The Greenfield hockey team has a chance to put an exclamation mark on its first season in the Berry Division Saturday.

After making the jump up to take on the best hockey programs western Mass. has to offer outside of Pope Francis, it was always interesting to see how the Green Wave would handle the step up in competition.

As it turns out, Greenfield was more than ready for the challenge.

The Green Wave closed out the regular season with a 7-4-1 record in league action, which earned them 15 points. Neither Westfield, East Longmeadow, Minnechaug, Ludlow, West Springfield or Longmeadow were able to eclipse that mark — the Bombers coming closest with 14 points — as Greenfield captured the regular season Berry Division championship.

“Having the opportunity to move up to the Berry was something we were really excited for,” Green Wave coach Adam Bouchard said. “Coming away with a regular season league championship is huge. It’s the first time in Green Wave history we were able to win the Berry Division. There were a lot of first times this year throughout the season but the best thing about it is that we aren’t done yet.”

The Berry Division didn’t feature any easy outs this year.

Westfield is ranked in the top 32 of the MIAA Div. 2 power rankings while East Longmeadow and West Springfield sit in the top 32 of the Div. 3 rankings, showing the level of competition the Wave had to get through to take home the regular season title.

“What’s been really great about being in the Berry this year is that there’s great parody around the league,” Bouchard said.

The way to put that exclamation mark on the season? By beating Westfield on Saturday in the Western Mass. Class A championship game.

The PVIAC changed the format of the Western Mass. hockey tournament this winter. Instead of grouping teams based on their school size, the PVIAC simply made it so the top four teams in the Berry Division during the regular season compete for the Class A title while the top four teams in the Fay-Wright Division are competing for the Class B title. 

By having the top record in the league, Greenfield earned the top seed in the tournament, but that drew them against a red hot East Longmeadow team in the semifinals that had won six of its last seven going into the game. 

The Wave fell behind 2-0 early, fought back to tie it at three in the third to force overtime where senior Jake Jurek came up with the game-winner to send Greenfield to the title game with a 4-3 victory. 

“It feels wonderful,” Bouchard said after the win. “But we also know as soon as we leave this locker room we go back to work. The whistle blows we get our buckets, pack our lunches and come back to practice to get ready for this western Mass. Berry championship game which we’re really excited to be in.”

The Green Wave hope their championship game against the Bombers will go similarly to the pair of regular season games the two squads played. 

Greenfield earned a 5-4 victory over Westfield at Collins-Moylan Arena on Jan. 29 and one week later in Westfield, pulled off a 3-2 road victory. Those two wins proved to be the difference in the regular season league title. 

The Green Wave understand the talent the Bombers have and know they’ll be getting their best shot on Saturday, with the game set to begin at 3 p.m. at Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield. 

“It’s going to be a huge game,” Jurek said. 

Greenfield enters the title game averaging 3.35 goals per contest while surrendering just 2.95. 

Jurek — who scored his 100th point earlier in the season — leads the Green Wave with 21 goals and 12 assists. Fellow senior Matt Garvin has potted 11 goals to go along with 13 assists, Luca Siano had tallied seven goals and 10 assists, Brady Poreda has put in seven goals while Shawn Baumann and Cam Hopkins have each found the back of the net four times this season.

Jack Laurie missed time during the season with an injury but is back for the stretch run, with the defenseman having scored five goals to go wi seven assists.

In net Cooper Smith is a veteran presence who can be relied on in big moments, as he did in overtime against East Longmeadow, giving the Green Wave extra confidence heading into Saturday’s title game.

“We’re going to get to work hard at practice,” Bouchard said. “The one thing our coaching staff does well and these student athletes do well is effort and execution. We’ll get through the next few days of practice, put together our game plan and if we come in, execute and come with a full effort again by doing things the Green Wave way, good things will happen.”