Brunswick punched its ticket to the finals of the Belmont Hill-Nichols Holiday Tournament with a 3-1 victory against St. Francis High School (Athol Springs, NY) on Friday afternoon.
The Bruins more than doubled the shot count of their opponents (29-13), but it was one of those games that still came down to the wire, as ’Wick needed an ENG with 49 seconds to play to finally seal the deal.
Seniors Cooper Cleaves and Ryan Wachtel pushed Brunswick out to a two-goal cushion with tallies in the second period — with Wachtel’s coming on the team’s red-hot power play (five for five in the tournament) — but the Red Raiders broke through early in the third to keep things interesting as the minutes ticked away.
The Bruins improve to 8-1-2 on the season and will play for their second tournament title tomorrow afternoon. Face-off against Gilmour Academy (Gates Mills, Ohio) is set for 2:30 p.m.