Month: December 2011
Alleged Trivino incident an extreme example of previous floor behavior
By Arielle Aronson and Tim Healey/DFP Staff
Throughout the fall semester, members of the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team – living in the same building where then senior forward Corey Trivino allegedly sexually harassed a female student on Dec. 11 – had consistently exhibited inappropriate behavior, building residents said.
The 21-year-old Trivino’s arrest on charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery and assault to rape painted a picture of an isolated incident of inappropriate behavior from one of the hockey team’s brightest stars.
After the arrest, however, The Daily Free Press learned that Trivino’s behavior on the night of the arrest was an exaggerated example of commonplace behavior on that floor.
Residents of the building told The DFP while they never experienced a player attempting to assault them, issues with players bothering girls on the floor was a large problem that dated back to the beginning of the semester.
The residents asked to remain anonymous in fear of getting involved in “drama” concerning the still-open legal case – Trivino’s next court date is set for Jan. 18 – but they said some of the players were often disruptive, made lewd comments and knocked on girls’ doors.
Residents said the players would ask for condoms or see if the girls would let the barely dressed players into their rooms. If residents did not open their doors, they said, the players would leave. But the noisy behavior, which commonly occurred on weeknights, was a nuisance.
“They’re always running through the hallways and banging on our door, banging on other peoples’ doors in the hallways,” an anonymous resident said. “The Resident Advisor would have to come out and tell them like, ‘Guys, be quiet.’”
In October, the RA sent an email to everyone on the floor stating her floor was not a zoo and implored them to “stop behaving like animals,” the residents said. The residents originally volunteered to provide a copy of the email to The DFP, but later rescinded their offer.
The email did not stop the players’ behavior. The residents said the RA was constantly leaving her room to yell at the rowdy players and attempting to quiet them down.
When asked to describe which players ran through the halls and disturbed girls on the floor, residents did not describe Trivino. They did not recognize a description of Trivino and said they had personally never seen him behaving inappropriately in the hall.
Residents on other floors of the building did not report the same problems, and said players on their floors never ran loudly through the halls and were always well behaved. Many residents of the building said they were unaware they lived on the same floor as hockey players.
The residents whom lived on the rowdy floor said the only way to avoid the players was to ignore them.
“Basically it’s just an everyday kind of thing,” a resident said. “They’d be screaming in the hallways a lot. We ignore it most of the time.”
“We don’t ever open the door,” another resident said. “It’s no use to encourage that behavior because it’ll just give them more attention.”
However, in the police report describing Trivino’s arrest, the RA that Trivino allegedly came after said she had no choice but to open the door. According to the police report, the victim said she had to open the door because she was an RA.
According to other RAs at BU, however, the rule does not exist.
An RA in another building at BU, who asked to remain anonymous because she was unsure if she was allowed to comment on the matter, said she never heard of a rule requiring her to always open her door if someone knocked.
Another RA, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was shocked when she read – in the original DFP article published on Dec. 13 – the victim said she had to open the door all three times Trivino came calling. The RA interviewed had never heard of a rule requiring her to open her door. The RA said that in training, RAs are taught their safety comes first and if they are threatened, they should do whatever possible to protect themselves.
The DFP made multiple attempts to reach David Zamojski, BU’s director of Residence Life, for comment on the matter. Zamojski’s office, however, said he would call back a different day until, three days after the first attempt to reach Zamojski, his office said he was out for the weekend.
Attempts to reach others in housing were denied, as all others contacted deferred comment to Zamojski. Zamojski also did not respond to an email from The DFP seeking comment.
Former RA Caitlin Cox, a BU Class of 2010 graduate, said she understood why the victim would originally open the door for Trivino even if there were no rule requiring her to do so.
“The bottom line is that as an RA, your job is to help the students you are in charge of,” Cox said. “Not only is it your job, people become RAs because they want to help. So if there was someone banging on the door in the middle of the night, you jump to action because that is what you are trained to do and that is what you are ready to do.”
The DFP also spoke with BU spokesman Colin Riley, who denied commenting on the RA policy and said, BU officials would not comment while the police investigation continues.
