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Congratulations Team Illinois

2005 16U USA Hockey Nationals 2nd Place

Coaches: Tony Cachey, Margaret Dumiak.
Team members: Courtney Bean, Megan Bozek, Jordan Brickner, Katie Cachey, Jenna Dancewicz, Katie Daniels, Megan Gallagher, Erika Greenen, Katie Iraci, Diana Karouzos, Jillian Kirchner, Kim Kowalczyk, Melissa Kravich, Brittany Lemke, Erin May, Katie Osikowicz, Brianna Wolf, and CC Wyshnytzky. 

The time had finally arrived. A long season that began with tryouts last August was coming to conclusion at the 2005 USA Hockey National finals in Colorado! The Team Illinois 16U girls hockey team was selected at the tryouts based upon speed, experience and skill to create a team that could compete with the best teams across the country. 

First place at the Ohio Flames tournament, a second place finish at the Polar Bear tournament, a first place regular season finish in the MWEHL, state and regional titles all combined to create an impressive resume for the team during the 2004/05 season. However, none of this mattered as the team entered the National tournament. They would need to place in the top four of the round robin games to qualify for the playoff rounds. 

The team began to arrive in Colorado on Monday, March 28. The early arrival enabled the skaters to adjust to the altitude change. The last practice of the year was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. The spirited workout assisted the skaters in overcoming some pre-tournament jitters. 

Tournament play began on Wednesday, March 30, against the host team, the Colorado Wolfpack. Team Illinois scored early and often, outshooting the Wolfpack 34 to 9. With a final score of 8 to 0, Team Illinois was off to a fast start in the tournament. Wednesday night featured the opening ceremonies for the tournament. The Team Illinois contingent delighted the attendees by dressing up in their Blues Brothers outfits representing the Chicago area. The families were also treated to a spring Colorado snowstorm which added to the experience. 

Game two on Thursday was also dominated by the strong Team Illinois group. The Allegheny Lady Badgers were outshot 49 to 9 by the aggressive TI forwards. The final score of 7 to 0 in favor of TI enabled the team to gain a second place position in their division. 

Jillian Kirchner and Megan Gallagher were selected to represent the Team Illinois 16U group in Thursday night's Easton skills competition. Each of the players did an excellent job representing TI with Kirchner winning the fastest skater award and placing second overall in competition. 

Goal differential would be the deciding factor in seeding the teams going into the playoff round. Knowing this, Team Illinois was on a mission to dominate play in the third game against the Cape Cod Waves. Once again, the defense combined to limit Cape Cod to only 13 shots on goal during the game. The forwards did their job scoring 11 times in 52 shots on goal. A final score of 11 to 0 in favor of TI completed the opening round of the tournament. This placed TI in second place in their division. 

With the preliminary games behind them, TI was set to face off against the New Jersey Colonials on Saturday morning. After quickly falling behind 1 to 0, Team Illinois rallied with opening period goals from Megan Bozek, Jenna Dancewicz and Katie Cachey to end the first period with a 3 to 2 lead. Katie Cachey recorded her second goal of the game in the middle period to give TI a commanding 2 goal lead entering the third period. The defensive corps, including Courtney Bean, Diana Karouzos, Erin May, Katie Daniels, Megan Bozek, and Jordan Brickner combined to limit New Jersey to only two shots on goal in the third period. Katie Iraci finished the scoring to enable TI to record a 5 to 2 win in the opening games of the playoffs. 

The second playoff game pitted TI against the Colorado Select team. The winner would move on to the National Championship game. Each team featured a powerful offense and stingy defense. The tension was high as the standing room only crowd gathered for the evening game. 0

The opening period featured several rushes from both teams. Each of the goalies came up big stopping several point blank shots. Finally, at 13:27 of the first period, Megan Bozek fired a wrist shot creating a rebound that was shoved in by Jillian Kirchner to give TI an early 1 to 0 lead. 

Once again, aggressive forechecking and backchecking from all of the forwards limited the Selects to only 5 shots on goal over the next two periods. The defensive corps limited the number of rebound opportunities for the Select forwards. 

0With two minutes left in the contest, the Selects pulled their goalie to add a sixth attacker. Several scrambles in front of the net resulted in no goals. Finally, the puck squirted loose to the top of the key and Jillian Kirchner scored an empty net goal at 14:30. 

Team Illinois was moving on to the National Championships game on Sunday. Coach Cachey added, "The Jenna Dancewicz line shut down their top line frustrating Colorado throughout the game. Brittany Lemke made several key stops when she had to." Katie Iraci, Katie Osikowicz, and Brianna Wolf were great on the penalty kill and Melissa Kravich, CC Wyshnytzky, Erika Greenen and Kim Kowalczyk consistently beat the Colorado forwards to each loose puck. 

0The big game was finally here. Team Illinois would be facing off against the California Selects. Nerves were apparent as TI missed several opportunities. Finally, Megan Bozek made a full ice rush at 13:27 and top shelved a wrist shot to give TI an early lead. A second goal by TI was disallowed when the referee indicated play was stopped prior to the puck crossing the line. Subsequent replays showed otherwise. 

The second period started with TI holding a slim one goal lead. At the :35 second mark, a spectator blew a whistle in the audience. This confused the TI skaters who stopped. The Selects kept skating and scored a highly disputed goal. Play was stopped. The referee, confused by the play herself, called officials from the tournament for a ruling. The play stood, and the California Selects tied the score at 1 to 1. 0

The play was even throughout the remainder of the second and third period. Again, a controversial call from the referee placed the Selects on a power play. They converted a backhand goal at 14:27 to take a 2 to 1 lead. This concluded the scoring. 

Although they lost the game, TI played an excellent tournament. They finished the year with 59 wins. Many tears were shed after the loss, but over time, each of the skaters will come to realize the magnitude of their success over the year. The amount of success realized by this team over this past year places them among the elite teams in the country.