WEST SPRINGFIELD — A three-goal lead evaporated in the span of just over three minutes of gametime for the Greenfield hockey team on Saturday night. The lapse culminated in a 6-4 loss to Ludlow in Berry Division play at Olympia Ice Arena.
Greenfield jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Ludlow. In previous games, the Green Wave suffered from poor starts. They had the opposite problem against the Lions when everything collapsed toward the end of the second period. Instead of going into the third period with a lead, the Green Wave found themselves trailing.
“The problem is we haven’t put together 45 minutes of hockey in a game yet,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “The first 15 minutes was exactly what we want to play. That’s a great start. But it’s not about the start it’s about the whole 45. If this Green Wave team wants to make some noise, we need to figure out a way to put all 45 minutes in.”
The officials whistled Greenfield (0-3, 0-2 Berry) for six penalties in the second frame. The Lions converted on three of those power plays to tie the game with one minute, 25 seconds left before the final intermission.
The Green Wave got whistled for eight penalties in the game.
“What I saw was truly a lack of effort for our side,” Bouchard said. “Those are lazy penalties. Slashing penalties. Tripping penalties. Those penalties generally come from a lack of effort. It seemed like we got the 3-0 lead and the boys decided to turn off the gas pedal.”
Ludlow scored yet again nine seconds later, taking a 4-3 lead into the third period. The Lions scored again early in the third period to take a two-goal lead. The winless Green Wave do not play again until Saturday, back at Olympia Ice Arena against West Springfield.
Ludlow went 4-for-8 on the power play. Practice is going to look different for Greenfield the next few days.
“There will be no pucks,” Bouchard said. “We need to understand what effort means. That’s what I am expecting it to look like. Lots of skating. A lot of edge work. A lot of motivation. Team races. Relay races. Team building skating exercises.”
Greenfield jumped out to a 1-0 lead quickly against the Lions when Jack Laurie found the net on an assist from Shaun Baumann. At the 6:09 mark of the first period, Baumann found the net himself, with assists coming from Shawn Beckwith and Laurie.
Laurie scored his second goal of the night at the 4:21 mark of the second period. Chase Zraunig assisted on the goal. The goal came with 10 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second period.
The Lions scored their first goal with a two-man advantage when Nathan Ribeiro scored on Greenfield netminder Cooper Smith. With a player still in the penalty box, the Green Wave surrendered another goal to Tanner Severyn. The third power play goal for the Lions came from Sean Kefalas.
Nick Deroin gave Ludlow a 4-3 lead with 1:16 left in the second period. Andrew Lambert and Severyn scored third period goals for the Lions. Luca Siano scored unassisted with 9:51 left in the third for Greenfield.
Smith made 20 saves for the Green Wave.