By Warren Kozireski —
The University of Massachusetts men’s hockey team hasn’t lost a game since January 18th and enters the 2021 Frozen Four in Pittsburgh this weekend riding a 12-game unbeaten streak including a three-game sweep in the Hockey East championships before defeating Lake Superior State and Bemidji State to win the NCAA East Regional.
In the postseason, they have allowed a total of four goals over five games.
Setauket’s Bobby Trivigno led the squad in scoring with 31 points and was second in goals with ten and is hoping this trip ends in a championship after the team fell one game short two years ago.
“Staying in the moment; there are a lot of lights and a lot of cameras and sometimes it can be tough to control your emotions, but staying in the moment, focusing on your process and treating it just like another game which is what we’ve been doing,” Trivigno said in a Wednesday press conference.
“A lot of our success this year has come from hard work and our character. We pride ourselves on being really good in the d-zone and good defense leads to good offense.
“Our defensive details come from our compete and will to do it. We have guys that are locked in to play defense and they’re not looking for offense; they’re focused on the task at hand, which is defending the net and that’s something that has been huge for us throughout the year. I think we have a group on the ice that we’re not cheating for offense, we’re looking to play sound “D”.
The Minutemen were dealt another blow before leaving for Pittsburgh when four players were ruled out due to Covid protocol including their starting goaltender and leading goal scorer Carson Gicewicz of Buffalo.
“This year has been filed with unpredictability…and this is one of those moments where we weren’t sure what was going to happen. I know we are really grateful that we had the opportunity to come here and we’re not going to squander it. I know the boys back home are going to be rooting for us and we’re going to get the job done for them.
As added motivation, Trivigno did not play in the championship game during the last Frozen Four in 2019 when suspended by the NCAA for an illegal check to the head of Denver’s Jake Durflinger, so he is more than ready in 2021.
“I didn’t play in our last national championship game and that was a personal mistake on me. I’m really hungry, I’m really excited. It’s a big motivator for me; having to watch that game was probably one of the worst times of my life…and I don’t want to feel that again. I know it’s a team effort, but I’m going to do my job for sure.”
UMass drew two-time defending champion University of Minnesota-Duluth in the national semi-finals Thursday at 9pm eastern on ESPN2. The first semi-final pits St. Cloud State against Minnesota State at 5pm.