In spite of the RA’s efforts to stop the rambunctious behavior, one resident said the hockey players’ habits created an uneasy living environment and left residents wondering how to prevent a similar assault from happening to them.
“We don’t open the door, but I mean if we did I can only imagine. . .what if that [attack] happened to one of us?” one resident said. “They’re big guys, we can’t fight back.”
Kevin Dillon, Meredith Perri and Annie Ropeik contributed to the reporting of this article.
Parker: Coyle’s move to QMJHL ‘a less than lateral move’
By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
During the winter break, the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team suffered one of the most high-profile player departures in recent history when sophomore forward Charlie Coyle chose to leave BU for brighter pastures with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
In a recent interview, BU coach Jack Parker expressed his disappointment in Coyle’s decision to leave BU at the end of the first semester. Coyle informed Parker before leaving BU for the break that he would not be returning. According to multiple sources, Coyle had some academic issues at BU, but Parker said that while he cannot comment on Coyle’s academic situation, he hinted that it was Coyle’s choice to leave the school.
“One of the major problems was it would be one thing if we lost a right wing and a left wing, but we lost two centers,” Parker said. “It would have been better for us and maybe better for him if he had decided to leave at the end of last season.”
Had Coyle left before the season and not in the middle of it, BU would have been able to bring in another center to replace Coyle. Parker said that while it is always an option to bring in a recruit a semester early, he chose not to do so in this case because he had an abundance of forwards (although not necessarily centers) on the team to replace Coyle. BU did add another forward, albeit not a recruited player, in walk-on Jake Moscatel – who most recently played for BU’s club hockey team – for depth in case of injury. Moscatel is not expected to see much ice time.
Coyle leaves BU in the midst of a season where he had only scored three goals but assisted on 11 other tallies. Parker said that while the team will suffer from the loss of a player of Coyle’s skill level, he believes the team will miss dismissed senior forward Corey Trivino’s (13-4-17) total output more than Coyle’s.
“Coyle had three goals and Trivino had 13 goals, so you tell me who we’ll miss more,” Parker said. “Coyle has been a really good player for us, there’s no question about it, but it’s not as if we’ll miss his total output. He was on the first line since he’s been here. He was on the power play since he’s been here. He couldn’t have possibly gotten more ice time than he had. We can replace him with a lot more guys in that ice time and get a lot more goals than just his three.”
Parker was then asked whether he was disappointed with Coyle’s production over the course of his BU career.
“Not as much as he was, I guess,” Parker said. Parker then denied that Coyle left BU because he was unhappy with the way he was developing. He said instead that Coyle told Parker he chose to leave BU because he wanted to focus solely on hockey rather than both school and hockey.
After Coyle’s departure, reports emerged saying sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening was also a risk to leave the team, but Parker said Clendening plans to return to school. Both Clendening and sophomore forward Matt Nieto, like Coyle, have been hounded by Canadian Major Junior teams throughout their collegiate careers in an attempt to get the players to leave college to play north of the border.
Coyle, a lifelong BU fan, always said it was his dream to play for BU and even used “buhockey03” as his email address before arriving on Commonwealth Avenue. Therefore, it seemed unlikely that Coyle would give in to the pressure from the Major Junior teams and leave his dream school.
Now that he did leave BU, the chances of Nieto and Clendening choosing to leave seemed greater as well. Parker, however, said he was not worried that Nieto or Clendening – who did not grow up as BU fans – would also leave the team.
“Anybody could do it,” Parker said. “Each individual has their own ethical and moral principles. It’s a hard situation, but Clendening has been hounded and he’s not leaving. Nieto’s not leaving.”
While Major Junior teams develop many elite players for the NHL, the league differs from college hockey in that it is for players aged 16-20 years old and is a longer schedule with more games and less of a focus on gym and practice routines. For Coyle, a player who has competed against 18-to-25 year olds in college hockey for the last 18 months, the move to Major Junior is an interesting developmental choice.
“It’s a less than lateral move,” Parker said of the difference in competition level between the QMJHL and college hockey.
