University of Maine (23-2-6, 11-1-6 1st in Hockey East)
at
University of Mass-Lowell (12-13-4, 7-8-1 6th in Hockey East)
 
The Mass-Lowell River Hawks will be looking to turn things around tonight
against Maine.  Lowell was pounded in consecutive games by the Northeastern
Huskies, and then suffered a defeat by Boston College last night to fall
into 6th place in Hockey East.  The Sporting News didn't pick this team to
finish 7th in the country during preseason for no reason.  They are led by
Greg Bullock, who coming into Friday's game was second in the nation in
scoring at 18-31--49, 33 of those points coming against Hockey East
opponents.  Bullock though hadn't scored any points in the last 5 games
coming into last night.  No one can expect to keep Bullock down for long,
and he is due to come out of his slump, and when he does opponents better
watch out.  Lowell's scoring goes deeper than that though.  Jeff Daw, who
had 16 power-play goals going into Friday night has 22 goals and 11 assists
for 33 points in 28 games.  Christian Sbrocca also tops the 30 point
platform with 11 goals and 22 assists.  Those three have accounted for 43%
of Lowell's offense (51 goals of 120).  Lowell also has not had the best
goal-tending in the league as well.  Craig Lindsay is their leading net
minder with a 6-5-1 record coming into Friday, with a 4.04 GAA and a .862
SV% in Hockey East.
 
Maine rebounded well last night beating Providence 5-2, behind two goals by
Brad Purdie, and two assists by Jeff Tory.  Those two lead their respective
categories for the Black Bears.  Purdie has 19 goals now (19-9--28) and Tory
now has 26 assists (7-26--33), and leads the team in scoring from the blue
line.  Sophomore forward Tim Lovell is second with 14-17--31, but was held
scoreless last night.  Blair Allison continues to play strong, and did
nothing to hurt his stats last night stopping 23 of 25 shots to add to .885
SV%, and 2.72 GAA.
 
The two keys for Maine are defense, and power-play.  Lowell leads Hockey
East in penalty minutes per game.  Maine had the #1 power-play in the nation
coming into last nights game.  If Lowell is going to take penalties, Maine
must make them pay for it.  Lowell has been killing off their short-hands,
they cannot totally count on that tonight.  Maine must also shut down
Bullock, Daw and Sbrocca, and play disiplined defense.  Maine took 8
penalities last night against Providence, and they must play more disiplined
tonight, as Lowell's power-play is also in the top half of Hockey East.
Lowell obviously has the talent to build a big lead, and if they do, Maine
will have a hard time coming back, as Maine is much better playing with a
lead, than comming from behind.  It ought to be an excellent game!
 
 
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Deron  Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
The University of Maine (23-2-6)  GO BLUE!!
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