Whistles while they worked

Oft-penalized Jaguars advance to Semis at Great Lakes Fall Classic

Jaguar Squirt #2 knew it would be going into the Great Lakes Fall Classic with a short bench.

It had no way of knowing in advance, however, that it would also be shorthanded on the ice for much of the tournament at Holland, Mich.

Despite being without an injured Dylan Graziano, which left the Jaguars running a four-man defensive unit instead of their standard five, the Jaguars went 2-0-1 in opening-round play, which was good enough to earn the top seed going into the semi-finals.

It has often been said, though, that it is difficult to beat a team twice during the same tournament. That proved to be the case for the Jaguars, as they fell in the semi-finals to the Riverside Rangers. That Canadian team the Jaguars had defeated in the opening game went on to win the tournament title.

GAME 1: JAGUARS 5, RANGERS 3

After a friendly handshake and an on-ice exchange of club pins on behalf of the two teams prior to the tournament’s opening game, both teams quickly got down to the business of playing hockey.

It was the Rangers, however, who got down to it a bit more quickly, taking the early lead with the only goal of the first period. The goal by Finn Rudiak, on an assist from Bruce Scarlett, came with just :24 seconds to play in the opening period.

The penalty bug and the scoring fever hit the Jaguars in the second period, as Blake Brenczewski tallied the equalizer off assists from Joey Guldan and Ryan Louthan with 11:06 to play in the period. The tie didn’t even last a minute, however, as the Rangers’ Scarlett put his team back out in front on an assist from Rudak with 10:39 to play.

Liam Jenkins responded for the Jaguars, scoring a short-handed goal with 8:43 to play in the period. The tally came on an assist from Brenczewski. With 5:07 left, the Jaguars claimed their first lead of the game as Louthan scored the Jaguars’s second straight short-handed goal, just six seconds before the team returned to full strength.

The Jaguars held the 3-2 lead into the third period, but the Rangers came back to tie the score when Jack Bulmer scored with 10:09 to play. Dawson Kavanaugh got credit for the assist.

After killing off their third penalty of the game, the Jaguars jumped back in front on a Blake Brenczewski goal with just 2:19 left in the game. Max Sterioti iced the victory for the Jaguars by finding the back of the net with an insurance goal with under a minute to play. Assists went to Louthan and Max Krause.

GAME 2: JAGUARS 3, INDIANA JR. ICE 0

It took an effective penalty kill and some strong play in the net by Kenny Zschach for the Jaguars to improve to 2-0 in the Great Lakes Fall Classic.

The whistles started early in the first period against the Jaguars, who found themselves short-handed for four minutes in each of the three periods against Indiana Jr. Ice. Fortunately for the Jaguars, the scoring did not begin until early in the second period.

Ironically, one of only two penalties called against the Jr. Ice in the game gave Liam Jenkins a penalty shot. Jenkins confidently skated in on the goalie from the centerline, appeared as if he were going to make a final move, and then fired the puck into the back of the net over the goalie’s left shoulder.

While the penalties – six in all – continued to stack up against the Jaguars, the score remained locked at 1-0 until Blake Brenczewski finally managed to break through for an insurance goal during the ebb and flow of the game. His unassisted tally came with 7:50 to play in the game.

With 4:47 to play, Jenkins added his second goal of the game to lift the Jaguars margin to 3-0. Joey Guldan assisted on what would prove to be the final goal of the game.

GAME 3: JAGUARS 4, MICHIGAN NATIONALS 4

Slowed by penalties in the first two period, it took a frantic comeback in the third for the Jaguars to earn a 4-4 tie against the Michigan Nationals and remain undefeated in the tournament.

The Jaguars were penalized five times in the third game of the preliminary round, but none was as damaging as the first whistle – which led to a power -play goal against the Jaguars with 2:00 to play in the first period. The goal, scored by the Nationals’ Cole Knuble on an assist by Grant Coykendall, gave the Nationals’ an early 1-0 lead.

Max Sterioti scored the equalizer for the Jaguars :19 later on an assist from Ryan Louthan, making the score 1-1 at the end of the first period.

The second period saw the Nationals put two additional goals on the board, while the Jaguars could only put penalties up on the scoreboard throughout the middle stanza.

The two Nationals’ goals came within the first minute of the second period and were tallied just 15 seconds apart. Knuble scored an unassisted goal with 12:43 to play in the period and Jackson Blough followed on an assist by Brendan Bourne.

The Jaguars managed to cut the Nationals’ lead to 3-2 when Ryan Louthan scored a short-handed goal with the help of a Blake Brenczewski assist with 8:10 to play in the game. With 5:56 left, however, the Nationals stretched the lead back to two when Miles Muth converted on a Sammy Wendt pass.

The Jaguars, however, showed there was no quit in them that evening, however, as they turned up the offensive pressure. It paid off when Louthan again found the back of the net with an assist from Brenczewski, cutting the score for 4-3 with 3:43 to play.

The two reversed roles just over a minute later, as Brenczewski scored the equalizer on a Louthan assist with 2:33 to play.

Not done yet, the Jaguars nearly scored the game winner in the final seconds, as the puck came to a rest at the goal line during one final flourish at the Nationals’ net.

The Jaguars’ 2-0-1 record in the preliminary round gave the Jaguars the top seed going into Sunday morning’s semi-final games.

SEMI-FINAL: RANGERS 2, JAGUARS 1

For all of the second period and most of the third, it appears the Jaguars’ late first-period goal was going to be enough for the Joliet-based squad to earn its second win of the tournament against the Riverside Rangers and advance to the tournament championship.

All of that started to change, however, with just under 3:00 to play.

In another game marred by penalties – a total of 12; seven against the Jaguars – it was the Jaguars who grabbed the lead in the first period.

Back to wearing his usual #49 following the delivery late the night before of the team’s new uniforms, Blake Brenczewski beat the Rangers’ goalie for a 1-0 lead. Ryan Louthan was credited with the assist with 1:53 to play in the opening frame.

It was beginning to look as if that late first-period goal was going to hold up for the victory until the penalty bug again bit the Jaguars hard late in the game. A penalty whistled against the Jaguars with 4:53 to play left them one player short. They went down a second player after being whistled for too many men on the ice with 3:39 to play.

The two-man advantage was exactly what the Rangers needed.  With just :04 remaining on the first penalty, Dawson Kavanaugh drew the Rangers even at 1-1.

The Jaguars penalty killers were able to kill of the remaining disadvantage, but just :13 after returning to full strength, the Jaguars heard the all-too-familiar “tweeeeetttttt” once again and found themselves one man down again.

Once again it was Kavanaugh who found the net, scoring the winning goal with :35 to play.

After shocking the Jaguars, the Rangers went on to also win the championship game.

Swings and a seesaw

Jaguars go 2-2 to close NIHL seeding round

It can be said that for a true hockey player, the ice is merely their playground.

If that is true, than for Squirt 2 during the second half of their NIHL seeding round, their playground was pretty simple – it had a seesaw and a lot of swings.

The seesaw is because of the up-and-down nature of the second half, which saw the Jaguars splitting their final four games between wins and losses by going up and down between the two. The swings came from the number of momentum changes that had the Jaguars going back and forth between the good and the bad at times during those final four games.

JAGUARS 2, JETS 0

During the first game of that four-game stretch, back on Oct. 19, it appeared that the Jaguars might be stuck on the up side of the seesaw, as the Jaguars jumped out to a lead less than halfway through the first period and then remained on top en route to a 2-0 win.  The home victory came rather easily despite the fact the game was actually played at Johnny’s IceHouse West, the home rink of the “visiting” Chicago Jets.

Max Sterioti got everything moving in the right direction against the Jets, converting on a power play with 6:42 to play in the opening stanza on assists from Kevin Stewart and Ryan Louthan. The score remained 1-0 until just :27 remained in the second period, when Liam Jenkins provided some insurance for the a Jaguars off an assist from Sterioti.

