Westfield’s Chris Sullivan, left, controls the puck as Longmeadow senior forward captain Drew Kelleher, right, moves in during the second period Tuesday night at the Olympia in West Springfield. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Westfield High School boys’ ice hockey team landed the first punch in Round 1. The Bombers followed that up with a jab in Round 2.
Over the course of the last several years, Westfield-Longmeadow has been a heavyweight fight in high school hockey with the best team typically seizing the Western Massachusetts Division 3 hockey crown.
This season, in the two teams’ first meeting, Westfield landed a 2-0 victory. In their second meeting, Tuesday night, the Bombers escaped with a narrow 1-0 win over the Longmeadow Lancers at the Olympia.
The latest hero in this saga was Westfield’s Chris Sullivan, who wristed a shot past Longmeadow senior goalie Omar Natour with 3:25 remaining in the third period. Sullivan was the recipient of a pass from Mike Santinello, who came up with the puck off the boards in the Longmeadow zone and dished off to his fellow teammate.
“We just kept on coming,” Sullivan said of his team’s late power surge. “And our defense came up huge. (Westfield goalie) Matt Blascak came up big.”
Blascak finished with 14 saves, including one with less than 10 seconds remaining to preserve the victory.
“When we can’t score a lot of goals, Matt’s been coming up big for us,” Westfield coach C.B. “Moose” Matthews said.
It was a big turn of events in the final five minutes of regulation that helped propel the Bombers (5-2-2) to victory.
With 4:41 remaining in the third period, Westfield was slapped with an unsportsmanlike penalty that would have handcuffed the Bombers for the next three minutes. But 41 seconds into the Longmeadow power play, the Lancers received a penalty for cross-checking and the teams evened up at 4-on-4, just in time for Sullivan’s big shot.
“That was a big turning point,” coach Matthews said. “We were just trying to survive and get out of here with a point. (That goal) was something we did not expect. That’s a big plus.”
Longmeadow’s defense bent but did not break as Natour turned away several shots – 28 to be exact – and several others that went awry until late.
“We couldn’t put the puck within five feet of the net,” said coach Matthews in dismay.
Longmeadow also struggled to find the back of the net. The Lancers had a golden opportunity early in the first period.
With a 5-on-3 power play, Longmeadow’s Colin McDermott took a shot out beyond the circle. The puck rebounded back to Drew Kelleher, who tried to squeeze it past Blascak. The Westfield goalie came out on top.
A few short seconds later, Connor McCarthy attempted the go-ahead goal. Blascak won the battle again.
While it was a big penalty-killing moment for Westfield, it was penalties that hampered Longmeadow. The Lancers had to fight off being shorthanded five times in the first two periods.
In the final period, Westfield had several chances to score.
Adam Hosmer picked off a pass for Westfield just inside the blue line in the Longmeadow zone with more than 8 minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the game. Hosmer attempted another shot less than two minutes later after Zane Collier stole the puck near center ice and fed it to him.
With just under five minutes left, Westfield had a 2-on-1 breakaway. Natour turned away Santinello’s shot.
