The Recorder – High schools: Matthew Lavoine’s OT winner lifts Greenfield past Gardner for holiday tourney title
Published: 2022-12-28 21:57:54
With just three seconds left in overtime, Matthew Lavoine sent the Franklin County contingent home happy.
The senior scored the game-winning goal with just a few ticks left on the clock in OT to lift the Greenfield hockey team to a wild 2-1 victory over Gardner in the championship game of the Chicopee Holiday Classic at Fitzpatrick Rink in Holyoke.
Lavoine got a loose ball with about seven seconds to play and a close shootout. He dribbled past a Gardner defender and scored a point blank before being mobbed by his teammates.
The Green Wave (4-2) had defeated Agawam in the semifinal round on Tuesday to punch a ticket to the title game. Lavoine also scored in that win, and he was named tournament MVP for his efforts.
Matt Garvin also tallied in the first period for Greenfield, which beat Gardner for the second time in nine months after dispatching foe Central Mass. in last year’s state tournament.
Gardner tied the game in the second period, and Greenfield goaltender Josh Bordeaux held on from there to keep the Wave level. Bordeaux, who made 27 saves, was selected to the all-tournament team.
“Josh in the second period, when Gardner tied it, they really brought the pressure,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “Josh was outstanding. He really made some big saves.”
Greenfield will play a third game in as many days Thursday when it plays East Longmeadow at 6:30 p.m. at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield.
Smith Voc 71, FC Tech 64 – Playing on back-to-back nights, the Franklin Tech boys basketball team put together a second strong offensive outing on Wednesday.
But Smith Professional’s visit also ignited things on the offensive end of the floor, and the Vikings posted a 71-64 independent victory in Turners Falls.
The Eagles (1-5) trailed just 33-32 at halftime, but the hot-shooting Vikings, led by Myles Chinnapa, who made six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, managed to hang on.
“We played well overall, but they made a lot of shots,” Franklin Tech coach Tim Artus said. “Give them credit, they made shots when they had to. However, we did a lot of good things.”
Ty Sadoski hit a pair of 3-pointers and led the Franklin Tech offense with 22 points. Noah Ausikaitis drilled three 3s en route to a 13-point outing and Robbie Murphy joined him in double figures with 12. Cayden Lehtomaki had eight points for the Eagles, who return to action Friday against Athol.
Leominster 51, Franklin Tech 18 – The Eagles won a trio of contested games en route to a shutout road loss.
Brody Williams (220 pounds), Carsten Couture (106) and Jacob Martin (152) all scored victories via pinfall for Franklin Tech.
Granby 42, Frontier 36 – The Redhawks won five of their contested games before falling just short in a narrow loss to the Rams on Wednesday.
Ian Paciorek (126), Miles Keefe (160) and Jake Mattson (195) all scored first-period pins for Frontier, while Konnor James (132) and Connor Hoffman (182) scored second-period pins.
