Game 18 (2017-18): UMass Lowell

[Marshmont_63]

On the road against the River Hawks on Saturday night. Hopefully we can begin to show Lowell who’s supposed to be the real little brother in this rivalry.

[Sheck]

I'll be in attendance. Hope to see a lot of fellow UMass supporters there as well. We need to show we're the flagship on the ice and in the stands.

[pk77]

anybody know a good place to eat in Lowell

[78]

0-1 5 minutes in. Have allowed 2 Lowell breakaways. Great save by Wischow on the second

[78]

0-2 still in first period. UGH

1-2 -- Hildenbrand on a deflection!

2-2 -- Lagunov on the power play, 11:51 left in the second!

2-3 after 2 as Lowell scores with 34 seconds left in period. Again, the goal comes off a faceoff loss in the defensive zone. Two of three Lowell goals have come off the faceoff. It's a shame, because we completely outplayed Lowell in the period. Only good news is we start the third period with a power play.

2-4 short handed goal for Lowell. UMass D man played it horribly and let the Lowell man a free and clear shot. I want 2017 back.

2-5 power play goal.

3-5 -- Chaffee power play. 9:47 left

3-6 -- Good night. They really miss Makar, but the defense has been brutal this weekend -- 10 goals allowed not counting the empty netter. Played better tonight, but overall bad hockey for the weekend. Some day we will be as good as UMass Lowell...some day. Still 9-9 for the season, but a lot of problems to fix before next weekend.

3-7 empty netter as Carvy pulled goalie on a power play with 2 minutes left.

3-8 another empty netter. Ridiculous as Carvy keeps the goalie out. 13 total goals allowed this weekend.

Frigging announcer on the Lowell stream is calling us Amherst -- WTF? These announcers are BRUTALLY BAD.

[78]

Last 19 games against UMass-Lowell we are 1-17-1. That goes so far beyond embarrassing it cannot be measured.

[MikeEsq]

Last 19 games against UMass-Lowell we are 1-17-1. That goes so far beyond embarrassing it cannot be measured.

Just can't happen. Need to turn this around immediately.

[tdmass]

Looks like they're still on semester break after the nice win at Union.

[gosox22]

I know one of the things Carvel has mentioned is making sure people refer to us as UMass or Massachusetts. He thinks part of the reason we get the "Amherst" slapped at the end is that Lowell is so much better than us at hockey, and that needs to change. I'm convinced we'll get there, but its certainly not going to happen overnight. Even by next season I'd expect us to be much more competitive with Lowell. But I agree, that kind of record against little brother is not acceptable.

[UMass02]

I know one of the things Carvel has mentioned is making sure people refer to us as UMass or Massachusetts. He thinks part of the reason we get the "Amherst" slapped at the end is that Lowell is so much better than us at hockey, and that needs to change. I'm convinced we'll get there, but its certainly not going to happen overnight. Even by next season I'd expect us to be much more competitive with Lowell. But I agree, that kind of record against little brother is not acceptable.

It wasn’t that long ago that loud whispers of cutting the Lowell program came out of the UMass presidents office and trustee meetings. Riverhawk fans are still pissed about that.

Around 2011, Lowell decided to get serious with its hockey program. They hired a new coach (Bazin). They renovated Tsongas after they bought the facility from the City of Lowell. They ramped up fundraising. They were able to recruit solid players. Success begat success.

What did the Minutemen do around 2012 to counteract Lowell? Hire Micheletto after the most embarrassing coaching search I’ve ever seen. He promptly cut the goaltender who wound up backstopping Lowell to an NCAA berth. If anything, the big brother did more to help the little brother than to help himself. Many of those 19 games rest on the shoulders of Micheletto.

Bamford made many great moves in reorganizing the hockey program. New coach, different internal supervisory structure, increased space thanks to basketball freeing up space. The team has a dedicated video room, a dedicated weight room, and increased time to condition as a team. Things are falling into place. Give it time.

[McKinney]

I know one of the things Carvel has mentioned is making sure people refer to us as UMass or Massachusetts. He thinks part of the reason we get the "Amherst" slapped at the end is that Lowell is so much better than us at hockey, and that needs to change.

I'm not even a fan of being referred to as "UMass" in a non-colloquial context. Specifically, my rule of thumb is: if you would refer to Washington as UW, Florida as UF, Maryland as UMD, etc. in this context then it's OK to use UMass, otherwise it should be "Massachusetts" (or "Mass." where there are physical constraints, such as how Northwestern is abbreviated to N'western to fit on the ESPN score bug). More generally the "UMass" abbreviation should apply to all university functions with an emphasis on academics, while "Massachusetts" and "Mass." should apply mainly to athletics.

On a similar note, I posted on twitter a few weeks ago my response to the branding survey and the results of some branding research I've started.

I don't understand why the "U" is so prominent. Only 10% of national schools (state flagships, major religious institutions, military academies, or major institutions ranked in the top 150 by most publishers) use a "U" (as in university) in their primary branding. If we exclude UMass this number drops to 8%.

However I understand "Massachusetts" is long and would need to be abbreviated to something along the lines of "Mass". Of the 22 FBS programs that abbreviate their brand (ie. University of Mississippi to Ole Miss, University of Alabama-Birmingham to UAB) only 36% are national schools that abbreviate with a U, if we exclude UMass that number drops to 32%.

To say we're in the minority on our use of "U" is an understatement. While I don't have issue with the use of "UMass" in a colloquial sense, we aren't putting our best foot forward when we say "UMass" in an official sense (that includes TV and radio broadcast). This is a similar issue that UC Berkeley faced in the 70s (before they landed officially on "Cal") and I encourage that you research this.

I actually think the logo itself looks "fine" if uninspired. To a degree the use of italics and beveling is not as common as it was in the 2000s so it does give a sense of being outdated, however my major problem with the Power U is the U itself.

[78]

^^^
I agree with this 100 percent.

[Billybuck]

it s kind of like..you have to keep telling people your the boss then your probably not really the boss.....if you have to keep telling people that your the flagship campus then your probably not the flagship campus. Carvel showed his usual class after the game...did NOT shake hands with lowell players. skinny little fella was probably pouting in the locker room.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Guess we know where this guy is from...

[Billybuck]

true...in all fairness amherst is improved. There should be a thanks to the old staff though for the recruits...i believe the old staff recruited makar and leanord before they were let go. maybe they needed more time as it seems they had some solid recruits coming in to play.