Saints win record 10th game
Churchville-Chili's hockey team entered uncharted territory several weeks ago when they equaled their previous high in wins in a season with their fifth. Now that record has been shattered as the Saints defeated Brighton 3-1 for their tenth victory of the season.
Freshman Ben Rossignolo got the Saints on the scoreboard with an unassisted goal at the 1:16 when he shot the puck from the corner and it squeezed past Brighton goaltender Todd Maurer. Early in the second period, Colby Hawthorne chipped the puck out to neutral ice to Jason Van Hernum, who skated around the goaltender who had come out of the net, and scored, giving the Saints a 2-0 lead.
Brighton pulled close with a goal at the 5:52 mark of the second period and the teams played tight checking hockey for the remainder of the second and most of the third until C-C's Brad Gurbacki scored with :53 left in regulation, making the lead 3-1.
A Churchville-Chili penalty and the Brighton goaltender pulled for an extra attacker for the final twenty-one seconds gave the Barons a six-on-four advantage, but the Saints' defense held them without a single shot on goal.
Danny Kurtz faced 25 shots in the Saints net making 24 saves for the win, which improved their record to 10-4, 5-4 in division play. "We received solid defense and goaltending," said head coach Jim Jackson. "We still have some maturing to do as a team in terms of the pace of the game, but this is now double our previous best for wins, so it feels good."