UMass successfully retained its Hockey East crown and secured a favorable position to repeat as NCAA National Champions.
Sophomore defenseman Aaron Bohlinger fired a wobbler from the high slot at 3:06 of overtime to give the Minutemen a 2-1 victory over UConn in the Hockey East championship before raucous house of 12,047 on Saturday night at the TD Garden.
“Obviously it feels great but it was just winning and we did it pretty early in the (overtime) which was nice,” said Bohlinger. “We knew we could do it if we made the right things.”
The tally was Bohlinger’s second of the season and it floated over UConn goalie Darion Hanson’s (31 saves) shoulder on the glove side. UMass beat UMass-Lowell in the 2021 title game before an empty house at the Mullens Center.
The No. 11 ranked Minutemen are the first back-to-back winners of the Lou Lamoriello Trophy since Boston College took three in a row from 2010-2012. UMass senior right wing captain Bobby Trivigno was named the Tournament MVP.
The NCAA selection committee will likely award the Minutemen the No. 2 seed in the Northeast Regional at the DCU Center in Worcester when the pairings are announced on Sunday night. UMass will compete in its fourth NCAA tournament and third in the last four years.
The No. 19 ranked Huskies finished 20-16-0 having secured their first 20 win-season since joining Hockey East in 2014 that included playoff wins over Boston University and Northeastern. UConn needed to run the table to secure an NCAA tournament berth.
“I’m so proud of these kids because this was really hard to defend than last year where we had three home games,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “This is awesome and I am so happy for our program and they deserved it. ”
Both teams experience title game jitters following the opening faceoff with breakouts clogged up in the neutral zone and a lot of dump and chase. The result was UMass holding a 3-1 edge in shots on goal at the 10-minute mark.
The UMass fans rose in irate fury at 11:16 when UConn’s Chase Bradley pummeled Trivigno, the Hockey East Player of the Year, from a blind spot in front of the Huskies’ bench. Bradley got lugged to the cooler for interference.
UMass goalie Matt Murray (19 saves) received due homage from the UMass’ fans when he stoned Huskies’ sophomore center Jachym Kondelik on a 2-on-1 break with Vladislav Firstov at 13:35. The Minutemen exited the first with a 10-3 lead in shots on goal.
UConn opened the second period with an extended stretch of zone time that culminated in a 1-0 lead at 2:35. Ryan Tverberg retrieved the puck from a left circle draw and slid across the blue line to sophomore defenseman John Spetz on the right point.
Spetz launched a heavy slapper through a screen that Firstov redirected by Murray inside the near post for his 12th of the season. Firstov scored the Huskies’ first goal in their three Hockey East playoff games.
The Huskies’ goal managed to have awaken a napping national champion. The Minutemen began a steady carpet bombing on the UConn goal, pelting Hanson with vulcanized rubber from all angles of zone.
The surge eventually yielded the equalizer by Trivigno at 16:06. Senior defenseman Colin Felix retrieved a turnover at the UMass blue line and flicked the puck to Trivigno along the left wall.
Trivigno flashed his Hobey Baker Award credentials when he zipped through the left circle and beat Hanson with a wrister stick side to the near post. The tally was Trivigno’s 20th of the season and third of the tournament. UMass had 15 shots on goal in the period.
“I don’t think we were playing bad up to that point but when they scored it was time to go, we had to get something going here,” said Trivigno. “On got lucky on that goal because I was just waiting for the puck and just shot it on net.”
The third period had some volatile stretches but yielded zero goals and, despite the physical battles in the corner and the blue paint, no penalties. UMass outshot UConn 7-2 in the third and 32-18 in regulation.