Koehler leads Lowell over Amherst.
 
 
The Riverhawks started the season off in familiar
style, taking a
6-4 victory over HockeyEast rival UMass-Amherst as
well as a
one game lead in the Alumni Cup series between the
two teams. Lowell
sophomore Greg Koehler had a hat trick including
the game winner on
a power-play in the second period. Senior Martin
Fillion backstopped
the Riverhawks with a strong 12-save performance
in the third period
and 19 saves overall. This is the third time in
the last four seasons
that Lowell has opened the year with a victory
over the Minutemen.
However, Lowell coach Tim Whitehead knows that
Amherst has won the
Alumni Cup the last two years and has vowed to
dethrone the Cup
champion team from Amherst.
 
Amherst held a two goal lead at one point in the
first period, but
Lowell scored four unanswered goals to take a 5-3
lead into the
third period. By the end of the second period,
Lowell was outshooting
Amherst 25-10 and Minuteman goalie Brian Regan
looked strong despite
being beaten five times. Three of those goals were
on the Lowell
powerplay including Koehler's game winner which
came at 15:19 of the second
period. Lowell was showing a strong power-play
throughout the game with
their defensemen displaying great compsure on the
point, especially
senior captain Mike Nicholishen. Koehler's goal
came when senior
defenseman Chris Libett slapped his stick on the
ice, calling for the puck
from Koehler, who fed the cross-ice pass to the
pointman. Libett took
the puck in a step and wound up for a slap shot,
drawing the Amherst defense
out, only to shoot the puck right back to Koehler
in the opposite corner.
Koehler's shot beat a sliding Regan putting Lowell
up by two at the time.
 
The third period saw some accelerated play from
the Minutemen as they went
on to outshoot Lowell 13-3. Fillion looked
especially strong through
several Amherst power=plays as did Lowell's
penalty-killing units. The
Riverhawks killed off a 5-3 Amherst power-play
early in the period with Koehler
and Bertram in the box. The two teams traded a few
power-plays without
scoring but Amherst did pull to within one goal
with :51 seconds to play.
With Lowell standout Nicholishen in the box for
slashing, Amherst had a
6-4 advantage with their goalie on the bench.
Amherst defenseman Tom O'Connor
took a slap shot through a screen and the puck
found the lower left corner
right along the ice. Lowell senior Shannon
Basaraba cied the victory with
an empty net goal off the following face-off at
center ice. The draw went
toward an Amherst defenseman, but Koehler ended up
getting an assist as
Basaraba beat the Amherst to the puck and slid it
home for his first goal
of the season.
 
Scoring Summary
 
First Period
Amherst         Mackinnon(1)    (Norton, Lovell)
         0:43
Lowell          Koehler(1)      (Libett, Basaraba)
2:59
Amherst         MacKinnon(2)    (Lovell, O'Connor)
8:08
Amherst SHG     Lovell(1)       (Blanchard)             12:27
Lowell  PPG     Kidney(1)       (Cappelletti,
Rooney) 16:49
 
Second Period
Lowell  PPG     Campbell(1)     (Cappelletti,
Mulligan)        5:27
Lowell          Koehler(2)      (Bertram)               10:21
Lowell  PPG     Koehler(3)      (Libett,
Nolan)          15:19
 
Third Period
Amherst PPG     O'Connor(1)     (Lovell,
MacKinnon)      19:09
Lowell  ENG     Basaraba(1)     (Koehler)               19:15
 
Three Stars
1 - Greg Koehler, Lowell
2 - Steve MacKinnon, Amherst
3 - Chris Libett, Lowell
 
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