UConn men's hockey blanks UMass Lowell, 2-0

UConn men’s hockey blanked the UMass Lowell River Hawks for a 2-0 win on Friday night. The Huskies notched their first victory on the season and recorded back-to-back wins for first time on the campaign.

Tristan Fraser put UConn ahead midway through the second period and Jake Percival finished it off with an empty-netter — his third such goal of the season. Ethan Haider recorded a 22-save shutout, becoming just the second goaltender in the Huskies’ Hockey East Era to record multiple in a single season alongside Rob Nichols.

The first period didn’t feature much in the way of offense. Neither team took a shot on goal below the face-off dots and the best chance came when Jake Richard had a clear lane to goal, but the puck fell off his stick and he never got a shot off.

Andrew Lucas nearly put UConn ahead in the second period, but Lowell goalie Henry Welsch denied him on the doorstep. But soon after, the Huskies finally broke through. Fraser intercepted an attempted clearance before it crossed the blue line, skated in and sent a wrister far-side to put the home side on the board first.

The two teams should’ve gone into the second intermission tied at 1-1, but UConn benefitted from a premature whistle from the officials. The puck loose in front of the net, the referee blew the play dead even though Haider wasn’t covering it up. At almost the exact same moment, the River Hawks scored, but the officials ruled no goal.

Off the ensuing face-off, Scout Truman hit the post but the puck stayed out and after some desperate defending, the Huskies took a 1-0 advantage into the locker room.

Even with the lead, UConn played on the front foot in the third period and generated plenty of chances to put the game away, but couldn’t find a second goal. Despite that, the Huskies limited UMass Lowell’s offense and Haider cleaned up any chances that got through.

The visitors pulled the goaltender with two minutes left, but UConn consistently cleared the zone. Eventually, the puck slid into the neutral zone, Percival chased it down and put it into the empty net to secure the victory.

The Huskies improve to 7-8-1 on the season and 4-5-0 in Hockey East play. Next, they’ll head north for the final game of the first half at Maine. Puck drop is set for Sunday at 5 p.m. ET from Alfond Arena.