SPRINGFIELD — After a pair of goals in the opening three minutes, it appeared as if the South Hadley and Chicopee hockey teams were ready for a high-scoring affair.

But following the early fireworks both teams cooled down and finished in a 3-3 tie, Tuesday at Smead Arena.

South Hadley needed the win to control its postseason hopes. The defending Western Massachusetts Division 3A champions are 4-9-3 overall, 3-3-2 in the Fay League.

With four games left, the Tigers cannot reach .500. They can only qualify by finishing second in the league. They have Ludlow (5-0-2 Fay) and Chicopee Comp (1-3-3) left. Chicopee is in second (4-1-4).

South Hadley needs to win its final two league games and hope Ludlow falls to Amherst (3-2-3), which is also in the picture.

“We’re not going to give up,” South Hadley coach Larry Camus said. “We’re still going to play. If we have to we are going to knock someone out of the tournament, that’s our new goal.”

Michael Mazza is on board with his coach’s message.

“Just because it’s not looking good for the tournament you still gotta play your heart out and come out every time and try to do the same thing to other teams that they just did to us,” Mazza said.

The Tigers were looking good early when they got a quick goal from freshman Ryan Tucker. The Tigers seemed to have seized momentum, but just a few moments later Chicopee responded when sophomore Mike Palermo received a nice wraparound pass and scored in front of the net.

The turning point came at the end of the second period. Mazza scored short-handed on a 2-on-1 break to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead with under 2 minutes remaining.

But the Pacers answered with 12 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game at 2 and gain some momentum back.

“That goal at the end of the second period really hurt us,” Camus said. “It tied it 2-2 and coming out with a lead instead against them would have made it different.”

South Hadley took a 3-2 lead in the third courtesy of Mazza, who scored on a rebound.

Then, a turnover in its own zone led to a game-tying goal for Palermo just moments after the Tigers had gained the lead.

“Every time we were able to get a lead a shift after or two shifts after we just give it right back,” Mazza said. “I think that’s been the biggest problem most of our season and a reason why we haven’t pulled out points recently.”

South Hadley returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. against Chicopee Comp.

“One game at a time,” Camus said. “Let’s go out and get it, that’s all we’ve been doing for the past two weeks.”