The teams traded penalties throughout the third period, but no additional goals as Kenny Zschach made 12 saves between the pipes to ensure the shutout victory. The Jaguars forced Jets goalkeeper  E. Sullivan to make 20 saves in order to keep the score close.

 

FALCONS 3, JAGUARS 2

When the Jaguars took the ice Oct. 20 against the visiting Falcons, they ultimately found themselves on the heavy end of the season seesaw, enduring a heartbreaking loss in a game where the hockey playground’s swings were prevalent.

As in the previous game, the Jaguars jumped out to an early lead. Joey Guldan gave the Jaguars that initial cushion when he took a pass from Max Krause and put the puck behind Falcon’s goaltender Edward Zygowicz on a power play less than five minutes into the first period.

The swing, however, drifted backwards for the first time with 3:29 to play in the second period. Blake Valfer scored for the Falcons on assists from Ethan Nicholas and Jacob Zechman to make the score 1-1, which is where it stayed going in the third.

The swing flew back in the Jaguars direction when Max Sterioti scored with 9:09 to play on an assist from Blake Brenczewski.

Just over three minutes later, however, things swung again as the Falcons regained the momentum with a tying goal off the stick of Harrison Menaker. The unassisted goal with 6:03 to play knotted the score at 2-2.

Still riding their upward momentum swing, the Falcons scored what was to be the eventual game winner with 4:59 left to play. Michael Wisneski was the goal scorer, while Zachary Sweig was credited with the assist.

Jaguar goaltender ended with 17 saves on the afternoon, two more than the Falcon’s Zygowicz.

 

JAGUARS 3, MANIAX 1

The trends continued for the Jaguars on Oct. 21, although in this outing at Dyer, Ind., it was once again the Jaguars who rode the swings to the top of the seesaw.

For the first time in the seeding round’s second half, however, it was the Jaguars who found themselves playing from a deficit early. With about one minute left in the opening stanza, the Midwest Maniax’s Bill McCall opened the scoring on an assist from Adyn Konchar.

It would prove to be the only goal given up on the afternoon by Jaguar goalie Kenny Zschach, who turned  in a brilliant performance by stopping the next 25 shots thrown at him by the Maniax offense.

It was the Jaguars’ offense that clicked for the rest of the afternoon, as the visitors saw the momentum swing in their favor during the second period.

Getting things going in the right direction was Ryan Louthan, who scored an unassisted goal with 9:28 remaining in the second period to knot the score at 1-1.

The Jaguars grabbed their first lead when, with 5:02 to play in the period, Louthan assisted on a goal off the stick of Max Sterioti to make the score 2-1. Sterioti then added an insurance goal less than a minute later, with 4:18 to play, this one assisted by Liam Jenkins.

The score remained 3-1 throughout the final period despite 12 shots by the Jaguars and 11 shots off the sticks of the Maniax. The period was marred by six penalties , which left one or both teams undermanned for the first two-thirds of the final stanza.

 

KNIGHTS 6, JAGUARS 3

The final game of the seeding round was also marred by penalties and marked by momentum swings, although the Jaguars found themselves once again on the low end of the seesaw … and one player short due to injury by the end.

The St. Jude Knights fought their way to the early lead against the Jaguars on Oct. 23, scoring the only two goals of the opening stanza, both off the stick of Lane Scott. Scott scored with 8:52 left in the first period, and again with 4:37 to play, both times on assists from Patrick McDonnell.

The momentum swung to the Jaguars early in the second period when Max Sterioti scored just 87 seconds into the middle stanza. Ryan Louthan was credited with the assist on the goal, which cut the score to 2-1. Louthan took it upon himself to score the equalizer, converting an assist from Joey Guldan with 2:16 remaining in the period.

St. Jude seized the momentum again, however, swinging it back in their favor when Logan Pickands scored an unassisted goal with just 1:20 to play in the second.

Things took a turn for the worse in the game and for the Jaguars in the third period, which saw six penalties including a bench minor against the Jaguars.

The Knights continued to build on their momentum and their score as Tyler Pruszewski scored on assists from Scott and McDonnel to make it 4-2 in favor of St. Jude just  :16 into the third period. A fifth St. Jude goal followed with 9:13 to play, as William Curtin scored on a feed from Michael Layman.

Just eight seconds later, the Jaguars would find themselves with an unexpected short bench for the rest of the game as defenseman Dylan Graziano slumped to the ice along the boards to the rear of the Jaguars’ net after sustaining a hard check in the back and being slammed into the boards. Graziano was eventually assisted to the bench – and ultimately to the locker room – as rough play continued on the ice.

The Knights were whistled for three additional infractions, including a double minor, before the end of the game.

The Jaguars held the Knights scoreless throughout the nine-minute stretch following Graziano’s injury, until they managed a goal of their own with just :20 to play to cut the St. Jude lead to 5-3. James Gray Jr. was credited with the unassisted tally.

Not satisfied with a two-goal victory, however, the Knights had the momentum swing in the their favor one last time, as Scott completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal with :09 remaining to bring the final score to 6-3.

The loss brought the Jaguars’ final seeding-round record to 3-3-2 in the Red Tier of the Silver Level of the Squirt Division in NIHL. The record left the Jaguars literally in the middle of the pack among the Squirt teams in all three tiers combined, resulting in the Jaguars being placed as the top-seeded team in Tier 2 of the Silver Division for the regular season.

The Jaguars will begin NIHL regular-season play with a home-and-home series against Bloomington on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 17-18. The teams will play at Inwood at 5:20 p.m. Saturday, before reprising their matchup at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington on Sunday afterno

Squirt #3 getting its skate under it

Just realized with all the running around with Squirt #2, I have failed to comment thus far on how well Squirt #3 has been doing.

While they are yet to capture their first win of the season, the Jaguars Squirt #3 squad has posted a time -- in their second game of the season -- and has been in every game thus far -- losing, most recently, 2-0 after making their second trek of the season to North Shore Ice Arena.

Given the mix of kids and previous playing levels represented on this team -- from higher-level travel squads down to a group of kids playing their first fall season of travel hockey -- it has been interesting to watch these kids merge into a team so quickly. Their defense has been strong, their passing has been consistent and now all they need is for more members of the team to gain the confidence that they can score on a regular basis, no matter who is lining up across the center circle from them.

Jaguar Squirt #3 will be on the ice at Inwood on Thursday night and it promises to be another entertaining hockey game. Who needs the NHL with there is play going on in the NIHL? Not fans of Jaguar Squirt #3, that's for sure.

Squirt 2 brings home hardware, experience from South Bend

Jaguar Squad finishes as runner-up in Consolation Bracket

The members of Squirt 2 came away from the South Bend Cup tournament the first weekend in October with medals around their necks.

They also came away with something much more important.

Over the course of three days, the Jaguars squad played four games – compiling a 2-2 record en route to a runner-up finish in a hastily created Consolation Bracket – and garnered all the benefits that playing together that often in a young season can provide. Through the proding of the coaching staff and some hard work on their part, the members of Squirt 3 saw their positioning, passing and play in front of the net on both ends of the ice improve.

Coach Rob Sterioti voiced his hope and expectation to the team that those lessons learned will pay off as the team returns to seeding-round play in the Red Tier of the Silver Level of the Squirt Division in Northern Illinois Hockey League Play.

GAME 1: Novi IceCats 4, Jaguars 2

The Jaguars actually got off to a slow start as they opened the tournament on Rink 2 of the Ice Box in South Bend, Ind., although it didn’t seem like that was going to be the case in the early going against the Novi IceCats.

Squirt 2 actually jumped out to an early lead when Max Sterioti tallied the Jaguars’ first goal of the tournament just 3:35 into the opening stanza. Blake Brenczewski was credit with the assist on a play that actually developed at the defensive end of the ice.

The Novi IceCats, who would end up as the lone representative of the Jaguars’ bracket in semi-final play on Sunday, evened the score a little more than three minutes later, however, when Alex Prange converted on a Sotiris Tsilimingras assist with 5:18 left in the period. The Ice Cats then claimed their first lead of the game at the 1:22 mark of the period, as Tsilimingras found the back of the net off a Nathan Erskine assist.

