GREENFIELD – The Greenfield hockey team made a big jump up in competition this winter. 

The Wave made the move from the Wright Division — a league Greenfield dominated — to the Berry Division, which features all the top teams in western Mass. this year. 

So far, so good. 

After a 3-1 win over West Springfield on Wednesday at Collins-Moylan Arena, Greenfield sits 6-2-1 as it nears the midway point of its season. During that stretch, the Green Wave have opened 3-1-1 in Berry action, already with a win over the Terriers and two against Longmeadow. The tie came against Ludlow. 

Knowing they’re the new Berry team in town, Greenfield came into the season wanting to prove all its success in recent years was no fluke and that it was ready to face the best western Mass. had to offer. 

“It’s a lot of fun playing these better teams,” Green Wave senior Porter Hall said. “We have to prove ourselves a lot more. We weren’t projected to be in the top 32 [of states] so that motivated us.” 

It helps when you bring a talented squad back. Greenfield has seven seniors and seven juniors on its roster, with the veteran group ready to go from day one. 

“After the first day of camp we knew we would be fine,” Green Wave senior Loki Rhodes said. “It’s something special about this group.” 

On top of the tough league schedule — which consists of two games each with West Springfield, Longmeadow, Minnechaug, East Longmeadow, Westfield and Ludlow – Greenfield made sure to schedule a tough independent slate as well to prepare itself for the postseason. 

The Green Wave already have squared off against Southwick, Amherst, Gardner and Lunenburg, and round out the independent slate against Monty Tech, Oakmont and Hudson. There are no easy games on the Greenfield schedule this winter. 

“You don’t want to just walk through your season and blow every team out,” Hall said. “There’s no fun in that. It’s our last season and you want to go out there and be able to compete with all these good teams.” 

The win on Wednesday against the Terriers was particularly satisfying, as it showed just how far Greenfield has come during the season. 

The first meeting with West Side saw the Terriers walk away with a 6-1 victory. The Green Wave came out and controlled the third period in the second meeting to earn a 3-1 victory, putting Greenfield in second place in the Berry behind Westfield. 

“Coming into the season and coming out of camp, being 6-2-1 through the halfway marker is a great spot to be,” Green Wave coach Adam Bouchard said. “This is where the real work begins.” 

It’s not just the talent coming back that has allowed the Wave to hit the ground running in the Berry Division. It’s been about having a united team that plays for each other every time on the ice.

“The team chemistry is a lot higher this year,” Garvin said. “We don’t have anyone who is negative. Everyone wants to win and wants to play with each other. We’re a family. We just have to keep the intensity up and keep it as high as possible. We have to keep the work ethic as high as possible. This is the hardest we’ve been working at practice. It’s definitely higher than last year and the year before that. We just need to keep playing for one another.” 

The players credited “No Puck Mondays” for being able to find another gear late in games, as Greenfield did on Wednesday by scoring twice in the third to defeat the Terriers. 

“It’s all about those Monday practices,” Rhodes said. “No Puck Mondays. We’ve had longer ones this year. It gives us the energy and stamina to keep up and pile it on in the third period like we did today.” 

“What this group of student-athletes learned, particularly this No Puck Monday, is we have a magic number of one hour, 21 minutes in practice,” Bouchard added. “If you want something, you can go get that. These student athletes proved that today.”