Staying out of the penalty box has become a hallmark for the UMass hockey program.
The Minutemen were honored with Hockey East’s Charlie Holt Team Sportsmanship Award for the second consecutive season, awarded for having the fewest penalty minutes per game in conference play.
It was one of several honors No. 12 UMass received Wednesday during Hockey East’s initial batch of awards announcements.
Freshmen defensemen Scott Morrow and Ryan Ufko were named to the Pro Ambitions All-Rookie team. UMass had the second-most honorees behind regular season conference champion Northeastern (three).
Morrow, a Carolina Hurricanes draft pick, was a unanimous selection. He led Hockey East rookies in league scoring (23 points) and also had the most points of any defenseman in the league. His 31 points are the fourth-most nationally among defensemen.
Ufko, picked by the Nashville Predators last summer, led the league with 19 assists in conference play. He was the Hockey East Rookie of the Month for February and has scored three power-play goals.
Senior captain Bobby Trivigno was officially crowned the Hockey East scoring champion. He finished with 32 points in 24 games on 14 goals and 18 assists (17/26/43 overall). Trivigno is the third Minuteman to win the scoring title, joining Mitchell Chaffee (2019) James Marcou (co-champion in 2009). He was six points clear of second place (UConn’s Ryan Tverberg).
Trivigno also was the runner up for the PNC Bank Three Stars award, which went to Northeastern goalie Devon Levi. It’s given to the player who accumulates the highest number of points for being the first, second or third star in Hockey East games.
Junior defenseman Matthew Kessel finished as the runner up for Hockey East’s best defenseman behind Northeastern’s Jordan Harris.
The full all-star teams will be announced at 11 a.m. Friday, and the finalists for the Player, Rookie, and Coach of the Year awards will be revealed Monday.
Hockey East tournament play began Wednesday night with an opening round that stuck to seed. UMass (19-12-2, 14-8-2 Hockey East) is the No. 2 seed and will host No. 7 Providence at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Mullins Center. The Minutemen went 2-1 against the Friars this season.
Providence handled No. 10 Vermont 2-1 and No. 6 Merrimack bested No. 11 Maine 6-2 in the first round. No. 8 Boston College defeated No. 9 New Hampshire 4-3 in overtime. The Eagles will play at No. 1 Northeastern in the quarterfinals (7:30 p.m.).
Merrimack is at No. 3 UMass Lowell (4:30 p.m.), while No. 4 UConn is hosting No. 5 Boston University (4:30 p.m.).
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.