The line of sophomore Mitchell Marsh with seniors Chris Burchfield and Seamus Parker accounted for three goals and seven points as Churchville-Chili opened the 20th Scottsville Ice Arena holiday tournament with a 7-1 victory over Gates-Chili. They played Brighton in the final.
It didn’t take long for the Saints to take control as they netted three goals over the first 5:15 of the contest.
Parker scored his second of the season at 2:29 with assists from his line-mates Marsh and Burchfield. Just 48 seconds later junior Colin Hess, wearing #28 instead of his usual #2 with the team wearing Pink the Rink jerseys, scored his first varsity goal after a set-up by Brandon Clark.
Marsh then scored his first goal of the year at 5:15 of the first period as he redirected defenseman Patrick Mitchell’s shot past the Spartans goaltender.
Gates-Chili got their only goal of the game 1:40 into the second, but the Saints regained their three-goal advantage as defenseman David Andolina found junior Ryan Jong, who raced down the left wing before putting the puck five-hole at 3:57.
The Spartans threatened midway through the third period to again cut into the Saints lead, but C-C sophomore goaltender Ethan Breton made a sprawling right leg save on a perfectly executed three-on-two rush.
The Saints seemed to gain energy from the big save as they rattled off three goals in a 1:26 span. Burchfield scored his first of the season as he finished off the rebounds from Parker and Marsh attempts at 13:25.
Twenty-six seconds later sophomore Keegan Metcalfe redirected a centering pass from classmate Maxwell Williams for his first varsity goal to make it 6-1 Saints. And Clark scored his team-leading seventh goal of the campaign as he banged home the rebound from a Matt Kotsch shot that hit the crossbar to finish the scoring at 14:52.
“Probably our best team play this year,” Saints head coach Brian Young said afterward. “We were rolling four lines, which we need to do to be our best. The hardest for us this year has been getting to the net and being more of a perimeter team, but tonight we got to the dirty areas and were rewarded.”
Saints goaltender Breton was credited with 17 saves in earning his third win of the season. C-C outshot the Spartans 34-18 in the contest.
