Lowell was not the hospitable host that UNH might have hoped for. In a game
where Lowell had fifth place on the line and UNH had nothing. the Riverhawks
certainly came to play.
 
Lowell played shorthanded for about 7:00 minutes straight in the first half of
the first period and UNH wasn't able to generate much in the way of scoring
chances. It was clear that Lowell was skating well. Greg Koehler put the
Riverhawks up 1-0 before the period was over, when he roofed a rebound from the
top of the crease off a slapshot by freshman Jason Savageau (who reigns from
Wildcat parts, I believe ... and it his first collegiate point).
 
Lowell continued to dominate in the second period, scoring two more ... one a
pretty roof shot by junior Doug Nolan on a two-on-one, while the teams were
skating four aside.
 
The third period was more of the same. Throughout the game, UNH players got
increasingly frustrated with Lowell's physical play and their inability to match
it. A few calls came from after the whistle hits and Lowell wasn't about to let
UNH back in this game through physical play. Any attempt at rough-housing by UNH
was met with quick and strong retaliation. One of the few power-plays awarded
was to Lowell when Chris Bell hit Rob Gagnon and the UNH forward came off the
boards swinging ... landing two good shots, but getting called for roughing.
Gagnon seemed to be UNH's only muscle.
 
UNH's Nolan got hit bad in a melee of players just outside the Lowell bench
early in the first period...resulting in a five minute major and game misconduct
to Lowell's Kevin Bertram. The play resulted when UNH had a few seconds left on
a power-play and Lowell had just managed to clear the zone. Nolan was hit
skating through the crowd outside the Lowell bench as they were changing up.
Bertram had just come off the bench. Nolan was down for several minutes. Rumors
were that he had separated a shoulder and was taken away by ambulance.
 
Lowell's Martin Fillion look exceptionally strong and it appears he has survived
last weekend's sweep to BC without any loss of confidence. Fillion was solid on
all fronts, occasionally come up big on a few UNH chances. The Wildcats missed
some of their best chances ( with Fillion sliding across the crease to cover the
open man ) by shooting the puck wide. Fillion got a lot of help from his
defensman but also helped himself quite a bit by deflecting shots into the
corners, clearing the puck himself during penalty kills and calmly handling the
puck throughout the game.
 
UNH will now host the Maine Blackbears next weekend and won't meet Lowell again
unless the two make the HockeyEast Finals. Lowell will travel to Northeastern, a
team they were 2-0-1 against this season but not when the Huskies were as hot as
they are now.
 
Lowell-NU winnner will play BU-Merimack winner in the semis and the UNH-Maine
winner will play the BC-Providence winner. I'm hoping for BU-Lowell and Maine-BC
at the Fleet Center in two weeks.
 
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