Hockey East Championship: Can UMass Lowell Capture Third Straight Title?
With the Hockey East Tournament semifinals in the books, the stage has been set for the 2015 championship game on Saturday, pitting the Boston University Terriers against the UMass Lowell Rivers Hawks.
The 2015 title game, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the TD Garden, is a rematch of the 2013 championship, when UMass Lowell took down BU 1-0. The game will mark the 17th time the Terriers have made the finals, while the River Hawks are playing in their fifth championship game. A win for BU would secure their eighth tournament championship, while UMass Lowell’s third straight title would also be their third overall.
It was a two-game sweep for BU in their two regular season meetings with UMass Lowell, as the Terriers beat the River Hawks 4-3 in Boston before later notching a 5-2 win in Lowell.
In the first semifinal game on Friday, two-time defending tournament champions and No. 4 seed UMass Lowell clinched a trip to their third consecutive championship game after taking down No. 7 Vermont. After the Catamounts took a 1-0 lead 11:42 into the game, the River Hawks responded with a 5-on-3 goal less than a minute later. Still 1-1 into the waning minutes of the second period, UMass Lowell grabbed the lead for good with 3:50 to play in the frame. The River Hawks would add two more in the third period, including an empty-netter in the final minute to seal the victory.
Making their first trip to the semifinals since 2010, Vermont couldn’t get past the two-time defending champs and reach their first title game since 2008. The Catamounts have yet to win their first tournament championship.
It was déjà vu all over again in the later game, with regular season champion and No. 1 seed BU falling behind 1-0 to No. 8 New Hampshire before knotting it up. BU scored two unanswered goals to take a 2-1 lead into the third. Freshman sensation and Hobey Baker finalist Jack Eichel punched the Terriers’ ticket to the title game with a pair of goals in the final period.
UNH was unable to secure a rematch with UMass Lowell from last year’s championship game; the Wildcats haven’t won the tournament title since 2003.
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