Hockey: Agawam and South Hadley will play for the Division IIIA title.
WEST SPRINGFIELD - The goals came at a fast and furious pace.
The first three were scored during a span of 1 minute, 12 seconds midway through the first period that saw Agawam find the back of the net four times en route to a 9-4 victory over Wahconah Monday night in a Western Massachusetts high school hockey Division IIIA semifinal at the Olympia.
No. 1 Agawam (17-3-2) will meet No. 2 South Hadley (17-3-3) in the final for the fourth straight season. The game will be played Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Olympia.
Speed and depth were the two big difference-makes for Agawam agaiinst Wahconah. The Berkshire County team had only 10 skaters.
But three of those skaters form the top-scoring line in the Commonwealth. Ryan Ouimet, Lane Grogan and Nick Monferret are tough to shut down.
Easthampton did for 42 minutes before Wahconah stormed back to overcome a 3-1 deficit and advance to the semifinals after a 4-3 victory.
Oumet, Massachusetts' top scoring high school hockey player with 81 points, did score three goals for the Warriors.
Unlike Wahconah, Agawam is not a one-line team. The Brownies did get a pair of goals each from Corey Jenks and Cam Rivest, but otherwise, spread the scoring around, just as they did during the regular season.
Zach Circosta, Billy Wysocki, Todd Ruby, Justin Lecuyer, James Newsome also scored for Agawam. The Agawam defense also played well, limiting Wahconah to 16 shots on goal.
"We just put everything together tonight, which was nice,'' Agawam coach Rich Feeley said. "I won't say we outworked them, because those kids worked very hard. But we had the size, speed and depth.''
The Brownies turned the game into a rout by scoring the last four goals of the second period to give Agawam a 9-2 advantage.
"We balanced it out a bit,'' Feeley said.
It was hardly a surprise that Agawam was able to wear Wahconah down. What may not have been expected was how quickly the Brownies were able to do it.
That's where speed became a factor. Agawam broke out of the gate fast and set the tempo of the game by scoring a couple of quick goals.
Circosta and Wysocki scored less than one minute apart before Ouimet struck to complete a three-goals in 72 seconds scoring spree. But Agawam pulled away Jenks and Todd Ruby scored in a span of 1:42 to provide the Brownies with a 4-1 edge after one period.
Rivest sparked a five-goal second period with a pair of goals. Jenks, Lecuyer and Newsome also scored. Ouimet completed his hat trick 2:29 into the final period to make it 9-3. Moniferret added a goal with 3:41 left