Bertolani scores game winner

Saints win first playoff game

Senior Mark Bertolani scored the game winning goal just 49 seconds into the third period as Churchville-Chili defeated Canandaigua 4-3 for the first sectional playoff victory in the school's nine-year hockey history.

The Saints dominated positional play in the first period by playing the body and took a 1-0 lead at the 4:51 mark on a shorthanded goal. Steve Conlon dug the puck out of the corner and fed Ben Rossignolo all alone in the slot for the easy goal.

Churchville got away from their game early in the second and Canandaigua capitalized with three unanswered goals within six minutes of play. Dillon Lynn scored twice and Ryan Cronin added the third as the Braves took a 3-1 lead.

The Saints called their timeout and got back to playing the body, which resulted in two goals over the final seven minutes of the second period. Ryan McMillan chipped home a rebound at the 8:42 mark with assists from Kyle Easton and Mark Bertolani. Exactly three minutes later, EJ Coyne pounced on his own rebound off the backboards and scored from a tough angle to tie the game 3-3. Cody Hewitt and McMillan assisted.

Bertolani tallied the only goal of the final period with assists from Hewitt and Rossignolo. The Saints out-shot the Braves 27-18 with goaltender Danny Kuntz making 15 saves in net. "I was a little nervous there for a while, but I have a great team in front of me with great chemistry so I had the confidence we could come back," commented Kuntz after the win.

"It feels good and is kind of a monkey off of our back," said head coach Jim Jackson about his and the team's first postseason victory. "We've been fighting hard and playing well, but we couldn't seem to get that first win. They were a little tight pushing a little too hard and it cost us some goals, but they fought back. Once we got behind, we tended to go into a bit of a shell, so hopefully this will be a learning experience and not back off when we get down."

The Saints advanced to the semi-finals against top-seeded Irondequoit.

February 19, 2006