Late Goal, Penalty Kill Lift Wahconah Past South Hadley
HOLYOKE, Mass. -- With just more than seven minutes left in a 1-1 game,the Wahconah hockey team Monday drew a five-minute major against South Hadley.
It was a situation eerily similar to Wahconah's first loss of the season.
But this time, it flipped the script.
Ryan Lapierre tipped in an Owen Kroboth blast from the point on a 4-on-4, and Wahconah's defense killed off the rest of the major and one minute with the Tigers' goalie pulled to secure a 2-1 win at Fitzpatrick Rink.
"We buttoned down, Antonio [Scalise] did great in net," Wahconah coach Matt Risley said. "I think we relied on him a little too much.
"But it takes a lot to fight off a five-minute penalty with seven minutes left to go in the third. I thought it was going to be deja vu, but it wasn't. We held it in there.
"I don't know if it was from experience, which, I wouldn't like .. But they dug down deep and found a way to win."
Thirty seconds after Trey Massaro went to the sin bin for a boarding call in the offensive zone, South Hadley's power play unit took a two-minute minor, giving Wahconah the 4-on-4 opportunity and giving a respite to its penalty kill.
Mason Alfonso won the ensuing offensive zone faceoff back to Corey Bazonski, who passed to Kroboth. Kroboth's shot was tipped home by Lapierre to make it 2-1.
"Owen just threw it on net, and I tried my best to get a stick on it," Lapierre said. "It looked like it was going high into the goalie's shoulder, so I just put a stick on it, and it went in.
"It was definitely close [to high-sticking], but I'm pretty sure it was legal."
Wahcconah took a 1-0 lead late in the first period with a power-play goal by Mike Cullett.
Lapierre won a battle deep on the boards on the right wing side and carried the puck behind the boards, leaving it for Mason Alfonso along the back board. He passed it out to Cullett on the doorstep, and Cullett finished to put Wahconah on top.
It stayed there for 15 minutes, but South Hadley's Matt Brunelle scored from the high slot to tie it with 2:17 left in the second period.
It was the hosts' 11th shot of the second period and one of 34 against Scaliese, who won the last two games for Wahconah filling in for a flu-sidelined Jake Risley.
"He had a really solid game," Matt Risley said of Scalise. "He bailed us out on more than one occasion."
Wahconah's penalty kill also came up big, keeping South Hadley scoreless in four man-up chances, including the five-minute major and two minor penalties early in the third with the score 1-1.
"All year, we've been doing well on the penalty kill," Lapierre said. "We've got to trust each other when we're down a man. I wouldn't say that we're confident when that happens, but we know what to do in that situation."
Wahconah (7-2-1, 4-1 Fay Division) hosts Chicopee Comp on Wednesday.