Coyle is currently playing in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships, an annual tournament featuring national teams of players under 20 years old. Coyle has been dominant in the tournament thus far and recorded a hat trick in Team USA’s first official game, a 11-3 rout of Denmark. Coyle’s goal total in that one game matched his output from an entire semester at BU, leading the US national team coach, Dean Blais, to remark that Parker must not have been using Coyle correctly at BU. Parker did not back down from firing back at Blais.
“They’re playing him at center; we played him at center,” Parker said. “They’re playing him on the power play; we played him on the power play. They’re playing him on the penalty kill; we played him on the penalty kill. We used him exactly the same way they are.”
Despite his disappointment in Coyle’s decision to leave BU, however, Parker said he is happy to see Coyle doing well in the tournament.
“Charlie Coyle got much better as a player here at BU,” Parker said. “It’s amazing to see how much better he is now than he was at this point last year. In general, I’m happy to see him do well on that team.”
BU begins second half shorthanded
By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
The No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team’s game against the No. 5 University of Notre Dame on New Years Eve will be a game of many firsts. The matchup marks the first time coach Jack Parker has ever coached at Notre Dame, the first time the Terriers (10-5-1, 8-4-1 HE) will play at the Fighting Irish’s (11-6-3, 8-3-3 CCHA) new rink, the first time a college hockey game will be televised on the national TV network Versus, and most notably, the first time the Terriers will play this season without star centers Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle.
Trivino, a senior forward who led all of Hockey East in goals (13) through the first half of the season, was arrested a little over 24 hours after BU wrapped up its first semester schedule with a 5-1 win over the University of Maine. The 21-year-old was promptly dismissed from the team upon his arrest.
Coyle, a sophomore forward who was one of the team’s most highly touted stars, announced he would be leaving the team in order to join the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League following his participation in the World Junior Championships for the United States national team.
BU will also play without sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening and Notre Dame will be without forward T.J. Tynan and defenseman Stephen Johns. The three players are also competing with Team USA in Edmonton, but Clendening, Johns and Tynan are expected to return to their college teams after the tournament.
Despite having to play without some of their star players, however, Parker said the Terriers are well-equipped to enjoy a successful second half of the season.
“[Losing so many players] is a hard thing to have happen to a team, but it is not a bad year to have it happen,” Parker said. “We have a lot of depth up front and we have guys who have not seen a lot of ice time who maybe deserved to see a lot more ice time now about to see a lot more ice time.”
The Terriers will especially count on forwards Wade Megan, Sahir Gill and Yasin Cisse to fill the holes up front left behind by Trivino and Coyle. Megan, a junior forward who has spent much of the season playing on the third line, flew slightly under the radar during the first half of the season. He leads the team in game-winning goals (2 goals) and power-play goals (4 goals), and according to Parker, Megan will move up to center a second line in place of Coyle with sophomore forward Matt Nieto and junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson on his wings.
Parker said he expects to have Gill, who had been playing right wing on the top line, shift over to center on that line with Connolly and Cisse.
The Terriers have room in the standings for the forwards to adjust to their new roles on the team considering the strong position BU put itself in by finishing first semester just one point behind first-place Boston College in the league standings.
“I think we can be a very good team for the rest of the season,” Parker said. “We put ourselves in a good place and are fifth in the pairwise rankings, which is the only ranking that really matters, and we’re one point out of first place in our league. We don’t have to dig ourselves out of a hole here.
“Every team takes a step back. We just can’t afford to take any more steps back.”
Notes:
– Saturday night’s game will mark the first time college hockey will be televised on Versus, which will change its name to NBC Sports Network in 2012 and broadcast 12 college hockey games, including the Hockey East semifinals and championship game. Parker said it is an honor to be a part of the first game on the network, which also broadcasts many NHL games.
“It is a great opportunity,” Parker said. “When you play at BU, you get the chance to play in those type of games. I’m looking forward to it.”
Connolly said the game will be a memorable one not only for the Terriers, but for all of college hockey as well.