Not to be outdone, however, Sterioti responded with his second goal of the game to even the score at 2 just :36 seconds later. Liam Jenkins was credited with the assist.

Having tallied 8 saves in the first stanza, Jaguar goalie Kenny Zschach duplicated the 8-save performance in the second period, helping keep the score tied until the 3:38 mark of the middle period. It was then that Erskine found the net himself, scoring on a Kyle Kelley assist.

The Jaguars, in turn, peppered IceCats’ goalie Duncan Lowes with seven shots in the period, but could not manage the equalizer. Another four shots met the goalie instead of the net in the third period, which saw its only goal scored at the 6:49 mark, when Anthony Hakim added some insurance for Novi, stretching the score to 4-2 on an assist from Kelley.

Zschach ended the game with 18 saves, while Lowest had 13 for the IceCats.

GAME 2: Jaguars 5, Oakridge Aeros 4
An early start in the Eastern time zone did not seem to hamper the Jaguars in their second game of the tournament – although it did take them some time to get warmed up.

The Jaguars – most of whom left the hotel before 4:30 a.m. Chicago time in order to arrive at the Ice Box on time – actually fell behind the Aeros by two goals before the end of the first period. Blake Foster got the scoring started for the Canadian Minor Atom “A” team, converting on a Eddie Burlock assist with 2:15 to play in the period. Jacob Sirovyak stretched the lead to two with just 21.8 second to play. Callum Noonan was credit with the assist.

The second period, however, belonged to the Jaguars – who used the middle 12:00 to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead through a combination of strong passing on offense, solid defense and some spectacular play by Kenny Zschach between the pipes.

Liam Jenkins made the first dent in the Aeros’ armor less than halfway through the second period, scoring on an assist credited to a number not on the Jaguars’ roster. Max Sterioti followed that up with the equalizer less than two minutes later, scoring off a Kevin Stewart assist at the 4:41 mark of the period.

The Jaguars snagged their first lead of the game at the 2:13 mark, as Sterioti replicated his scoring effort, this time with the help of Owen Rossi. Joey Guldan added the final goal of the period on an unassisted tally with :52 to play.

The Aeros, however, proved they were not about to go away quietly, tightening the score to 4-3 just :53 into the final stanza. Foster scored the goal off an assist from Riley Sanders.

Insurance for the Jaguars came at the 5:06 mark not for the Geico gecko, but from Blake Brenczewski, who scored on an unassisted effort.

The need for the insurance policy came 95 second later, when Connor Currado cut the lead again to one, at 5-4, with 3:31 to play. Ethan Kelly had the assist on what would prove to be the final goal of the game.

The 5-4 win evened the Jaguars’ mark in the South Bend Cup tournament at 1-1-0.

GAME 3: Jaguars 7, Lansing Senators 1

The bench alongside the Notre Dame Hockey Team’s home ice was so tall some of the Jaguars had to jump up in order to sit on it when they were between shifts, but it did not take the Jaguars on the ice long to realize the nets were the same size.

The spacious surroundings of the Lefty Smith Rink at the University of Notre Dame may, however, have been a slight distraction as the Jaguars began their third game of the tournament, this one against the Lansing Senators. It was the Senators who shook off the awe inspired by the surroundings first, tallying the game’s opening goal with 10:03 left in the first period. The shot came off the stick of Ethan Bond and was assisted by Blake Agnew.

The sight of a puck passing goaltender Kenny Zschach was enough to get the Jaguars’ minds back on the business at hand and, from that point forward, the Jaguars were the dominant team. It was Liam Jenkins who got the score back to all-square at 1-1 before the first period concluded, scoring the equalizer with 6:16 to play.

The first lead of the game for the Jaguars was supplied by Max Sterioti, who began his pursuit of a hat trick with a goal, assisted by Owen Rossi, at the 9:18 mark for the second period. His second goal – an unassisted one -- came on the power play with 4:53 left in the period.

The Jaguars continued to stretch the lead in the third period, beginning at the 9:38 mark when Blake Brenczewski converted on a Lukas Bomba assist to make the score 4-1.

With 9:11 to play, Sterioti completed his hat trick in highlight reel fashion. After being pulled down while breaking across the Senators’ blue line, Sterioti found himself standing alone on the shamrock emblem in the middle of the ice, preparing for a penalty shot against the Senators’ goaltender. He skated alone toward the far end of the ice, made a move or two and then fired the puck soundly in to the back of the net to make it 5-1 Jaguars.

Joey Guldan made it 6-1 about 90 seconds later with an unassisted tally and Ryan Louthan capped the scoring, with an assist from Rossi, with 5:46 remaining in the game.

The win, which lifted the Jaguars to 2-1-0 in the tournament, guaranteed the Jaguars would be playing on Sunday. The only remaining question was whether that would be in a semi-final game, as the Jaguars had expected, or within some other scenario that was being sketched out by tournament organizers as the Jaguars played.

With four teams, including three in the opposite bracket, finishing with 3-0 records, the Jaguars were, instead, relegated to the consolation championship game against the Oakridge Aeros.

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP: Oakridge Aeros 6, Jaguars 3

This time, a slow start was too much for the Jaguars to overcome.

As they had done in the first game against the Aeros, the Jaguars found themselves trailing the Canadian squad 2-0 as the horn sounded to end the opening period… and the reason was Ethan Kelly.

Kelly scored an unassisted goal just :28 into the game, and followed it up with his second tally of the game with 1:06 to play in the period. Connor Currado and Antony Dutz were credited with assists on Kelly’s second marker.

Receiving more help from Dutz, along with Eddie Burlock, just 1:29 into the second period allowed Kelly to complete his hat trick before the Jaguars even got on the board.

The Jaguars, however, cut the score to 3-1 with 7:49 to play in the middle stanza, as Owen Rossi scored an unassisted goal.

The Aeros responded twice before the end of the period, however, to stretch the margin to 5-1 after the first 24 minutes. The goals were scored by Jacob Sirovyak, on an assist by Nicholas Mazza, at 5:31, and Connor Currado with 2:09 to play.

As the third period began, the Jaguars showed there was no quit in the team. Black Brenczewski scored with 7:48 to play to cut the lead to 5-2, and Liam Jenkins added a goal at the 4:58 mark to cut the score to 5-3 and send a charge through the crowd of Jaguar parents in the stands.

The Jaguars, however, would get no closer and, in fact, gave up a late goal to Hunter Yeo, which brought the score to the 6-3 final.

The loss dropped the Jaguars to a 2-2-0 final tournament record and set them home with silver medals.

 

There’s something different about you

Jaguars suffer 3-0 loss at hands of Vikings

At the start of their game Tuesday night, Coach Rob Sterioti had Jaguar Squirt #2 try something different.

Something, as it turns out, was also different at the end of the game.

In exact opposite fashion to the season-opening victory, the Jaguars dropped a 3-0 decision to Vikings #2 on the Championship Rink at Arctic Ice in Orland Park. The loss dropped the Jaguars, who had opened Saturday with a 3-0 win over the Irish, to 1-1-0 in seeding round play in the Red Tier of the Silver Level in the Squirt Division of the Northern Illinois Hockey League.

Prior to the game, Sterioti had instructed his players to set up during the first period a bit differently than they usually would. The hope, Sterioti said, was to tire out the Vikings and, effectively, shorten the game to two periods, allowing the Jaguars to have more stamina at the end of the contest.

The plan, however, of having just one forward give chase in the offensive zone, while the other forwards remained at the blue line and the defense set up shop at the center line, served to minimize the Jaguars’ offensive chances. It did not, however, minimize the Vikings’ offensive chances as much as Sterioti had hoped.

Instead, by the time the first period expired and the Jaguars were ready to resume their normal offensive program, the visitors were trailing 2-0. The Vikings had jumped to the early lead with a goal approximately halfway through the opening stanza off the stick of Tyler Derickson. Derickson was assisted by Matthew Cox, who also assisted on the Vikings’ second goal. That tally was scored by Brendan Joy with less than a minute to play in the period.

