The Connector - October 4, 2016 - Hockey Issue 2016

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The 2016 Hockey Issue - Season preview - ‘NHL 17’ review - Tsongas Center home ice advantage ...and more!

THE UMASS LOWELL

Serving the Student Body Since 1976

October 4, 2016

With young team, River Hawks look to maintain hold on Hockey East

In This Issue Songs to get pumped for game day

Andrew Sciascia

â–ş Page 4

Connector Staff

Top five Tsongas Center moments

â–ş Page 6 River Hawk alumni update

â–ş Page 8

Final River Hawk Scores Team

Score

Overall Record

Field Hockey at Sacred Heart

W 5-0

4-6

Men’s Soccer vs. Binghamton

T 1-1

7-0-2

Volleyball at Albany

L 3-1 5-11

Field Hockey vs. Maine

L 4-2

3-6

Hellebuyck using World Cup experience to propel pro career Brooke Keating Connector Contributor

Drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in 2012, Connor Hellebuyck joined the River Hawks that same year as a 6’4 goaltender with a list of achievements a mile long. Since leaving school after his sophomore year, he has decided that a mile was not quite long enough. Most recently, Hellebuyck had the opportunity to compete on an international stage when he was chosen as a goalie for Team North America in the World Cup Tournament. Although both the US and Canada boast their own national squads, Team North America consisted of players from either country who are under 23 years old. Hellebuyck joined John Gibson and Matt Murray as a goaltending trio. Hellebuyck was not expecting to get much playing time in the tournament, but he saw the opportunity to compete as an honor, and stated that he “got a lot out of it� in an interview with Mitchell Clinton for the Winnipeg Jets. In tournament play, he served as a backup in during the game against Sweden when Murray was out with a thumb injury. But Hellebuyck did manage 10 saves on 12 shots during a pre-tournament matchup against Team Czech Republic, playing in the third

A cold fall air has slowly begun to spin throughout Lowell by the banks of the Merrimack River. The students and residents of the city know that can only mean one thing. October is here and River Hawks hockey is coming down the pike. This Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7 and 8, the UMass Lowell men’s ice hockey team will begin its 19 full season at the Tsongas Center with a home-andhome against the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. This will be sixth season in Head Coach Norm Bazin’s tenure with the River Hawks. Coach Ba-

zin entered UMass Lowell for the 2011-12 season tasked with righting the ship for a team that had gone 5-25-4 the previous season and came dead last in the Hockey East

The new scheme led the team to a second place finish in the conference, a spot in the Hockey East Tournament (where the team was defeated in the first

Division. Just that season Coach Bazin proved himself, taking a young team and giving them a new, more aggressive style of hockey to play.

round) and a 24-13-1 record. Under a new coach, the team went on to establish itself as a fierce competitor on a regional and national level.

â–ş See “Preview,â€? page 8

‘NHL 17:’ The game hockey fans deserve Andrew Sciascia Connector Staff

Imagine running into an estranged friend or family member one day in the near future to find that they have refined and matured with age. Now imagine they have been refined beyond any expectation. For the avid, or even casual hockey fan, “NHL 17,� the latest installment in EA Sports annual

line of hockey games, is that long, lost friend. For the first time in years, EA Canada has stepped away from attempting to redefine the world of virtual hockey in order to streamline, refine and polish the rough edges of previous years. If you are looking for another complete makeover for the NHL series, this will not be your game. However, if

â–ş See “Hellebuyck,â€? page 7

Sections News.............................3 Campus Life.................. 6 A&E.............................. 4 Sports........................... 7

In the seasons that followed, the River Hawks won a Hockey East regular season-title and two Hockey East Championships. The team would also find itself in the NCAA Frozen Four where it lost to Yale in the semi-finals. This fall the River Hawks are coming out of a big season, taking fourth in Hockey East with a 26-10-5 total season record, and a crushing defeat at the hands of the Northeastern University Huskies in the Hockey East Championship. The composition of the team this year looks to be significantly different. The team lost several key veterans this offseason. Kevin Boyle,

Courtesy of Electronic Arts

A virtual Jori Lehtera controls the puck against San Jose Sharks defenders.

you are looking for a crisp, smooth finish to the major overhauls of previous years, look no further. The game still runs on the Ignite engine with a Windows 8 based menu system. The menus are shiny and reactive, crisp and clear. Those fans who were wishing to return to the old fashioned outline based menu system will be disappointed, but in transitioning over to nextgen every EA Sports title has received a menu overhaul. It is not going away. The Ignite engine was a fantastic addition to previous titles, making play more true to life and reactive. In the previous installment, however, the engine felt slow at times. Hits were unresponsive and the one touch deking was still clunky. This is far from a problem now; the speed of play has been greatly increased and on the game’s most realistic setting, “NHL 17â€? feels like the fast paced, hard hitting game hockey fans love to watch. â–ş See “NHL 17,â€? page 4


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