This one was all about payback, period.
New Trier Green’s motivation for Saturday afternoon’s championship game of the 14th annual Chicago Blackhawk Charities Holiday Hockey Classic, played at The Edge in Bensenville, was, well, their opponent: Glenbrook North. And the fact that game was played on the same ice surface where, last March, the Trevians were eliminated from the Blackhawk Cup.
The Trevians avenged the Spartans’ state tournament win ? and New Trier’s ouster ? with a 3-2 win.
“It felt great to get some retribution for last year,” said Green captain Devan O’Dowd, a senior forward who scored a powerplay goal at 12:27 of the first 22-minute period, giving the Trevians a 2-1 edge.
“Our powerplay finally clicked. Our lines started rolling. We knew we were a little bigger, so we stepped up and took the body a little more today than usual, and it paid off. We scored when we needed to and minimized most of the selfish mistakes that we made earlier in the year and just worked as a team.”
The Trevians struck first, less than five minutes into the game. Senior defenseman Matthew Young’s slapshot from the left circle, off a centering pass from Kage Brown, beat Spartan goalie Will Dodge (18 saves).
The Spartans tied the game on Jared Lowell’s unassisted short-handed goal at 13:04.
“We just didn’t capitalize and finish our chances,” said Lowell, who also assisted Brandon Goldblatt’s slapshot goal with 3:07 remaining. “We’re pretty heartbroken. We had a lot of opportunities, especially on the powerplay, but just couldn’t put the puck in the net.”
Trevian goalie David Parsons, a junior, made 22 saves as the Trevians improve to 27-6-2 with their seventh consecutive win. Green defeated the co-op Rockford team 3-1 in Saturday’s semifinal.
The Spartans (38-6) defeated Christian Brothers College (Mo.) 3-1 in the semifinals, ending CBC’s four-year run as champion of the tournament.
“It was a real close game,” said Spartan captain Brandon Goldblatt, a junior. “The difference was, there was a certain time-period (in the second half) when we just couldn’t break the puck out of our (defensive) zone and into their (defensive) zone.
“It’s pretty disappointing, not only losing the championship game, but also losing to New Trier really hurts. We always like to beat them.”
