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