University of Massachusets Athletics
The Hobey Blueprint: Why Cole O'Hara's Push For College Hockey's Top Award Should Come As No Surprise
March 04, 2025 | Hockey
Massachusetts hockey was named the top developmental program in NCAA Men's College Hockey by The Hockey News in August of 2021, after 19-year-old Cole O'Hara had already committed to the program. He was excited to hear about the publication's ringing endorsement of his college hockey choice, but he needed no further convincing he had found the right landing spot to take the next step in his hockey career.
"When I came on my visit, I think it's just one of those things that kind of clicked right away," remembers O'Hara. "The conversations with the coaches – they preached a lot of things that I truly believe, and it was an easy decision to come here."
Fast forward to February 2025: The 2022 Nashville Predators fourth round draft pick is among the nation's leaders in scoring and is knocking on the door of becoming just the second Minuteman to reach 50 points in the program's DI history. Fresh off tying the longest point streak in UMass history, O'Hara is building himself a strong case to be among the Top 10 Hobey Baker Award Finalists.
It's easy see the +29 jump in point production for O'Hara from sophomore to junior year as a head scratcher, but let's take a closer look at what's been going on with the hockey program at the University of Massachusetts for the better part of a decade.
UMass head coach Greg Carvel never set out with the specific intent of his program becoming a college hockey development Mecca. It just, sort of…happened.
"Well, I think our development is a byproduct of our culture," said Carvel. "We just, we hold guys to really high standards. I think my time in the NHL also was a big part of it, just understanding what it takes to play at that level. Basically, the high standards are just asking our players to do everything at a professional level, at a really high level, and it's challenging. But I think where the development comes in is when they realize that high standards actually create new levels of success on the ice and in the classroom and in their lives overall."
Current Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mitchell Chafee is among many shining examples of how UMass hockey development works. Chaffee came to Amherst undrafted out of the USHL without any expectations of being a high point producer. Three years later he left Amherst, NHL contract in hand, as an All-American and Hockey East Scoring Champion.
Now let's take a look at UMass' three Top-10 Hobey Finalists of the Carvel era. First you have NHL All-Star, generational talent 2019 Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar, who came to UMass after being drafted fourth overall in 2017. Then you have John Leonard, a 2020 Hobey Baker Finalist. He was selected by San Jose after his freshman season after entering UMass undrafted out of the USHL. Finally, Bobby Trivigno came to UMass undersized and under recruited and was named a Hobey Baker Finalist as a senior in 2022.
On the surface, that's quite an eclectic group that all found themselves in contention for the top honor in college hockey.
"You can come in at different levels, but they're all expected to rise to new levels," said Carvel. "We talk a lot about the number of kids that have gone through NHL drafts, not been drafted, come to UMass and their games take big steps forward, and then they get drafted. And it's one thing to get drafted, it's another to sign an NHL contract. And all those kids that have come to UMass drafted, they've all signed NHL contracts. That's a pretty remarkable stat."
As for O'Hara, he may be on his way to joining Makar, Leonard and Trivigno on that prestigious list. What's more, he appears to be the next development success story Carvel will point to when talking with future recruits and Carvel believes he fits right in with his previous trio of Hobey finalists.
"Cole's gone through the normal progression a lot of kids go through here," explains Carvel. "Everybody comes in here with a certain amount of skill. He has an exceptional amount of talent. As he's gotten stronger, he's found a routine that's built confidence. And you can just see it building every day. Cole doesn't pop off the page, but what's worthy of being a Hobey Baker winner is how much you contribute game after game after game on both sides of the puck."
One of the reasons, perhaps, for the lack of page-popping, O'Hara is quiet and unassuming while steadily going about his business. His coaches have called him "classy" and "respectful." He is one of UMass' top penalty killers, averages 20 minutes of ice time per night and is on the first power play unit. The Minutemen are 18-7-4 in games where he scores a point in 2024-25, 0-5-1 when he does not. But still, he contributes even more. According to Carvel, "It's not just the two or three points he has, it's the blocked shots, it's the sacrifice he makes to make plays," on a nightly basis. And if that weren't enough, he's also a Dean's List student.
As people grasp for previous UMass hockey greats to draw comparisons to for O'Hara, they may be missing the forest for the trees. That trio of previous Hobey finalists, and O'Hara, may have no similar on-ice traits, but they all have one thing in common—their character.
"They're all unbelievable, high-character young men, and you know what? That's what we're always shooting for," said Carvel. "Recruiting is finding the best people and the highest character because those are the ones that you can get the most out of. Granted, they have to have a certain level of talent, but the will, the desire, the intangibles that all those kids have, is really the reason why we just so we try to find kids like that and maximize the values and the traits that they have."
Now looking at the Hobey Baker award requirements, it should be no surprise Carvel has had a winner and two more finalists in the last six years. Among the award's criteria, "character", "integrity", "scholastic achievement" and "sportsmanship" are all mentioned right along side the most obvious—skill.
