After needing a last-minute goal to salvage a tie against Edwardsville in their only regular season meeting, the Red Devils scored in the game’s opening seconds and never looked back as the Mid-States Club Hockey Association Challenge Cup playoffs began at the R.P. Lumber Center ice rink on Thursday night.

“We've had a little bit of time to prepare this team now and different parts of our game,” Chaminade coach Matt Buha said. “We had a coaching change mid-year. So, this team is dialed in with the things we're telling them to do and they're doing a good job of it.”

Thomas Fair scored twice, William Pelligreen and Robert Gassoff each had a goal and an assist, and Blake Becker, Brady Cytron and Grady Kosem also scored for Chaminade (7-13-2). Patrick Struckhoff made 11 saves.

Kai Vetter made 39 saves for Edwardsville (5-13-4).

The win was vital for Chaminade, which entered the Blue Conference as the No. 8 seed. Edwardsville entered as the No. 12 seed. Only the top four of the six teams in the conference advance in the playoffs.

“As the season’s gone on, we've gotten better and better,” Fair said. “And we're going to keep doing that in the playoffs.”

Pelligreen gave Chaminade the lead just 11 seconds into the contest, pouncing on a loose puck off an Edwardsville turnover in front of the net.

“Playoffs, obviously a big time of year,” Pelligreen said. “I think it goes back to the locker room. We got ready and we really prepared for this game.”

Chaminade dominated the first period with an intense forecheck. That sustained pressure led to Fair’s first goal with 6 minutes, 47 seconds left in the frame to give the Red Devils a 2-0 lead.

“Last game we played them, we didn't really get off to a fast start,” Fair said. “We really struggled early. And I think this game, we're just able to pick it up fast. We respected them and were able to get a few goals in early.”

Chaminade outshot Edwardsville 19-4 in the first period.

“That was a surgical performance where we just did everything so tight and good and executed things really well,” Buha said.

The Red Devils took firm control with an equally dominant second period.

Gassoff’s goal just 50 second in added to the lead, but the game completely turned a few minutes later after an Edwardsville goal was called back due to a delayed penalty against the Tigers at the 3 minute, 18 second mark.

Chaminade cashed in 46 seconds later with a power play goal from Becker to make it 4-0.

“The refs do the best job they can in this league and you got to give them credit,” Edwardsville coach Jason Walker said. “Just tonight, it was just one of those games where it seemed like the calls weren't going our way.”

Cytron made it 5-0 with a slick backhander with three minutes left to cap the frame for the Red Devils.

“Just working it down low, and then looking up top to the points after they collapsed and then just shooting the puck,” Pelligreen said.

The game took a somber tone early in the third period as Edwardsville’s Luke Thomilson went awkwardly into the boards. The game was stopped for several minutes and Thomilson was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.

“That's the thing that scares you more than anything with hockey is to get hit into the boards like that and then, you know, take a hit in the head and go head-first in the wall,” Walker said. “It's definitely a head/neck thing, but he was moving around, he was talking, so we’re just hoping he's OK.”

Fair and Kosem capped the scoring for Chaminade with late third period goals.

“I'm distracted by thinking of Thomilson,” Buha said. “We were feeling really, really good about everything, and then that happened, and it really puts things in perspective.”