Few sides have been able to push the defending state champion Greenfield hockey team over the past few years.
South Hadley accomplished that feat Saturday night, as the Tigers stormed out to a 3-0 lead and ultimately settled for a 3-3 tie in action played at Collins-Moylan Arena in Greenfield.
The visiting Tigers scored two goals in the first two minutes of the game and tallied another in the second to go up 3-0. The Green Wave rallied however, finding the back of the net with five ticks left on the clock in the second period as Derek Lenois put home a rebound off a shot by Jacob Bryant to make it 3-1 going into the final 15 minutes of action.
Greenfield rode the wave of confidence from the late goal into the third, tallying two more times in the final stanza of play to force a 3-3 come-from-behind tie.
Matt Brunelle kicked off the scoring for South Hadley, putting home a goal just 1:18 into the game off an assist from ThenisTsilibocos.
Just 20 seconds later, Tsilibocos put home a rebound off a shot from Brunelle to put the Tigers up 2-0 before either team was able to settle into the game.
Nate Loughman scored the third South Hadley goal, doing so 1:56 into the second period to give the visitors a 3-0 lead at the time.
Greenfield ultimately rallied and tied the game with 6:47 to play in the third period, when Kyle Barnes pounced on a rebound to make it 3-3.
South Hadley goalie Anthony Cigal finished the game with a whopping 40 saves.
After tying the game up, Greenfield was forced to hang on late. A penalty put the Tigers on the power-play with 3:49 to play, and the Wave picked up a second minor during the stretch, forcing them to kill off a 5-on-3 for one minute.
The Greenfield penalty kill came up big, thanks to a few big saves from Joshua Bordeaux in net, who stopped 18 shots in the game.
South Hadley is right back at it Monday with a 12:30 p.m. tilt against Ludlow at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield.
Amherst 84, Baystate Academy 20 – The Hurricanes cruised to an 18-5 lead after one quarter and never looked back en route to a convincing victory over Baystate Academy on Saturday.
Amherst led 45-9 at halftime.
Delaney MacPhetres was the star of the show for the Hurricanes. She poured in a game-high 34 points, leading an Amherst team that had 10 different players score points.
Esme Siegel and Petua Mukimba each scored eight points in the win, while Audrey Bowen, Mayouri Yath and Genesis Cruz all tossed in seven points.