It’s been 12 years since the Greenfield hockey team last stepped on the ice with a sectional title on the line.
That changes Thursday night.
The top-seeded Green Wave will tangle with No. 3 Wahconah at Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield for the Western Massachusetts Division 3A championship (5:30 p.m.). Thursday’s final is the fifth appearance in a sectional title game for the program, the last coming when Greenfield won its first — and only — Western Mass. crown back in 2008.
Greenfield is 1-3 in championship games, including an appearance in the MIAA’s first-ever Western Mass. final back in 1972. The program was the unofficial champion in 1930, when they went 7-1 overall. There was no postseason in those days, but Greenfield posted the best record in the area, and held a victory over fellow powerhouse Holyoke. The program also played games against Vermont and New Hampshire during the 1930 campaign.
West Springfield High School holds the Western Mass. record for most hockey championships with 22.
With the eyes of the Franklin County community focused on Thursday’s big game, here’s a closer look at the other championship-game appearances for Greenfield during its hockey history.
Greenfield was the No. 1 seed in the 2008 postseason, which marked the inaugural Division 3A bracket. The Green Wave capped a 20-1-2 campaign with a decisive 7-4 win over Agawam at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
Locked in a 1-1 game in the opening period, Greenfield rattled off three straight tallies to take a commanding 4-1 lead it would not relinquish.
Tym Dore and Swedish speedster Carl Ihrelius scored two goals apiece to lead the way, and goalkeeper Austin Urkiel finished with 19 saves in the Greenfield net.
“As a freshman class coming in, I knew we had something special with this group,” Greenfield head coach Mike Duclos said afterward. “This was the ultimate goal this year, taking the crown at the end.”
There was no state tournament in 2008, meaning the Western Mass. title marked the end of the road for the Wave. That won’t be the case if Greenfield wins on Thursday. They would advance to meet the Central Mass. 3A champion next week.
The No. 4 seed in the Division 3 field, Greenfield knocked off Pittsfield and Westfield to earn a spot in the final against No. 2 Amherst.
But the final, played at Orr Arena in Amherst, certainly didn’t go the way of the Wave. Amherst jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one period en route to a 7-4 victory.
Greenfield, which finished 17-7 overall, trailed 7-1 until the third period when it scored the game’s final three tallies to close the gap. Sean Lavoine and Reid Anderson scored two goals apiece for the Green Wave, and busy goaltender Steve Vaughn finished with 38 saves as Amherst finished with a 45-23 edge in shots on goal.
One of the most exciting title games in Western Mass. history lasted into a second overtime, where Ludlow’s Ken Masterlerz scored the game-winning goal two minutes and 11 seconds into the frame to lift the Lions to a 7-6 win at the Coliseum in West Springfield.
“I’m very proud of them,” Greenfield coach Ralph Collins told the Recorder afterward. “They played a helluva game. They skated their hearts out. They’re a super bunch of kids and they have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Trailing 6-4 with 1:30 remaining in regulation, Greenfield rallied to force overtime. Captain Mike Perreault made it 6-5 with 1:29 remaining, and 25 seconds later, Dan Akey slid a pass to John Organ, who deposited the puck into the back of the net to tie it.
Organ and Matt Bete scored two goals apiece, with Akey credited with three assists. Goaltender Chris Greene made 35 saves.
In the first year of sectional tournaments, Greenfield reached the Division 2 final after a memorable 4-3 victory over East Longmeadow in the semifinals.
After losing to East Longmeadow by a 10-2 margin earlier in the season, Greenfield rebounded in a big way to snag the semifinal victory. Dave Bruce made 30 saves in that win, and Ted Yeglinski scored twice to send the Wave through to a title matchup against Amherst.
Greenfield didn’t have an answer for the Hurricanes however. Before several thousand fans at the Eastern States Coliseum in West Springfield, Amherst blanked Greenfield and first-year coach Dave Liberatore, 2-0, despite 31 saves from Bruce between the pipes.