UMass Lowell River Hawks men's ice hockey
| University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks men's ice hockey | |
|---|---|
 Current season
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| University | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
| Conference | Hockey East |
| First season | 1967 |
| Head coach |
Norm Bazin 6th year, 151–68–21 (.673) |
| Captain(s) | Michael Kapla |
| Alternate captain(s) | Joe Gambardella Tyler Mueller |
| Arena |
Tsongas Center Capacity: 6,003 Surface: 200' x 85' |
| Location | Lowell, Massachusetts |
| Colors | Blue, White, and Red |
| Fight song | River Hawk Pride |
| Mascot | Rowdy the River Hawk |
| NCAA Tournament Frozen Four | |
| 2013 | |
| NCAA Tournament Appearances | |
| 1988, 1994, 1996, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 | |
| Conference Tournament Champions | |
| 2013, 2014, 2017 | |
| Conference Regular Season Champions | |
| 2013, 2017 | |
| Current uniform | |
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The UMass Lowell River Hawks men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents the University of Massachusetts Lowell. It competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Hockey East Association. The team competed at the Division II level until 1983. UMass Lowell won their first ever Hockey East title in 2013 over Boston University, also winning their first regular season title in the HEA. The River Hawks made their first Frozen Four in 2013 as well. UMass Lowell would repeat as Hockey East champions in 2014 and then again in 2017.
The River Hawks have played at The Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell since its opening in January 1998.
The roots of the current hockey program can be traced back to when the University was called the Lowell Technological Institute (LTI). Hockey started as a club program in 1965–66, and the team was named the Terriers and coached by Richard Morrison. The program initially used the Billerica Forum for practices and home games. The original rink was outdoors at Cushing Field on North Campus. In 1969, Coach Bill Riley was hired to take over the program and was at the helm of a very colorful run for the next 21 years. After LTI's 1975 merger with Lowell State College to become University of Lowell, the team became known as the Chiefs but were still without a proper facility. But lack of a proper rink was no deterrent for Coach Riley, who benefited from talent being produced locally, due to the popularity of Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
For the decade of the ULowell program years, "home" games were conducted in a nomadic manner with the team never playing near campus, as no such facility existed in Lowell. Games were played mostly at Skate 3 Ice Arena in Tyngsboro, and it was still technically ULowell's home rink during their first Division 2 Championship run in 1979. In 1980, the University was able to purchase the Billerica Forum (then called the Merrimack Valley Forum) after the allocation of money pushed for by State Senator B. Joseph Tully. The money, however, only provided for the purchase of the structure and land. Though only constructed in 1964, the Merrimack Valley Forum was called a "pig pen" by Coach Riley. A few years later, State Senator Phil Shea was able to secure $500,000 in funding for renovations of the Forum. The coaching staff became the foreman and applied for federal job training grants in order to bring in tradespeople to help with the work. Soon the Chiefs had a place they could call home and rechristened it as Tully Forum.
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