“It’s going to be an honor to play in this game,” Connolly said. “This also shows that hockey is really coming to the forefront in sports. For Versus to take the time to cover college hockey, it’s a great thing.”
– Junior forward Ryan Santana is slated to take the ice for the first time this season at Notre Dame. Santana missed the entire first half of the season while he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. By the beginning of December, Parker said Santana was healthy but was not mentally in good enough game shape to play. Santana was expected to battle for playing time before the departures of Coyle and Trivino, but now he will be looked upon to step up to replace some of the scoring BU will miss.
– Both Connolly (shoulder) and Nieto (shoulder) missed time toward the end of first semester with injuries, but Parker said both forwards are now healthy and will play at Notre Dame. Parker was uncertain as to what the lines may look like for the New Years Eve affair, but said they should look similar to the following:
Connolly – Gill – Cisse
Nieto – Megan – Chiasson
Courtnall – Hohmann – Rodrigues
Gaudet – Rosen – Santana
Parker was undecided on defensive pairings but mentioned he liked sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan and freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera together. If Parker follows recent patterns on defense, pairings should look similar to:
Escobedo – MacGregor/Ruikka
Noonan – Privitera
Nicastro – MacGregor/Ruikka
Senior goaltender Kieran Millan is expected to start in net.
– Long-time BU strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle took a new job over the break as a conditioning coach for the Red Sox, but Parker said Boyle’s new duties over on Yawkey Way will not steal him away from the BU hockey program.
“He’s done this in the past with us,” Parker said. “He once did something down in Pheonix and LA, I can’t exactly remember, and was there for nine months, and he used to work for the Bruins, which is tough because they’re the exact same season as us. It’s not as if he’s here constantly, but it works out fine for us and it will be even better for the Red Sox.”
Parker, a Red Sox season ticket holder, said he did have one request for Boyle.
“Hopefully he can get me some better seats,” Parker quipped.
Red-hot Bruins steamroll past Panthers, 8-0, behind Marchand’s first-career hat trick
By René Reyes/DFP Staff
Poor Jose Theodore.
The Florida Panthers’ 35-year-old starting goaltender had handed the Boston Bruins their last loss back on Dec. 8 when he stopped 40 shots in a stellar shutout performance, adding to his lore as a longtime B’s killer throughout his career in the National Hockey League. Entering Friday’s matchup, Theodore was 9-0-1 in his last 10 starts against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
But surprisingly enough, the red-hot Bruins (23-9-1) chased Theodore from the game after he allowed four first-period goals in just 20 minutes. Then, they lit the lamp four more times against Theodore’s backup, Scott Clemmensen, in a lopsided 8-0 rout of the Panthers (18-11-7) that included Brad Marchand’s first career NHL hat trick and taunting chants of “Merry Christmas” from the Boston faithful.
Five other Bruins scored in the blowout win and netminder Tuukka Rask (30 saves) quietly recorded his second shutout of the year, as the B’s posted their sixth straight victory before a spirited, sellout crowd at the Garden and now sit alone atop the Eastern Conference standings with 47 points.
“We’re feeling good about ourselves,” said Bruins alternate captain Patrice Bergeron. “We’re confident, but we always said it before, we can’t be satisfied. It’s something that’s very important, and we talked about the fact that tonight was, with the holiday starting tomorrow, a huge game, and we had to bear down.
“We did that, and now we have a couple days to rest and make sure we’re ready for the second half of the season because it’s going to get tougher.”
Marchand put the Bruins on the board first with his 13th goal of the season while the B’s were in the midst of a penalty kill. Defenseman Gregory Campbell was whistled for high sticking at 5:42 of the first period, but instead of the Panthers benefitting from the man advantage, the Bruins capitalized while they were short handed.
Bergeron carried the puck into the offensive zone and intentionally shot it wide off the boards. The pesky Marchand didn’t give up on the play and collected the loose puck from behind the net. He then skated to the right dot, and with the flick of a wrist, Marchand beat Theodore stick side at the 5:56 mark.