Once the Jaguars returned to their standard three-man rush, with offensive support from the defensive specialists on the ice, they seemed to have trouble getting back on track and mounted only a few strong offensive charges.  Nevertheless, the Jaguars played the Vikings nearly even through the final 22 minutes

The lone tally in the final two periods came with 1:33 to play in the middle stanza, when the Viking’s Vinny Felice converted on an assist from Brett Rudny. The goal lifted the margin to three, where it would remain until the final buzzer sounded.

While no official saves totals were tallied, Kenny Zschach posted another strong performance between the pipes for the Jaguars.

Jaguars Squirt #2 will next be in action at 2:20 p.m. EDT Friday afternoon, when they open play in the South Bend Cup tournament in South Bend, Ind.

Here... and ready to go

Zschach, Squirt #2 open season with shutout win

A week ago, Jaguar Squirt #2 was not even sure if it had a goalie.

In the season opener, however, goalie Kenny Zschach made his presence quite apparent.

With just one practice under his belt as a member of Squirt #2, Zschach made 15 saves en route to a 3-0 shutout victory over the visiting South Bend Irish #1. His performance, combined with the circumstances surrounding Zschach’s late addition to the team, prompted Coach Rob Sterioti to put aside his usual policy and award Zschach a game puck.

While Zschach was able to keep the Irish from depositing that puck into the Jaguar’s net, the Jaguar skaters were able to find the back (or, in at least one case, the side) of the Irish’s net on three occasions.

The first of those occasions came less than eight minutes into the first of the Jaguars eight seeding –round games in the Red Tier of the Silver Level of the Squirt Division of the Northern Illinois Hockey League. Dylan Graziano dug the puck out of the corner at the Jaguar’s end of the ice and made a clearing pass to Ryan Louthan near center ice. Louthan wound through the Irish defense and sent the puck sailing into the net for the first goal of the season with 3:04 to play in the first period.

The Jaguars nursed the tenuous one-goal lead into the third period, before Blake Brenczewski made things a bit more comfortable. He converted on an assist from Max Krause with 6:47 to play in the game to up the lead to 2-0.

Max Sterioti put the icing on the cake with 3:55 to play, scoring from a seemingly impossible angle near the goal line. After taking a pass from Liam Jenkins, Sterioti flipped the puck past the Irish goalie, banging it into the far side of the net, just under the crossbar. The goal lifted the margin to what would prove to be the final 3-0 score.

The Irish, however, did not let the Jaguars record the shutout without a final fight. They forced Zschach to make some big saves in the closing minutes and banged a couple more shots off iron during that period, but still came up empty in the end.

The Jaguars will put their 1-0-0 NIHL record on the line on Tuesday evening, Oct. 2, when they travel to Arctic Ice in Orland Park to take on the Vikings in a 6 p.m. game.

Here we go again!

It is hard to believe that a new season of Jaguar Hockey has already begun. Actually, it has done more than begun,m it is already in full swing.

Squirt #3 will get things going for real on Sunday, when they travel to Winnetka to open seeding round play. Under Coach Scott Coash, the team boasts a wide array of players with a variety of experience -- from players coming out of ADM Majors who will be playing their first fall season of travel hockey to a group of players who helping Mite #2 to a very successful season and third-place finish in NIHL play last fall.

While it may take awhile for the kids to blend as one single squad, they are deep in talent and should go a long way in the NIHL Bronze division.

Speaking of teams with a lot of depth and an interesting blend of talent, Squirt 2 is getting ready to roll on its new season as well. With an informal scrimmage under its belts, Squirt 2 is about a week away from getting its seeding round play started against the Irish on Inwood Ice Sept. 29.

Like Squirt 3, Squirt 2 is being formed from several groups of kids who have played together previously -- although as a complete unit, this is also a team that has never been together before. Four of the kids played together on Mite 2 last fall, several more played together on Mite 1, and a group of four or five of the kids got their start in Jaguar Hockey together back in ADM.

A deep, talented Squirt Silver team that could seemingly give many gold-level teams a run for their money, Squirt 2 should be an entertaining team to watch.

... or, at the very least, follow on JaguarHockeyDad.

Learning from experience

The spring South West Spring League hockey season got under way for Jaguar Squirt 3 this past weekend, and while the results were not what was hoped for, the games marked a first for several members of the team.

With several members of Jaguar Squirt 3 having played at the ADM Major level in the fall -- and due to some issues with tournaments that were previosly discussed here -- Saturday's game against the Bruins marked the first opportunity for those players to compete against someone not also wearing a Jaguar uniform.

While most of the kids were adverse to admitting it, it seemed to this more-than-casual viewer that the immensity of the moment and reality of the stepped-up competition had the Jaguars off their game, especially early in the opener (which they lost to the Bruins at Addison Ice by a 9-0 score). And while the team got off to a slow start, growth and learning was evident throughout the game.

Between the opening puck drop and the closing horn, the Squirt 3 players seemed to gain an understanding of where they should be positioned on the ice and the importance of speed and accurate passing. They were lessons that the team can grow on as the season progresses.

That fact was in evidence on Sunday, when Squirt 3 again took to the ice -- this time against the Chicago Hawks at Darien Sportsplex.

The Jaguars came out with an entirely different attitude and appearance for that game, proving to themselves and their fans that they could indeed hold their own with the other teams in the National Division of the Blue Tier of the Squirt Division. While the Jaguars were again shutout, the final tally was just 3-0.

The Jaguars held the Hawks scoreless through the whole of the first period, not giving up the first goal until nearly half of the second period had expired. The Jaguars had their share of scoring opportunities in the game, which was highlights by some strong play on the defensive end of the ice and outstanding goaltending by both the Squirt 3's net minders.

Squirt 3 now has approximately two weeks to work on the necessary skills highlighted in this past weekend's performance before taking to the ice again on Sunday, April 29, at 12:50 p.m. in a game against the Admirals at Center Ice of DuPage.

The season is over ... let the season begin

Just a quick one to let you know that Jaguar Hockey Dad is alive and well and gearing up for a new season.  The details of the Fall 2011-12 season and how it wound up will remain below, but our focus and that of the Jaguar Hockey Club has already switched to practices for the Spring 2012 season.

Information remains sparse right now, as the South West Spring League in which the Jaguars play has yet to update its website for the season and scheduling of games will not actually take place until Wednesday, April 11. After that, I will begin trying to do some research on opponents and determine what lies ahead.

Until then, Squirt #2 -- the top team of Squirts born in 2003 -- and Squirt #3 -- the second-level team of Squirts born in 2002 -- will continue practicing and preparing for the season.

More to follow soon.

Bulldogs are Silver B champions

The Northern Illinois Hockey League Mite Silver B season officially came to an end Sunday morning, March 11, when the Chicago Bulldogs captured the Wolves Cup.

Playing on Inwood ice in Joliet, the Bulldogs rallied to post a 3-1 win over the Crystal Lake Yellowjackets. The Yellowjackets claimed a 1-0 lead, only to have the Bulldogs respond in the second period to forge a 1-1 tie going into the final stanza.

The Bulldogs, whom the Jaguar Mite #2 went 2-0-1 against during the NIHL regular season, tallied twice in the final period, however, to claim the Wolves Cup.

On Saturday, playing in Crystal Lake, the Chicago Jets -- who knocked the Jaguars out of the playoffs in the second round -- scored a 1-0 victory over the Falcons to capture third place in the Silver B Division.

Multiple trips and a fall

Jets end Mite #2 season in playoff's second round

Jaguar Mite #2 was tripped up Saturday in its efforts to capture the Wolves Cup at the Silver B level.

Playing in a game marred by 11 total penalties, including seven tripping calls, the third-seeded Jaguars fell to the second-seeded Chicago Jets 2-0 in the second round of the Northern Illinois Hockey League playoffs. The loss – the first by Mite #2 to a Silver B-level team since early December – brought their season to an end.

