It was ugly and sometimes even a little bloody, but UMass is on its way to the Hockey East championship game for the second straight season.
The Minutemen rode a two-goal spurt in less than two minutes of the first period Friday night as a springboard for a 3-1 win over intra-state rival UMass Lowell before a crowd of 13,106 at TD Garden.
“We got some gutsy kids,” Minutemen coach Greg Carvel said. “Really gutsy kids. Colin Felix, what he did at the end of the game — he made a huge block, huge hit. He has a huge cut on his face, and he’s still playing with a broken finger. That’s why you win, kids like that.”
The UMass defense recorded 21 blocks, taking a good chunk of pressure off of Minuteman goalie Matt Murray, who made 22 saves.
“To have the guys put their bodies on the line, especially when they’re not wearing the gear I do, it shows their character,” Murray said. “It shows how determined they are. I have so much respect for all the guys in front of me, especially when they step in front of those kinds of pucks. I wouldn’t be able to have success without those guys.”
The second-seeded and defending Hockey East and NCAA champion Minutemen (21-12-2, 16-8-2 Hockey East) will face No. 4 UConn (20-15-0, 16-10-0) in Saturday night’s final (7 p.m.). UConn was a 4-1 winner over top seed Northeastern in the first of Friday’s two semifinals.
“I didn’t feel like we had a lot of momentum tonight, but I thought we did a good job preventing them from doing what they wanted to do,” Carvel said. “They had the puck a lot, but they didn’t have it in opportunistic areas.”
No. 3 Lowell fell to 21-10-3, 16-9-1 in the league, and now must wait for the NCAA tournament committee to do its work and see if it earns an at-large bid to the national tournament. The 16-team field will be announced Sunday evening.
“I like this group a lot and I hope we get to play another game,” Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “I think we have a better game than what we showed here tonight.”
The prettiest goal of the night came off the stick of Hockey East Player of the Year Bobby Trivigno. Picking up a pass from senior forward Garrett Wait at the Lowell blue line, Trivigno carried the puck across the slot to the opposite side of the net and fired a nifty wrister past River Hawks goalie Owen Savory (16 saves) for a 2-0 Minuteman lead at 14:10 of the opening frame. The goal came just 1:43 after Wait opened the scoring with his 12th of the season.
“Waiter made a really good play, hustled for the puck, chipped it out,” Trivigno said. “I felt like I had some space up top as soon as I entered across the blue line to cut across and bring the puck to my forehand. (No) one really went to me. Waiter did a tremendous job working from the D-zone all the way to the front of the net, took away Savory’s eyes. I just placed it into the net. I was fortunate enough to score the goal, but it was pretty much all Waiter’s hard work there.”
Carvel had high praise for his defensive unit, especially sophomore Aaron Bohlinger and the aforementioned Felix.
“I thought Bohlinger was one of the few guys on the team who had poise with the puck,” Carvel said. “He held on to it, he skated with it, he broke pucks out himself. And Colin Felix is just the ultimate warrior for us.”
Lowell cut the lead to 2-1 with the only goal of the second period, off the stick of Matt Crasa at 16:37. Unfortunately for Crasa, however, Amherst’s third goal was the direct result of Crasa whiffing on an attempted clear and instead sending it right into the River Hawks’ net for a 3-1 UMass lead at 13:00 of the final frame. UMass’s Jerry Harding was credited with the unassisted goal, his first of the season.
“Matt Crasa’s had an excellent year,” Bazin said. “It was a bad bounce. He’ll recover.”
