CLAYTON • Lutheran South's Chris Hill was Johnny-on-the-spot Saturday.
Hill scored the Lancers' final three goals to help propel Lutheran South past Clayton 7-5 at the Winter Classic hockey showcase played at the outdoor rink in Shaw Park.
"It's always fun to score and help the team to get a win," Hill said. "It was a good day today."
Lutheran South jumped out to the early lead by scoring the game's first two goals.
Matthew Pirtle slid the puck home five minutes into the contest, and Zackery Beining lit the lamp to make it 2-0 approximately three minutes later.
"You don't get too many chances to do something like this," Lutheran South coach Dan Bertarelli said. "The conditions were perfect, and we got off to a good start."
Clayton evened the game at 2-2- as it scored on rebounds by Yates Sanders and Gabe Jacus 5 minutes, 30 seconds into the second period.
"Gabe is a very good player and he has been good for us all year," Clayton coach Zach Han said. "He's very reliable and he gets himself open. He finds ways to score."
The teams alternated goals, with each side scoring two apiece over the next nine minutes of play.
Clayton went up 3-2 on a Cooper Durham goal and then 4-3 on a Jeremy Beaudette goal.
Lutheran South answered those goals. Sara Sabo scored her first goal of the season to make it 3-3, and then Jacob Schlote made it 4-4 with 33 seconds left in the second period.
Sabo said her goal was a special one, not just personally, but for all the hard work put in by her team.
"It was surreal," Sabo said. "It was a great pass from Cameron (Durham), I think. He set it all up. It was awesome. The unity of the team and how we play together makes this so great."
From there, Hill took over.
He scored his first goal of the game to give Lutheran South the 5-4 lead with 10 seconds left in the second period.
"We've moved him around this year, and he's a very good player," Bertarelli said of Hill. "He's a really smart player. He also killed that 5-on-3 power play (for Clayton) by blocking a lot of shots. He plays both ends of the ice, and anywhere you put him, he's going to give 100-percent."
Hill added a pair of power play goals in the third period to help seal the win.
He scored 4:56 into the period to make it 6-5 and, after a Durham goal, Hill finished off the victory with a power play goal with 38 seconds left.
"There are a lot of people out there watching this, and you want to play well," Hill said. "It's a good feeling (to score a hat trick). Everyone wants to play well in this type of game, so I definitely think there was a different feel to it. It was great to win."
In the other Winter Classic games, Oakville defeated Marquette 1-0 and MICDS outlasted Lafayette 5-3.