Despite the tight officiating, which resulted in seven penalty calls against the Jaguars and forced their successful stifling of two 5-3 short-handed situations, the Jaguars played well enough to win. While no official shot/save statistics were kept for the game, the Jaguars pressured the Jets throughout the first period and a half, getting repeated shots at the Jets’ goalie, while minimizing the Jets’ scoring chances.

With 4:21 to play in the second period, however, the Jets managed to get behind the Jaguar defense and convert on one of the few scoring chances they had to that point. Mario Scalise tallied what would prove to be the game-winning goal on an assist from Sean Doyle.

With 9:44 left in the third period, the Jets scored an insurance goal during a scramble in front of the net. The tally came after Jaguar goalie Luke Brzezinski appeared to have frozen the puck along the goal line. The puck, however, scooted clear of his glove and lie for a few seconds between his pad and the goal post in a gap barely larger than the puck itself.

With no whistle having been blown, the Jets’ Doyle located and took a whack at the loose puck, propelling it from outside the goal line to the back of the net. Tyler Pan and Ryan Thomas were credited with the assists.

Undeterred by the two-goal deficit, partly because of having forged a tie from a similar situation in their last outing against the Jets, the Jaguars repeatedly tried to stage a comeback, but were continually stymied by impressive goal tending. Even pulling Brzezinski in favor of an extra skater with approximately 90 second remaining was not enough to get the Jaguars on the board.

While the season ended for the Jaguars when the final horn sounded, the win propelled the Jets into a semi-final game on Sunday against the top-seeded Bulldogs, who had defeated the Bruins earlier Saturday. The Bulldogs topped the Jets 2-0 on Sunday to advance to the Silver B championship game at Inwood at 9 a.m. Sunday morning, March 11. They will take on the Red Tier’s second-seeded Yellowjackets.

Mite #2 second at Chi-Town

Captures second place, beats nemesis in hometown tourney

NOTE: This is the long-overdue writeup on the Chi-Town Cup tournament held in West Dundee from Feb. 18-20. While information has appeared previously on the results, the official scoresheets did not become available until today.

Jaguar Mite #2 may have stayed close to home, but in doing so, they found in their own backyard a few things they had been looking for all season long.

The Jaguars participated in the Chi-Town Cup tournament in West Dundee from Feb. 18-20, and returned to Joliet with medals around their necks and a trophy to place into the display cases in the lobby of the Inwood Ice Arena. While there was some disappointment the awards represented only a second-place finish, the smiles on the team members’ faces after the championship game that Monday morning showed they were still happy with claiming their first hardware of the year.

Bringing home hardware, however, was not the only goal Mite #2 achieved during the tournament. The final preliminary round game also marked the first time the Jaguars have been able to best the St. Jude Knights. The Knights, who rebounded from the defeat to clip the Jaguars in the championship on Monday, Feb. 20, remain the only team to have beaten Mite #2 in 2012.

St. Jude, which plays one level above the Jaguars in the Northern Illinois Hockey League, also defeated the Jaguars twice in the Motown Cup Tournament in Detroit. The Jaguars finished in third place in that event, which the Knights won.

GAME ONE: JAGUARS 6, NORTHBROOK BULEHAWKS MITE A 3

The Jaguars opened tournament play with a 6-3 victory over the Northbrook Bluehawks.

Mite #2 jumped on top first in the game, scoring a little more than halfway through the opening 12-minute period, but it was not until the midpoint of the second period that they were able to put some breathing room between themselves and the Bluehawks.

Ryan Louthan got the scoring going for the Jaguars, tallying the opening goal on an assist from Nathan Guseman with 5:41 remaining on the clock. The lead, however, lasted just 9 seconds, as the Bluehawks came right back with a goal off the stick of Owen Just, knotting the score at 1-1.

The Jaguars responded approximately one minute later with two quick goals to increase the margin to 3-1. The go-ahead goal was scored at the 4:43 mark by Blake Brenczewski, on an assist from Louthan. Twenty-eight seconds later, Trevor Hudak added some insurance off assists from Lukas Bomba and Jarrett Goodwin.

Before the close of the period, however, Hayden Gansberg tallied the Bluehawk’s second goal, on assists from Edward Paulissian and Noah Wilson with 2:58 to play in the first. The period ended with the Jaguars leading 3-2.

The only goal of the second period, coming at the 6:08 mark off the stick of Louthan, provided the Jaguars with a bit of a cushion going into the final stanza. Credited with the assist on the goal was Grace Gonzalez.

The gap grew to 5-2 at the 6:27 mark of the third period, when Hudak scored his second goal of the game on assists from Gonzalez and Bomba.

With 5:50 to play, however, Just gave the Bluehawks a glimmer of hope, notching his second goal on the afternoon on assists from Timothy Miller and Alex Link.

The glimmer fizzled quickly though when Hudak, in completing his hat trick, quashed any thought of a Northbrook comeback with an unassisted goal at the 4:57 mark. The Jaguars then closed out the 6-3 victory, notching an opening with in the tournament.

GAME TWO: JAGUARS 6, LEAFS MITE A2 4

The Jaguars found themselves in familiar territory against an unfamiliar opponent in the second game of the tournament, scoring first as they had done in the opener en route to a 6-4 nail-biting victory over the hosting Leafs.

Unfamiliar for the Jaguars, however, was the need to play from behind for a portion of the game before ultimately coming back and securing the win against a team they could see again in the Wolves Cup Championship game on Sunday, March 11. The Leafs won the regular-season title in the Red Tier of the Silver B Level of the Northern Illinois Hockey League, while the Jaguars finished third in the White Tier.

The Jaguars grabbed the lead against the Leafs less than three minutes into their game, as Blake Brenczewski scored at the 9:02 mark of the opening period on assists from Evan McDonald and Ryan Louthan. The tally would prove to be the only one of the stanza, giving the Jaguars a 1-0 lead after the first 12 minutes.

That lead grew to two just :45 seconds into the new period, as Trevor Hudak tallied an unassisted goal.

The Leafs, however, came roaring back, scoring with 7:31 and 2:56 showing on the clock to knot the score at 2-2. Chase Jetel and Wyatt Teets recorded the unassisted tallies.

The Jaguars responded, however, as Ryan Louthan found the net with 2:35 to play in the middle period, giving the Jaguars back the lead at 3-2.

That lead disappeared before the period closed. The Leaf’s Jetel notched his second goal of the game with 1:21 to play and, with just 10 clicks left on the clock, Kory Carlson game the Leafs’ the lead on an assist from Bryce Strum.

It did not take Mite #2 long to regain momentum. Brenczewski found the back of the net just :53 into the period, using the unassisted goal to draw the Jaguars even.

And even is where the game stayed for the next seven minutes.

At the 4:16 mark, however, Hudak converted a Louthan assist to put the Jaguars back in front, 5-4. The Leafs put the pressure on for the remainder of the game, pulling the goalie with over 1:00 to play in an all-out effort to notch the equalizer.

It backfired, however, as Hudak found the empty net with :29 to play to tally his second hat trick in as many tournament games and secure the 6-4 Jaguar victory.

Luke Brzezinski recorded the win in the net for the Jaguars, collecting 20 saves in the contest, including 8 in the final period.

GAME THREE: JAGUARS 2, ST. JUDE KNIGHTS 1

Goalie Luke Brzezinski and the Jaguars’ defensive quartet of Nathan Guseman, Dylan Graziano, Grace Gonzalez and Emily Stornello came up big in Sunday’s second game, a 2-1 victory over the St. Jude Knights.

The win over the Silver A-level team was the first for the Jaguars in four games against the Knights this season, dating back to a 1-0 heartbreaker in the seeding round early in the season.

While the outcome was one the Jaguars had been striving for all season, things did not start out as promising as they ended. That Knights got out to the early lead, when Dominick Lococo converted a Nick Capuano assist with 4:12 to play in the opening period.

