by Warren Kozireski
Senior goaltender Dylan Niewiemski registered his third shutout of the season as Churchville-Chili shutout Brockport 2-0 to secure their first outright division title in program history. The Saints tied for first with the Greece Thunder one year ago.
Niewiemski was credited with 39 saves in net including 27 over the final two periods to lead the Saints.
Saints senior Patrick McMullen began the scoring at 5:56 of the first period when he swatted in a second rebound off shots by defenseman Tommy Ritchie and Justin Alves.
C-C made it 2-0 in the second period when a shot from the left point by Anthony Bertolani laid on the goal-line before being pushed across the line by Ryan Cosgrove at 10:02.
In the last minute of the second, Nie-wiemski made two point blank saves as Brockport threatened on the power play.
Brockport pulled their goaltender with 69 seconds remaining after a timeout, but they could not break up the shutout.
“This gives us great momentum heading into the playoffs and I hope we get to meet again in the playoffs,” said Niewiemski.
“The law of goaltending is that one of every ten shots goes in,” said Saints head coach Brian Young. “You get the bounces sometimes and it was a good night to have him (Dylan) in goal.”
The Saints were seeded second for the Section V playoffs and received a first round bye.
The 14 wins this season marked the third highest in program history behind 2010-11 (16 wins) and 2005-06 (15) and tied 2003-04 (14).
The Saints entered the postseason seeded second in Class B while Brockport, who suffered just their second loss of the season, were seeded first.
