WEST SPRINGFIELD — Vaughn Gillen did everything in his power to get the Belchertown hockey team to the Western Massachusetts Division 3A finals on Saturday.
He started by scoring two goals with an assist for the third-seeded Orioles in a 4-2 win over Greenfield in the 3A semifinals at Olympia Ice Arena.
But with Belchertown clinging to a two-goal lead in the the third period, the forward got grimy on the defensive end to help the seal the game.
Gillen dove to the ice to poke the puck out of the Orioles defensive zone by inches, and blocked a straight-on shot from the point during Greenfield’s final push.
“I will always sacrifice offense to help out on defense,” Gillen said. “No matter what the situation is.”
Gillen and the Orioles return to the championship game after losing last year to Easthampton. They will get a chance to avenge that loss after the fifth-seeded Eagles knocked off top-seeded Amherst, 6-2, in Saturday’s other semifinal. The two teams will meet Thursday at 5:30 at the Olympia for the title.
“We already know what the environment is like,” Gillen said. “The nerves are out. We know what’s expected. We will battle hard no matter what.”
The Orioles (14-3-3) have never won a Western Mass. 3A title, according to coach Matt Crutch.
“We held on,” Crutch said. “I was worried coming into this season, coming in with a lot of younger guys. Not much senior leadership. The team has matured so much over the last three months that we’ve been here. It means a lot to them, it means a lot to the program and it means a lot to the school.”
The second-seeded Green Wave watched as the No. 3 Orioles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second period.
“We knew they wanted to focus on Bryan Baumann and Jacob (Bryant),” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “They kept someone high in their defensive zone covering Jacob and not giving him time and space.”
Belchertown had a tie and a loss to the Green Wave during the regular season.
“They put their game plan together and executed it very well,” Bouchard said.
Aurel Pydych and Doug Hanieski played their final game for the Greenfield program.
“The last two years have been the best two years of hockey for me,” Hanieski said. “It’s just been so fun playing with those boys. Practice or games, every single day. We came up short.”
A flurry of penalties against the Orioles gave the Wave a pair of power-play goals in the second period.
Baumann set up Sean O’Sullivan for a goal with five minutes left, then O’Sullivan scored again from Bryant just 1:08 later to cut Belchertown’s lead to 4-2.
Greenfield (17-3-2) had several more shots on net throughout the remainder of the game, and a 27-18 advantage in shots for the day, but Belchertown keeper Ethan Rajpold was there with 25 saves.
“They slowed down the game with the lead,” Bouchard said. “Both years with the new program, we’ve lost here in the semifinals. As tough as it is to lose and not move on and get that last win of the year, only one team can do it. I’m really proud of what they have done. We are building roots to continue to grow this program.”
Riley Drew made 14 saves for Greenfield.
Belchertown found the net just 51 seconds into the game when Glenn Scott let go a wrister from just inside the blue line.
The Orioles followed up the goal with a flurry of shots and pressure on the Green Wave defense.
The pressure paid off when they scored again in front of the net. Francis Nigro scored on a pass from behind the net by Gillen with 9:11 left in the first.
The Green Wave then made the Orioles work on defense for a stretch before the end of the period.
With around six minutes to play in the first, Wave captain Mike McGoldrick broke up a potential 2-on-1 breakaway on defense for Greenfield.
O’Sullivan had a nice run through the middle of the ice for the Wave, but Rajpold sent away an initial shot and then a rebound attempt.
McGoldrick had a good opportunity at the beginning of the second period on a wind-up slapper from the blue line, but again Rajpold made the save.
Belchertown pushed its lead to 3-0 soon after when Gillen beat Drew in front of the net at 1:51. Chris Buffone and Matt Pacheco assisted on the goal for Belchertown.
Greenfield got the game’s first power play in the second period when Belchertown’s Cody Lambert hip-checked Aiden Roche.
Roche remained on the ice for a minute before exiting the game, while Lambert received a major penalty for the hit in the neutral zone.
On the power play, Bryant’s slap shot from the point challenged Rajpold, but the Belchertown keeper buried the shot in his chest. The shot was literally buried in Rajpold’s equipment, leading to a stoppage of play to locate the puck.
Gillen later scored short-handed for Belchertown, using the backhand to beat Drew top shelf to make the score 4-0 at 6:57.
Lambert got thrown out of the game in the second period with over eight minutes of penalty time with two additional penalties.
Greenfield’s comeback bid took a hit when a penalty with around eight minutes left gave Belchertown a power-play opportunity, eliminating time in the attacking zone. Drew made three saves for Greenfield during the power play.
Belchertown 4, Greenfield 2
|
Belchertown |
2 |
2 |
0 |
— |
4 |
|
Greenfield |
0 |
2 |
0 |
— |
2 |
Goals: (B) Gillen 2, Scott, Nigro . (G) O’Sullivan 2
Assists: (B) Gillen . (G). Baumann, Bryant 2
Shots: Belchertown 18. Greenfield .
Saves: (B) Rajpold 24. (G) Drew 14.