It took nearly eight minutes, until the 8:28 mark of the second period, before the Jaguars could figure out the Knights goaltender, Owen Flaig, and tally the equalizer. That came off the stick of Trevor Hudak on an unassisted goal.

The teams played each other even for the remainder of the period, trading shots and saves throughout. The back and forth play prompted some observers to speculate between the second and third periods that it was very likely the next goal would win the game.

That next goal finally game with 4:59 to play in the final period, when Hudak again found the back of the net, this time on an assist from Jarrett Goodwin.

The fact that it would indeed become the game winner, however, was not clear until the final buzzer sounded. When it did, it revealed that both goalies, Flaig with 21 saves for the Knights and Brzezinski, with 24 saves of his own, had played a big role of making that next-goal-wins prediction a reality.

The Jaguar victory lifted their tournament record to 3-0, giving them the top seed going into the Monday championship. Despite the loss, St. Jude’s two previous wins in the event were good enough to earn them second place and a berth opposite the Jaguars in the final game.

CHAMPIONSHIP: ST. JUDE KNIGHTS 2, JAGUARS 0

Both teams entered the Monday championship knowing they would be taking home hardware. The only thing left to decide on the ice was which one would get the bigger trophy. When the final buzzer sounded, that honor would go to St. Jude, which won the game 2-0.

As they did the day before, St. Jude jumped out to the early lead, notching a goal just 1:07 into the game. Brendan Martin managed the some-what controversial early tally. The Knights followed up that goal at the 5:41 mark with another score, bringing the margin to 2-0.

Unlike the day before, however, the Jaguars were not able to mount a comeback, despite strong defensive and goalie play that stifled the St. Jude offense for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, the Knights did the same, holding the Jaguars scoreless.

Luke Brzezinski ended the game with 17 saves, compared to 13 for the Knights’ Owen Flaig.

Despite the defeat, the Jaguars still celebrated the season’s first hardware, receiving their medals on the ice and passing the trophy from player to player in the locker room, each player posing for photos with the coveted prize.

Setting the stage for a playoff run

Mite #2 opens with 7-0 win over Sabres #3

William Shakespeare wrote that “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”

There was little drama on Sunday morning for the boys and girls who are the players on Jaguar Mite #2, but with their 7-0 win over Sabres #3 the first stage is complete in their pursuit of the Silver B-level Wolves Cup. It could be said that winning the championship would mean the world to the team.

Up next is a second-round game at 4:40 p.m. Saturday, March 3, against the Chicago Jets at Rocket Ice Arena in Bolingbrook. The Jets are the second seed in the playoffs, while the Jaguars are the third seed.

In Sunday’s opening round game, the Jaguars got the scoring started shortly after the curtain was raised on the contest. The initial spotlight shone on the Jaguars’ Jarrett Goodwin, who scored just 17 seconds into the game, on assists from Trevor Hudak and Lukas Bomba.

There was, however, no single leading man in Sunday’s performance, which featured more of an ensemble cast as the Mite #2 team took center stage at Inwood Ice Arena.

Blake Brenczewski was the next to draw the attention of the crowd, however, scoring at the 9:36 mark, and again on the Power Play with 2:05 remaining. On both goals, Ryan Louthan was the supporting actor.

Louthan and Brenczewski both got assists as Evan McDonald scored with :38 remaining to increase the Jaguar lead to 4-0 as the curtain dropped on the opening act.

The score remained the same as the action played out in the second period, until the climax with just :44 remaining, as Louthan scored a Power Play goal on an assist from Brenczewski to make the score 5-0. The five-goal margin as the final act began mandated a running clock until the deficit was reduced.

Instead of allowing the Sabres to reduce the deficit, however, the Jaguars increased it to 6, with a goal by Trevor Hudak, on an assist from Bomba, with 5:05 to play. Louthan then brought the score to the final 7-0 margin with 4:15 to play. Brenczewski and McDonald were credited with the assists.

The win was the fourth shutout of the season, dating back to the seeding round, for goaltender Luke Brzezinski, who recorded 10 saves on Sunday. His counterpart, Payton Aldridge, who was forced into goaltending duties due to the absence of the Sabres’ regular goalie, had 20 saves on the morning.

The win extended to 10 the unbeaten streak in NIHL play for the Jaguars, who have gone 8-0-2 since losing to the Bruins, 3-1, on Dec. 4, 2011. Since that loss, Mite #2 has compiled an overall record of 13-3-2, including a third-place finish in the Motown Cup tournament in January and a second-place finish in the Chi-Town Cup earlier this month.

The only team to beat the Jaguars in the past three months has been the St. Jude Knights team that plays in the Silver A level of NIHL, one level above the Jaguars. The Jaguars did manage to beat the Knights, 2-1, in preliminary round play at the Chi-Town Cup tournament, before falling to them 2-0 in the championship game.

Happy with the hardware

This has been my first chance since their big game on Monday morning to officially congratulate Jaguar Mite #2 for finishing second in the Chi-Town Cup Tournament held in West Dundee over the holiday weekend. While they lost the championship game 2-0 to St. Jude -- still the only team to beat them since Dec. 4 as the team has gone 12-3-2 -- from what I have seen and heard, the team members were still  thrilled to bring home their first hardware.

I missed the game because of other obligations, but I was updated via text message frequently and have been given varied reports on it since then. It sounds like the first goal was a fluke, while the second one was a legitimate tally for the Knights. If a couple of shots off the post had been an inch or two one way or the other for the Jaguars, it sounds like the outcome would be different.

The loss on Monday, however, in no way takes away from the fact the Jaguars defeated St. Jude 2-1 on Sunday, marking the first time the Jaguar Mite #2 has been able to get past the Knights teams that plays one level above them in the Northern Illinois Hockey League.

I am still hoping to obtain the score sheets from each of the tournament games so I can put together a full report on Mite #2's successful efforts to bring home the hardware. When I do, it will appear here, on Facebook and at http://www.jaguarhockeyclub.com/.

It should be noted, with the start of Mite #2's playoff run just a few days away, that the second-place finish in the Chi-Town Cup Tournament may actually be a good omen for the Jaguars. In their first tournament of the year, at Johnny's Ice House over Thanksgiving, before the run of success began, the team finished in fourth place in the four-team tournament.

In their next tournament outing, the Jaguars took third place in Detroit, losing only to St. Jude in the Motown Cup tournament. Now, at the Chi-Town Cup Tournament, the Jaguars have stepped up second place. Their is, of course, only one more step in that progression and the only tournament left for the Jaguars is the playoffs. (Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Jaguars faced and defeated in West Dundee the team they are likely to face should they advance to the Wolves Cup championship).
.
The playoffs for the Jaguars will begin with an 8:30 a.m. home game at Inwood against the Sabres on Sunday morning, Feb. 26. After a win, it will continue with play at the Sabres' home rink, Rocket Ice Arena, on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4. Games will be against the Chicago Jets Saturday and, after a victory, most likely the Chicago Bulldogs.

The Wolves Cup Championship is set for Sunday, March 11, at Inwood. The consolation game will be the afternoon before in Crystal Lake.

Hardware is on the horizon

Now, there is no team that Jaguar Mite #2 has played this year that it has not been able to beat.

In fact, between Northern Illinois Hockey League play and games in the Motown Cup and Chi-Town Cup tournaments, the Jaguars are 12-2-2 in their last 16 games, dating back to their last NIHL loss on Dec. 4. The two loses since then were both at the tournament in Detroit at the hands of the St. Jude Knights, who play in the Silver A Level of NIHL, one level above the Jaguars.

On Sunday, however, the Knights' mastery over the Jaguars came to an end with a 2-1 Jaguar victory in the third of three preliminary-round games in the Chi-Town Cup Tournament being hosted at the Leafs Ice Center in West Dundee. The win, highlighted by two goals from Trevor Hudak, lifted the Jaguars to 3-0 in the tournament, making them the top seed when they face St. Jude again Monday morning in the tournament championship.

Win or lose, Mite #2 will be bringing home its first hardware, as it is guaranteed a trophy for the Jaguars' trophy case at Inwood in Joliet and medals for each of the members of the team.