The Bruins doubled their lead seven minutes later. In his first game back since serving a one-game suspension for his hit on Philadelphia Flyers’ Zac Rinaldo last Saturday, left winger Milan Lucic made his presence felt immediately. Bergeron’s straightaway slap shot from the blue line careened off the endboards and bounced right to Lucic, who tapped the puck home.
Following Lucic’s tally, the B’s Shawn Thornton traded punches with the Panthers’ Krystofer Barch at center ice and both were assessed five-minute majors.
The fireworks had only begun.
Center Zach Hamil, filling in for the injured Rich Peverly, nearly tripled the Bruins’ edge when it appeared he had slipped the puck past Theodore from the slot. A “no-goal” call was given by the refs and deservedly so. Replays upheld the call because Hamil’s shot rang off the right post, and Theodore had managed to clear the puck off the line with his stick.
The Bruins netted their second short-handed goal with 2:17 remaining in the first period on a highlight reel goal by left winger Benoit Pouliot. After Bergeron was sent to the penalty box for tripping, center Chris Kelly won the faceoff in the Bruins’ defensive zone. Pouliot picked up the pick, raced down the left wing, slipped the puck through his legs and backhanded it by a helpless Theodore before falling to the ice.
Several of Pouliot’s teammates chimed in on the goal, one worthy of being a Top-10 play on Saturday’s SportsCenter.
“That was an unbelievable play there,” Marchand said. “I think a lot of people had written him off there and said he had no chance, but he’s got a lot of skill that maybe he’s underestimated for, and he breaks it out and that was a beautiful goal.”
“He’s got very good hands,” said Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg of Pouliot. “I wish I had half that skill. But he really fooled them, and it was a beautiful goal.”
Seidenberg capped off the scoring in the first frame with his first goal of the season, a laser that Theodore didn’t even see coming. For Seidenberg, it was such a relief to notch his first tally in 33 contests this year.
“There’s no doubt it’s been bothering him,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “It was nice to see him get that goal, get the monkey off his back. Although he might say to you or to us that he’s OK with that, I’m sure it was bothering him. If you look at last game, he had the open net and he hit the post and he just kind of, at one point, looked at me and said, ‘I don’t care, I just look at the hits at the end of the game now, never mind the goals.’
“But tonight, I’m sure he looked at the stat sheet and his goal in the goal column.”
Florida coach Kevin Dineen replaced Theodore with former Boston College standout Clemmensen at the start of the second period, but the Bruins continued to stomp on the Panthers and didn’t let up on their offensive attack.
Campbell and Bergeron each contributed goals in the second period, and Marchand chipped in two more goals in the third to complete his hat trick and the Bruins’ 8-0 trashing of the Panthers.
“That’s an old fashioned butt kicking,” Dineen said. “There’s nothing to say. I got nothing tonight. I have nothing to say. I’m always the glass half-full type of guy. Tonight there’s nothing from our goaltenders to our defense. We were very porous, and we didn’t generate any offense.
“We got our tails handed to us. There’s no excuse. I got nothing.”
Marchand overtook his pal Tyler Seguin as the Bruins’ leading goal scorer with 15, and his career-high five-point performance against the Panthers gave him a plus-5 rating tonight. The dream of being a valuable asset for a Stanley Cup-contending team in the NHL has become a reality for the 23-year-old Marchand.
“I thought I could [play at the NHL level], but to make it in this league, everything has to go right,” Marchand said. “You have to get the right breaks, and when you get your opportunity, you have to play well and everything. So, it’s not easy to make it. There are a lot of great guys in the American Hockey League who never get the chance, and they are a lot better hockey players than me.
“But it’s just that things have gone well, and I’ve been fortunate.”
With no mention of a Stanley Cup hangover these days on Causeway Street after a disappointing October showing, the Bruins will get a three-day break before beginning a West Coast swing at Phoenix on Dec. 28. The B’s have rightfully earned the extra days of rest, Julien said.
“The one thing I said to them was we’ve gone from 15th to first in less than two months – they deserve a lot of credit for that and they worked hard to accomplish that and I think it’s important that they enjoy the three days of the Christmas holiday they have,” Julien said. “And those three days will be beneficial to us, hopefully not just in the long run, but in the short term.
