Taconic Hockey Blows Out South Hadley in Third Period to Reach Final

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – For two periods, Taconic goalie Antonio Scalise held down the fort.

 

In the third period, his offense did the rest.

 

The Thunder exploded for six goals in the third period at the Olympia Ice Center on Tuesday afternoon to earn an 8-1 win over South Hadley in the semi-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class B tournament.

 

Brayden Bishop scored four goals, and Rylan Padelford had a hat trick as Taconic improved to 10-5 and earned a berth in Saturday afternoon’s regional title game against top-seeded Greenfield, an 8-0 winner over Southwick on Tuesday.

 

South Hadley outshot Taconic, 33-10, in the first two periods. But the Thunder outshot the Tigers, 13-12, in the third – and converted nearly half those shots.

 

“Amazing what happens when you start passing the puck and making plays for each other and getting shots on net,” Taconic coach Matt Risley said.

 

“The first period was rough. We only had two shots. You can’t start a game out like that, but we did. The second period, we gained some momentum. The third period was great. We were making plays for each other. We were looking for each other, getting the pucks out, getting the puck to the net with rebounders there.

 

“That pretty much sums up the whole game.”

 

South Hadley took advantage of Taconic’s offensive doldrums in the first 15 minutes. The Tigers tied up Taconic in the neutral zone and prevented the Thunder from getting anything going on offense.

 

Meanwhile, peppered Scalise with 14 shots, finally breaking through in the last minute of the period when Connor McDonnell scored from the slot to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

 

It did not last long.

 

Four minutes into the second period, Bishop set up Holden Kotelnicki for the equalizer.

 

And off the ensuing faceoff, Padelford scored just 10 seconds later to give Taconic a 2-1 lead.

 

“That was huge,” Risley said. “That was great. And then penalties came and we got away from it.”

 

Thirty seconds after Padelford’s game-winner, Taconic drew simultaneous two-minute minors to give the Tigers a full 5-on-3 power play. But Scalise and his defense maintained the lead.

 

“Antonio is solid back there,” Risley said of Scalise, who stopped 44 shots in the win. “The shot that did beat him was a snipe in the top corner. There’s nothing he could have done with that. He’s a solid goaltender. He’s our MVP.”

 

The Taconic penalty killers then held South Hadley on a pair of 5-on-4s to send the teams to the second intermission with the score still 2-1.

 

With 15 minutes left, it looked like the tournament rubber game would be similar to the teams’ regular season meetings: 4-2 Tigers in South Hadley and 6-5 Taconic in OT at the Boys and Girls Club.

 

But Padelford and Bishop had a different script in mind.

 

Padelford started the third with a goal assisted by Kotelnicki with 11:45 on the clock. Twenty-one seconds later, Bishop scored with help from Zack Schneider and Padelford to make it 4-1.

 

Padelford completed his hat trick with a power play goal, and Bishop scored the next three – twice on the man up – to round out the scoring.

 

Bishop said Taconic built up some familiarity with the Tigers in the regular season, but Tuesday’s seven-goal win was all about the Thunder’s mentality on offense.

 

“Knowing how they play, getting used to the players they usually pass to and stuff like that,” he said. “It was really just getting shots. That was the main factor.”

 

Taconic Saturday will face a new foe – at least as far as this season is concerned. In 2020, the Green Wave earned a 2-1 overtime win over the then-Wahconah cooperative team in the finals of the old Western Mass tournament to earn a berth in the state semi-finals.

 

Whatever happens on Saturday, both the Thunder (now hosting the Central Berkshire co-op) and Greenfield will be going to the state tourney that gets underway next week.