TI’s 14U’s completed play in the Midwest Elite Hockey League ending in first place. TI had an unlikely uphill fight to the Championship after leading most of the year. TI had a heartbreaking tie with CYA, followed by a pair of 2-goal losses to the Madison Capitals (one was an exhibition loss) which allowed Honeybaked to pull ahead for the first time all year. But this team showed they meant business by doing exactly what they needed to do to take back the league lead: winning all of their last four games in the final MWEHL weekend of the season. TI not only won their games, they dominated play for the weekend, taking victories of 6-1 over St. Louis; 6-0 and 5-0 over the playoff-bound Colorado Selects; and 8-0 over Montgomery, also heading to the playoffs.
The TI offensive lines continue to improve as the playoffs arrive. The offense of Nicole Germaine, Jocelyn Simpson, Erin Bradarich, Amanda Boskovich, Ali Svoboda, Maggie Hunt, Lauren Jones, Emma Rambo, Alex Laskero and Kelly Galiniak dominated most MWEHL games and placed 5 players in the top 11 in league scoring. Not to be outdone, the defense play of Laura Lichterman, Kathy Shei, Ann Doherty, Cheri Klosak, and Brianne Mahoney rarely gave up shots, and goalies Kellie Shutter and Yardena Grumet-Morris were the stingiest in the league, yielding just 21 goals combined all year and just 2 losses. The top-seeded TI team will face #4 CYA, #5 Victory Honda and #8 Montgomery in the MWEHL playoffs February 10-12 in Lansing, Michigan. Good Luck Girls!
The 14U’s also continued their great play in the Bantam Silver Tier 1 division of NIHL, posting a 3-3 December record, with all 3 losses to the top three teams in the leagues. TI improved their overall record to 9-7, well enough for 4th place regular-season record out of 19 teams in Bantam Silver. The month started with a 2-0 loss to the top-ranked Vikings, with both opponent goals coming earlier in the first period. TI out shot the Vikings the rest of the game, but could not break the “goose egg.” TI then fell 4-1 to St. Jude and 3-1 to Crystal Lake, the 2nd and 3rd seeds in NIHL, before finishing the season just like they did in MWEHL play: winning the remainder of their games.
The girls showed their true form by rebounding with a 1-0 victory over South Bend, a reverse-score from a loss to the Irish earlier in the season; a 2-1 win at the Express. The season culminated in a final game match-up against the 5th place Jaguars, with TI needing to win or tie to remain a spot ahead of Joliet in the final standings. After Joliet went up 1-0 early in the second, TI finally hit their groove scoring 3 unanswered goals for a 3-1 final.
In the AHAI Blackhawk Cup Championships, TI received the #1 seed and will face CYA, Wilmette, Crystal Lake, and Chicago Chill in the 14U “AA” bracket round robin February 21-26 in Crystal Lake.
The 14U’s will also be heading to Aurora, Ontario, Canada February 17-19 for the Silver Stick Finals. Good luck girls in all of these tournaments in February!
Finally, congratulations to the 14U girls chosen to participate in the AHAI prep Jamboree for 91’s and 92’s on January 16th at the AHAI Center in Bensenville: Ann Doherty, Maggie Hunt, Lauren Jones, Brianne Mahoney, Kathy Shei, Jocelyn Simpson, and Emma Rambo.