“If we come back with the right approach and the right attitude, and head out on the road and play Phoenix, and take off where we left off, then those three days will look even better.”
BU adds walk-on Moscatel for second semester
By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
One week after losing forwards Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle, the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team will add forward Jake Moscatel as a walk-on for at least the rest of the season, according to a team representative.
Moscatel, who academically has junior standing, played a season and a half at Div. III University of New England, collecting 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 25 games. He came to BU in the spring of 2011, transferring after playing just one game the fall of his sophomore season.
The 6-foot-1, 210 pound Lexington native had been a member of the BU club hockey team, and the paperwork to officially add him to the roster is still being finished.
Ouch, Charlie: Coyle confirms decision to leave BU
By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
UPDATE 3:50 p.m.: BU athletics has sent out a release to confirm the end of Coyle’s tenure at BU.
“Charlie has decided that he would like to focus on beginning his professional hockey career,” BU coach Jack Parker said in the release. “We respect his decision and certainly wish him all the best in the future.”
Parker will not be available for further comment today.
UPDATE 3:05 p.m.: Charlie Coyle has now confirmed his departure from BU.
“Yes, I have made my decision to leave BU because I’m done being a student-athlete and I want to focus on just hockey,” Coyle said via text. “I was not failing out.
“It was definitely a hard decision to make and I will miss my teammates and coaches. BU was a great place to be and I enjoyed my time there.”
UPDATE 2:50 p.m.: A Saint John Sea Dogs’ official has confirmed with The Daily Free Press that Coyle has indeed decided to leave BU to join the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Coyle, a 6-foot-2, 207 pound East Weymouth native, was tied for third on BU’s team with 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) this season. A 2010 first-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks – who have since traded his rights to the Minnesota Wild organization – Coyle was named the 2010-11 Hockey East Rookie of Year after collecting 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists)
The news of Coyle’s departure comes three days after news broke that senior forward Corey Trivino, the team’s leading point getter, was dismissed from the team following criminal charges stemming from an arrest on campus Sunday night.
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Despite rumors swirling this morning due to a report from USHR about the departure of sophomore forward Charlie Coyle due to academic issues, Coyle said via phone that, as of right now, he is still a part of of the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team.
“That’s all I can say right now,” said Coyle, who was on a plane en route to world junior camp.
Coyle told The Daily Free Press yesterday – before the USHR report this morning – that he is still on the team. Also, he is still listed on the official team roster at goterriers.com.
The original report from USHR says Coyle was having issues in school and would leave the Terriers in favor of the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The team’s sports information director said the team cannot comment on an athlete’s academic standing, and that BU coach Jack Parker was on a plane Friday morning and would be unavailable until mid-afternoon.
Parker: Trivino’s actions leave ‘no question in my mind it’s an alcohol problem’
By Arielle Aronson and Tim Healey/DFP Staff
Photo is a DFP file photo by Amanda Swinhart/DFP Staff
Corey Trivino – the Boston University Hockey team’s star forward who was dismissed from the team Monday after criminal charges stemming from an arrest Sunday night – has a history of alcohol-related problems, according to BU hockey coach Jack Parker.
In a phone interview with the Daily Free Press on Monday, Parker said this is the fourth alcohol-related incident the 21-year-old Trivino has been punished by the team for in his three-plus years at BU.
These incidents are due to what Parker believes is a serious drinking problem.
“There is no question in my mind it’s an alcohol problem,” Parker said. “I did [ask him to get treatment], but he didn’t think it was for him.”
Parker’s comments come one day after Trivino was arraigned on three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, one count of assault to rape, and three counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime for felony, according to criminal dockets obtained from Brighton District Court.
Trivino pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment on Monday. He was kicked off the team that same day.
“Corey knew exactly where he stood,” Parker said. “It’s sad but it’s simple for me. Corey knew in September that if he had another alcohol-related incident on campus or off campus, he would be gone from the team.
