VALENCIA — It's games like Monday that have kept the Butler hockey team battling all season.

Unfortunately, the final results have not been there.

The Tornado limited Fox Chapel to just three goals but failed to find the net in a 3-0 PIHL Class AAA loss at the Ice Connection of Pittsburgh.

“Today was one of those games where we were right there,” said Tornado coach Mike Guentner. “We just did not get the bounces and that pretty much sums up our year.”

Taylor Day opened the scoring for the Foxes (6-15) just 2:33 into the game off assists by Ethan Schollaert and Christian Wirginis.

The Tornado (1-19) missed out to score the equalizer shortly thereafter when Foxes goalie Scott Trellis made three outstanding point-blank saves off crossing passes in a three-minute span.

“Their goalie played an amazing game,” said Butler senior forward Jake Tomasovic. “You think it would have helped us, but we couldn't capitalize. The shots (Fox Chapel, 26-24) were pretty even.”

“The goalies we face are all really good,” Butler senior forward Corey Chuba said. “We couldn't keep it in the zone too long and we couldn't get the opportunities.”

The Foxes doubled the lead just eight seconds into the second period when Cam Zmenkowski took a River Ward helper in front of the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Ward was charged with a double minor — two minutes apiece for roughing and interference — with 9:18 left in the second period, but again, Butler couldn't take advantage.

Schollaert closed out the scoring with 2:39 left in the second period with a wraparound goal.

“We've been so close in a lot of games,” Guentner said. “You look up and see the score was 3-0 and you got beat pretty good, but we didn't.

“We had a major learning curve at the beginning of the season. Last year was our first year back after three years with no varsity. A lot of these players are young and they've picked up the slack as of late,” Guentner added.

Added Tomasovic, “We're starting fresh this year with a new coach and we'll have a lot of young guys back. We only have four seniors (Chuba, Tomasovic, defenseman Rob Barnhart and goalie Mike Arturo).”

Notes: The Tornado will return to action at 9:10 p.m. Monday at the Ice Connection. ... Trellis finished with 24 saves while Arturo made 23. ... Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.Hampton 11, Knoch 1The Knights trailed 2-0 early in the second period before the Talbots had a six-goal uprising in the frame to seize control in this Class A contest at the Ice Connection.“I told the boys we could have a good period, period and a half, but Hampton is so deep and we're not as deep,” Knoch coach Peter Donnelly said. “We only had 11 players.”Hampton (11-4-2) has big-strike capability and it showed.Hampton needed just 53 seconds to score as Zach Kosick found the back of the net and Ian Wood added another with 6:20 left in the first period.In the second period, Andrew Lynch, Ethan Homitz and Kosick scored in a 62-second span for a 5-0 lead with 9:38 left in the period. Then Kosick, Luke Laya and Lynch each scored in a 2:18 span for an 8-0 lead with 2:55 left.It was after Laya's goal, the Talbots' seventh of the night, that invoked the mercy clock.“We've been tweaking a few things,” said Talbots coach Dan Serakowski. “We can't judge by this game, but we've been trying a different defense.“We have a lot of speed there and we're trying some new line combinations,” Serakowski added.Wood added his second goal of the game early in the third period before the Knights (3-15) broke through when Nick Brubach slipped the puck past Talbots goalie Cam Radna, assisted by Zach Naples and Tyler Andrews.Homitz and Lynch added late goals to close out the scoring.Despite the tough season, Donnelly has been pleased with the effort.“We've been pretty good at playing through the adversity,” Donnelly said. “The kids haven't quit, which I like.”

Notes: The Talbots outshot the Knights, 38-11. ... Knoch will travel to face Westmont-Hilltop Tuesday.