SPRINGFIELD — A historic season came to an end for the Amherst Regional hockey team Thursday at the MassMutual Center.
A run to the Division 3A state finals culminated in a 5-1 loss to Central Massachusetts champion Nashoba Regional.
“If you look at it like a journey, we set goals early. But we kept making new ones,” Amherst coach Mike Rousseau said. “The division, then Western Mass., then states. Early on we realized this group was something special. We’ve set the bar very high for Amherst hockey.”
The Hurricanes (18-2-3) played Nashoba even for a period, but a four-goal second period put the game out of reach. After one period, it was 1-0 Nashoba, while shots were even at five each.
“Historically, they are going to remember this the rest of their lives,” Rousseau said. “But it’s going into the past now. They got a taste of the Western Mass. finals and they conquered that.”
Playing until the final horn, Jake Balderston found Nathan Masteralexis for Amherst’s lone goal with 9 seconds left in the game. The duo combined for 98 points this year and both players return next year.
Senior captain Matt Gazaille played his last game for the Hurricanes.
“I was really happy to be here,” Gazaille said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the win. We won our league and we won Western Mass. That’s a great feeling.”
The Hurricanes will send six seniors to graduation — Riley Quinlan, Nick Freniere, Josh Lacroix, Marshall O’Leary, Jake Rees and Gazaille.
“I love all these guys,” Gazaille said. “They’ve become family the past four years. It’s going to be tough to leave them. The other seniors especially. But this team is going to be special again next year.”
Amherst went to the locker room dejected, but Rousseau said the team should be proud of winning its first sectional championship in 22 years.
“I wish I could take the pain out of those guys,” Rousseau said. “But tomorrow they are going to wake up and the sun is going to be up. Western Mass. champs and second best in the state isn’t all that bad.”
Nashoba (21-2-0) came out after the first intermission and relentlessly attacked the Amherst defense.
Early on, the Chieftains got a breakaway after they caught Amherst in a line change. Nashoba’s Bryce Chaput fired a laser top shelf past Amherst goalie Clayton Bowser’s glove to make it 2-0.
Within seconds, Chaput made it 3-0 on a one-timer from Garren LaPlante. Chaput added his fourth goal later in the period for a 4-0 advantage.
Just prior to the second intermission, Nashoba’s Dan Kerble took a failed clear attempt and wristed it past Bowser (10 saves) to make it 5-0 going into the third period.
The Chieftains scored first when Dean Anastas took a one-on-two break deep behind the net in the first period.
His shot created a rebound following a large pile up and Chaput got his stick on the puck to poke it past Bowser.
