LOWELL – The UMass Lowell hockey team’s full 2025-26 slate has been revealed, with the season kicking off against Hockey East foe Merrimack College on Friday, Oct. 3.
The schedule will consist of 34 regular-season games, with opponents from five different conferences, including Hockey East. It is highlighted by a two-game home set against the defending national champions.
The slate will feature 15 home games, including the addition of a home exhibition against Bentley University on Dec. 28. The remaining 20 games will be played on the road on opposing ice or at neutral sites. This is a change of pace from last season, which featured 17 games at the Tsongas Center.
Following opening night against Merrimack, the River Hawks will hit the road to take on the Warriors again on Oct. 10, before hosting defending national champion Western Michigan on Oct. 17 and 18.
That brings the team to a three-game stretch of away games, beginning in Erie, Pa., for a two-game set at Mercyhurst on Oct. 24 and 25, and returning to Hockey East action with an away-and-home series with Providence to close out the month (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1).
UMass Lowell forward Chris Delaney moves the puck during the second period of a Hockey East playoff game against New Hampshire last season. He’s coming off a promising season. (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
November will continue with more conference play, as the River Hawks take on New Hampshire on Nov. 7 and 8, before another road trip to New York the next week (Nov. 14 & 15). The squad will play Union to begin the weekend, before a matchup with RPI the next day.
The team will then be on a bye week after the trip to prepare for a return to New York for the Adirondack Winter Invitational in Lake Placid on Nov. 28 and 29, where they will look to take home the title for the second consecutive year. They will face off against Clarkson on Friday, with St. Lawrence waiting for them on Saturday afternoon.
UMass Lowell takes on two conference opponents during December, as a home-and-away series with Boston College is in the cards for Dec. 5 and 6, following by a solo game with Maine in Portland, Maine on Wednesday, Dec. 10 to finish off the month’s games. However, the exhibition with Bentley at home on Dec. 28 will warm the River Hawks back up after a break, preparing them for an action-packed second half of the season.
The new year will be rung in at the 2026 Cactus Cup, a tournament that will be hosted by UMass Lowell for the second consecutive year in Palm Springs, Calif., at Acrisure Arena on Jan. 2 and 3.
The River Hawks will be joined by Minnesota State University, Mankato, St. Cloud State and Yale and will open up the tournament against Minnesota State on day one. The tournament format calls for the losers of the first-round games to square off first on night two, followed by the championship game between the two round-one winners on Saturday evening. The River Hawks will look to repeat as tournament champs.
UMass Lowell will then play Hockey East games only for the remainder of the regular season, beginning with a two-game set with Connecticut on Jan. 9 and 10, followed by two series against Boston University (Jan. 16 and 17) and Maine (Jan. 23 and 24) to bring them into February.
It will be a battle of the UMass schools to kick off February, as the River Hawks will take on the Massachusetts Minutemen three consecutive times, first with a solo daytime matchup on Sunday, Feb. 1, before a two-game set the next weekend on Feb. 6 and 7. The River Hawks then follow that up with a two-game road trip to Vermont (Feb. 13 and 14) and an away-and-home series with Northeastern (Feb. 20 and 21), as a bye week rounds out the month.
Among those celebrating a Hockey East playoff victory over New Hampshire last season were UMass Lowell teammates Chris Delaney (10) and Mirko Buttazzoni (17). (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
March begins with another road matchup with Merrimack on March 6, before hosting Boston University the next night for the regular season finale. The Hockey East playoffs are set for March 11-21.