It was a celebratory end of the season for several members of the Greenfield hockey program.

A pair of Green Wave hockey members collected awards at the 2025 Amo Bessone High School Hockey Awards at the Dante Club in West Springfield on April 10. 

The annual awards, which honor high school hockey players in Western Massachusetts, include a $500 scholarship. For the second year in a row, Greenfield senior Jake Jurek received the Eugene Grazia Award, presented to the region’s top offensive player, while Green Wave coach Adam Bouchard was awarded the Matthew J. Ryan Award for outstanding contributions to high school hockey. 

Jurek has been an offensive force for Greenfield his final two seasons with the program. He surpassed the 100-point mark for his career this winter and finished with 116 total points, which ranked 12th in program history. 

The Franklin County Technical School student finished the season with 25 goals and 13 assists, helping lead Greenfield to a Berry Division regular season title, a trip to the Western Mass. Class A championship game as well as the No. 17 seed in the Div. 4 state tournament. 

“What else can you say about Jake,” Bouchard said. “He was selected as our Team MVP this season for the second year in a row. It’s his second year winning this award. It’s a great accomplishment for Jake. He’s the first student athlete in Green Wave history to win back-to-back Bessone Awards. After winning it as a junior, we knew teams were going to come out with an emphasis to try to stop him from scoring this season. His ability to listen, learn what the coaches were telling him about how these teams would try to shut him down and adjust was impressive. It was great as a coach to see a student athlete understand the game and execute.” 

It wasn’t just the number of goals Jurek scored, but the timing of them. He had a six-goal performance early in the season against Longmeadow and in overtime of Greenfield’s Class A semifinal against East Longmeadow, Jurek scored the game-winner to lift the Wave to the sectional title game. 

“He had some really clutch goals,” Bouchard said. “He had a bunch of game-winners. His game against Longmeadow was just total domination. When a big goal was needed, he was there to deliver.” 

For Bouchard, receiving the Matthew J. Ryan Award himself was a great accomplishment. The veteran coach acknowledged all the hard work that has gone into turning the Green Wave into a force on the ice. 

“It was a pretty amazing phone call when I found out I was unanimously selected for this award,” Bouchard said. “I’m not usually the one receiving these awards individually. It’s always at a team event or function. I shed a tear or two after this phone call. This is one of those that I take as a huge accomplishment for everything this program has done over the last 10 years.”

The longtime coach has built the Wave into a Western Mass. powerhouse. The program won a state title in 2019-2020 while capturing Western Mass. titles in 2022 and 2023. 

This year, Greenfield made the leap up to the Berry Division — the top league in Western Mass. — and thrived, winning the regular season title and making it to the Class A title game. 

“It just goes to show that if you do things the Green Wave way, good things will happen,” Bouchard said. “If you do things the right way and work hard, you can accomplish the goals you set for yourself.” 

Bouchard and the Green Wave knew there would be challenges with the uptick in competition this winter, but it only made the coaches and players in the program work harder, and that showed on the ice throughout the season. 

“There was a lot of talk around the league about how we’d handle the Berry,” Bouchard said. “Being our first year, a lot of people were thinking ‘good luck to them.’ We graduated a lot of guys and people probably thought playing us would be a point night for them. To have the season we had and winning the regular season title is huge for the program, the student athletes and the coaches on staff. The goal is always to win your league and to do it year one is something we’re super proud of. We’re all chomping at the bit to get back out there next season.”