Lowell's 3rd line of Christian Sbrocca, Jon Mahoney and Ryan Sandholm combined for 9 points (4G, 5A) in leading the high-flying Riverhawks to an opening game victory in their best-of-three series versus Northeastern. Lowell netminder Martin Fillion stops 27 shots, looking especially strong in the first period when Northeastern tested him often. In fact, Northeastern outshot Lowell 12-4 in that period but came away with nothing as Lowell led 2-0 after one period. Northeastern's goalie Mike Veisor tied a Hockey East playoff record for fewest saves(2) in a period. Even though he gave up seven goals, he couldn't be faulted very much because the fast-skating Hawks were simply too much for Northeastern's defensive corps. Lowell coach Bruce Crowder started the speedy line of David Dartsch, Shannon Basaraba and Marc Salsman against the Huskies first line of seniors Dan Lupo and Jordan Shields with freshman Erik Kaminski. Dartsch's line held that line scoreless while Sbrocca's line was running havoc over Northeastern's depthless second and third lines. Salsman scored his first of two only 76 seconds into the game when Sbrocca stole the puck deep in the Husky zone and Salsman put it away. Lowell's second goal was a very pretty play by first-star recipient Mahoney who brought the puck over Northeastern's blue line, made a sweet behind the back pass to Sbrocca, who fed it right back to Mahoney. He carried it deep along the right boards, headed for the net and slid it out front to a waiting Salsman, who put away his second with a shot that rolled up and over Veisor's sprawled right pad. Northeastern definitely had some good chances in this period but second-star Fillion was unbeatable. Northeastern's center Scott Campbell was fed from the corner and skated out in front of Fillion with absolutely no other Lowell player within 20 feet. He was stoned by Fillion, clearly responsible for Lowell's 2-0 lead after one. Northeastern's Bob Sheehan got them on the board early in the second with a very weak shot from outside the zone which beat a bewildered Fillion. Jon Mahoney regained Lowell's two-goal lead with a nice play during a six-man attack delayed-penalty situation midway through the period. Lowell swarmed Veisor and company and eventually Mahoney came out from behind the net and fed a cross-the-crease pass to defenseman Mike Nicholishen who swatted the puck into an empty net. Lowell scored two more before the period ended including another empty netter when Mahoney found himself all alone in the crease with the puck after a scramble to the left of the net. The second was a short-handed goal by starter Basaraba. Lowell led 5-1 after two. Sbrocca made it 6-1 on a nifty deke-and-shift move on Veisor during a breakaway at 6:44 of the third. Northeastern got a second soft goal from Scott Campbell and a nice goal from defenseman Rick Schuhwerk who put it between Fillion's pads from 20 feet out after being fed from Kayhko on a bang-bang play. Lowell defenseman Chris Libbett scored from the point to make it 7-3 when Veisor was completely screened during a Lowell power-play and the Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the series. There were many penalties as game wore on and Northeastern grew increasingly frustrated. Also, Husky defenseman Dan McGillis played a strong game on an otherwise baffled Northeastern squad. Stars: #1 Jon Mahoney - 1 goal, 2 assists, set-up Salsman and Nicholishen with pretty plays, played a strong, high-spirited game through-out. #2 Christian Sbrocca - 1 goal, 3 assists, made it clear why he is "All Hockey-East" this year. #3 Martin Fillion - Looked excellent when it really counted. Got another assist on Sbrocca's breakaway. Has to be one of the strongest puck-handling goalies in Div. 1. Shots: NE 12-06-09-27 UML 04-15-13-32 Refs: MacBride, Fowkes Linesman: J. Jones Est. attendance 1800-2000 on a cold, stormy night. Game 2, tomorrow night at 7:00 in Billerica. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.