Three takeaways from the Hockey East Championship

By Patrick Donnelly

Aaron Bohlinger scored at 3:06 of overtime, and the UMass Minutemen won 2-1 against the UConn Huskies to repeat as Hockey East Champions at TD Garden on Saturday.

The sophomore defenseman collected senior captain Bobby Trivigno’s pass at the top of the high slot, and his snap shot deflected off UConn senior co-captain Jachym Kondelik and in.

UConn’s season is over after making it to the Hockey East semifinal and championship for the first time in program history. With the win, UMass automatically punches their ticket to the NCAA tournament to continue their national title defense.

Here are my three takeaways from the game. All opinions are my own.

Trivigno is the straw that stirs the drink

Trivigno was named tournament MVP for the second straight year, and it’s clear why, even beyond his three-point weekend (2g, 1a in two games). He had eight shots on goal in semifinals and championship, three blocked shots, and four grade ‘A’ scoring chances, according to the league’s statistics. Two of those chances were goals. He brought his do-it-all, pesky style as a diving blocked shot in Friday’s semifinal against UMass-Lowell immediately comes to mind in addition to strong work in the corner to keep the puck alive and work it free to Bohlinger for the game-winner. He drove the Minutemen’s offense all weekend, and he’s one of the biggest reasons they’re moving on.

Hanson kept UConn in it

UMass had UConn on their heels for the majority of the night, and Darion Hanson was a big reason why the game got to OT. Of his 31 saves, a good number of them were big time stops. When he got beat, it was a on a great shot by Trivigno, and a deflection by Bohlinger in the extra frame. As the game wore on, you knew it was going to take a goal like Bohlinger’s to bear Hanson. He was great for the Huskies all throughout the tournament, whether it was against BU, Northeastern or UMass. As I said in my three stars on Saturday, Hanson gave UConn a chance to win, which is all you could ask of a goalie.

UConn vs. UMass. Who would’ve thought?

If you were to have predicted a UMass-UConn matchup in the Hockey East championship in 2016, I’m pretty sure the only people who would have believed you would have been Greg Carvel and Mike Cavanaugh.

In 2013, Cavanaugh took over a Huskies squad that had just one winning season in the previous 13 years. The following year, UConn made the jump to Hockey East from Atlantic Hockey, understandably struggling at first, but the last three years has seen a ton of positive momentum, culminating in this latest run. They’re one of the more dangerous teams in the conference, and the #IceBus should continue to roll for the foreseeable future.

Carvel’s Minutemen have seen a meteoric rise on the conference and national stage after he took over a team that had largely been a doormat in Hockey East. He’s built that team into a program, and it starts with the culture that has been established. He and his staff have had incredible success targeting, recruiting and developing the right players that fit the program and its culture, look no further than Trivigno, Cale Makar, Matt Kessel, Matt Murray, the Del Gaizo brothers, and so on. It’s no fluke they’re defending a national title as repeat conference champions.