U16 - Midget Minors start season off right by sweeping the Chicago Mission
U16 - Midget Minors earn exciting weekend split with CYA in MWEHL play
U16 - Midget Minors start and finish strong in first MWEHL Showcase weekend
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Midget Minors start season off right by sweeping the Chicago Mission
U16 Midget Minor News
BENSENVILLE -- The Team Illinois midget minor squad launched the 2006-07 campaign with a weekend sweep of the Chicago Mission. The season opener saw T.I. skate away with a 4-2 victory on September 9, and the boys in blue emerged victorious 5-2 in game two.
After a competitive tryout, Army Ranger camp and a series of rigorous skating and conditioning sessions, Head Coach Marc Kapsalis' hungry club was more than ready for some Midwest Elite Hockey League game action.
"This early in the season, all you can really ask for is that your players prepare and then give a great effort," said Coach Kapsalis. "Coaching really doesn't have much influence at this point. The players just play and compete. I thought both teams competed hard, and we were fortunate to capitalize at some key points in the game. We had solid goaltending and did a nice job killing penalties. I am happy that the boys got a little fruit for all of their labors up to this point."
Game one was a spirited affair with the rivals from Addison . Anthony Coles got the season's first goal when he buried a one-timer on passes from Jason McAloon and Nick Gawron. The Mission then took advantage of a T.I. miscue and a 5-on-3 power play to grab a 2-1 lead after two periods. But the well-conditioned T.I. team bounced back with three unanswered goals in the stress-filled final stanza.
First, McAloon evened the score when he banged home a rebound off a Luke Baumgarten breakaway attempt. John Amann then converted a Johnny Leonard feed for the eventual game-winner, eliciting a roar of approval from the T.I. faithful. And Baumgarten tallied a "State Farm" insurance goal after pretty passes from blue-liners Jeff Fehrmann and Jon Luevano.
Goaltender Matt Mandernach was solid between the pipes to notch his first win of the season, and hard-hitting Anthony Sangiacomo tallied several roof-rattling hits, separating Mission players from various pieces of their equipment in the process.
Game two was a penalty-filled affair as both squads learned to adapt to the tighter USA Hockey rules. But T.I.'s buttoned-down penalty killing and team speed led to the 5-2 victory.
Defensemen Vince Senese (from Coles and Andrew Miller) and Sangiacomo (Baumgarten and Leonard assists) both scored slappers from the point to get T.I. on the scoreboard. George Malliaras then scored the weekend's prettiest goal when he took a Cody Walsh pass and artfully stick handled around a bevy of befuddled defenders to bury the biscuit for a 3-1 lead.
Andrew Cardona crashed the net for T.I.'s fourth goal (Gawron and Senese helpers), and Coles finished the scoring when he deposited a rebound off a Walsh missile. Netminder Nick Chudoba played a strong game, particularly in the second period, and finished with 26 saves.
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Midget Minors earn exciting weekend split with CYA in MWEHL play
U16 Midget Minor News
September 19, 2006
LINCOLNWOOD -- The Team Illinois Midget Minors improved their overall and MWEHL record to 3-1-0 the weekend of Sept. 16-17 with a two-game split against the Chicago Young Americans.
Game one was a 5-3 victory over CYA in a contest with 61 penalties as the two squads labored to adjust to USA Hockey's stricter interpretation of penalty calls, particularly interference and hooking. The Heartland Ice Arena penalty boxes were busier than a Jewel butcher on "Free Steak Saturday" as the death march to the sin bin continued throughout the game.
In the battle of special teams, CYA nursed a 1-0 lead entering the final stanza. Only 22 seconds into the third period, Matt Wiggemansen (from Jeff Fehrmann and Jon Luevano) evened the score on a scrum goal. Fehrmann (from Robby Luke) then put T.I. ahead 2-1 on a snapper from the top of the circle. After CYA tied the score 2-2, George Malliaras (from Andrew Cardona) lit the lamp for another one-goal lead.
Fehrmann (from Tommy Robaczewski) scored again to create a two-goal cushion, but the collective brow of the T.I. faithful got damp when CYA converted on a two-man advantage to make the score 4-3. But Luke sealed the deal with an empty-netter (Wiggemansen helper) with 56 ticks remaining for the 5-3 win.
Netminder Matt Mandernach stopped 30-of-33 shots on the afternoon, including a luminous breakaway save in the second period. And converted defensemen Robaczewski and Cody Walsh provided stellar play in a harsh environment filling in for two missing blueliners.
The rematch on Sunday will go in the category of "just not one of our days." The bounces went the other way for the boys in blue in the 6-5 loss, despite a 53-26 advantage in shots. Anthony Coles, Luke Baumgarten, Malliaras (2) and Robaczewski tickled the twine for T.I. in the losing effort. Anthony Sangiacomo (2), Andrew Miller, Nick Gawron and Wiggemansen added assists.
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Midget Minors start and finish strong in first MWEHL Showcase weekend
U16 Midget Minor News
September 26, 2006
FRASER, Michigan -- The Team Illinois Midget Minor's first of three MWEHL Showcase weekends September 22-24 started off strong with a 4-1 win over Belle Tire and culminated with a crescendo with a 9-2 walloping over Compuware.
Unfortunately, the squad endured rough sledding in the three games in-between, competing hard but coming up short against Victory Honda, Little Caesars and Honeybaked.
Game one against Belle Tire started slow for the boys in blue, but goaltender Matt Mandernach kept the game scoreless through one stanza. Luke Baumgarten (Jeff Fehrmann and Anthony Sangiacomo assists) got things going for T.I. in the second period, and unanswered third-period goals from George Malliaras (Anthony Coles helper), Andrew Cardona (from Jon Luevano and Vince Senese) and Matt Wiggemansen off a Jason McAloon rebound cemented the 4-1 victory. Mandernach finished with 32 saves for the game.
Game five was a 9-2 shellacking over Compuware. Johnny Leonard and John Amann each tallied two twine-ticklers, and Nick Gawron, Baumgarten, McAloon, Luevano and Coles added solos. Luevano, Cardona, Fehrmann and Wiggemansen had two assists, while Tommy Robaczewski, Robby Luke, Austin Cihak, Andrew Miller, Malliaras, Amann and Coles also helped set up lamp-lighters. Mandernach had a relatively quiet day at the office with 21 saves.
In the loss column, game two was a 4-0 loss to Victory Honda, game three was a 4-1 defeat to Little Caesars (Amann goal from Gawron) and game four was a 4-2 loss to Honeybaked. Cody Walsh and Sangiacomo scored goals against "the hams" and netminder Nick Chudoba stopped a second-period penalty shot.
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