New Trier Men/ Women take Blackhawk Cup

New Trier High School of Northfield, Ill., won the 2009 Blackhawk Cup tournament in both the Men's and the Women's division in play tonight at the United Center. Playing against New Trier in both games was Loyola Academy of Wilmette, Ill.

The New Trier women, led by by Goalie Elizabeth Hitchcock, shut down the Rambler offense, stopping 19 shots on goal, ending with a 4-0 score. Rambler attacks failed against Hitchcock as she snagged pucks and deftly redirected them to a visibly better Trevian defense.

Rambler Goalie Kathryn O'Grady was left hanging in her pipes as the better organized Trevian offense swept aside the Rambler blue liners. In a season that saw only 36 goals scored, the only other tournament or conference losses of the Ramblers was to the Trevians. In two of the three games played between the two clubs, the Ramblers went down, most recently on December 26.

It's difficult to accept that even today, women play a role of looking in from the outside for sports. However the non-school Trevian team saw it, with the crowd showing up late to cheer for the men's team and the Women's stats not fully functional on-line. Mackenzie Martin, who had two points, was chosen as the game MVP, although my personal favorite was the play of Caroline Campbell. Campbell had a goal in the game, but played with great heart.

Stephanie Dubin scored two goals, one a power play goal at the end of the second period. And, Hannah Merens scored a goal for the Trevians. Two assists were scored by Claire Santostefano with another assist notched by Erin Cook. The Trevians were one for four on the power play.

The Loyola Ramblers went zero for two on the power play. Ogrady stopped 20 shots on goal for the loss.

The men's final game was an exciting and more physical game which saw the two teams battle across the ice surface. A first frame Rambler power play goal by Sean Cleary started the scoring. It was answered 7:26 later in the frame with a pair of power play Trevian goals, just 46 seconds apart. The Ramblers threatened the lead, but it was the Trevians, who hung on in the physical action, to put another point up at 10:34. Fabrice Chavannes, the Rambler goalie protested the goal noting that he wasn't able to move freely, being interfered after his rebound save when he was crashed in the net by a New Trier player.

With about two minutes remaining in the game and the score 3-1, the Trevians began congratulating themselves and a hot dog style of play emerged on the ice, with players “taking turns” with runs on the Rambler goal. The Ramblers were able to seize the over-confidence of the New Trier team, as there was a loss of discipline resulting in a penalty against New Trier. With a final power play 6:4 advantage the Ramblers scored the final goal with 1:20 remaining in the game. With an empty net behind them, the Ramblers continued to attack the Trevians. A no-touch icing put the puck back in play on the Trevians' side after the Trevians cleared it at one point in the final two minutes, for the Trevians it was a long two minutes of play to win 3-2.

Chavannnes stopped 17 shots on goal for the loss. New Trier goalie Gregory Ogard stopped 26 shots on goal for the win. New Trier went two for three on the power play, while the Ramblers went two for four. Alex Wetzel and Al Santostefano had two assists each for the Trevians. The other Rambler goal was by Jack Pegler. Rambler assists were credited to Francis Altman and Daniel Keefe.

New Trier goals were credited to Max Talbot, Michael Vail and Alexander Truglio. The other assist was credited to Nicholas Mcmanus.

Tibbetts update

Billy Tibbetts is the most popular single item on this blog. I wrote more extensively about him during his time as a Chicago Wolves and also a Rockford IceHogs player, but have taken a break.

Even though there hasn't been a post about him in months, searches on Google continue to point to this blog.

An anonymous poster noted that he had moved on from Brendan Tedstone's team, the Danbury Mad Hatter's (Eastern Professional Hockey League, class A) to the Huntsville Havoc of the Southern Professional Hockey League, class AA, low).

Thank you anonymous one for alerting me to this. I want to call attention to his move to people who would otherwise need to search for your comment. The wonders of the internet and the self-correcting nature of blogs. You gotta love it.