves in a tie with Minnesota-Duluth for 14th in the pairwise rankings.
Sixteen teams make the tournament.
But flies do get into the ointment at this time of the year, which is why UML remains a "bubble team" at the moment to get into the tournament.
Champions of the six Division I league tournaments get automatic invitations to the NCAA Tournament. Most often, teams that were already sure things because of their positions in the pairwise win their league tournaments. But upsets do occur.
Also, the champions of college hockey's two weakest Division I leagues, the College Hockey Association and Atlantic Hockey, are automatically in, even though rarely are their champions strong enough to make the NCAA field on their own merits. That means non-champions from the other four major conferences are competing for 10 at-large bids to the national tournament.
What makes the River Hawks even more of a bubble team right now is because of what happened last night in the CHA Tournament. Bedmidji State has been a Top Ten team nearly all season and was going to make the NCAA Tournament on its own merits anyway. But when Niagara upset Bedmidji State 5-4 last night in the CHA semifinals, that means another CHA team in addition to Bemidji will now be going to the nationals, either Niagara or Alabama-Huntsville, leaving one less at-large berth for a more deserving team from one of the four majors.
The CHA has shrunk to four teams and is disbanding after this season, and now half the league's teams will be in the NCAA Tournament.
All the River Hawks can do at this juncture is keep winning and hope to move up in the pairwise rankings while crossing their fingers that there are no other upsets in the league tournaments.
The River Hawks may have to pull an upset themselves by winning the Hockey East Tournament to be assured of getting into the nationals for the first time since 1996.
Notes:
If the River Hawks beat Maine tonight (or tomorrow, if necessary), the victory will give them 20 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993-1994.
UML went 20-17-2 under Bruce Crowder in the 1992-93 season and followed that up with a 25-10-5 record in 1993-94, when the River Hawks went to the NCAA Tournament.
The River Hawks were 20-16-2 last winter. They are 19-14-4 at present.
Junior center Scott Campbell has a six-game scoring streak (4-4-8) and has 10 clutch goals, the most game-tying or go-ahead goals by a River Hawk since Mark Roebothan had 10 in 2007-08 ... Kory Falite is second on the team in clutch goals with 8 ... Of Ben Holmstrom's 9 goals this season, 4 have been game-winners ... Senior Carter Hutton, who has been in goal for all of them, has a 1.30 GA average during UML's six-game unbeaten streak and has stopped 138 of 146 shots for a stellar .945 save percentage. Hutton now ranks fifth among the nation's goalies with a 2.01 GA average and remains fourth in save percentage with a .928 mark.

Is the UMass Lowell hockey team star-crossed or what?
Ever since losing the Hockey East championship game to eventual national champion Boston University by a 1-0 score last year when the River Hawks had the tying goal washed out by a blown call by the referee -- who later confessed to his mistake -- it doesn't seem they can catch a break.
As if it weren't tough enough for them to score goals this winter, they probably led Hockey East in disallowed goals, a half-dozen if not more. They gave up the second-fewest goals in the league, had the third-best record overall, and finished in a three-way tie for third in the standings. Their reward for a third-place finish?
The River Hawks earn the dubious distinction of becoming the first third-place team in Hockey East's 26-year history to have to go on the road for the first-round of the Lamoriello Trophy Tournament. Because they lost the season's series to both Boston University and Maine by 2-1 margins, the River Hawks become the tournament's fifth seed and have to play the best-of-three first round at the one road arena where they least want to be against the team they least want to play: Alfond Arena and the University of Maine.
The River Hawks have never beaten the Black Bears in a Hockey East playoff game. They are 0-12 against the Bears and 0-7 at Alfond Arena.
UML is 15-32-1 all-time at Alfond Arena, including a victory in each of the last two seasons. But even with those two wins the River Hawks are still just 2-15-1 in their last 18 games in Orono.
In Hockey East's history, in only three other seasons has a team lost home ice after finishing in a tie for fourth place. Curiously, Providence was in involved in all three.
In 1991 Providence and New Hampshire tied for fourth with 22 points, and the Friars got the tie-breaker. Two years later UMass Lowell and Providence tied for fourth with 21 points, and the River Hawks got home ice. In 2003 Providence and Boston University tied for fourth with 27 points and the Friars got the tie-breaker.
But in a season in which the difference between finishing in third place in Hockey East and missing the playoffs completely was a mere four points, the third-place River Hawks find themselves at a huge disadvantage in the first round.

Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

UMass Lowell freshman guard Bianca Simmons earned co-Freshman of the Year honors for the Northeast-10 Conference, and she also earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team.

Simmons, a native of Middletown, Conn., finished the regular season as UMass Lowell's scoring leader with 12.7 points per game. She also tallied 4.9 rebounds per game and shot .826 from the free throw line.

Named the NE-10 Rookie of the Week four times this season, Simmons ranks among NE-10 leaders in free throw accuracy (second) and scoring (15th). She enjoyed season-highs of 28 points and 12 rebounds in a 73-64 win over Le Moyne; and six assists in a 77-65 win over Merrimack.

Simmons shared the NE-10 honor with Gabrielle Gibson of Assumption.

Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

UMass Lowell point guard Kyle Caiola, a sophomore from Parma, OH, was named to the NE-10 Second Team for the second straight year.

The 2009 NE-10 Freshman of the Year, Caiola fed the River Hawks in scoring (20.5 points per game) this winter. He ranked third in the conference and 26th in the country. He also shot .476 from the floor (.393 from long range) and .917 from the free throw line, pitting him second in the nation.

He finished the regular season ranked among conference leaders in six major categories: free throw accuracy (first), scoring (third), minutes played (eighth), steals (1.8, tied for 10th), 3-point field goal percentage (10th), and field goal percentage (14th).

Hockey East is heading into its final two weekends of the regular season, and in the league's 26-year history seldom -- if ever -- have the standings been so bunched. Only Providence has been eliminated from the Lamoriello Trophy scenario, and seven of the league's teams are just eight points apart with four games to go and all with a mathematical chance to get home ice for the first round.
Northeastern is one point behind fourth-place Boston University, which currently is hanging onto the last home-ice berth, while UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst are two points out of fourth, Merrimack three, and Vermont four.
One of them, however, will not make the playoffs at all.
If the results of other league games over the final two weekends broke perfectly in their favor, the enigmatic River Hawks could finish as high as second ... if they can sweep the two teams at the bottom of the standings, last-place Providence and ninth-place Vermont, with three of those four games at the Tsongas Center. But they could also join the Friars on the sidelines if they don't finish strongly.
A sweep of the final two regular-season weekends would also boost the River Hawks' NCAA Tournament chances immensely. That would give them 20 wins, and if they win their first-round series, they would have 22, which should be enough to at least make them a team on the bubble for selection regardless of how much farther they get in the Lamoriello Trophy Tournament.
Even if the River Hawks were to claim home ice or finish as high as second, they could be completely shut out for post-season individual awards. Kory Falite is their only scorer in the top 25, and he's 19th.
Jeremy Dehner is certainly deserving of being All-Hockey East, but there are a lot of rival defensemen out there with flashier statistics, including BU's Colby Cohen (10-11-21 in league play), Maine's Jeff Dimmen (10-10-20) and Will O'Neill (4-15-19), and UNH's Blake Kessel (4-18-22). Dehner, with 5 goals and 14 points in 18 league games, is only 10th in scoring among HEA defensemen.
Carter Hutton is ranked 11th in the country among goaltenders -- the highest of any Hockey East netminder -- with a 2.24 GA average and is fifth with a .923 save percentage. He also ranks third among goalies in league play in both goals average and save percentage. But because he and Nevin Hamilton have split time in goal almost right down the middle while most of the league's other top goalies play nearly every game, being perceived as a "platoon goalie" is certain to hurt Hutton's chances of making the All-Star team.
As for freshmen with a chance to make Hockey East's All-Rookie team, none of the River Hawks has made that much of an impact compared to freshmen at other schools.

Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

- Apparently, attitude had a large part of the UML women defeating Bentley for the first time since 1994. Senior guard Rahshala Valentine admitted that intimidation may have hampered the River Hawks in the earlier meeting between the teams (a 20-point loss on Dec. 2).

That wasn't an option for the final home game of the season and in the career of five seniors, Valentine included.

"No, not in our house," Valentine said of Bentley not intimidating UML the second time around.

- How about this year's freshman class? Two freshman played key roles in yesterday's big win. This is even after losing a pair of freshman who have started games this year and who've won the last four NE-10 Freshman of the Week honors in Bianca Simmons and Sarah Bennett to suspension for violation of team rules (indefinite length).

Briana Szidat and Bri Calver each played 12 minute or more on Wednesday, with Szidat playing 24 minutes at center and Calver substituting at the point guard position.

The 6-foot-3 Szidat forced Bentley to adjust offensively to her presence in the paint. She blocked five shots, several times covering up for teammates who were beaten on dribble penetration. Bentley responded by making Szidat match-up with a forward playing 14 to 16 feet away from the basket.

Both Szidat and Calver kept the ball moving offensively as they notched three assists apiece (tied for the team high).

- There are reasons basketball teams carry all those bench players. The River Hawks showed that last night with their bench. Along with the freshman Szidat and Calver, sophomore Meghan Kirwan had a big impact on defense and energy. Kirwan not only had 10 points, but also five rebounds and three steals.

While seniors Liz Desir and Amanda McGrew started on Senior Night, they've been primarily bench players. They too had valuable contributions. McGrew (5-foot-10), Kirwan (5-foot-9) and Szidat also provided a very long group for the River Hawks, which never hurts on defense.

The River Hawks, ranked in the national preseason polls and every week thereafter, dropped out of the U.S. College Hockey Online poll for the first time this week. Despite splitting a weekend series with 10th-ranked Boston College, the 20th-ranked River Hawks beating the Eagles 4-1 at the Tsongas Center and then losing 2-1 in Chestnut Hill, BC moved up two spots to eighth while UML fell out of the rankings.
The River Hawks, now 15-13-2, were 21st in the balloting this week.
UML had been ranked as high as third when the River Hawks got off to an 8-2-1 start. But a lengthy team-wide scoring slump has seen them go 7-11-1 since then while plummeting out of the national polls.
UML has lost five 2-1 games this winter, and 10 of its 13 losses have been by one goal. The River Hawks have surrendered the second-fewest goals in Hockey East but currently reside in seventh place because of their inability to score goals.
Offensive help may be on the way, although not in time to help the River Hawks this year as they appear on the verge of missing the NCAA Tournament for the 14th year in a row, the longest drought in school history. On the weekly UML hockey radio show earlier tonight, coach Blaise MacDonald said the River Hawks have several recruits with dynamic offensive skills who will be joining the program next fall.

Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

UMass Lowell freshman guard Bianca Simmons earned Northeast-10 Conference Freshman of the Week honors on Monday. This is the fourth time this season she has earned that distinction.

Simmons scored 12 points and had six assists and five rebounds in a victory against Merrimack College on Saturday, and she had 23 points (9-for-18 shooting) and six rebounds in a loss on the road on Tuesday against Southern New Hampshire.

The native of Middletown, Conn., is averaging 12.7 points 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

River Hawks have earned named NE-10 Freshman of the Week honors for four straight weeks with Simmons bringing in three honors and Sarah Bennett also earning one.

Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

The Northeast-10 Conference named UMass Lowell point guard Bianca Simmons Freshman of the Week for the third time this season.

The River Hawks retain their grip on the award, winning the honor for the third straight week. Two weeks ago Simmons was the Freshman of the Week, and last week the distinction went to UML center Sarah Bennett.

Simmons had 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists in a win at home against Saint Michael's on Wednesday. She made the game-winning jumpshot with two seconds remaining.

She followed that performance up with 24 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals in Saturday's win against Stonehill.