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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. -- Good afternoon from J. Thom Lawler Arena on the campus of Merrimack College where a crucial Hockey East season series and tiebreaker victory will be on the line in a Sunday afternoon battle between the No. 17 Warriors (14-13-6, 12-9-3) and their visiting rivals, the No. 10/12 UMass Lowell River Hawks (20-9-2, 14-8-2).
The teams split the first two games of the regular-season series, including a 4-0 win for Lowell on Friday night at Tsongas Center with all of its goals coming in the final period. Freshman Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves in the contest for his fourth shutout of the season, while senior captain Riley Wetmore enters the game with six goals and 11 points over his last ten outings.
On the Merrimack side, big changes fill the line-up today as sophomore Rasmus Tirronen makes the start for the first time in 13 games. Before Friday's loss, Boston University became the first team to take all six points from the Warriors since 2008-09 with a 5-2 defeat on Tuesday.
Here are the full starting line-ups:
UMASS LOWELL
Ryan McGrath - Riley Wetmore - Derek Arnold
Scott Wilson - Stephen Buco - Adam Chapie
Shayne Thompson - Colin Wright - Terrence Wallin
A.J. White - Joseph Pendenza - Josh Holmstrom
Greg Amlong - Chad Ruhwedel
Joe Houk - Christian Folin
Zack Kamrass - Jake Suter
Connor Hellebuyck (12-1-0, 1.45, .945)
Doug Carr
Brian Robbins
MERRIMACK
Mike Collins - Vinny Scotti - Connor Toomey
John Gustafsson - Shawn Bates - Brandon Brodhag
Kyle Singleton - Rhett Bly - Quinn Smith
Justin Hussar - John Heffernan - Ben Bahe
Tom McCarthy - Jordan Heywood
Brendan Ellis - Dan Kolomatis
Justin Mansfield - Kyle Bigos
Rasmus Tirronen (3-5-2, 2.61, .903)
Sam Marotta
Nick Drew
Joshua Kummins covers Hockey East for SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.