This release came out of here a few minutes ago. The first Black Bear has left the den. August 29, 1996 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TIM LOVELL JOINS UMASS HOCKEY TEAM AMHERST, MA -- University of Massachusetts men's hockey coach Joe Mallen announced today that forward Tim Lovell (Norwood, Mass.) intends to transfer to UMass. Lovell previously attended the University of Maine where he was an All-Hockey East selection last season. "I'm extremely pleased at the prospect of adding a player of Tim's caliber to our team," said Mallen. "He is a Massachusetts guy, and I think this will be beneficial to both Tim and UMass. Tim will add a new dimension of skill and experience to our team, and he will continue to pursue his degree in education in our nationally ranked Education Department." Lovell, who will be a senior this fall, was a 1996 preseason and postseason All-Hockey East pick last season, finishing fourth on the Black Bears in scoring with 40 points (21 goals, 19 assists). He was also seventh in the conference in points in conference games with 32. Lovell had his best season to date in 1994-95 when he finished second on the team in scoring with 48 points (25 goals, 23 assists). That same year, Lovell was named MVP of the NCAA East Regional when Maine reached the national championship game. "It wasn't an easy decision for me to leave Maine," said Lovell. "I still have a lot of friends there, and I wish the program the best. But I also wanted another chance to play postseason hockey and UMass gives me that chance. Besides that, the School of Education at UMass has a great reputation, and I'm looking forward to finishing my academic career there." Lovell joins a talented group of forwards for the Minutemen that includes senior co-captains Rob Bonneau (Springfield, Mass.) and Tom Perry (Humboldt, Sask.), as well as senior Warren Norris (St. John's, Newfoundland). He will be eligible to play his first game for the Minutemen on December 27th against Rensselaer in the RPI Invitational. Because of NCAA rules regarding transfer credits, Lovell will not be able to play until the completion of the fall semester, but will be able to practice. He has the option of playing in the second half of the year or sitting out this season and playing a full year in 1996-97. The Minutemen open their regular season on October 25th when they travel to UMass-Lowell to face the River Hawks. Last season, UMass finished with a 10-19-6 record and finished eighth in Hockey East in just its second season in the league. -UM- Leigh [log in to unmask] INFO-HOCKEY-L is for information only; send any discussion of this article to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Discussion List.