If Aaron Bohlinger scores a goal, there’s a 100 percent chance Massachusetts will hoist a championship trophy at the end of the game.
Less than a year after scoring the game winner in the NCAA championship game for his first career goal, Bohlinger scored his second career goal in overtime to lift UMass to a 2-1 win over Connecticut in the Hockey East final Saturday night before a crowd of 12,049 at TD Garden.
“He told me after the game, he only scores in championship games,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “He was really good this weekend. (Our) defense was outstanding and Bohlinger, that’s the best he’s played.”
Bohlinger’s shot from high in the slot deflected off a UConn defender and ended things at 3:06 of the final frame. The win handed the second-seeded Minutemen their second straight tournament championship and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“We knew we had them on our heels,” Bohlinger said. “We just did the right things. It was a great pass — put it on net and good things happened.”
UMass improved to 21-12-2 overall and finished league play with a 17-8-2 mark. The 16-team NCAA tourney field will be announced Sunday evening.
“It’s awesome to defend this trophy,” said UMass senior forward Bobby Trivigno, who earned back-to-back tourney MVP honors and scored the Minutemen’s first goal of the night at 16:06 of the second period. “We earned these two wins the past two days.
“Coming here was the best decision of my life,” Trivigno added. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
UConn opened the scoring early when Vladislav Firstov scored his 12th of the season to put the Huskies up 1-0. Unfortunately for the Huskies, that would be their last goal of the season, which is likely over at 25-16-0 (16-11-0 league). The Huskies were seeking their first Hockey East tournament title.
“We fought, we clawed and we hung in there,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “We gave ourselves a chance to get to overtime and win our first title. But it just wasn’t meant to be tonight.”
Carvel had high praise for Bohlinger’s defensive performance the previous night in a 3-1 semifinal win over UMass-Lowell. On Saturday, Carvel was happy to see the sophomore defenseman have his moment in the spotlight.
“He’s been beat up all year and he’s found his game,” Carvel said. “He’s a really effective player when he’s moving and controlling the game with the puck.”
One night after scoring a highlight-reel goal in Friday’s semifinal, Trivigno scored in similar — if not quite as spectacular — fashion on Saturday when he beat UConn goalie Darion Hanson (31 saves) through the 5-hole with a wrister from the left wing.
“I don’t think we were playing bad up to that point,” Trivigno said. “But when they scored, (we knew) we had to get something going here. I got lucky on that goal. I was just waiting for the puck to settle and literally just shot it on net and got lucky that it went in.”
UMass goalie Matt Murray had 19 saves, his load lightened by a Minuteman defense that made 16 blocks and held UConn to three shots in the first period and only two in the third.
“That’s our game plan, every game — defense first,” Bohlinger said. “Good defense leads to offense. (We) know that going in and that’s something we take pride in. We take care of that and games generally tend to go our way.”
The atmosphere on Saturday was a far cry from a year earlier, when UMass beat rival Lowell for the Hockey East title on their own ice in front of zero fans due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Obviously a championship’s a championship, and we’ll take it any way we can get it,” Bohlinger said. “But it definitely made it a little more special to have fans and supporters here. We’re pretty thankful and grateful for that.”
Trivigno agreed.
“The crowd brings good energy, especially when we got a good UMass following here,” he said. “It was huge to have them in the building.”
Two more wins for the Minutemen will bring them right back to Garden for the Frozen Four, with a large UMass contingent certain to be in the house.
