Churchville-Chili allowed three power play goals on the same four-minute major and four overall as they allowed a 3-1 lead disappear in their 5-4 loss to Aquinas in high school hockey.
The Saints dominated much of the first period and took a 2-0 lead. Seventh-grader Spencer Quinn netted his first varsity goal at 6:58 after Tanner Metcalfe did the work behind the net and fed the puck out in front. Jordan Alves made it 2-0 at 12:09 with assists from Alan Brault and Nick Kuszlyk as he converted on a backhander.
Aquinas scored a rebound goal off a 3-on-2 break to make it 2-1, but the Saints regained their two-goal advantage with a power play tally on a great three-way passing play with Ryan Cosgrove feeding a pass to the faceoff circle to Metcalfe. His goal-mouth feed found Tyler Bennett alone backdoor for the easy tap-in at 6:58.
The game then came apart for the Saints with a major penalty called and the Little Irish scoring three times within 1:17 to take a 4-3 lead.
“It’s pretty clear that we can’t be in the (penalty) box with the (penalty) kill we’ve got going right now,” Saints head coach Brian Young said. “We’ve got a short bench as it is with a lot of young guys and, when they’re asked to kill a long power play like that, it doesn’t give them much in the tank to create offense afterward.”
C-C tied the game late in the wild second period with their own extra-man goal as Cosgrove skated down the left wing, cut toward the net and roofed his shot top corner with 20 seconds remaining in the period.
But Aquinas senior Matt Wisotzke scored five-hole for the only goal of the third period to give them the 5-4 victory.
Churchville-Chili has the rest of January off before their final three games of the regular season including Senior Night Feb. 3 against Spencerport at Scottsville Ice Arena.
