Baittini Scores Twice, Wahconah Advances to Semis

Goaltender Roger Stedman makes a glove save with less than a minute remaining in the second period. He saved 11 of 13 shots in Wahconah's 4-2 victory on Monday.

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Junior forward Devon Baittini scored twice as the Wahconah Regional High hockey team beat Easthampton, 4-2, on Thursday night at Olympia Ice Center.

"He skates well. You know, he's fast," coach Don Disbrow said of Baittini following the game. "Him and Hjalmar [Gustafsson] are probably two of the fastest kids on our team."

The team's 11th-straight win puts Wahconah (14-6-1) into the Division 3-A semifinals on Monday night against Belchertown.

Forwards Dan Flynn and Andrew Beaudoin rounded out the scoring for Wahconah. On the other end of the ice, goaltender Roger Stedman fended off 11 of 13 shots.

The game started with back-and-forth play until Easthampton forward Tim Pfau intercepted a pass, darted past the defense and beat Stedman to take a 1-0 lead 2 minutes, 24 seconds into the game. That was the last time Easthampton would find twine until it was too late.

Not even a minute after, Easthampton threatened again when forward Calvin LaPlante broke away but Stedman turned the puck away. Wahconah got its first big chance to return the favor shortly after with the man advantage following a high stick on Easthampton, but failed to convert.

And then Wahconah turned up the pressure. Forward Jeff Hancock just missed an easy tap-in goal off a rebound with over six minutes remaining. About 20 seconds later, forward Hjalmar Gustafsson dangled around the left side of the defense and connected to Hancock who had a wide-open net, but the post made its first save of the night, denying the equalizer.
 

Dan Flynn snipes the post in the third period. Flynn scored Wahconah's first goal earlier in the game.

But finally, for the team's sixth shot of the evening, Flynn broke away, approached Easthampton goaltender Sean Rose left-to-right and beat him with a filthy backhand to tie the game with 3:31 to go in the first.

"Flynner's got good speed. He's one of those kids that's relentless on the ice," Disbrow said. "So he's going to be like that. He's going to be on top of people, he's going to be in their faces, he's going to keep working and not give up."

Wahconah continued to pressure Rose, making itself at home in the slot. Its presence paid off after Hancock fired the puck at Rose that was quickly tapped in by Baittini.

Wahconah's defense stepped up for much of the remainder of the period, three minutes of which Wahconah spent on the penalty kill. Easthampton played hard in the final minute, but couldn't beat the brick wall named Stedman, who gloved a bullet with 28.1 seconds remaining.

"He's solid, absolutely. He's having a good season," Disbrow said.

Baittini struck again in the third for the eventual gamewinner, picking the right corner with 8:56 remaining after his linemates Mike Bloom and Hancock set him up. The offense kept at it though, with a chance off of a Gustafsson-Beaudoin connection saved by Rose and a snipe from Flynn saved by the post.

With 1:40 left in Easthampton's season, Rose retreated to the bench but Beaudoin scored on the empty net to push the lead to 4-1. Alex Zadworny scored a late goal for Easthampton but that was all.

"Hats off to them, they had a good season, they did a great job, they've got a couple really good skaters on their team and a couple guys who can put the puck in the net," Disbrow said. "So luckily, we have enough good skaters that we can always keep an eye on it."

Wahconah will face Belchertown on Monday at a time to be determined. Belchertown defeated Chicopee Comp, 3-0, following the Wahconah and Easthampton game.