Published: 12/15/2021 11:28:42 PM
Modified: 12/15/2021 11:28:08 PM
EASTHAMPTON – Tuesday’s contest against Easthampton certainly wasn’t an easy game for Greenfield.
The Green Wave was playing its third game in five days, and they were wiped. Despite their fatigue, they managed two power play goals en route to a 4-2 win against the Eagles on their opening night.
“We're definitely getting worn out. But you know, we're strong team, we’ve got good legs underneath us,” assistant captain Sammy Knight said. “Hopefully we get our third period legs back that we had last year.”
The Eagles struggled to stay out of the penalty box, taking six penalties - three in the first period.
“Five-on-five, I thought we thought we really dictated the pace of play,” Easthampton coach Timothy Pfau said. “I think they were hanging with us five-on-five. Penalties killed us, and that's something that we're gonna talk about.”
The Eagles opened the scoring in the first period. Drew Thompson blasted a shot from the point that cleanly beat netminder Joshua Bordeaux. Though Easthampton sent three players to the penalty box in the first, it managed to kill all three of those and keep a one-goal lead into the second.
But as the penalties began to pile up, it was only a matter of time before the Green Wave cashed in on one. Knight tipped in a shot from the point for the Green Wave’s first goal of the night five minutes into the middle frame, converting their fourth power play opportunity.
The Eagles took yet another penalty in the second, but were able to stave off the power play, thanks in large part to goalie Paige Galpin’s play, who was impressive all night for the Eagles.
“We have a lot of young kids, sophomores who didn’t get to play last year, so this is their first high school game,” Pfau said. “Young kids (were) trying to be a little bit over aggressive, trying to do too much. We just need to kind of reel them in, that's all.”
With the game tied going into the third, Greenfield took its first lead of the contest on another power play goal, this one a wrister from Kevin Baumann.
The Green Wave held on to their lead for five more minutes before collecting another goal to make it a two-goal game. Knight scored his second goal of the contest with a little more than five minutes remaining in the final period.
Down but not out, the Eagles answered back less than a minute later when they snuck a puck past Bordeaux that just trickled in near the post. Despite a late offensive push, the Green Wave stood strong in front of their netminder, and Shane Prusak scored an empty netter to seal the win for Greenfield.
“Coming into this barn, it's always a really good, difficult place to be in. It's a great atmosphere for high school hockey,” Greenfield head coach Adam Bouchard said. “Coming away with the two points was definitely our job, that's what we wanted to come here to get today.”