Behind The Scenes – Andre Lee Returns To UMass Lowell

Happy Sunday, Insiders!

Sharing a bit of a different kind of story here today, on a travel day to Calgary.

Last month, with the Kings on the East Coast for their season-opening trip, forward Andre Lee found himself in an opportune situation. Lee had played three seasons at UMass-Lowell from 2019-22, before he began his professional career with the Ontario Reign the following fall. Lee scored 33 goals with the Riverhawks, including 16 during his junior season, a total that ranked him as the sixth-leading scorer among players in Hockey East. In conference play specifically, Lee ranked fourth as 13 of his goals came against Hockey East opposition. Lee was a good collegiate player and his development in the AHL, combined with a very strong training camp, saw him make the opening-night roster this fall. It wasn’t necessarily something that we all saw coming. As either fortune or fate would have it, however you see it, the Kings opened the season on the East Coast for the first time in a long time, after concluding their preseason slate in Quebec City. Game 2 on the schedule? The Boston Bruins, just an hour or so away from Lee’s alma mater. Opening their 2024-25 season slate of games the night before the Kings played the Bruins? UMass-Lowell, as they hosted Minnesota Duluth.

It required so many different moving pieces, but as they all came together, a plan developed. Lee was able to get back to campus and wound up dropping the puck on Opening Night in Lowell. The full video of his trip is below. I was able to join him in the behind the scenes capacity to document his trip, with a few of the finer details below.

For the entire Kings team, Friday October 11 started the same way.

Breakfast at the hotel, bus to the Warrior Ice Arena in Boston for a full-team practice, in between games against Sabres and the Bruins. Andre Lee was certainly a part of that skate, as was everyone on the trip, but his day from there moved much quicker than others. After practice, Lee hopped in an Uber and headed out to campus, alongside a few Kings staff members including with myself, to brave rush-hour traffic in Boston.

After arriving, Lee wasn’t out of the car for more than 60 seconds before he was recognized by a pair of Lowell fans, who graciously welcomed him back to campus. Lee asked them if they wanted a photo and they happily obliged, with the fans congratulating Lee on his NHL debut before going their separate ways. Before heading in, Lee met up with one of his best friends and former teammates, Benjamin McEvoy, who was a goaltender at Lowell for four seasons. The two linked up like old friends, walking around the outside of their former rink the way any of us might on our first trip back to campus. McEvoy had made the trip to Buffalo the day prior to catch his good friend’s NHL debut. Now, they were back together on campus. It was relatable for any of us, rehashing memories that happened at certain places, whether at the rink or away from it. With UMass-Lowell set to host Minnesota Duluth, they recalled being on the road in Minnesota, as Duluth raised a championship banner before the game back in 2019? Who was a part of that championship winning squad? Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson, a nice detail though unimportant to the story here.

As they walked by the team spaces, to a fan fest behind the arena, Lee was instantly recognized several times by fans walking by. Many just welcomed him back. Others wished him well and congratulated him on playing in his first NHL game the day before. Others asked for a photo. Lee was not only happy to not just oblige each of them, but he seemed to truly recognize most of the people he saw. He asked how their families were doing or asked about a detail specific enough to let you know he remembered you. The mark of a guy who appreciated his time playing in front of the Lowell fans as much as they appreciated him playing there.

After sinking a putt and shooting a basket in one of those fan activation games outside of the rink, Lee and Benji, as McEvoy goes by, headed inside to reconnect with their old Head Coach Norm Bazin, a Lowell alum himself, who has been behind the bench at the school since 2011, winning two Hockey East championships and advancing to the Frozen Four once from six appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Lee left school with a strong relationship with Bazin, noting that his time at Lowell helped to develop him for the professional game. Waiting for him after leaving the coaches office, which is likely a lot more of an enjoyable thing to do when you’re not playing there anymore, was his old jersey, with Lee and #26 on the back, as he wore it when he played there. It was a little bit beat up – as we know, Lee plays a rough and tumble style of hockey – which let you know it was his actual jersey, which was pretty cool. Lee got the chance to go on the bench and take in the building again, before he and I walked around the bowels of the arena, talking about his best memories and moments. We talked about how electric the energy was, specifically the student section, whenever Boston College or Boston University was in town. During his junior season, Lee and the Riverhawks beat both teams at home, with Lee scoring twice against Boston College, in front of a packed house. He recalled that one as being pretty crazy.

Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images

As we made our way up to the main concourse, Lee’s time was split between reflections and greetings. It was honestly pretty wild how often he was recognized, with fans continuing to courteously come up and check in, while Lee also sought out staff members from around the arena who he recognized, connecting as he made his way around the rink. He showed us the framed photo of the 2019-20 team that he was a part of that was recognized for winning the Turkey Leg Classic, an in-season tournament, with wins over RPI and Penn State. He walked us through the framed photos of players who played at UMass-Lowell and went on to reach the NHL. Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is obviously the most famous, but forward Craig McTavish played there for two seasons, before logging more than 1,000 NHL games, as did defenseman Ron Hainsey, who is a fellow member of the 1,000-game club. Former Kings defenseman Christian Folin was a Riverhawk, as was former Kings winger Dean Jenkins, who played collegiately at Lowell from 1977-81, before playing five games with Los Angeles during the 1983-84 season. We found where the most recent players were on the concourse and found where Lee’s picture would likely hang one day in the future. It was understandable that he wasn’t already up there less than 24 hours after making his debut. Guess we’ll have to go back to see the finished product.

From there, Lee took us on a complete tour of the arena, eventually making his way back down through the stands to the locker-room area, but not before saying a few more hellos and pointing out the student section and the student band, which got pretty rowdy on big nights when he played there. Lee dropped the ceremonial first puck, after being announced to a big ovation from a decent crowd on Opening Night at the Tsongas Center. Lee and McEvoy watched a good chunk of the game before they headed out to grab dinner, to catch up as old friends do, while our group headed back to the hotel to do the same. A fun trip for Andre Lee, as a part of what was the most eventful week of his professional career.

Give the video a watch for the visual representation of what I just rambled on about! A well-produced edit with a cool look behind the scenes at fun night for Lee.