GREENFIELD — If every night delivers like Monday’s East Longmeadow-Greenfield hockey game, fans might want to purchase their Berry Division season tickets sooner than later.
The visiting Spartans made an impressive opening statement in what should be a difficult league slate once again, going on the road and snagging a 6-4 victory over the Green Wave in the conference opener for both teams at Collins-Moylan Arena.
Cody Shaw netted the game-winning goal for East Longmeadow (1-1 overall, 1-0 Berry) with just three minutes, 47 seconds remaining in regulation. Off a face-off in the Greenfield zone, Shaw helped keep a loose puck in the attacking area. He threw a shot on net that snuck through the pads of Green Wave goalie Ben Johnston to give East Longmeadow a 5-4 cushion.
The Spartans tacked on an empty-netter with 44.7 seconds remaining, as Jack Rustico scored his second of the night to seal the deal in the 6-4 win.
“Coming up to Greenfield is always really tough. That’s a quality team, probably top two team right now in Western Mass.,” offered East Longmeadow coach Dan Reid. “So a huge win for us, and it’s going to be like this all year in the Berry Division.”
Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard echoed Reid’s sentiments that the league is shaping up to be a gauntlet yet again this winter.
“This is exactly why we love being where we are in the Berry Division,” Bouchard said. “We were fortunate to win the league last year, so you’ve got to add that into every other team when they see they’re playing the Green Wave. I’m sure that’s somewhere on their mind, somewhere in their game plan saying, remember last year? But this was a fantastic high school hockey game.
“These are the hockey games that you want to be in and want to play in. We just didn’t come out on top tonight.”
The way Monday’s game finished seemed unlikely based on how it started. The Spartans came out flying, dominating possession and offensive zone time while striking for three goals in the opening 10:37 of the first period.
Gennaro Malafronte started the scoring with a rebound goal just 1:35 into the first period, and Rustico made it 2-0 almost three minutes later when his wrister in close found the back of the net.
Brayden Bousquet capped the first-period scoring with 4:23 to play, as he buried a shot on a breakaway to the far post to give the Spartans a commanding 3-0 lead.
“We were getting shots on net and putting them in the empty space,” said Reid of his team’s hot start. “We were just fighting the corners.”
The 3-0 deficit forced Bouchard to use his timeout, and the message in the huddle seemed to settle Greenfield (0-2, 0-1) which came out of the break with a renewed sense of purpose.
That ultimately led to the Wave’s first goal of the game, as Chase Zraunig buried a backhander with 1:35 left in the opening period to give the hosts a much-needed tally.
Brady Poreda opened the second period with a rebound goal off a shot from Anson Prunier to cut the Greenfield deficit to 3-2, though Kevin Baker re-established the two-goal lead for East Longmeadow when he stepped in off a face-off and scored to make it 4-2 with 7:01 left in the middle period.
Greenfield got the next two goals, both from Zraunig who finished with the hat trick in his home opener. His shorthanded goal with just 46 seconds left in the second period made it 4-3, and he tied the game with 5:35 remaining in the third on a rebound after a nifty move and shot from Nico Siano was initially saved by Spartans goaltender Owen Fisher.
Fisher made a few key saves in the third to keep East Longmeadow level, and Shaw eventually broke the dam with the go-ahead marker less than two minutes after Zraunig tied it.
“[East Longmeadow] played a fantastic, hard, strong game,” said Bouchard. “We gave up three goals in the first [10] minutes of the game. We’re down 3-0, and we call our timeout and start clawing our way back. Big mistake on our defensive coverage for the game-winning goal, and they buried it.“
Reid said his team never crumbled despite Greenfield’s rally and Zraunig’s third-period equalizer.
“We just kept reminding the boys how well we were playing,” he said. “I felt like we were out-shooting them and had some good zone time compared to them. We let them back in it, but we got right back in and did enough.”
The two teams play again on Jan. 22 at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield.
“There’s nothing better,” said Reid. “I’m a high school hockey guy, but there’s really nothing better than playing in the Barry Division, the highest level we have out here in Western Mass. Nights like tonight just show you how high the quality of hockey is going to be in Western Mass.”
