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.
No comments:
Post a Comment