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.
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