LOWELL, Mass. -- In his final game at the Tsongas Center, senior Zack Kamrass scored two goals as No. 14 UMass Lowell advanced to the Hockey East semifinals, defeating Notre Dame 6-4 Sunday afternoon.
"I'm not sure if it was a typical game three, but it was a good playoff game and it was a great team effort," head coach Norm Bazin said. "I thought we responded very well from yesterday. We had solid goaltending and we had a complete team effort, because we had to kill a lot of penalties and I was very pleased with the effort."
For the fourth consecutive season under Bazin, the River Hawks (20-11-6, 11-7-4) reached the 20-win mark.
C.J. Smith gave the River Hawks the 1-0 lead at 2:22 of the first period. His high shot from the top of the circles beat Cal Peterson. The freshman's team-high 16th goal of the season is his second career postseason tally.
Adam Chapie doubled the lead less than two minutes later on a shorthanded goal at 4:17. The forward came away with a clean steal at the blue line and went in on a breakaway, sliding the puck between Peterson's pads along the ice.
The Fighting Irish (18-19-5, 10-7-5) were able to cut into the lead with 11:06 to go in the first period on a rocket from the center point off the stick of Robbie Russo.
Russo almost tied the score moments later when his slap shot from the blue line beat Kevin Boyle but hit the post and rang out.
UMass-Lowell took a 3-1 lead at 12:11 when Michael Fallon let rip a one-timer from the left circle after receiving a pass from Michael Louria won a battle in the right corner and sent a cross ice pass to the junior.
Kamrass extended the lead on the power play with a snipe through a screen from just inside the blue line with just more than two minutes to go until intermission.
The River Hawks killed off all three power plays they faced in the first 20 minutes, and went 1-of-2 on their own extra-man opportunities.
Tyler Mueller started the scoring in the second period with a rocket from in between the circles and blue line. John Edwardh registered his third assist of the game, and Mueller scored UMass Lowell's second power play goal of the game at 5:02 of the second.
Notre Dame capitalized on a five-on-three advantage with 3:21 remaining in the second period on Russo's second goal of the game on a high wrist shot from above the circles.
Kamrass scored his second of the game with 85 seconds on the clock on a wrist shot from the slot. The puck hit the back of the net and bounced back into play, causing confusion and a review, but the call on the ice was confirmed.
The defenseman's two tallies marked his first career multi-goal game.
Peter Schneider cut the visitor's deficit to 6-3 at 10:12 of the third period, putting home the rebound off of Ben Ostlie's original shot. The Fighting Irish wouldn't go away as Jordan Gross ripped a high shot over Boyle's glove-side shoulder with 5:01 on the clock.
Boyle made 32 saves to clinch the series, and Peterson made seven in 40 minutes and Chad Katunar made four in the third period.
Notre Dame went 1-for-8 on the power play, while UMass Lowell went 2-for-4.
