2021 Championship Pregame Notes #7 UMass Lowell (10-8-1) at #2 Massachusetts (15-5-4) March 20, 2021 • • Amherst, Mass.

•The second-seeded Minutemen, whose first season in Hockey East was in 1994, are making their second title game appearance, the first in 27 years, and are bidding for their first championship. Their first season in Hockey East was 1994. Massachusetts’ lone trip to the final in 2004 it lost to Maine 3-2 3OT, the longest-ever title game (109:27).

•This is the eighth appearance in the final for the River Hawks, their first since 2017, and the sixth title game trip in the last eight tournaments. UMass Lowell has won four titles, the last in 2017 (def. BC 4-3). It also won the championship in 2013 and 2014, and current head coach has been at the helm each time. UML is the second seventh-seed to reach the title game (#7 BC in 2019) and would be the lowest seed to win the title.

•This is the first time since 1990 that the Hockey East Championship game has been played at a campus rink. In 1990 College defeated Maine at BC’s . Originally scheduled for that March, the entire tourney was moved to campus sites due to a measles outbreak at the UMaine campus. The 1990 title game had limited attendance due to health restrictions.

•The two Commonwealth universities have met just once in the tournament in 2004, with UMass Amherst sweeping a two-game quarterfinal series.

•If Massachusetts were to win it would be the fourth different school to win the title in the last four tournaments and it would be the eighth different member to capture the title. If UMass Lowell were to win, its four titles would be the fourth most in league history, one behind Maine (five). has won 11 and has captured nine.

•In the regular season the Minutemen swept the two-game conference series winning 5-0 at home on Jan. 29 and winning 2-1 in Lowell on Jan. 30.

•Of the two finalists: UMass forward is tied with two others for the tournament scoring lead with six points (2-4--6) while UML forward Matt Brown is fourth with five points (4-1-5) including a tourney-high four goals. UML blueliner Anthony Baxter has four points (3-1-4) to lead defensemen in scoring and his three goals in the tourney are the first goals he scored this season. Filip Lindberg of UMass leads all goalies with a 1.50 GAA and a .938 save percentage.

• So far in its two games in the tourney, the Minutemen have yet to go on the power play. Northeastern in the quarterfinals and Providence in the semis were not whistled for a penalty (there were matching minors vs NU). In two clean games, UMass was called for only one penalty in each contest, and allowed a power play to Providence in the semis.

•The River Hawks are 2-for-13, 15.4%, on the power play in its three playoff games (1-for-6 in semis) and have killed seven of eight opponent attempts. They allowed a short-handed goal to Vermont in the first round.

•Both coaches have received the Hockey East Coach of the Year with UML’s Norm Bazin picking up the award three times (2011-12, 2012-13 and 2016-17) and winning it in 2018-19. At Saint Lawrence, Carvel also won the Tim Taylor ECAC Coach of the Year in 2014-15, joining (Providence and Union) to be coach of the year in Hockey East and ECAC.

•The winner of the title game will earn Hockey East’s automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Men’s Championship. The tournament selection show will be aired nationally on Sunday, March 21 at 7 p.m. (eastern) on ESPNU. The complete bracket will be available on NCAA.com. UMass Lowell is bidding for its ninth trip to the NCAAs and first since 2017. UMass will be in its third NCAA tourney and its second straight. It reached the title game in the last tournament in 2019.