After winning a share of the Wright Division hockey title in the regular season, the Greenfield High School hockey team now turns its eyes toward winning a WMass Division 3A hockey title and the Green Wave will do so as the second seed in the seven-team tournament after the seeds were released on Saturday.
The Green Wave finished the season 16-2-2 and has been on a roll of late, winning its final five games of the season, including a 4-2 victory over Belchertown High School, which helped the Green Wave capture a share of the league crown with the Orioles.
“The day after Thanksgiving we stepped on the ice and put some goals together,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “A 16-2-2 record is unbelievable and everyone should be proud of that accomplishment.”
That record helped the Green Wave edge out Belchertown for the second seed, which is important even though all tournament games will once again be played at the Olympia Ice Arena in West Springfield. The higher seed, which is considered the home team, gets important advantages such as second line change and going into the faceoff second, both of which Bouchard saw as critical factors last season when the Green Wave earned the third seed and wound up losing, 3-2, to second-seeded Easthampton in the semifinals. Easthampton went on to win the WMass crown.
“We get some home-ice advantages,” he said.
Greenfield opens tournament play Tuesday night at 6 against seventh-seeded Drury High School (7-6-6), which the Green Wave is not taking lightly. Drury played Greenfield to a 2-2 draw at Collins-Moylan Arena early in the season, before Greenfield edged the Blue Devils, 2-1, in North Adams later in the year.
“Drury is a tough team,” he said. “They had six ties all year, which means they were in many, many games. It’s a good matchup and we are ready to go.”
With nearly his entire team back from a season ago, Bouchard said that the playoff experience gained by his squad will be crucial.
“We know what it’s going to take to win playoff games,” Bouchard said. “We had practice (Saturday), and the team came to the rink ready to work, which is great. We came up one goal short last year, so they know what it’s going to take to win.”
Amherst Regional High School (16-4-0) defeated Greenfield, 8-1, in January and earned the top seed in the field after playing in the Fay Division during the season. Belchertown (12-3-3) slotted into the third spot, while South Hadley — who the Green Wave defeated 3-2 on the road in January — picked up the fourth seed. Easthampton (10-7-3), the only other team to defeat Greenfield this season, is the fifth seed.
If the seeds play out, Greenfield would face Belchertown, Saturday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals.
“All these student athletes should be really proud of the effort they’ve put in all year, and it’s showing,” Bouchard concluded. “We’ve had a lot of hard practices and hard games, and getting the second seed is definitely a good place to be in.”
For a complete look at the brackets, see the Scoreboard on Page B2.