Wahconah Icers Fall in Sectional Final

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Wahconah Hockey team found itself in a similar position as last year's Division 3-A final game: going into the third period on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

 

Last year, it was a three-goal deficit. On Thursday night, it was a 2-1 margin.

 

This time around, No. 5 Wahconah could not pull off the comeback.

 

Instead the title was taken over by No. 2 Chicopee Comp as it held Wahconah to only one more goal in final period and netted two of its own to leave the final score at 4-2.

 

"They're solid everywhere, they've got nine really good skaters," Wahconah coach Don Disbrow said. "They've got great structure defensively. We told the kids going into the game it was just going to be a war in front of the net."

 

Disbrow wasn't wrong. Chicopee Comp's Jeremy Lewis, who put in three of their goals for the evening, and Cam Kagan (one goal, three assists) put up quite the battle for Wahconah's defense and goalie Nico Romano, who totaled 23 saves for the night.

 

"Nico's been great for us all season," Disbrow said. "He was pretty nervous, but he, like everyone els,e settled into it and you could see he was a lot more comfortable back there."

 

Defensively, Comp was able to shut down the speed of Wahconah's Nate Lapine, Dan Flynn, and Andrew Beaudoin. It didn't allow a goal until 11 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the second period.

 

It came when Jeff Hancock was set up for a shot from Kyle Bazonski, who came from the penalty box seconds before. According to Disbrow, this wasn't a play that they had configured before.

 

"He was supposed to be coming to the bench. The standing rule is if it's in our defensive zone you get your butt back there and help, otherwise you're coming over to the bench if it's not your line," Disbrow said.

 

"We hadn't talked about a standing rule if there's a puck going down the other end you take off after it."

 

It worked out in Wahconah's favor as it was able to net its first goal and hold the score at 2-1 after two periods of play.

 

Lewis opened the scoring for the evening 58 seconds into the game, letting one fly from the left face-off circle, and Comp's second came with 1:38 remaining as a rebounded Lewis shot was put in from Kagan in a scramble in front of Wahconah's net.

 

Comp came out in the third and put in two more to extend its lead 4-1 and tallying a hat trick for Lewis as he recorded both goals.

 

Mike Bloom scored for Wahconah with 2:02 remaining to cut the Chicopee Comp lead to two, but after pulling Romano and playing a man up Wahconah couldn't answer and Comp became the new Division 3-A champions.

 

Despite the loss for Wahconah, the team has accomplished a lot in the past two seasons. They made it to the Division 3-A finals for two consecutive years and took home a Western Mass title in one of them. Disbrow believes that his players will come to appreciate the accomplishments they've had and the run they've made.

 

"It's going to hurt for a few days," Disbrow said. "Some will realize it in four or five days, some it might take a month, and some might look back in eight or ten years and say we had a pretty good run that we put together."

 

More photos of this game here.

More photos of this game here.