Also helping put the Jaguars in that position was a 6-4 victory over the hosting Leafs earlier Sunday. The back-and-forth game, in which the Jaguars did not seal the victory until scoring an empty net goal in the final minute after the Leafs pulled their goalie, could prove to be a preview of the Silver B Level Wolves Cup Championship in a few weeks.

The Leafs went 13-1 on the season to win the Red Tier of the Silver B Level in the Mite Division, earning a first-round playoff bye in the process. The Jaguars finished third in the White Tier and will have to defeat the Sabres and two other opponents -- probably the Chicago Jets and the Chicago Bulldogs, who finished in second and first place in their tier, respectively -- before earning their spot in the championship game.

For now, however, the Jaguars are just focusing on the 36 minutes they will spend on the ice against St. Jude on Monday, with hopes of bringing home the Chi-Town Cup championship.

After that is when they will concentrate on the Wolves Cup, which they will begin pursuing on 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, when they host the Sabres in a first-round game at Inwood.

Being the (United) Center of attention

There hadn't been much for the 22,077 fans who packed the United Center on Sunday morning to cheer about in the first period.

The Blackhawks had closed out their long losing streak a few games before and were actually looking to build on the modest two-game winning streak that had begun on the heels of the skid. In the first period, however, the fans welcoming them back to the United Center after nearly a month saw only four Blackhawk shots on goal and a questionable goal by the St. Louis Blues.

It was with that backdrop that a car was pulled onto the ice during the first intermission. The car was followed by the Squirt-aged players from the ADM Major program of the Joliet Jaguar Hockey Club. They were met with a smattering a applause from throughout the United Center, as well as loud cheers from a small section in the 300 Level where their families and friends were sitting.

Divided into two teams based on their Jaguar uniform colors, the 12 youth hockey players participated in a relay race that required them to skate the length of the ice, turn around a pylon and, during their return to the far end of the ice, slide under a  hockey stick supported on tires and leap over a second stick before crossing the start/finish line and releasing the next person in line.

As each member of the Jaguars participated, their name was announced over the public address system. The white team pulled ahead early on, but the black team caught up about midway through the line of participants. By the time the goalies went, the two teams were neck and neck and the volume of the United Center crowd  rose noticably as the white team finished slightly ahead to the cheers of far more occupants of the U.C. than just those in that select area in the nose-bleed seats.

The competition, however, was simply a friendly one. Each of the kids were winners in their own right, because they took away from the day a memories that will last a lifetime, highlighted by not only their friendly competition, but also the chance to see several Blackhawks players warming up before the game.

It also didn't hurt that each of the kids also received the Marian Hossa bobblehead that was being given away on Sunday and got to see the Blackhawks stage a third-period comeback en route to a 3-1 victory.

Mite #2 opens Chi-Town Cup with 6-3 win

Action got under way for Jaguar Mite #2 in the Chi-Town Cup Saturday afternoon with a 6-3 victory over the Northbrook Bluehawks. The victory positioned the Jaguars at the top of the pool based on goal differential after the first day of tournament action. The St. Jude Knights, the only team to defeat the Jaguars in their last 14 games, was the other victorious team on Saturday, topping the Leafs 2-1 in their game. Both the Leafs and the St. Jude await the Jaguars on Sunday in tournament play, the Leafs at 9:20 a.m. and St. Jude at 4:30 P.m. Both of the Jaguars' Sunday opponents will also take on the Bluehawks on Sunday. The two teams with the best records after play on Sunday will advance to Monday morning's championship game. The Jaguars got on the board first against the Bluehawks Saturday and never trailed, although the Bluehawks did cut the Jaguar lead to just one, at 3-2, before the end of the first period. The offensive star for the Jaguars was Trevor Hudak, who netted a hat trick on the afternoon. Watch for further updates throughout the tournament and a full story after the Jaguars conclude play.

Play against Sabres is ugly, but effective

In 1983, the phrase “Winning Ugly” was coined to describe the successful run of the Chicago White Sox.

Even though the members of Jaguar Mite #2 were far from being born back then, they took a page from the White Sox playbook on Wednesday evening in an 8-2 regular-season-closing victory over the Sabres.

In fact, things were so ugly early on that Coach Bob Ambroffi used his lone timeout just 4:00 into the second period, with the Jaguars leading 1-0. It was a moment of frustration he admitted later that he regretted briefly when, after the Sabres scored with 9:31 remaining in the third period to cut the Jaguar lead to just 3-2, he realized he no longer had a timeout at his disposal.

While the timeout may have helped to get the minds of the Jaguar players back on the task at hand, it was that Sabres’ goal that really seemed to give Mite #2 the sense of urgency it seemed to lack in the early going. With the urgency back in their game, the Jaguars quickly made it clear that their unbeaten streak in Northern Illinois Hockey League play would indeed be extended to nine games.

The win, which brought their record to 7-0-2 in their last nine games in the White Tier of the Silver B Level of the Mite Division of NIHL, gave the Jaguars an overall season record of 8-4-2 and solidified their hold on third place in the tier – and a first-round playoff contest against this same Sabres.

The ugly start to the Jaguars’ play was even depicted in the types of goals they scored in the early going.

The Jaguars got on the scoreboard first when, with 8:13 to play in the opening stanza, a shot off the stick of Jarrett Goodwin somehow managed to trickle past the Sabres’ goalie and just over the goal line. The goal, which was not apparent until the referee signaled the score, was unassisted.

The tenacious Sabres held the Jaguars at bay for the remainder of the first period and through the first several minutes of the second, prompting Ambroffi to call the early timeout. A minute later, Trevor Hudak responded to the pep talk with the Jaguars’ second ugly goal of the game.

In this instance, Hudak played the puck from behind the Sabres’ net and managed – perhaps unintentionally – to bounce a shot off the rear of the Sabres’ goaltender and into the net to double the Jaguars lead to 2.

Hudak scored in a slightly more convincing fashion with 2:00 to play in the period, as he convincing fired a shot past the netminder from between the hash marks. Goodwin received credit of assisting the goal, which made the score 3-0.

A strong offensive play by the Sabres’ Ian Gall, despite the pestering defense of the Jaguars’ Dylan Graziano, kept the stanza from closing with that score. With Graziano whacking at his stick all the way through the Jaguars’ defensive zone, Gall still managed to fire a shot just wide of the outstretched glove of goalie Luke Brzezinski and into the back of the net to put the Sabres on the board. Ryan Burk received credit for the assist.

The Sabres made the score 3-2 – and made Jaguar’s Coach Ambroffi regret his early timeout call – when Nicholas Niecikowski found the net after a flurry of activity in front of Brzezinski. Nicholas Soldan recorded the assist.

It was indeed the wakeup call the Jaguars needed.

And wake up they did, starting with Blake Brenczewski, who tallied the first insurance goal for the visitors with 8:14 to play to stretch the lead to 4-2. The Jaguars then proceeded to score approximately once a minute for the next four minutes, bringing the score to the final 8-2 margin.

Lukas Bomba scored on an assist from Goodwin at the 7:25 mark, and 1:02 later, they switched roles, with Goodwin converting a Bomba assist to make the score 6-2. With 5:18 to play, Brenczewski scored his second unassisted goal of the game.

Ryan Louthan closed out the scoring in the game with his own unassisted goal with 3:43 to play.

With the regular season concluded, the Jaguars will tune up for their playoff run by participating in the Chi-Town Cup Tournament in West Dundee this coming weekend, Feb. 18-20. They will open the playoffs by hosting the Sabres at Inwood sometime between Feb. 20 and 28, with an eye toward advancing to second- and third-round play the first weekend in March at Rocket Ice.

Knowing becomes doing as Mite #2 salvages 2-2 tie vs. Jets

They knew it could be done.

After all, the Chicago Bulldogs had done it to them one game before.

Knowing and doing, however, are often two different things.

