Hockey: GBN Outlasts Loyola; Advances to State Semis

After eight goals in regulation, just one more in overtime doesn’t seem like a tough task. That wasn’t the case when Glenbrook North played Loyola Gold though.

It took a third overtime, but Jack Day’s game-winner gave the Spartans a 5-4 win against the Ramblers in a Blackhawk Cup quarterfinal Saturday afternoon at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville.

Both teams showed signs of fatigue in overtime and the crowd was anxious for a winner. Loyola took a penalty, the only one of overtime, in the third ten-minute overtime to prevent a Spartans’ scoring chance. Day capitalized at 2:18 with his second goal and GBN’s third power play goal of the game.

“I got the puck on the hash marks,” Day said. “I saw the defense spread out so I just tried to put it through his legs. I got past him and just ripped the shot off. I was trying to shoot it top left because I knew the goalie had a weak blocker.”

All the overtime drama overshadowed the fact that both teams made dramatic comebacks in regulation.

Loyola scored 43 seconds into the game when Charles Widmar’s skate deflected a GBN pass past Troy Carroll (37 saves). The Ramblers’ dream start continued when Matt Gavula scored on a power play ten minutes later.

“We haven’t played catch up a whole lot this year,” GBN coach Mark Brunner said. “We haven’t been down by two goals much. The good news is, as I told my team, we’re down 2-0, but we haven’t even really started to play yet.”

Penalties continued to play a major factor in the game. There were 19 penalties in regulation and nine in the first period alone. A pair of power play goals tied the game at two. John Boidanis fed Day for a one timer to cut it to 2-1 late in the first period and then Day set up Jonathan Gauger with a centering pass at 15:43 in the second period.

“We told our guys before this game started that we want to challenge their discipline,” Brunner said. “We want to frustrate them. We want to keep going after them. We want to keep our mouths shut…We were the more disciplined team. I think that ultimately made the biggest difference.”

The turnaround was complete when Patrick McNally took a shot from just inside the blue line that dropped in the net after deflecting off of Rambler goalie Mack Skarzynski’s glove.

The lead held until 6:57 was remaining. Nate Boychuck weaved through GBN’s defense and tied the game, but not for long. Freshman Nick Day scored less than a minute later to make it 4-3 Spartans.

More heroics were in store, however. In the final minute of regulation, Loyola won a faceoff in the Spartans’ zone and scored on a low one-time shot from Steven Wedekind.

Despite giving up a tough goal and having momentum against his team, Carroll stayed poised between the pipes.

“Troy’s demeanor is the demeanor you want for your goalie,” Brunner said. “You don’t know if you just won or if you just lost. He’s ready for the next shot and that’s what it’s all about.”

The Ramblers’ late goal set the stage for the exhausting overtime. There was even a second intermission after the second overtime.

“It was tiring obviously,” GBN defenseman Sam Katz said. “There’s no tomorrow in these type of games so you gotta leave it all out there.

“You need to take shorter shifts. If you’re out there for a minute or so you’re just leaving yourself to make bad physical mistakes.”

Day said the shorter shifts allowed for explosive play and helped their defensive toughness despite the fatigue.

The next task is to quickly recover from that fatigue for Monday’s semifinal against top seed Fenwick, who beat GBN earlier in the year on a game-winning goal with a minute and a half left.