GREENFIELD — Following a back-and-forth first period, the Amherst hockey team took command during the second period against Greenfield on Monday. 

Tied 1-1 after 15 minutes, the Hurricanes took the lead on a Skyler Ferro goal with 8:12 to go in the second. Ferro tallied a second goal with 2:41 to go in the period, giving Amherst a 3-1 advantage heading into the final period. 

The Hurricanes were lights out slowing down a Green Wave offense that had been lighting the scoreboard up with ease thus far this season. Despite the hosts putting their feet on the gas in the third period to get back in the game, the Amherst defense didn’t budge. Spencer McDonald didn’t allow a puck to make it to the back of the net in that final period, allowing the Hurricanes to walk away with a 3-1 independent victory at Collins-Moylan Arena. 

“This was a fun hockey game,” Amherst coach Michael Rousseau said. “It was a clean, hard fought game. Tonight we made more two more plays than they did. I have to give credit to [Greenfield coach Adam] Bouchard… he puts in a very well coached team and they play hard.”

After scoring 23 goals in its previous four games combined, the prolific Greenfield offense was held in check on Monday. 

Jack Laurie scored on the power play early in the first period but that was all the Hurricanes allowed, holding the Green Wave scoreless the rest of the way. 

“Jack scored on the power play but they were able to keep all of our scorers off the board,” Greenfield coach Adam Bouchard said. “Give credit to Amherst. They came in with a game plan and executed it well. We came in with a game plan and instead of executing the game plan, we had 21 individuals who wanted to go out there and do it themselves instead of doing it as a team. The great thing about high school sports is we’re able to get back out there Tuesday and get ready for Assabet Valley.

“We came into this season knowing we weren’t going to win every game,” Bouchard added. “When you come out and don’t execute your game plan and go against a well-coached team like Amherst, who executes their [game plan], that’s the difference.” 

The Greenfield power play, which has scored at a lethal 48 percent clip on the season, got the Green Wave (7-3) on the board to open the game. 

Amherst (8-2) took a penalty two minutes into the game and Greenfield made the visitors pay for it. Brody Gagne drove to the net and fired a shot that was saved by McDonald. The rebound kicked out to Jake Jurek, who knocked the puck over to Laurie and the sophomore smashed the loose puck home to give the Green Wave a 1-0 lead with 12:12 to go in the first period. 

Greenfield went on the power play four more times in the contest but their man-up unit was unable to capitalize again. 

“We had the momentum at the beginning of the first period,” Bouchard said. “Our power play has been very good so far this season. We came in with our power play at 48 percent. Tonight we were one-for-five. We didn’t execute as much as we would have liked on the power play. We started the night off quickly like we wanted to.”

Amherst got the goal back with 5:32 to go in the first period off the stick of Jack Dyjach. Off a faceoff in the Green Wave end, the puck skipped back to Alexander Marlin, who flipped it to Dyjach. The forward made a deke in the Greenfield zone before sniping a shot while on the rush in the slot, knotting the game up with 5:32 to go in the opening frame. 

“We had one offensive zone responsibility breakdown,” Bouchard said. “Coach Rousseau does a great job with Amherst. They’re very well coached and very well disciplined. They executed on a defensive zone faceoff which led to to that first goal by Dyjach. He’s one of the most prolific scorers in the league. When you give a player like that opportunities, they’re going to bury it.”

Ferro gave Amherst the lead off the faceoff in the second period. Beckwith won the faceoff back to Alexander Marlin, and he swung it over to Ferro on the blue line. Ferro blasted a shot through traffic that found the back of the net, giving the Hurricanes the lead.

Amherst took its 3-1 lead while on the power play. Beckwith and Yuuki Ishida earned assists on the play, with Ishida eventually finding a charging Ferro in front of the goal. Ferro slotted it home to give the Hurricanes a commanding lead. 

“I told the boys that they were going to score on the power play,” Rousseau said. “What do they do on the first shift? They score on the power play. We had a little bit of a scouting report on their goalie. All the guys play together so we had a good scouting report on those guys. We started taking penalties because we’re not disciplined enough to not take penalties.”

Despite the loss, Bouchard noted how well Greenfield has played to open the season. With a tough stretch on the horizon, Bouchard said he’s excited to see how his team competes against some of the toughest teams on the schedule. That starts on Saturday when Assabet Valley comes to town. 

“This has been a great season so far,” Bouchard said. “There’s a lot of parody across the entire league. To be able to have a lot of competitive games is something everyone in the league is happy about. We have a gauntlet coming up with our schedule. We’re looking forward to it. We just need to come out, execute the game plan and come to practice and do the things the coaches are putting together.” 

Amherst is also in a tough stretch, and it will next take on Easthampton on Wednesday. The Eagles fell to the Green Wave in overtime last week, and Rousseau said he’s expecting another challenging game coming up. 

“We have Easthampton then these guys,” Rousseau said. “The message is if you can beat these guys in their home rink, you have to be able to have the confidence, effort and discipline to go to Easthampton and do the same thing.”