WEST SPRINGFIELD — After losing in the Western Massachusetts Division 3A semifinals in three out of the four seasons, the Belchertown ice hockey team finally clinched a berth in the finals, as it avenged last year’s loss to Chicopee, 7-3, Saturday at the Olympia Ice Center.
“We finally got over the hump tonight,” said Belchertown coach Matt Crutch, whose team was playing in its third straight semifinal. “It took a team effort.”
It was a back-and-forth affair for the majority of the game, until the fifth-seeded Orioles pulled away with two goals in the third period to seal the win.
Belchertown (8-6-4) will face No. 3 Easthampton (11-3-7) in the championship at the Olympia, Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Easthampton beat Greenfield, 3-2 to advance.
“We played a simple game, bared down and finished on the chances we had. The guys were pretty confident,” Crutch said.
After No. 1 Chicopee opened the scoring in the first period, Belchertown answered quickly with a goal from Nathan Pacheco.
He beat his first defender, creating a 2-on-1 rush toward the goal. With Pacheco on the left side, leading the rush, he ripped a wrist shot that found the top-right corner of the net to tie the game, 1-1.
Just four minutes later, his brother Matt added another goal for the Orioles. He picked up the puck right above the blue line and made his way toward the left side of the goal. At point blank range, Matt Pacheco slotted the puck in between the goalie’s legs, and it just squeezed by to give Belchertown a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.
“I thought we carried play in the first,” Crutch said. ”It was reassuring because we were down 1-0 to get that 2-1 lead going into the locker room.”
The second period saw an abundance of offense. Chicopee tied the game at about the halfway mark, with a crafty unassisted goal. Belchertown answered a minute later as AJ Velez picked up a loose puck near the goal and finished to make it 3-2.
“This is a determined team,” Crutch said. “They really take a lot of pride in what they do.”
Later in the period, Cody Lambert went to the penalty box for roughing, giving Chicopee its first power play. The Pacers took advantage of the short-handed Orioles, and evened the score once again, 3-3.
“I knew that we were getting our chances,” said Crutch in response to Chicopee’s third goal.
With two minutes left in the second period, Belchertown went on the power play. Franky Nigro ripped a shot that was initially blocked, until Nathan Pacheco corralled the rebound and finished to regain the lead. Just seconds later, Belchertown struck again, as Nathan Pacheco finished for his third goal. Those two goals at the end of the second extended Belchertown’s lead to 5-3.
In the final period, Belchertown’s defense held Chicopee in check, and Vaughn Gillen sealed the win with a goal in the last 3½ minutes of the game. Valez finished with an empty-net goal in the final minute to round out the scoring.
In addition to his hat trick, Nathan Pacheco had two assists. Lambert had two assists for the Orioles as well. Goalie Ethan Rajpold made 29 saves.
“We spent a lot of time this week going over situations and scenarios, and at the end of the day, the coaches got together and we threw it all out the window,” Crutch said. “We went out there and executed what we needed to do.”