Devon Bobak finishes successful freshman college hockey season

By: 
Yaneek Smith

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

After just one season playing college hockey, Devon Bobak has fared quite well.
The Lake alum recently completed his freshman year as a goalie for Trinity College, a private liberal arts college located in Hartford, Connecticut.
In 14 games, Bobak went 11-2-1 and allowed 15 goals, good for 1.07 GAA (goals against average), and had a save percentage of .946 to go with 265 saves. The Bantams, who compete in Division III, finished tied for first with Wesleyan in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Trinity was seeded second in the conference tournament because it lost the tiebreaker with the Cardinals. The Bantams had an overall record of 16-8-1 and 13-4-1 in the league. Both teams finished with 39.5 points.
Unfortunately for the Bantams, they lost, 2-1, in overtime to Bowdoin in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament, ending their season. Bobak set the GAA record for a single season at Trinity and was one shutout short of the single-season record of shutouts, finishing with five.
“I had a good regular season and would like to carry it to the end and make it to the NCAA Tournament (someday),” Bobak said.
Three goalies vied for playing time on the team this season.
“There are two juniors, and I was the freshman; one of the juniors is labeled as the third goalie,” Bobak said. “The other guy, J.P. Mella, took them all the way to the league championship last year. He’s pretty good. He’d win one, lose one game tight, I won two out of three, and then I won again and again and took the net. I split time for three games, and then I played 16 in a row.”
Regarding the competitiveness of the NESCAC, Bobak said, “We probably have the most parity of any Division III league in the country. There are good teams throughout the conference.”
Bobak was rewarded for his efforts by earning second-team honors in the conference, one of just two freshmen to do so, and was nominated for the Joe Concannon Award, which is presented annually to the best American-born NCAA Division II/III hockey player in New England.
Bobak talked about his performance this season.
“I thought I played pretty well. I had a very good team in front of me,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. I had a pretty good year, I felt pretty confident about where I am.”
He added that he’s happy to be part of such a tight-night group.
“It’s great. I’ve played on a lot of hockey teams, and I’ve never been around a group of 30 guys that have been such genuine human beings. My coach, he recruits the best players, good hockey players, good students,” Bobak said. “Our team, we started off slow, but we instantly clicked after two games and I got into the mix. We are so close, and all 30 guys bought in. We work out four days a week and practice five days a week.”
As for academics, things are going well, he said. “I finished last semester with a 3.3 GPA. Computer science is my major. I took a class and really enjoyed it. I’d like to build computers or software. We don’t have to decide until the spring of our sophomore year (on a major).”
Bobak graduated from Lake in 2020 and didn’t attend school from the spring of 2020 until September of 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I took a two-year break and played junior hockey in Maine and Louisiana,” he said. “Then I came to school here in Hartford.”
Hartford, which is located in central Connecticut, is located 27 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and is home to about 120,600 people.
“I love the campus, it’s a beautiful campus. Once the flowers are blooming, it’s beautiful,” Bobak said. “Hartford is an interesting city, it’s very urban. I love the location, I can take a 1 hour, 50 minute bus ride to New York, Providence or Boston. It’s great.”
Currently, Bobak is focusing on working out at Pillar Fitness in Perrysburg. There’s a synthetic rink that allows him to train and a VR trainer that helps simulate shots.
He ran track and played baseball and golf for the Flyers, but there was no hockey team. Bobak played in Toledo at the Ice House and in Detroit and Cleveland.
“I think I was the only kid at Lake that played hockey,” he said.

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