FINAL SCORE: No. 4 UMass Lowell 4, No. 7 Vermont 1
BOSTON – No. 4 seed UMass Lowell scored the last four goals of the game and held off No. 7 seed Vermont for a 4-1 victory in the Hockey East Semifinal on Friday night at TD Garden.
 
The Catamounts closed the 2014-15 season with a record of 22-15-4 to match their highest win total since 2009. The River Hawks improved to 21-11-6 and reach the championship game for the third straight season.

RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Highlights
CatamounTV Post-Game
Photo Gallery

"Norm's team executed their game plan better than we did ours. Certainly it's an impressive run for them to return to the championship game," said head coach Kevin Sneddon. "For our team, there aren't a lot of words to say as a coach to take the pain away right now. There's a lot of emotion in the locker room."
 
Kevin Irwin opened the scoring for the Catamounts at the 11:42 mark of the first period off a centering pass from Jonathan Turk. The junior slid a pass into the low slot for Irwin, and the rookie deflected the puck high glove side past Kevin Boyle to give UVM a 1-0 lead.
 
Vermont was called for back-to-back penalties quickly following the goal, and UMass Lowell equalized just 11 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play. Michael Kapla drove a shot through traffic from the high slot and beat Brody Hoffman (32 saves) glove side at 12:18.
 
Late in the second, the River Hawks came through neutral ice as Michael Fallon sent a pass down the right wing for Michael Lauria. The rookie deked outside the right faceoff dot and wristed a shot short side off the bottom of Hoffman's glove with 3:50 left in the frame.
 
The Catamounts generated several chances on a late power play to close the period but trailed by one through 40 minutes.
 
Near the midway point of the final frame, Michael Colantone found Terrence Wallin inside the right faceoff dot from behind the net. Wallin's one-time shot deflected off a UVM skate into the upper right corner to give Lowell a 3-1 cushion.
 
Brady Shaw burst into the River Hawk end later in the period but hit the right post with a low backhander from the slot. Both teams called their timeouts with 2:38 remaining on the clock and UVM pulled Hoffman for an extra skater.
 
Mike Paliotta followed up his own shot from the left circle but couldn't tip the puck past Boyle (30 saves) as Jake Suter steered the rebound back under his goalie. Joe Gambardella netted an empty-net goal for UMass Lowell with 1:24 to seal the win.

Friday marked the final collegiate game for UVM's five-member senior class of Jake Fallon, Nick Luukko, Colin Markison, Mike Paliotta, and Kyle Reynolds. The group led the Catamounts to last year's NCAA Tournament and combined to win 42 games in its final two seasons.

"Our team gave the program every thing they could every day of the year," said Sneddon. "I'm awfully proud of our guys, certainly our seniors for putting Vermont hockey back on the map. They had two very strong seasons and we're obviously going to miss those guys."

Vermont registered its consecutive 20-win seasons this year for the first time since 1996 and 1997. The Catamounts were making their third appearance in the semifinal round of Hockey East and the first since 2010.