“I asked him [Monday], ‘What do you think I’m going to do to you, Corey?’ He said, ‘You’re going to kick me off the team.’ I said, ‘Why do you think that?’ He said, ‘Because you told me in September that you were going to kick me off the team if I had another alcohol-related incident.’ And I said, ‘That’s correct, and here we are.’”
The incident leading to Trivino’s arrest occurred Sunday night before 11 p.m. Parker said Trivino was watching the Patriots game earlier Sunday afternoon with some teammates. They were together for a while before a few of Trivino’s teammates put him to bed because he was so drunk, Parker said.
According to the narrative in the BU Police Department report, given to the Daily Free Press by Brighton District Court, Trivino first made contact with the victim when she asked individuals who were rowdy in a room to quiet down.
Parker said he believed Trivino was alone at the time of the incident and said he had not heard from residence life about a complaint involving any issue with other team members.
Trivino allegedly forced his way into the room of the victim and forcibly kissed and groped her, according to the BUPD report.
Parker was alerted of the incident around 1 a.m. on Monday morning, at which point he called an attorney to ensure Trivino would be represented in court later that day. He also spoke with Trivino’s parents and then with Trivino himself, at which point Parker told Trivino he was off the team, the coach said.
“I knew as soon as they called me that Corey Trivino was no longer on the BU hockey team,” Parker said. “I told him before in September. I told him then, ‘The good news is, I’m not going to do anything about that incident,’ which is minor compared to this one. ‘But here’s the bad news,’ I said. ‘Next time, I’m going to kick you off the team for good. And here’s the worst news, there will be another incident, Corey.’”
Before Sunday night’s incident, Parker said he had tried a variety of punishments to get Trivino to be more responsible about drinking. He suspended him from the team in May of 2010, forced him to do extra workouts and asked him to consider treatment. None of the punishments worked, and so when Trivino had another alcohol-related incident last spring, Parker decided just to warn him instead of punishing him.
“I could suspend him [at that time] for some games, but that didn’t work,” Parker said. “So I said this is going to be real simple. I’m going to give you a fair warning. One more incident and you’ll be gone. One more alcohol-related incident and you’re out of here. No ifs, ands or buts. That’s what he knew was going to be the outcome.
“The only thing you can do to help a kid with an alcohol problem is get him to stop drinking.”
Trivino was in accordance with team rules Sunday night as far as consuming alcohol is concerned. Players 21 years or older are allowed to drink on Saturday nights or on other designated nights as chosen by the coaching staff.
Parker said Sunday night was one of those specified nights because the team had just returned from a three-day road trip to play the University of New Hampshire and the University of Maine. Trivino registered two goals in the game against Maine, his final game in a BU sweater, marking the first time he had a multi-goal game in his BU career.
Parker spoke with the rest of his team about Trivino on Monday. He said they are “very upset” about losing Trivino, but knew it was the likely result of Trivino’s actions because the team was aware of the ultimatum Trivino faced.
“They’re very upset for the loss of a teammate,” Parker said. “They’re very upset for him having the huge problems he has away from Agganis. His problems with BU hockey are the least of his problems right now. And they’re very upset that there’s another victim involved.
“If he broke his leg, it would be a big hole to fill in the lineup, but it’s just the way it happened. It’s not only a hole to fill in the lineup, it’s a hole to fill in the team’s soul too because he’s a well-liked kid and he’s a good teammate. He’s no longer with us, so it’s like he died, you know? That’s the challenge of it for the leadership of the team and the coaches, to get everybody to turn the page. Corey’s no longer here.”
From the Freep: Dismissal of hockey star Trivino right move, students say
By Emily Overholt/DFP Staff
As the news of Boston University men’s hockey star Corey Trivino’s arrest and removal from the No. 9-ranked team spreads, students said they support the decision in dismissing Trivino from the team.
“Not only as a BU student but as a senior hockey player, and the leading goal scorer, much of the student body praised him,” said Samantha Sharma, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Sharma said she considered Trivino’s actions foolish, considering the reputation he held at BU.
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