BY Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
BOSTON, MA – At 3:06 of overtime, sophomore Aaron Bohlinger’s shot from the left point went off the UCONN’s Jachym Kondelik and sailed past a thoroughly screened Darion Hanson to give UMASS a 2-1 victory and the Hockey East championship for the second year in a row.
UCONN was unable to get the puck out of their zone. First, UMASS’s Anthony Del Gaizo came down from the right point forcing Kevin O’Neil to lose the puck. Then UMASS MVP Bobby Trivigno fished the puck out and backhanded a pass across the ice to Bohlinger from deep in the right-wing corner.
A right-handed shot, Bohlinger sent a perfect shot on the net as Del Gaizo converged with teammate Garret Wait around Roman Kinal, thoroughly screened Hanson. Bohlinger hadn’t scored since last year’s NCAA title game.
“Well, first I would like to congratulate Greg (UMASS Head Coach Greg Carvel) and UMASS on winning. We clawed; we fought and hung in there to try to win our first tile, but it wasn’t meant to be. Simply put, UMASS played better than we did. The puck has eyes sometime in overtime,” said UCONN Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh.
Kondelik was trying to block the shot but had it go off his left arm into the top part of the net, ending UCONN’s season. With a record of 20-16-0 overall, 16-11-0 in HEA, the team ends one of the program’s deepest runs of any of its teams in its short Hockey East history. The loss means the Huskies will miss out on a Hockey East championship and a berth in the national tournament.
The UMASS (21-12-2 overall, 17-8-2 HEA) Minutemen are the defending national champions and earn one of the automatic NCAA regional bids based on winning the conference championship.
The regionals this year are in Albany, NY, Worcester, MA, Loveland, CO, and Allentown, PA.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period was an extraordinary tight-checking affair as UCONN was held to just two shots for the period and twenty for the game. They saw their shot at a championship game go to OT for the first time in 13 years. However, UCONN could not match their game to UMASS, who smothered the Huskies and were willing to grind it out for the 63-plus minutes.
“We had a hard time sustaining offensive pressure. Ironically, we had decided to change our forechecking patterns in overtime. We tried to change things up because nothing was working. They’re a good team. They kept up the pressure,” a downcast Cavanaugh said.
SCORING
Vladislav Firstov, a Hockey East All-Tournament pick, and a Minnesota Wild draft choice, scored the game’s first goal, the third-straight game UCONN tallied first.
John Spetz, an all-tournament selection, was also at the right point. His shot was going wide, but Firstov made an NHL-like re-direct between his legs and through the five-hole of the screened Matt Murray (19 saves). It was his 12th goal of the year.
Trivigno tied the game at 16:06 of the second with his 20th goal and showed why he is one of the ten finalists in the Hobey Baker conversation.
Trivigno caught UCONN in a bad change at center ice on the left-wing side. He received a pass from Colin Felix and was wide-open to go to the net. He took off for the net with speed and ripped one off the inside of the left pad of Hanson, evening the score at one.
INJURED D-MAN
UCONN was stronger on the puck in the second period. However, despite the rise in play, they suffered a setback as they lost defenseman Jarrod Gourley for the game as he got dinged off his helmet with the puck when it hit him with his back to the play. The referee told him to stay down until the UCONN trainer came out. Jake Flynn and Marc Gatcomb helped escort him off the ice.
In the first period, the Minutemen possessed the puck for most of the period. Hanson continued his strong post season staying square to the shooters and a top of the blue paint area.
He made a vital stop on a bouncing puck off the ice at 9:47 on Marc Del Gaizo and stopped Darien’s Scott Morrow from the left point on another and Oliver MacDonald with a tip-in attempt.
“He was great,” Cavanaugh said. “He gave us a chance to win the game. He played great. He was outstanding not only tonight, but all season for us.”
UCONN scoring chances were few and far between. They had a two-on-one with Kondelik and Firstov. However, Kondelik’s backhanded shot at the end of a PK hit the side of the net.
MORE STRONG PLAY
Chase Bradley had a solid first period making the other 31 NHL teams wonder how he got to the seventh round for the Detroit Red Wings.
Bradley had strong hits on Trivigno behind the UCONN net but took a penalty for his hit in front of the UCONN bench at the end of the period. Bradley plastered Lucas Mercuri in the right-wing corner of the UMASS zone that left him dazed after the contact.
Cavanaugh ended his post-game presser philosophically.
“The precious things in life are non-transactional. You can’t put a price tag on the experiences those twenty guys just had. They did many exceptional things this season.”
However, one accomplishment did elude them, and that was for a chance to skate around the TD Garden with the Lamoriello Trophy.
