The January 12 high school hockey poll from the New York State Sportswriter Association had Churchville-Chili’s ice hockey team ranked ninth among Division 2 schools, with a 10-2-1 record. Both losses were by just one goal, and this marks just the second time in the program’s 26-year history that they have appeared in the state rankings.
“It’s nice (being ranked) because it does show a bit of pride in the program when other people see it,” 17-year head coach Brian Young said. “We got scoring from three different lines tonight; we’re trying to continue to build because six or seven games in, we only had scoring from one line.
“We have four solid D (defensemen) that we roll in rotation, and we’re trying to work a little more depth into our defensive end, spotting one of the main guys a shift when I can.
“We’re confident, but there’s a difference between confident and cocky, so we want to make sure we’re getting the job done with simple things. It sounds simple, and you think you shouldn’t have to coach that at a higher level, but you do have to continue to push and motivate them to work.”
A handful of upperclassmen and sophomore Parker Farnham led the way on offense.
Farnham was tops with 17 goals and 29 points through the first 13 games this season with senior Max McKay, who set program records last season for most goals (24), most assists (30), and most points (54) in one season, leading the squad with 18 assists and one behind Farnham with 28 points.
Seniors Tyler and co-captain defenseman Trey Eberhart have combined for 15 goals and 19 assists, with junior co-captain Gavin Carr adding 14 points.
The Saints finished with a 7-12-1 record last season and were 7-7-1 two seasons ago, but have turned things around with largely the same personnel.
“Not much of a change in guys, just a change in the way we play; playing more as a team and less individual play and playing all together,” McKay said. “If you want to succeed and start winning games, you have to worry less about your own points and spread it out a bit; and I think we’ve found a good place for all of our lines.”
“I think our speed has increased; over the summer, we really took it personal how it ended against Canandaigua, so this year our goal was to be faster and be more confident with the puck,” Carr said.
Farnham scored seven goals as a freshman last season and has exploded offensively so far this season.
“This year playing with Max and Tyler and we just find a way to pass the puck well together and score a lot of goals,” Farnham said. “We need to use our speed out wide, crash the net hard, and put pucks in the net.”
In goal, senior Tristan Harris sports a 2.42 goals against average and a .912 save percentage as the last line behind top-four blueliners Carr, Trey Eberhart, junior Andrew Buxton, and freshman Grayson Galliford.
The Saints have five games remaining in the regular season before the pressure of the Section V playoffs sets in, but they feel more prepared with their depth than they did 12 months ago.
“It (being ranked) is good confidence for us; we just need to use that and not get too high on ourselves,” Farnham summarized. “We’re building up our confidence, we’re doing really well right now, and hopefully, we can keep it rolling.”
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