Like most young-ish programs coming off a modest .500 season, Livonia Churchill’s hockey team skated under the radar during the early portion of its 2015-16 schedule.

But if the 9-2 Chargers continue to play like they did Wednesday night against Livonia Franklin, they won’t appear as a blip on the radar, they’ll look more like a 747.

Fueled by the first hat trick of the season from Jordan Venegoni and a series of defense-anchoring contributions from junior goalie Drew Broyles, the Chargers bumped off the Patriots, 7-3, in a game played in an electric atmosphere at Eddie Edgar Arena.

The result left both teams with a 3-2 record in the KLAA South Division — just one point behind 3-2-1 Salem. Franklin’s overall mark following the contest stood at 7-3.

After Churchill built a 3-2 lead after two periods, head coach Jason Reynolds emphasized defense during the second intermission.

“The most important message we told them was to lock down defensively,” said Reynolds, whose team did just that. “We made a few adjustments with our fore-checking, but overall we just tried to stress the importance of not giving up any odd-man rushes. If we could get a couple goals, great; but we didn’t want to overdo it.”

The Chargers exploded out of the second intermission with flames shooting from the blades of their skates, netting three consecutive goals to ramp their advantage up to 6-2. Franklin cut its deficit to 6-3 on a Trevor Lassaline goal with just over three minutes left, but the Chargers answered with an empty-netter from Nolan Cioch.

As far as playing the role of David compared to Goliath — at least early on — Rey

nolds said he liked the role.

“I really don’t mind being the dark horse in Livonia hockey,” said Reynolds, whose team has scored 15 goals over its past two games. “We’re going to have to earn our credibility and props the old-fashioned way.

“We came into the season as a very young team and we’re still young. We’re still in a rebuilding phase, so we’ll let the attention and rankings we get take care of themselves.”

A Patriot for his freshman season of high school hockey, Broyles stonewalled his former teammates most of the night with an array of solid and jaw-dropping saves.

“Last year, the first time we played Franklin, I told Drew not to panic because he was playing against his former team,” Reynolds said. “He said, ‘Coach, these are my buddies, so I’m just going to go out there and try to have fun.’ He’s very focused and settled in out there. He’s been a rock for us.”

Franklin snatched a 1-0 lead early in Wednesday’s clash, with Brendan Whitney scoring off an assist from linemate Chase Wallis.

However, Churchill carried a 2-1 lead into the first break thanks to goals from Venegoni (from Haydu) and Friend (from Spencer Kovacs and Conor Burnette).

Venegoni scored the second of his three goals early in the middle period, thanks to assists from Doyle and captain Joe Wozniak, to extend his team’s lead to 3-1.

Franklin’s Max McCrory countered quickly, however, with a goal from Brendan Nutting and Jack Engel.

The final 15 minutes, 37 seconds of the second period were scoreless, but it proved to be the calm before the Chargers’ third-period storm.

Haydu made it 4-2 3:14 into the final period off a pass from Sam Spayd. Three minutes later, Venegoni completed his hat trick (from Doyle and Wozniak) to give Churchill a three-goal cushion.

When Cioch found the net to make it 6-2, the outcome was all but decided.

ewright@hometownlife.com