AMHERST — A two-goal first period paced the Greenfield High School hockey team past Belchertown, as the Green Wave pulled off a 4-2 victory at the Mullins Center Practice Rink in a battle for first place in the Wright division.
The loss was the first league loss of the season for the Orioles (11-2-2 overall, 7-1-1), while the Green Wave (14-2-2, 6-1-2) remains in second place in the league.
It didn’t take the Green Wave long to take control of the game. Just 1 minute, 18 seconds into the first period, Booie Harris rifled a shot from near the blue line that snapped past Belchertown goalie Ethan Rajpold into the top left corner of the net to give Greenfield the early lead. Two minutes later, defenseman Jacob Bryant corralled the puck in his own end, sending it up ice to a streaking Kyle Barnes, who put a deke on the lone defender in front of him, leaving him with an open path to the net. Barnes slipped the puck through Rajpold’s five hole, and just like that, the Green Wave held a 2-0 lead.
“We’ve been putting a lot of stress on our team the last couple games that every game is going to be a playoff-like atmosphere moving forward,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “They proved it very well tonight. Hats off to Belchertown, they came out with their game plan and played us extremely hard. A 4-2 W in their house is a really good win for our team.”
After taking the two goal lead, Sean O’Sullivan was called for interference, giving Belchertown the powerplay and a chance to get back in the game. The Green Wave didn’t give them the chance, though, stuffing the man-up advantage to gain more early momentum.
After getting off to a rocky start in the first matchup with Belchertown (a 3-3 tie on Dec. 15), Bouchard was pleased with his team’s energy to open the contest.
“Going back to that playoff-like atmosphere, in a playoff game, no matter what level you’re playing at, getting off to a fast start is a huge momentum builder for the remainder of the game,” Bouchard said. “Last game against Belchertown, we had to come back to tie that game up. To take that two-goal lead was a really nice spot.”
Belchertown got itself back in the game at the 5:30 mark of the second period, when Francis Nigro fired a shot past Green Wave goalie Riley Drew to make it a 2-1 game.
It looked like that score would remain into the second intermission, but Bryant had different plans.
After a scramble in front of the net, O’Sullivan corralled the puck and sent it back to Bryant, who was standing in front of the blue line. The defenseman took a slap shot, whizzing it into the top left corner of the net to put the Green Wave up by two with just 34 seconds remaining in the second.
There was no quit in the Belchertown squad, who were able to bring it back to within one when forward Vaughn Gillen scored an unassisted goal at the 4:05 mark of the third period.
Greenfield controlled the puck for most of the remainder of the period, before Bryan Baumann found the back of the net off an assist from Doug Hanieski and Jacob Croteau to once again put the Green Wave up by two.
Greenfield came into the game as the more aggressive team on the offensive end, outshooting Belchertown 33-20 in the game.
Bouchard went into the game hoping to see his team put the puck on net, and they did just that.
“That has been our try for the entire year here,” Bouchard said. “We feel if we put 30 plus shots on net, we have a really good chance of winning the game. We always try to put 30 plus shots on net, that’s our game plan. Some of those shots might be from the blue line, some might be from the red line, but we feel if we put enough rubber on the net, good things are going to happen.”
Drew finished with 18 saves in the victory, while Rajpold stopped 29 shots for the Orioles.
Both teams are back in action today, with the Green Wave taking on Southwick at home at 6:30, while Belchertown faces Oakmont.
Greenfield 4, Belchertown 2
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Greenfield |
2 |
1 |
1 |
— |
4 |
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Belchertown |
0 |
1 |
1 |
— |
2 |
Goals: (G) Harris, Barnes, Bryant, B. Baumann. (B) Nigro, Gillen.
Assists: (G) Bryant, O’Sullivan, B. Baumann, Hanieski, Croteau. (B) Pache.
Shots: Greenfield 33. Belchertown 20.
Saves: (G) Drew 18. (B) Rajpold 29.