LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS- Freshman Brock James scored his first career collegiate goal, and Albin Boija recorded his fourth shutout of the season as #17 Maine beat UMass-Lowell 2-0 in men’s Hockey East action at the Tsongas Center on Friday night in the opener of a two game weekend conference series.
The Black Bears got all they needed off the stick of James in the first period. After a rush by Nick Peluso was stopped by Riverhawks goaltender Austin Elliott, the Falmouth native was able to pounce on the rebound to slide it into the net at 7:40 for what turned out to be the game winner and his first college goal in his sixth career game. Charlie Russell did the same to add a little bit of breathing room in the second on a play started by Owen Fowler at the net front. Russell was in the right place at the right time banging one in from the low slot at 9:14 that would end the scoring on the night. The guests did have a chance to extend their advantage with a five minute powerplay after a major penalty and game misconduct whistled against UMass-Lowell with 10 seconds left in the middle stanza, but would come up empty. The Riverhawks had plenty of opportunities with six powerplays, but couldn’t beat Boija who shut the door for his 10th career shutout.
Jay Ahearn led UMass-Lowell in the loss with five shots on goal, while Dillan Bentley had four. Elliott made 27 saves. The Riverhawks fall to 9-15 and 5-9 in Hockey East and have been blanked in back to back games. Peluso, Fowler, and Frank Djurasevic had one assist each for Maine. Boija stopped 25 shots, and the Black Bears only had the one powerplay that they couldn’t convert on. James became the first state of Maine player since Jake Rutt (Scarborough- 3/6/2015) to score a goal for the homestate team. After being swept at Providence two weekends ago, Maine gets back to .500 in conference play at 7-7-0 (13-9-2 overall). The teams finish off their two game series on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
