WEST SPRINGFIELD — With a trip to the Western Massachusetts Division 3A finals on the line, the South Hadley hockey team might have played its best game of the season in a 4-2 win over defending champion Amherst Regional.
After a scoreless first period, the No. 3 Tigers (11-7-2) scored two quick goals in the second and the defense took over from there to close out the second-seeded Hurricanes (14-5-2), Saturday at Olympia Ice Center.
South Hadley advanced to play No. 1 Chicopee (19-1-1) in the finals at 5:30 p.m. at Olympia on Thursday. The Pacers beat Belchertown 8-3 in the other semifinal game on Saturday.
“They are pumped,” South Hadley coach Larry Camus said of his team. ” We are a blue-collar team. Hard-working. It’s all about a lot of talent working together.”
Sean Doherty scored first for the Tigers on a feed from Trevor Ouimet, followed by goal right in front of the net by Michael Mazza.
“I got a great pass and I was able to chip it over (the goalie’s) shoulder,” Mazza said. “We feel pretty confident. We think we are one of the best teams and we are here to prove it.”
Doherty’s goal came on backhand past Amherst’s Clayton Bowser. Nick Thibault assisted on Mazza’s goal, feeding the speedy freshman in front of the net with a chance to get good power behind the shot attempt.
Thibault scored a power-play goal of his own in the third period to make it 3-0. Thibault rushed Amherst’s net and beat Bowser five-hole.
South Hadley’s Alex Joao poked in a loose puck in front of the net in the third period to make it 4-0 with seven minutes to play. Jack Monroe and Ben Watkins also had assists for the Tigers.
South Hadley’s defense held Amherst scoreless until late in the third period when Nathan Masteralexis got loose for two goals.
Masteralexis poked in a rebound left by a Jake Balderston shot to end South Hadley’s shutout with 5 minutes, 55 second left in the third period.
With less than two minutes left, Masteralexis got to another rebound left by a Nico Cardaropoli shot attempt to make it 4-2. From there, Amherst pulled its goalie but could not close the gap further.
“You have to stop the odd-man breaks,” South Hadley coach Larry Camus said. “No breakaways. We want our offense to play defense too.”
Jacob Remillard made 18 saves for the Tigers, while Bowser made 21 for the Hurricanes.
Remillard’s biggest save came toward the end of the second period when he stoned a wraparound attempt by Balderston. The save preserved a 2-0 lead going into the third period for the Tigers.
Until that attempt on net by Balderston, the Hurricanes did not have many scoring chances in the first and second period. Masteralexis had a shot from just inside the point at the end of the first period, but the shot whistled past the goal post and went high.
“We were outplayed for 40 minutes,” Amherst coach Mike Rousseau said. “They kept it simple. They moved their feet, we didn’t. When we made mistakes they capitalized. When they made mistakes we didn’t capitalize.”
Bowser was the more active of the two goalies, seemingly under fire for most the game.
Balderston and Cardaropoli both had two assists each for Amherst. Seniors Balderston, Masteralexis, Max Hopley and Ethan Taylor played their last game for Amherst.
“Two semifinals and a Western Mass. championship for these guys,” Rousseau said. “The sun will come up tomorrow.”
The Tigers had 25 shots on net to Amherst’s 20.
