Yahoo Sports UMass hockey player suspended for national title game for unpenalized hit to head
UMass freshman forward Bobby Trivigno will miss Saturday night’s national championship game against Minnesota Duluth.
The NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey committee announced Friday that Trivigno would be suspended for the game because of a hit that he made during Thursday night’s semifinal game against Denver.
Trivigno hit a Denver player in the head with his elbow with just over three minutes to go in the game. No penalty was called. Had he been penalized, Denver would have been on a power play for the rest of the game and Trivigno would have been ejected for a game misconduct penalty. The hit came right after Denver had tied the game at 3-3.
“It’s frustrating because the game to that point where he thought he had to defend himself,” UMass coach Greg Carvel told MassLive.com. “The kid was coming at him so he got his elbow up to protect himself. I understand why he was suspended. I feel strongly that the game shouldn’t have gotten to that point. I’ve never seen a game with so many players thrown out. In a national semifinal game, it was unlike any other game I’ve coached."
3 ejections in the semifinal
UMass beat Denver 4-3 in overtime Thursday night. Before Trivigno’s hit, two UMass players were ejected for hits to the head. A player for Denver was also ejected.
Trivigno scored UMass’ first goal in the game. The Minutemen’s next two goals came during the five-minute power play that ensued after Denver’s Ryan Barrow got tossed for making contact with a UMass player’s head with his shoulder.
Saturday’s national title game is the first for UMass in just the school’s second NCAA tournament appearance.
Duluth, the defending national champions, beat Providence 4-1 in the other semifinal.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports
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