PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Bruins Squirt team was confident it could hold a lead, as long is at Holden between the pipes.

 

Holden Kotelnicki stopped all six shots he faced — including at least four breakaway opportunities — to lead the homestanding Bruins to a 4-0 win over Northern Berkshire on Monday morning in the championship game of the 45th annual Gib Kittredge Hockey Tournament at the Boys and Girls Club.

 

"I pulled the guys in, I think it was between the first and second periods when we had a one-goal lead, and I told them we need to play an open and aggressive game because our goalie will pick us up if we slp," Berkshire coach Jarrett Bayliss said. "And that's exactly what we did.

 

"All of his saves were incredible and potentially game-changing saves."

 

Jackson Molleur scored twice and assisted on two goals to help the Bruins' Squirts finish the four-day tournment witha 4-0 record.

 

Later in the day, Bethlehem, N.Y., beat the Bruins, 4-2, in the Bantam Division final. In the Peewee Division's all Nutmeg State final, Simsbury beat Avon, 4-1.

 

Kotelnicki got the day going in style for the hosts, stopping the Black Bears on a two-on-none breakaway 4 minutes, 50 seconds into the game. Less than a minute later, he picked up his second save of the game on another odd-man rush for Northern Berkshire.

 

"When you make a big save, it kind of gets you motivated," Kotelnicki said.

 

And although he faced several tough chances, he did not see the volume of shots faced by the Black Bears' Evan Rose (13 saves).

 

"The defense was good," Kotelnicki said. "They got the puck out. I didn't have to face that many shots, so that was nice."

 

Bayliss agreed that Berkshire's blueliners were key.

 

"The other credit I have to put out there is to our defensemen," he said. "It's a small but subtle point, but they held the puck at the blue line better than, I think, any team in the tournament. And that is a big difference in the momentum of the game."

 

Jacob Touponce got Berkshire's offense going with a shot from the right wing circle with about five minutes left in the first period.

 

Molleur scored his first with help from Casey Wilson midway through the second -- a shorthanded tally that says a lot about this game went.

 

The Bruins fended off six Northern Berkshire power-play chances, generating more short-handed scoring chances than they allowed along the way.

 

Brayden Bishop scored the third goal a little more than a minute after Molleur to make it 3-0 after two periods. Molleur went top shelf for the game's final goal early in the third.

 

Bayliss said that winning the Kittredge title and hanging another Bruins' banner at the Boys and Girls Club is a big deal for his Squirts.

 

"I think it was huge because it's probably the biggest tournament of our year because it's our home tournament, probably even bigger than Lake Placid," he said. "We've had an up-and-down year. We started slow. We started our season late. So this one is the culmination of everything we've worked for.

 

"We've experimented with different lines and some different combinations, and we just felt like we put it all together going into Friday's first game, and it all came through for us."