Wahconah Icers Show Growth in Regular Season Finale
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Wahconah hockey team Friday did not get the win it needed to help its chances at the post-season.
But it did show how far it has come in the regular season.
Sam Cocchi scored a pair of goals, and Ryan Kurtz had two assists to lead Ludlow to a 4-2 win over Wahconah.
It was not the ending the home fans were hoping to see on Senior Night at the Boys and Girls Club. However, it was a far cry from the first time the two teams met at Olympia in December, when the Lions earned a 10-1 win that ended in running time.
“This team has come a long way,” Wahconah coach Matt Risley said. “We’re still young. They’re still learning. But they went out there, they competed very hard tonight. [Ludlow] is a team that has nine seniors, so we were kind of up against it. But they gave a good effort. A couple of bounces the other way, it’s a different game.
“We’ve improved in everything. Team play, competitiveness, just going out there playing their game. … We didn’t play last year. There were some growing pains in getting back into hockey and getting acclimated. And the teams down [in the Pioneer Valley] did play last year.”
As in the first game, Wahconah scored first on Friday night.
This time, it was Jake Thomas cashing in an assist from Geoff Pensivy midway through the first period.
Ludlow responded a few minutes later with a short-handed goal from Cocchi, and the visitors struck again with three minutes left in the period when Ben Corbin scored with help from Kurtz.
The rest of the scoring came in the second period.
Ludlow struck first, stretching its lead to 3-1 on Cocchi’s second goal of the night. Wahconah’s Ryan Padelford then lit the lamp with an assist from Thomas to make it a one-goal game.
But Benji Steele gave the Lions some insurance in the closing minutes of the period, and Tyler Cherest (20 saves) made the two-goal lead stand up in the third.
Antonio Scalise was again stellar between the pipes for Wahconah, stopping 46 shots in the loss.
Friday began with a celebration of Wahconah seniors Rider King, John Cebula and Joe Massaro.
The trio gave the program what little continuity it had from its last, pre-COVID season in 2019-20. And they helped the coaching staff lay the foundation for more success to come.
“You go back to the first week of practice, and normally you go out there and you expect half the team, maybe more than half the team to know the drills we’re going to run,” Risley said. “Three people knew what I was doing.
“It was tough. It was a learning experience. But they’ve come through it on the other end. And I would take this team and play against anybody. They’re a very competitive team, and it’s a reflection on them and their hard work.”