When the Holyoke hockey team takes to the ice at the MassMutual Center in Springfield at 2 p.m. Sunday, the Purple Knights will have one thing going for them that matters to coach John Houle - experience.

"The kids are very composed," Houle said. "They know what to expect. There's a lot of pressure. They know what it takes to win."

Top-seeded and defending state Division 3A champion Holyoke (20-1-1) will face No. 3 Agawam (14-4-4) for the western Massachusetts title.

The Knights have won 14 straight games and are 30-1-2 over their last 33 and 35-7-3 since the start of last season.

This year the team has outscored its opponents 126-46. They are also 2-0 against Agawam, outscoring the Brownies 7-2.

But when it comes to postseason hockey, Houle is not impressed.

"I'm not a stat guy. It means nothing," Houle said. "Past scores mean absolutely nothing. We proved that last year."

Holyoke was the sixth seed last year but beat No. 3 Agawam, No. 2 Chicopee and No. 1 Taconic en route to the title in the inaugural Division 3A tournament.

This year as the No. 1 seed the Knights were nearly knocked off by No. 8 St. Mary in the quarterfinal round. The game was tied 4-4 when Holyoke scored three unanswered goals in the final eight minutes of a 7-5 win. The Knights defeated Amherst 4-0 in the semifinals Tuesday.

"The seedings mean nothing to me," Houle said.

Holyoke, which has a cooperative program with South Hadley and Granby, is about as deep a team as there is in high school hockey.

The Knights had seven players with at least 15 points, five with at least 20 and three with at least 30 during the regular season.

Chris Menard led the team with 17 goals and 19 assists. Other top scorers are Derek Pinciak (12 goals, 20 assists), Cody Miller (17 goals, 14 assists), Brian Rokowski (nine goals, 19 assists) and Luke Dilisio (11 goals, 13 assists).

Dilisio and Menard each have three goals and three assists in the two postseason games. Rokowski has one goal and three assists.

While other teams feature one scoring line, Holyoke has three.

"We have 10 forwards consistently playing," Houle said. "The depth is key and goaltending is at the top. You have to have that in the playoffs at any level."

Knights goalkeeper Tadd Goff is coming off his most impressive victory, the shutout of the fourth-seeded Hurricanes. It was Goff's first career postseason shutout.

Defensemen Jesse Cummings, Mike Bakos, Kevin Stefanik, Spencer Nawrocki, Sean O'Donnell and Dan Beauregard have all played well for Holyoke.

"My D has been stellar," Houle said. "We're not taking chances and we're playing as a team."

Agawam is led by Kevin Wheeler (20 goals, 12 assists), Andrew Bortolussi (16 goals, 10 assists) and Erik Wagner (11 goals).

Devin Basile is the Brownies' goaltender. The junior faced Holyoke both times the teams played during the regular season. "They're going to show up to play," Houle said. "They're a good hockey team."

Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.