AMHERST — The last two Fridays, Greg Carvel received the unfortunate news that one of his players was ill.
Shortly before UMass hosted Vermont on Jan. 11, it was Mitchell Chaffee who was out of the lineup. Roughly five hours before the puck dropped last week against Northeastern, Amherst native John Leonard was scratched due to sickness.
Both times, Carvel turned to freshman Bobby Trivigno to plug into their normal spots.
“When someone gets sick like that and I get moved up, I just do my best to make sure those players play well and they can produce and play their style,” Trivigno said. “Between the first two lines, there’s a little bit difference of play, so it’s just adjusting to their style of play and help them.”
The decision to move up Trivigno was an easy one for Carvel, who said Trivigno would be a top-six forward on many other teams. He was originally scheduled to enroll at UMass in the fall, but Trivigno performed well enough in his only season in the USHL that Carvel decided for him to join the Minutemen this season.
That success has carried over into this season with 16 points, living up to the expectations Carvel and his staff had for him before the season. Four of those points came in the Friday games where he was a force in the offensive zone with his new linemates.
“When you give him opportunities, he takes advantage of it,” Carvel said. “He’s versatile and he plays completely to our identity. He plays with tempo, he competes hard and he has a good skill level and he plays with an edge.”
Trivigno effortlessly integrating himself with new linemates shortly before the game is just part of what makes him such a dangerous weapon for the Minutemen. He naturally creates chemistry by transforming himself into the type of player that will best serve his two linemates.
In an attempt to maximize Trivigno’s offensive potential, Carvel experimented early this week with a new second line combination of Leonard, Jacob Pritchard and Trivigno. And it wasn’t a surprise that the trio was able to establish near instant chemistry with one another.
“Whoever I’m playing with, I just try to match their style,” Trivigno said. “I try to create space for them — be hard on the forecheck, win puck battles in the corner and then kick the puck out to them where they make skillful plays. I’m doing whatever I can to help the line succeed.”
Despite standing just 5-foot-8 and weighing about 155 pounds, Trivigno isn’t afraid to throw around his body around and get into the scrappy areas. But it isn’t just Trivigno’s effort that helps win the corner puck battles.
The freshman is also wise about using physics to his advantage when knocking down bigger opponents, many of whom are surprised about the strength Trivigno puts into his hits.
“If you go in the weight room, he’s probably pushing the least amount of weight around,” Carvel said, “but when you have to battle for a puck, he’s very hockey strong. He knocks down big kids just because he’s smart and he’s agile and he’s an athlete. He’s got a very strong competitive edge, so he’s hard to play against and he’s the kind of kid you don’t want to play against because he’s going to do whatever he has to do. He’s going to find ways, he’s going to win battles and then he’s going to score nice goals.”
Trivigno has been described by some as an agitator on the ice because of his fearless style of play. He’s drawn penalties on opposing players for retaliating against him, giving the nation’s second-best power play more chances on the ice.
It happened last Friday against Northeastern, too, when Patrick Schule was given a major penalty and game misconduct for a hit from behind on Trivigno in the third period.
“I just like to compete,” Trivigno said. “If I get under some player’s skin and they take a stupid penalty or something, it helps our team. Our power play is one of the best in the nation. I just like to compete and just play hard.”
BLACK BEAR BUGABOO — Second-ranked UMass (18-4-0, 10-2-0 Hockey East) travels to Maine (8-11-3, 4-5-3) for games on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) as it tries to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Black Bears. One way the Minutemen will be able to find success is creating more traffic in front of the goal.
They excelled at creating chaos in front of Cayden Primeau in the 6-1 win over Northeastern last Friday, but struggled to replicate it the next night against the Huskies in Boston.
“When you run into a hot goalie, you know it’s not going to be a pretty goal, you kind of have to bang in garbage goals,” Trivigno said. “We didn’t do a well enough job of getting in front of the net (Saturday), and that’s a big focus this week going into Maine. We should do a lot better at that (this weekend).”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.