SPRINGFIELD
Beanies and baseball caps flew from the Nashoba fan section, over the Chieftains’ bench and onto the blue line.
Bryce Chaput had just scored his third goal of the game and second in 41 seconds to put Nashoba up 3-0 over Amherst in Thursday’s MIAA Division 3A Ice Hockey state title game.
The Hurricanes flipped the hats back over the boards with their sticks, trying to restart play.
“At that point I thought we were still in the game because we’d came back from 3-0 before,” Amherst junior Nathan Masteralexis said. “It was really the fourth and fifth goals that did it.”
Both of those came in the second period.
Amherst (18-2-3) went from down 1-0 to down 5-0 in 12 minutes, 38 seconds. It lost 5-1.
The Hurricanes hadn’t allowed so many goals in a game since giving up half a dozen in a 9-6 win over South Hadley in December.
Amherst’s locker room sounded different in the second intermission than it did after the first intermission when it trailed 1-0 off of Chaput’s first goal of four.
“I challenged the seniors. How do they want to go out?” Amherst coach Mike Rousseau said. “We can go out with our tail between our legs or we can fight.”
Not always the easiest thing to muster.
Amherst outshot Nashoba 21-15 in the game, but every one in the first two periods had found a pad or stick of Nashoba goalie Charlie Lamplough.
“Their goalie played great. We just had to keep our heads down and keep moving the puck,” Amherst senior Matt Gazaille said. “Being for us five seniors, we don’t want to go out playing a bad game. We wanted to give it everything we’ve got.”
Masteralexis made sure they lit the lamp in their final game in maroon and white, scoring with 9.7 seconds left on a feed from Jake Balderston.
While you have to squint to differentiate 5-1 and 5-0 on most scoreboards, the breakthrough represented more than a 1 on the scoreboard for the Hurricanes.
“A 5-0 game wasn’t an indication of the way we were playing,” Rousseau said. “That goal was something for us. The fans stood up and cheered for my boys, and they deserved it. They’ve come a long way.”
They took a program that won three games two years ago and lost in the Western Mass. final last season to its first sectional title in two decades.
“I don’t know if we shocked the world, but we put ourselves back on the map,” Rousseau said. “Icing on the cake (playing in the state final), maybe, but I really thought we had an opportunity to win this game, and I would play Nashoba tomorrow.”
The 9.7 seconds after Masteralexis’ goal passed without incident until the last horn sounded and clocks showed 0:00.
Nashoba celebrated its second consecutive state title.
Amherst huddled briefly before forming a handshake line.
Senior Jack Rees waited near the Amherst crease with his hands on his knees, briefly hugging and talking to coaches before taking his place at the end of the handshake line.
The entire Hurricane team appeared to gravitate toward their locker room exit.
Not so fast.
The MIAA lined both teams up on their blue line and presented medals to the champions and finalists.
Amherst’s line moved efficiently and somberly, a silver-hued assembly line.
Nashoba celebrated every lanyard coronation with hugs and pats on the back.
When it was time for the Amherst seniors to accept their finalist trophy, the master of ceremonies needed to beckon them twice.
Even then Rousseau had to wave his group over to retrieve it.
Gazaille ended up with the trophy tucked under one arm as he and his teammates left the ice a final time together.
Once the Hurricanes entered their locker room, the pain poured out.
“I don’t think I’ve ever cried like that in my life,” Masteralexis said. “I’m crying right now just to think my best friends won’t be able to play next year.”
Their tears mixed with the sweat of a game and a season.
Amherst achieved the goals it set out at the beginning of the year — a regular season Fay-Wright title and a Western Massachusetts Division 3A championship.
Thursday’s game could have been icing on the cake after a historic season.
Rousseau and Amherst won’t see it like that.
Instead, for the moment, it will go down like a bitter cough syrup.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.