On Sunday morning, Feb. 12, however, there was no distinction for Jaguar Mite #2 between knowing it is possible to come back from a one-goal deficit with less than a minute to play (and a two-goal deficit overall) and doing it against the Chicago Jets .

Despite being down 2-0 going into the third period – and 2-1 with 1:00 appearing on the clock near the ice at Johnny’s Ice House West – the Jaguars skated off the ice after the final buzzer sounded with a 2-2 tie in the books, bringing to eight games their unbeaten streak in Northern Illinois Hockey League play.

For the Chicago Jets, however, a tie was good enough to clinch a second-place finish in the White Tier of the Silver B Level of the Mite Division, which comes with a first-round playoff bye. The point gave the Jets 19 on the season, one ahead of where the Jaguars will sit should they beat the Sabres in their regular-season finale on Wednesday night, Feb. 15.

Dropping to third place means the Jaguars will have to play a first-round game in the NIHL Wolves Cup playoffs, hosting the Sabres at Inwood in a yet-to-be-scheduled game that must by played between Monday, Feb. 20, and Tuesday, Feb. 28.

The Chicago Bulldogs also received a playoff bye, garnering 20 points during the season and securing first-place in the tier.

The Jaguars and the Jets played Sunday’s game as if it were the important game that it was. The teams battled defensively throughout the contest, closing the first period knotted in a 0-0 tie.

The Jets finally lit up the scoreboard with 8:18 to play in the second, as Alex Laverty got behind the defense and scored on assists from Joey Giunta and Mario Scalise. A little more than three minutes later, at the 4:41 mark of the middle period, the Jets stretched the lead to 2-0 on a Tyler Pan goal. Assists went to Scalise and Sean Doyle, who had led the Jets’ offense each time the two teams had previously met this season.

Just shy of 1:30 into the third period, the Jaguars finally solved the Jets’ goaltender, with Black Brenczewski converting on a Jarrett Goodwin pass to cut the Jet lead to 2-1. And there the score stayed for more than nine minutes.

After using his timeout and with the final seconds ticking off the clock, Coach Bob Ambroffi pulled goaltender Luke Brzezinski off the ice in favor of a sixth attacker. The Jaguars dodged a bullet when a Jets’ shot from the blue line drifted just wide of the empty net, but the Jets could not dodge a bullet off the stick of Ryan Louthan.

With just :33 left to play, Louthan found the back of the net, on an assist from Nate Guseman, to know the score at 2-2.

The scenario was all-too-familiar to the Jaguars. In their previous game, the Jaguars were the team that saw a two-goal lead slip away and result in a 2-2 tie because of a goal scored by a team defending an empty net and pushing full force in the closing seconds trying to tally the equalizer.

The Jaguars will finish the regular season with a 6:30 game Wednesday evening, Feb. 15, against the hosting Sabres. They will then tune up for the NIHL Wolves Cup playoffs by competing in the Chi-Town Cup tournament in West Dundee from Feb. 18-20, during which they will meet the St. Jude Knights, who during a tournament in January became the only team to have beaten Jaguar Mite #2 since early December 2011.

Playoff pairings set; Jaguar Mite #2 settles for third

With the Jaguars coming back in the final seconds Sunday morning to earn a 2-2 tie against the Chicago Jets, the playoff pairings -- if not the final positions -- are set in the White Tier of the Silver B Level of the Mite Division in the Northern Illinois Hockey League.

By picking up one point on Sunday, the Jets locked up second place in the tier (and a first-round playoff bye) one point behind the tier-winning Bulldogs, who finished play with 20. A win against the Sabres in their regular-season-ending game on Wednesday, Feb. 15, would elevate Jaguar Mite #2's total to 18 points, one behind the point total of the Jets', who wrapped up regular season play Sunday.

The only thing that remains to the be determined is whether the Maniax or Bruins will finish in fourth place. That will likely not be determined until the two square off in the tier's final regular-season game on Saturday, Feb. 18. It is likely each team will enter that game with 12 points, meaning the winner will claim the higher seed.

The only thing really to be determined in that game is whether the Maniax or the Bruins will host when the two teams meet in the first round of the playoffs. The Jaguars, it is already known, will host the Sabres when they play.

According to information posted on the NIHL website, the first-round games must be played between Monday, Feb. 20, and Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the home of the higher-seeded team. Winners of those games will advance to play the Bulldogs and the Jets, respectively, on Saturday, March 3, at Rocket Ice Arena.

Jaguars get rematch against only team to beat them this year

A very familiar opponent will be waiting for Jaguar Mite #2.

The St. Jude Knights -- who defeated the Jaguars twice during the Motown Cup tournament over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend -- are slated as the Jaguars opponent in the final Chi-Town Cup tournament game before the championship.

The losses in Detroit are the only ones the Jaguars have suffered -- in either tournament or Northern Illinois Hockey League play -- since Dec. 4, when they fell 3-1 to the Bruins in Addison. Since that defeat, the Jaguars are 8-2-1 and are currently riding a seven-game undefeated streak in NIHL play.

Like St. Jude, the Jaguars' two other opponents in the Feb. 17-20 tournament also play in NIHL, although none of the three is in the same Silver B Level White Tier as the Jaguars. Indications are, however, that the Northbrook Bluehawks #2, whom the Jaguars will play in their tournament opener at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, is the same team that plays in the Silver B Red Tier.

With one regular-season game to play, that team is in sixth place in the seven-team tier, with a season record of 1-8-4.

The Jaguars' second opponent, whom they face at 9:20 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, is Leafs Mite A2, which appears to the be the Leafs' team that plays in the same NIHL Silver A tier as the St. Jude Knights. The Leafs have a record of 6-4-2 and are in fourth place in the Silver A White Tier. St. Jude is currently in sixth place in the tier, with a record of 2-5-3.

The Jaguars game against St. Jude is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19.

The top two teams after round-robin play will faceoff at 9:10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 20, in the championship game.

All of the games in the tournament will take place at the Leafs Ice Center in West Dundee.

Bulldogs clinch first, but bye still up for grabs

The Bruins did not come through for Jaguar Mite #2 Friday night, but if the Jaguars take care of business on Sunday, Feb. 12, and Wednesday, Feb. 15, they can still benefit from a bye in the first round of the Northern Illinois Hockey League Playoffs.

What the Jaguars cannot do, however, is finish the regular season atop the White Tier of the Mite Silver B Division in NIHL. That honor goes to the Chicago Bulldogs, who clinched the first-place finish with a 2-0 victory over the Bruins Friday evening.

The Bulldogs completed regular-season play with 20 points. The Jaguars, who gave up a point in the standings to the Bulldogs when they allowed the Bulldogs to salvage a tie in the closing seconds of their Jan. 28 game, will complete the year with 19 points if they sweep their final two games. That point total will be good enough for second place and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Conversely, if the Chicago Jets (who defeated the Midwest Maniax 3-1 today) are able to defeat the Jaguars when they meet Sunday morning at Johnny's Ice House West, the Jets will finish in second place and keep the Jaguars in third ... and force them into a first-round NIHL playoff game against the sixth-seeded Sabres. A Jets' win would give them a final point total identical to the Bulldogs' 20 points, but the Bulldogs have gotten the better of the Jets in their head-to-head competitions.

No matter the outcome of Sunday's game, it is highly likely the Jaguars and Jets will meet at 4:40 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at Rocket Ice Arena in the second-round of the playoffs, when the second-seeded team will meet the winner of the first-round game between the third-seeded team and the Sabres. The Sabres went 0-11-1 on the season.

The winner of that March 3 game will play the winner of the game between the Bulldogs and the winner of the first-round game between the Maniax and the Bruins, who are still battling to determine which will claim the fourth seed. That game, at 12:40 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at Rocket Ice, will determine which White Tier team advances to the Wolves Cup final against the Red Tier winner.

The championship will be at 9 a.m. Sunday, March 11, at Inwood.

The loser of the 12:40 p.m. Sunday game will battle the loser of the Red Tier semi-final in the consolation game at the Ice House in Crystal Lake at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 10.