For those who love hockey in Western Mass we are very lucky. We have several levels of TOP LEVEL hockey to watch, follow, and support at great, comfortable venues....without big city traffic and frustration. All are within a short, and easy to get to, driving distance. Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to watch our AHL Team, the Springfield Thunderbirds at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. Parking is very convenient, right next to the arena and it is free. The Thunderbird organization is very "customer friendly" and helpful. The Mass Mutual Center is a great place to watch a game, not cold, comfortable seating, any seat offers a good view of the game, large center ice lighted scoreboard and ongoing video so you know what is going on...I don't know what else a hockey fan would want. And the AHL is top level hockey, only a half a notch below the NHL, and there are many recognizable names.
The Springfield Thunderbirds, a farm team of the NHL Florida Panthers, went against the always good, Providence Bruins (NHL Boston Bruins Team). The Thunderbirds had an early goal by Blaine Byron but it was reversed due to goalie interference. The Thunderbirds played well for the rest of the 1st period but weren't able to muster up any offense.
The 2nd period was very different. The Bruins first scored to take a 1-0 lead, with the Thunderbirds coming off a double penalty, 5 on 3 situation. (By the way, the Thunderbirds had 3 double penalty, 5 on 3 situations in the game and overall they did great with their penalty kills.) Then, WOW, the Thunderbirds offense came alive in the 2nd with 3 quick goals in rapid succession by Zolnierczyk, Greco, and Byron to take a 3-1 lead. It ended up 3-2 going into the final period.
In the 3rd period the Thunderbirds put the game away with 2 goals by Jacob MacDonald, down from the NHL Florida Panthers, and a goal by Henrik Borgstrom for a final, and impressive, 6-3 victory.
As a side note it is very obvious why the Thunderbirds selected Paul Thompson as Team Captain. He is an excellent all around player and natural leader...and a very tough physical player. This kind of surprised me since he is a very nice, mild manner guy off the ice...kind of a Clark Kent guy...get the picture? He is a great asset to the team, this is obvious.
#15 Team Captain Paul Thompson
Photo by Alfredo
Earlier I mentioned several top levels of hockey in Western Mass. In addition to our AHL Team we have 2 D1 college teams, 2 D3 college teams, a top level national contender college Club hockey team, a couple of Junior hockey teams, and several very good high school teams including a perennial D1 state high school championship contender. Image News Service will try to cover as much as we can.
Support Western Mass Hockey! Attend games!
Alfredo DiLascia
Image News Service
Sports News
Springfield / Chicopee MA
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