WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Easthampton hockey team spread the scoring around in its 5-1 win against Taconic during the semifinal round of the Western Mass. Class B tournament in West Springfield on Tuesday.
Five different Eagles skaters found the back of the net versus the Thunder as second-seeded Easthampton punched its ticket to the Class B title game with the convincing victory.
“I thought we did a fantastic job today, other than our discipline,” Eagles head coach Tim Pfau said. “We’re not going to be able to take five penalties on Thursday night against whatever team we play.”
While Easthampton’s penalty-kill was up to the task, it’s offense took some time to get into a rhythm as Taconic–the third seed–opened the scoring less than three minutes into the semifinal contest.
Jack Schneider fired a one-timer from the high slot past Eagles goalie Tommy Bixby (20 saves) to put the Thunder ahead, 1-0.
Easthampton didn’t net the equalizer until the later stages of the opening frame when Leo Bowman cleaned up a loose rebound for a goal with 5:30 remaining in the first.
The 1-1 score held until the first intermission, but as soon as the puck dropped to begin the second period, any trepidation the Eagles may have had in the first frame appeared to have vanished. Easthampton scored the next four goals, two in the second, two in the third, to move on to the final and earn a chance for its first Western Mass. title since 2019.
“When five people score everybody is confident,” Eagles senior captain Ryan Curley said. “We got the good spread going. Everybody’s like, ‘oh, maybe I can get one,’ but we have that drive still.”
Grayson Prevey-Catrambone gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 8:07 left in the second, sending a missile into the top right corner immediately following an Easthampton faceoff win.
Prevey-Catrambone could’ve had a couple of goals during the second, but Taconic goalie Joe Schneider (28 saves) turned aside several grade-a chances from the Eagles junior.
“Grayson stands out most days,” Pfau said. “He’s very quick, he works hard, he’ll be the first kid on a puck that’s a 50-50. I’m proud of him today, certainly.”
Easthampton extended its lead to 3-1 on another rebound tally, this time off the stick of Jamie Parrish, with 2:23 to go in the second.
Two goals in quick succession during the third period from the Eagles put the game on ice as Curley and Max Scribner potted goals less than a minute apart, bringing the score to 5-1.
“We tried to mix it up on the goaltender,” Pfau said. “We take shots, take it to the rack, as we say, or make a pass and catch him off guard, side to side.”
Curley (goal, assist), Parrish (goal, assist) and Jimmy Bresnahan (two assists) recorded multi-point games for Easthampton.
Easthampton will meet the winner of No. 1 McCann Tech and No. 5 Agawam in the Class B championship game back in West Springfield on Thursday.
“We’re just ready to grind,” Curley said. “We’re going to give it our all, give it everything we got for that game and we’re going to try and make states.”
The Eagles lost both games to McCann Tech during the regular season (each by one goal), but beat Agawam by a combined score of 17-3 in two regular-season meetings.
Puck drop is set for 5:30 p.m.
“We know that we can at least hang with both of those teams,” Pfau said. “Then we can make it a one-play game. We have the skill and ability to capitalize on those plays.”
