Westfield upended Longmeadow on the ice in double overtime of a west sectional Division 3 boys’ ice hockey semifinal Thursday night at the Olympia in West Springfield. (Photo by Bill Deren)
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Longtime Westfield High School boys’ ice hockey coach C.B. “Moose” Matthews has guided several Western Massachusetts and state championship runs, and found himself smack dab in the middle of Bombers’ dynasties, but never has he been witness to a comeback like this.
No. 4 Westfield, which needed to win a tiebreaker just to make the postseason, rallied from a 2-0 deficit to upend top-seeded Longmeadow 3-2 in double overtime of a west sectional semifinal thriller Thursday night at the Olympia in West Springfield.
Liam Whitman scored the game-winner with 3:44 remaining in the second overtime.
“I made a pass to (Zach) Jarvis,” Whitman said in describing the game’s final goal. “He took it wide, behind the net, chipped it out front to me, and I buried it top right corner.”
The Westfield players dive-bombed the ice in celebration as the victory sends them to the west sectional championship against No. 2 Minnechaug Thurs., March 10 at the Olympia at 8:30 p.m.
“Going into the third period down 2-0 against Longmeadow in the semis is tough to come back from,” said coach Matthews. “This is one of the best wins I’ve ever had in the 28 years I’ve been here … I’ve had teams with more talent but this one is made up of blue collar workers who never quit on us.”
After a rather mundane opening period, Longmeadow (15-5-1) established a 2-0 lead with second-period goals from Michael Tabb and Jack Barron. Lancers’ freshman goalie Max Loyuk was perfect through the first two periods, turning away 12 shots, including two breakaway efforts from Westfield (10-10-1).
Westfield continued to push forward, and the effort paid off. Josh Adams deflected a shot from Whitman for the team’s first goal with 12:34 remaining in the third period. The redirection slowed the speed of the puck, appearing to fool the goalie as it slid past Loyuk into the back of the Longmeadow net.
The good fortune continued.
Late in the period, the puck ricocheted high up on the glass – whether it ever touched the net depends who you talked to after the game – and bounced into the crease where Max Bengston scooped it up and wristed it past Loyuk for the equalizer. The officials felt the puck remained in play, much to the dismay of the Longmeadow bench.
“I think somebody was looking out for us from high above this time,” coach Matthews said. “We finally got our bounce.”
Westfield finally put a bounce in its step too as it leapt past the competition and into the finals.
Bombers’ goalie Cameron Parent finished with 24 saves.
