LI's Bobby Trivigno can't believe he's in Rangers' training camp
Rangers' Bobby Trivigno shoots a the team's facility in Tarrytown on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Bobby Trivigno would like to think that he won’t be awestruck when he steps on the same ice Thursday as the Rangers players he’s cheered for growing up on Long Island.
“I think that might have already happened,’’ Trivigno, a native of Setauket, said Monday at the Rangers’ practice facility, after he completed on-ice testing with the rest of the rookies at the team’s Rookie Camp. “We had a couple scrimmages with [the Rangers’ veterans], and I'm like, ‘Wow! Reavo [Ryan Reaves] is out here; I'm out here. I'm in the same organization as this guy?’ ’’
He is. Trivigno, a 23-year-old forward, signed a free agent contract with the Rangers last spring after finishing his college hockey career at UMass, where he won an NCAA Championship in 2021 [with fellow Rangers prospect Zac Jones as his teammate] and was the Hockey East Player of the Year and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as a senior. He even played 11 games at the end of last season with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
But this will be Trivigno’s first actual NHL training camp. He attended the Rangers’ Prospect Development Camp in July, and he’s been at the Rookie Camp, which opened last Wednesday. But on Thursday, he’ll get to skate with the likes of Reaves, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and fellow Long Islander Adam Fox – guys he idolized.
He’ll have to remind himself that he’s not here as a fan, but as a guy trying to make the team himself.
“It's pretty cool to go from a fan to, you know, they're my colleagues,’’ Trivigno said. “They're my teammates. So yeah, come Wednesday [when players report officially], I don't think I'm going to be a fan whatsoever. I'm going to be out there doing what I do best.’’
What he does best is create and score goals. He had 20 goals and 29 assists in 37 games his senior year at UMass, and he had 11 goals and 23 assists in 29 games in 2020-21, when he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four.
Trivigno, who’s listed at 5-8, 161, knows he’s unlikely to make the Rangers out of training camp – he’s most likely ticketed for a return to Hartford to start the season – but he isn’t thinking too much about that right now.
“Obviously, I'm aware of the guys that are ahead of me,’’ he said. “But it's been like that, always, for me… I'm going to have to beat someone out.’’
If he gets sent to Hartford, he promises he’ll keep working hard in the minor leagues to be ready when he gets his shot at a callup. His goal has always been to play in the NHL, he said, and he said he doesn’t have a Plan B if that doesn’t happen.
It may not happen right away, though. What would he have to do to make the opening night roster?
“Probably win every puck battle,’’ he said. “I'm undrafted, signed here as a free agent. I'm going to have to prove myself every time. They signed me, they obviously like me for a reason. But… I’ve got to win every single battle -- at the net front, [in the] corners – [I’ve got to win the], race for every loose puck.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
