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BOSTON – No. 6/7 UMass Lowell (6-1-2, 4-0-1) used a three-goal second period and 20 saves from Jeff Smith to blank the Northeastern men's ice hockey team (0-7-1, 0-3-1) on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.
 
Derick Roy made 23 saves in goal for the Huskies, who were 0-of-4 on the power play and were outshot 28-20 in the game. The River Hawks received goals from five different scorers, including multi-point efforts from Jake Suter (one goal, one assist) and Dylan Zink (two assists).
 
Scoring chances were at a premium during an up tempo first period, with UML holding a slim 5-3 edge in shots on goal, while the Huskies blocked 11 of the River Hawks' 23 shot attempts. UMass Lowell had a chance to take an early lead when it forced a turnover in the neutral zone, leading to a breakaway for Ryan Collins, but he wrist shot whistled over the crossbar.
 
Minutes later, Dalen Hedges had an opportunity in transition when he flew down the left side of the ice before firing a shot off the mask of Smith. Midway through the frame, the Huskies were forced to kill back-to-back penalties, but held the River Hawks to just one shot on goal.
 
UMass Lowell took control of the contest during the second period, scoring three times, including two on the power play, to take a commanding advantage through 40 minutes of play. The first goal came during a five-on-three skating advantage for the River Hawks as Michael Fallon buried a loose puck after an initial shot was blocked in the shot, sending the puck through Roy for his second of the season.
 
Ryan Rosenthal had an opportunity to put the Huskies even midway through the stanza when he was tripped up on a breakaway by Tyler Mueller, resulting in a Northeastern penalty shot. Rosenthal took the shot for NU, and tried to beat Smith short side, but the freshman netminder made the save.
 
UML took a two-goal lead two minutes after the Rosenthal attempt as C.J. Smith beat Roy for his second of the year off a feed from Dylan Zink in front.
 
The River Hawks went up by three with 3:26 left in the frame as Jake Kamrass one-timed a pass home following a turnover in the by Michael Colontone.
 
NU was awarded consecutive power play opportunities early in the third period with a chance to cut into the UML lead, and nearly made it a two-goal game when Smith robbed Garret Cockerill on a shot from the point before recovering quickly to deny Dylan Sikura on a rebound bid.
 
UMass Lowell would go up 4-0 with a shorthanded tally from Joe Gambardella when he beat Roy on a backhand on a breakaway following a poke check by Jake Suter in the UML zone. Suter would add a goal of his own in the final minute of regulation to give the River Hawks a five-goal cushion to close out the scoring.
 
The Huskies will be back in action on Friday when Northeastern travels to Durham, N.H. for a Hockey East matchup with New Hampshire. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on WBIN.

Season tickets, as well as individual game tickets, are available for men's ice hockey and can be purchased by visiting GoNU.com/tickets. In addition, the student sale for the 2015 Beanpot will take place on Saturday, January 17, 2015 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Matthews Arena lobby. Please contact the Ticket Office by calling 617-373-4700 or emailing huskytix@neu.edu with any questions.

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