The Greenfield High School hockey team had a decision to make at practice last week.
The Green Wave needed eight points in its final six games of the season to qualify for the WMass Division IIIA Tournament, which meant it would have to steal a win from one of the top three teams in the Fay-Wright Division. The question surrounding the team was whether to make a final push toward the postseason or all but call it a year and start spreading out playing time to allow some of the team’s younger players more action. The team held a players-only meeting, according to GHS coach Adam Bouchard, and arrived at their decision.
On Saturday night, the team came up with exactly the effort it was looking for. Behind four power-play goals and solid Riley Drew net-minding, the Green Wave managed to pick up a huge victory in its playoff push, a 5-4 win over South Hadley High School in a Fay-Wright game at Collins-Moylan Arena in Greenfield.
“I’m extremely proud of how they responded,” Bouchard said after team fought back from an early 2-0 deficit. “The players had a players-only meeting and they came out and gave the type of effort and intensity in practice that you would expect and it really flowed into the game. Getting down 2-0, they could have easily folded, but I’m extremely proud of how they responded to the pressure.”
South Hadley entered the game as the third-place team in the Fay-Wright, and it looked like the Green Wave was not going to accomplish its goal of getting a win early after falling behind 2-0. Will Ortyl put the visitors on the board 1 minute, 35 seconds into the game when he blasted a shot home from the blue line, assisted by Alex Jaoa. Things went from bad to worse for the Wave just over 4 minutes later when Sean Doherty made it 2-0 on an assist from Trevor Ouimet.
Greenfield got on the board before the end of the period and it was the power play that kick-started the offense. Greenfield worked the puck around in the offensive zone and eventually passed it back to the blue line, where Booie Harris ripped a shot that was stopped by South Hadley goalie Jake Remillard; however, Tyler Miner was there to clean up the rebound with 1:18 to play in the first, assisted by Harris and Evan Simmons.
The Green Wave built on that momentum in the second period. The Tigers were called for another penalty four minutes into the period and again the Wave went to work on the power play. Miner collected the puck behind his own net and left it there for Simmons, who picked it up and went coast-to-coast, rifling a shot off the cross bar and into the net 4:38 into the period to tie the game. Greenfield went ahead 9:03 into the period with its third power-play goal of the game. This time, it was the Wave’s second unit that did the honors, as Matteo Velez broke up a play in the neutral zone and passed the puck to Zack Geyster, who walked in over the blue line and fired a laser past Remillard for a 3-2 lead.
South Hadley came back to tie the score with 1:36 to play as Ouimet got his first of the game, but Greenfield responded in the final minute of the period with its fourth power-play goal of the game. Once again, the play started with Miner collecting the puck behind his own net, and this time he fired a pass up ice to Simmons, who went in on a breakaway and again beat Remillard under the crossbar to give the Wave a 4-3 lead heading into the third.
Greenfield added to its lead 7 minutes into the period when Miner worked the puck into the offensive zone and set up behind the Tigers’ cage. He found Tyler Townsley in front of the net and Townsley buried it five-hole past Remillard for a 5-3 lead.
The Wave had a chance to put the game away late in the period when South Hadley was called for a major boarding penalty. But Greenfield was unable to score and took a penalty during the man-advantage. The Tigers then used a power play late in the period to make things interesting. With the goalie pulled, South Hadley had a 6-on-4 and Ouimet found the back of the net with 40 seconds to play to make it 5-4, but Greenfield held on for the win.
Greenfield now needs six points in its final five games to make the postseason. Two of those games are against Chicopee High School and Amherst Regional High School, easily two of the Fay-Wright’s top teams. The other three games are against Chicopee Comprehensive High School (today at 4 at Collins-Moylan), Turners Falls High School (Friday night at 6:30 at Collins-Moylan), and the season-finale against St. Mary’s High School (Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. at Amelia Park Arena in Westfield).
“If we play the way we did on Saturday, we should make the playoffs,” Bouchard said.
Drew finished with 31 saves as South Hadley outshot the Wave 35-20.
“That was probably Riley’s best game of his varsity career,” Bouchard said. “South Hadley had a lot of opportunities, but time after time Riley came up big. He did a great job controlling his rebounds and limited them to just the one shot much of the time. And our defensive corps helped clean up in front of the net.”
Remillard stopped 15 shots.
Bouchard also praised the staff at Collins-Moylan for getting the ice ready.
“It was an amazing job done by the staff at the rink,” he concluded.
Belchertown 7, Turners Falls 3 — Ray Langevin scored twice during a four-goal, second-period explosion by Belchertown High School, and the Orioles went on to take a 7-3 win over Turners Falls in a Fay-Wright game Saturday night at Collins-Moylan Arena in Greenfield.
The Indians (0-13) led 2-1 after the first period. The Indians opened the scoring with 5:35 to play in the period when Chris Urgiel scored unassisted. Cassidhe Wozniak made it 2-0 in favor of the hosts with 3:41 to play in the period when she scored her first career varsity goal on assists from Ethan LaFleur and Bryce Jordan.
Belchertown then scored seven consecutive goals. Vaughn Gillen got one back with 2:41 to play in the first period, and the Orioles scored four unanswered goals in the second period, when Lagevin struck twice, and Nathan Ayers and Chris Buffone scored once each. Belchertown continued the onslaught in the third with goals by Nathan Pacheco and Gillen, before the Indians got one with 1:14 to play as Michael McGoldrick was set up by Doug Hanieski and Bryan Baumann.
Belchertown outshot the Indians, 40-29, and Kyle Greene earned the win with 26 saves. Jordyn Lavallee made 33 saves in the loss.