Maybe that's a coincidence, or maybe that's the secret sauce to being successful in college hockey. Whichever the case, Cole O'Hara not only looks like the epitome of UMass' player development success, but also the epitome of a Hobey Baker winner.
"When I came on my visit, I think it's just one of those things that kind of clicked right away," remembers O'Hara. "The conversations with the coaches – they preached a lot of things that I truly believe, and it was an easy decision to come here."
Fast forward to February 2025: The 2022 Nashville Predators fourth round draft pick is among the nation's leaders in scoring and is knocking on the door of becoming just the second Minuteman to reach 50 points in the program's DI history. Fresh off tying the longest point streak in UMass history, O'Hara is building himself a strong case to be among the Top 10 Hobey Baker Award Finalists.
It's easy see the +29 jump in point production for O'Hara from sophomore to junior year as a head scratcher, but let's take a closer look at what's been going on with the hockey program at the University of Massachusetts for the better part of a decade.
UMass head coach Greg Carvel never set out with the specific intent of his program becoming a college hockey development Mecca. It just, sort of…happened.
"Well, I think our development is a byproduct of our culture," said Carvel. "We just, we hold guys to really high standards. I think my time in the NHL also was a big part of it, just understanding what it takes to play at that level. Basically, the high standards are just asking our players to do everything at a professional level, at a really high level, and it's challenging. But I think where the development comes in is when they realize that high standards actually create new levels of success on the ice and in the classroom and in their lives overall."
Current Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mitchell Chafee is among many shining examples of how UMass hockey development works. Chaffee came to Amherst undrafted out of the USHL without any expectations of being a high point producer. Three years later he left Amherst, NHL contract in hand, as an All-American and Hockey East Scoring Champion.
Now let's take a look at UMass' three Top-10 Hobey Finalists of the Carvel era. First you have NHL All-Star, generational talent 2019 Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar, who came to UMass after being drafted fourth overall in 2017. Then you have John Leonard, a 2020 Hobey Baker Finalist. He was selected by San Jose after his freshman season after entering UMass undrafted out of the USHL. Finally, Bobby Trivigno came to UMass undersized and under recruited and was named a Hobey Baker Finalist as a senior in 2022.
On the surface, that's quite an eclectic group that all found themselves in contention for the top honor in college hockey.
"You can come in at different levels, but they're all expected to rise to new levels," said Carvel. "We talk a lot about the number of kids that have gone through NHL drafts, not been drafted, come to UMass and their games take big steps forward, and then they get drafted. And it's one thing to get drafted, it's another to sign an NHL contract. And all those kids that have come to UMass drafted, they've all signed NHL contracts. That's a pretty remarkable stat."
As for O'Hara, he may be on his way to joining Makar, Leonard and Trivigno on that prestigious list. What's more, he appears to be the next development success story Carvel will point to when talking with future recruits and Carvel believes he fits right in with his previous trio of Hobey finalists.
"Cole's gone through the normal progression a lot of kids go through here," explains Carvel. "Everybody comes in here with a certain amount of skill. He has an exceptional amount of talent. As he's gotten stronger, he's found a routine that's built confidence. And you can just see it building every day. Cole doesn't pop off the page, but what's worthy of being a Hobey Baker winner is how much you contribute game after game after game on both sides of the puck."
One of the reasons, perhaps, for the lack of page-popping, O'Hara is quiet and unassuming while steadily going about his business. His coaches have called him "classy" and "respectful." He is one of UMass' top penalty killers, averages 20 minutes of ice time per night and is on the first power play unit. The Minutemen are 18-7-4 in games where he scores a point in 2024-25, 0-5-1 when he does not. But still, he contributes even more. According to Carvel, "It's not just the two or three points he has, it's the blocked shots, it's the sacrifice he makes to make plays," on a nightly basis. And if that weren't enough, he's also a Dean's List student.
As people grasp for previous UMass hockey greats to draw comparisons to for O'Hara, they may be missing the forest for the trees. That trio of previous Hobey finalists, and O'Hara, may have no similar on-ice traits, but they all have one thing in common—their character.
"They're all unbelievable, high-character young men, and you know what? That's what we're always shooting for," said Carvel. "Recruiting is finding the best people and the highest character because those are the ones that you can get the most out of. Granted, they have to have a certain level of talent, but the will, the desire, the intangibles that all those kids have, is really the reason why we just so we try to find kids like that and maximize the values and the traits that they have."
Now looking at the Hobey Baker award requirements, it should be no surprise Carvel has had a winner and two more finalists in the last six years. Among the award's criteria, "character", "integrity", "scholastic achievement" and "sportsmanship" are all mentioned right along side the most obvious—skill.
Maybe that's a coincidence, or maybe that's the secret sauce to being successful in college hockey. Whichever the case, Cole O'Hara not only looks like the epitome of UMass' player development success, but also the epitome of a Hobey Baker winner.
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