AMHERST — The Amherst Regional hockey team bounced back from last Saturday’s loss to undefeated Chicopee as it cruised to a convincing 8-2 win over Easthampton, Thursday at Orr Rink.
A strong start — four goals in the opening six-and-a-half minutes — and a strong finish — two goals in the final four minutes — allowed the Hurricanes to tie their season-high in goals.
“I thought we played well,” Amherst coach Mike Rousseau said. “Easthampton’s a good, well-coached team, they play hard. They came at us and we had a response. We moved the puck well, we skated, we got to the net where we needed to score some goals.”
Amherst (9-4-1, 8-2-1 Fay-Wright) wasted no time attacking the Eagles’ defense as Brandon Feldman took the opening faceoff and sprinted through the Easthampton (4-9-1, 3-9-1 Fay-Wright) zone, but goalie Nate Barnes denied him.
Feldman had his revenge 30 seconds later when he cleaned up a loose puck in front of the net to put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 just 41 seconds into the opening period. Nico Cardaropoli added another goal for Amherst less than a minute later.
The Hurricanes scored twice more, taking a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.
“I think it was huge,” Rousseau said of the four early goals. “I told the kids before the game that Easthampton was a team that’s not going to be afraid of us. They were struggling for a playoff spot if they even had a chance, but I knew that they were going to play hard. I also knew that if we didn’t answer we would be in a dogfight, so the boys responded to the challenge, which I was real proud of.”
After just over a full period between goals, Nathan Masteralexis put the Hurricanes ahead 5-1 with 8:33 remaining in the second period. Amherst had opportunities to extend its lead even further in the period, but Jake Balderston couldn’t haul in a pass that would’ve led to a breakaway and Dylan Walter had a goal waived off due to goalie interference.
“I saw from the bench, I thought our guy had removed himself from the goalie, the ref saw it the other way,” Rousseau said. “He saw it that he went back into the goalie and interfered on him. It’s his interpretation, he runs it. I told him I didn’t agree with him, but we came to a gentleman’s agreement and we agreed to disagree.”
The Eagles opened the final period with a quick faceoff win and a snipe by CJ Tenczar to beat Amherst goalie Clayton Bowser, but the Hurricanes scored three times in the period to stretch their lead to 8-2.
After the game Rousseau singled out Feldman’s performance as a key to the victory.
“Three-year member of the team, really been a third-line player, this year he’s on the first unit. Had a couple goals, couple assists, great backcheck and forecheck at key plays, hats off to him, he did a real nice job for us,” Rousseau said.
“I’m just trying to move the puck with my line, create chances,” Feldman said of his performance. “I think I played my part pretty well. I think there’s improvements I can make, but I think I did my job pretty good tonight.”
Masteralexis tallied two goals and three assists.
“He’s a great player,” Feldman said of Masteralexis. “He’s always there when you need him, he’s always in the right position, and it’s easy to move the puck with everyone on that line. He earned his points tonight just like everyone else.”
Cardaropoli scored twice and picked up a pair of assists. Max Hopley had a goal and an assist.
For Easthampton, Garren Fugiel scored in addition to Tenczar, while Jack Delisle and Matt Grimaldi picked up assists.