Westfield senior forward Zane Collier, left, controls the puck as Shrewsbury senior defenseman Cole Vincequere falls to the ice during a state D3 hockey semifinal game Thursday night at MassMutual Center in Springfield. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SPRINGFIELD – The Westfield High School boys’ ice hockey team went on a hot streak, winning its umpteenth Western Massachusetts Division 3 title this season, but a cold snap froze the defending state champion Bombers out of the Massachusetts title game.
Six different players scored to propel Central Mass champ Shrewsbury past Westfield 6-0 in a state semifinal game Thursday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
Colonials’ Jack Quinlivan earned three assists.
“They’re going to win states – there’s no doubt in my mind,” Westfield coach C.B. “Moose” Matthews said. “They’re probably one of the better teams we’ve ever faced. We’ve played some good teams throughout my years, but they’re the real deal.”
Westfield may have won the opening face off and the second face off in the Shrewsbury zone, which allowed Chris Sullivan to get a clean shot on the net – it was deflected away – but it just was not in the cards for the Bombers.
Shrewsbury pressured Westfield from the outset, outshooting the Bombers 12-5 in the opening period. The Colonials claimed the game’s first goal 10 minutes, 58 seconds into the game.
Shrewbury’s Jack Quinlivan pushed the puck ahead to Dave Belbin, who corralled it just a few feet away out in front of the net and easily flipped it into the open side of the net past Westfield senior goalie Matt Blascak (25 saves) for a 1-0 lead.
Despite falling behind early, Westfield kept from suffering a complete meltdown.
The Bombers committed their third minor penalty early in the second period, but managed to make it 3-for-3 in penalty killing chances thus far in the game. Shrewsbury attempted a nice backhander in-tight with 17 ticks left on the penalty, but Blascak turned it away.
Westfield trailed in shots on goal at that point, 21-5. While the Whip City’ two-time Olympic women’s hockey silver medalist Kacey Bellamy returned with her hardware in tow from Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday, it was the Bombers’ starting goaltender who deserved a medal for his effort.
“(Matt) had a heck of a game,” coach Matthews said.
Westfield did not fare so well on Shrewsbury’s 21st shot of the game a short time later.
Shrewsbury’s Trevor Shea connected with Tyler Okeefe on a beautiful bang-bang play. Shea skated down the right side of the ice before dishing it off to Okeefe on the left wing for a score 6:03 into the second period.
Westfield’s offense was bottled up.
The Bombers were held to just one shot in the second period, more than 12 minutes into the middle frame.
Shrewsbury continued to pepper Westfield’s goal in the third period. Blascak stood on his head until the pressure proved to be too much. The Colonials added two goals in a 49-second span, scoring when Sean Hallice shoved one in as he fell to the ice with 9:49 left, and tacking on another when Shea scored on a rebound.
Dan Quinlivan tallied a breakaway goal for Shrewsbury with 4:37 left, and Colonials’ Jack Quinlivan scored in the final two minutes.
“We didn’t quit,” Matthews said. “We weren’t expected to even make the Western Mass finals. This would have been the cherry on the cake.”
Westfield escaped the semifinals with a 4-3 overtime win over Longmeadow to begin its 2013-14 tournament run. The Bombers then rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat top-seeded Agawam in the WMass championship, 6-4, for their ninth title in 13 years.
