After just three minutes of overtime at TD Garden on Saturday night, a goal from sophomore defenseman Aaron Bohlinger lifted the UMass Minutemen to their second straight Hockey East championship.
With the win, UMass became the first Hockey East team to win back-to-back tournament titles since UMass Lowell did so in 2013 and 2014. The Minutemen’s first ever Hockey East title came last season and was followed by their first national title.
“Repeating is really hard. I’ve been very proud of a lot of things here in six years. Maybe repeating as Hockey East champions might be number one,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said after the game.
Unlike last season, UMass was able to close out the championship at TD Garden, at full capacity, which made for a more intense atmosphere.
“It was awesome. What a great showing for our university,” Carvel said. “It was loud, it was awesome, it was a great experience. We’ve won a few championships, but that’s been the best atmosphere. I want to thank all the alumni and all the fans who came out and supported us, and we were able to make them proud this weekend.”
“First I’d like to congratulate Greg and the University of Massachusetts. They played a great game tonight and really had us on our heels for a good portion of the game, UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “We fought and we clawed and we hung in there. We gave ourselves a chance to get to overtime and win our first title, but it just wasn’t meant to be tonight. My sincere congratulation to Greg and his staff and their team.”
The overtime game-winner by Bohlinger was just his second goal of the season. Last season, he scored the game-winning goal for the Minutemen in the national championship as well.
The other goal-scorer for UMass in the game was senior captain Bobby Trivigno, who scored a goal in the last three games to close out the title.
“It’s awesome to defend this trophy. We earned these two wins the past two days,” Trivigno said following the win.
After the game, Trivigno was once again named the MVP of the Hockey East Tournament for the second year in a row.
Trivigno sparked the UMass offense in the second period, scoring the team’s first goal and tying the game at 1-1, a score that would carry into overtime.
Being named the tournament MVP was just one of Trivigno’s many accomplishments this season. Trivigno won the Hockey East regular-season scoring title and was subsequently awarded Hockey East Player of the Year. He was named to the Steve Nazro Hockey East All-Tournament Team for the second straight year, and was recently named a Hobey Baker Top-10 Finalist.
“He’s the most unique kid I’ve ever coached. It’s not even close. He never gets tired. He never has a bad attitude. He never gets out-willed. Never, never, never,” Carvel said about Trivigno.
“Every single day, he’s the hardest-working kid. He has a fire inside him that’s unmatched. Not even close,” Carvel continued. “Unbelievable. He’s a two-time MVP of this tournament, two-time First Team. Unbelievable stuff. When we recruited him, we gave him a partial scholarship, because nobody else was even talking to him.
“You guys watch him, other teams take runs at him. You ever see him fall down? You have to hit him from behind to knock him down. I have so much respect for this kid. I could go on for a long time. He’s a really special kid.”
The Minutemen overcame a UConn team that was poised to send themselves to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. With the loss, the Huskies’ season ended, and UConn, Merrimack and Vermont remain the only teams in Hockey East that have yet to win a conference title.
UConn’s ninth-year head coach, Mike Cavanaugh, was still encouraged by the trajectory of the program, and how they’ve developed into a more formidable program over the past few seasons.
“We’re not neophytes in this league anymore, but we’re still relatively young. The league’s 37 years old, and we’re eight years in,” Cavanaugh said. “The last three years, we finished in the top five in the league. There’s 11 teams in this league, and if you’re consistently finishing in the top five in the league… the last two years we finished fourth. I think that says something about consistency and where the program’s going.”