WEST SPRINGFIELD – A third-period goal by Aidan Roche sent the Greenfield hockey team to its first Western Mass. Division 3A final since 2008 on Saturday afternoon.
The top-seeded Green Wave used the late tally to knock off No. 5 South Hadley, 4-2, in the Div. 3A semifinals at Olympia Ice Center.
It wasn’t a smooth ride for the Wave, which jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period only to watch the Tigers come back and even the score.
“We’ve been trying to instill to these students-athletes all year long about adversity,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “Being able to finish what they started. All the credit to these young men who skated hard out there. They were able to skate hard for 45 minutes and dig deep.”
Roche’s power-play game-winner, assisted by Jacob Bryant, came with 1 minute, 11 seconds left in regulation.
“I was camped out on the back door there,” Roche said. “I saw Jake (Bryant) and I opened up and he made a terrific pass and I just had to put it home.”
Bryant sent a precise pass to Roche, who one-timed it past South Hadley keeper Anthony Cigal on the glove side. A celebration ensued directly in front of South Hadley’s student-section.
“For Roche to bury that one-timer, that’s a big power play goal for him,” Bouchard said. “More importantly, for our program.”
Greenfield advanced to play No. 3 Wahconah (16-3-2) in the 3A finals on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. back in West Springfield. The Warriors beat No. 2 Amherst Regional, 3-1, in the other semifinal on Saturday.
“When you have a late-winner like that, you have to take that momentum straight from the end of that game into the beginning of the next,” Roche said.
Riley Drew was steady in net making 16 saves for Greenfield.
Mike Mazza closed out his career as the lone senior for the Tigers (12-8-2).
“I came in as a freshman,” Mazza said. “Pretty quiet and didn’t know what to expect. They took me under their wing and I was able to get good minutes.”
Mazza finished with over 100 points for his career, and won a Div. 3A championship in 2017.
“It’s not something I ever really thought about,” Mazza said of the 100-point milestone. “There was a while during my freshman year where I wasn’t producing at all. But then my sophomore year I thought maybe it could happen.”
The Green Wave took a quick 1-0 lead in the first period.
Porter Clancy battled for possession in the corner for the Wave. The puck then trickled out to Bryan Baumann, who fed Samuel Knight who beat Cigal blocker-side high.
The Wave went up 2-0 on a tremendous individual play by Bryant. The defenseman forced a turnover at the South Hadley blue line and went in for the breakaway.
Bryant buried it for the Wave, making the score 2-0.
The Tigers battled back to draw even early in the second period.
“They played hard all game,” South Hadley coach Larry Camus said of his team. “I can’t get down on them. We were down 2-0. In the second period we took control. Tough getting that penalty at the end. That kind of hurt us. They are a very good team.”
South Hadley got one back on a wrister by Joe Cigal just past the blue line assisted by Kadyn Laramee and Ryan Tucker in the first period.
Mazza quickly tied the game in the second period for the Tigers. The goal came 38 seconds into the frame, assisted by Joe Meon.
Anthony Cigal made several saves for the Tigers during the second and third periods to keep the game even. Cigal finished with 25 saves for the Tigers.
“Anthony has been strong all year,” Camus said. “He’s got another year. I made him captain halfway thought the season and he has excelled.”
Mazza almost had the go-ahead goal in the the final seconds of the second period but the net dislodged, disallowing the tally.
Clancy added an empty-netter for the Green Wave.
Both Greenfield and South Hadley had goals disallowed in the third period.
