Feb 26 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Advances to the State Championship Series against the Chill
Feb 25 - U16 - Midget Minors advance to Blackhawk Cup championship round as the No. 1 seed
Feb 25 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Win Second State Round Robin Game
Feb 24 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Win First State Round Robin Game
Feb 20 - U16 - Midget Minors fend off adversity to finish MWEHL Showcase on a high note
Feb 11 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Short Circuits Marquette Electrician’s
Feb 7 - U16 - Midget Minors lose to Chicago Mission; return one day later for exciting 2-1 victory
Feb 3 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team defeats CYA in MWEHL action
Feb 3 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team goes 2-1 at Showcase
Feb 1 - U16 - Midget Minors win and tie versus Team NXI at Western Michigan University

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U16 - Midget Minors win and tie versus Team NXI at Western Michigan University
U16 Midget Minor News

KALAMAZOO, Michigan -- The Team Illinois Midget Minors traveled to Michigan the weekend of Jan. 27-28 for two clashes against Team NXI, along with an opportunity to sample a bit of the Division I hockey lifestyle.

Head Coach Marc Kapsalis' squad was treated to a tour of the Western Michigan University Broncos' facility in the bowels of the Harry W. Lawson Ice Arena. The rink's namesake was the founding father of Bronco hockey, who formed the school's club team in 1958. The tour included the team's NHL-style dressing room, players' lounge, training room, workout area and equipment room, with hundreds of shiny new Bauer sticks neatly stacked from floor to ceiling.

The players also heard an inspirational and informational presentation from Broncos' Assistant Coach Marc Fakler, who works with Bronco defensemen and assists with recruiting, scouting, practices and game preparations.

The importance of "running your own race," the gravity of good grades and solid character, where Junior hockey fits into the equation and the qualities the Bronco coaching staff looks for in potential players were among Coach Fakler's topics.

Many of the T.I. players also attended the Broncos' 6-5 overtime win against Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday night. The Broncos, members of the CCHA, are currently 12-13-1 with wins over Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Miami of Ohio.

On the ice, Team Illinois emerged victorious over NXI 4-2 in game one. Matt Wiggemansen had a goal and two assists and Johnny Amann had a goal and a helper. Other goal scorers were Andrew Cardona and Anthony Coles, and Jeff Fehrmann, Luke Baumgarten, Cody Walsh and Tommy Robaczewski added assists. Goalie Nick Chudoba tallied 19 saves in net.

The Sunday morning rematch ended in a 1-1 deadlock. Austin Cihak scored T.I.'s only lamp-lighter on passes from George Malliaras and Baumgarten, while netminder Matt Mandernach finished with 21 saves.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team goes 2-1 at Showcase
U18 Midget Major News

Kalamazoo, MI. – Team Illinois went 2-1 at the Western Michigan University Showcase which featured games against Team Nxi and the Cleveland Barons.  The showcase provides an opportunity for the coaches from WMU to view the top talent in the MWEHL and also showcase the Bronco hockey program.  TI defeated Team Nxi 8-2 in the first game of the showcase.  They then split the next two games against Cleveland winning 8-4 on Saturday and then losing 2-1 on Sunday.

In the first game, Team Illinois dominated the game from start to finish and defeated Team Nxi 8-2.  The two teams last met in an exhibition game at the Edge which TI won 6-4.  Arthur Hollinger received the win for TI improving his record to 19-7-3.  

In the second game, TI scored five goals in the first period to take a commanding 5-2 lead heading into the first intermission.  All seven goals in the first period came within a two minute and thirty-five second span.  James Werner started the scoring for TI at 3:24 of the first period.  Bryce Aneloski assisted by Marco Fiala and Tom Healy scored a power play goal to give TI a 2-0 lead. Cody Murphy assisted by Fredrik Csisar tallied TI’s third goal of the period just twenty seconds after Fiala scored his goal.  Cleveland scored the next two goals just thirteen seconds apart to close the gap to 3-2.  Team Illinois scored the next two goals within four seconds of one another to increase their lead to 5-2.  Scott Barrera assisted by Conor Allen got the first goal and Tom Healy assisted by Scott Barrera scored the second goal for the 5-2 lead.

Cleveland tallied the lone goal in the second period to cut TI’s lead to 5-3.  In the third period, Tom Healy scored twice to give him a hat trick for the game.  Assisting on Healy’s goals were Chris Bournazos, Fredrik Csisar, Scott Barrera and James Werner.  James Werner added an empty net goal with twenty-five seconds on the clock for the 8-4 final.

Arthur Hollinger got his 20th victory of the year stopping 34 shots.

The second game against the Cleveland Barons was a defensive battle between the two teams.  Fredrik Csisar assisted by Hugo Margoc and Cody Murphy tallied TI’s lone goal of the game.  Arthur Hollinger took the loss for TI stopping 27 of the 29 shots he faced.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team defeats CYA in MWEHL action
U18 Midget Major News

Lincolnwood, IL – Team Illinois narrowly defeated the Chicago Young Americans 2-1 in MWEHL action on Wednesday.  This was the first time the two teams have faced one another since Team Illinois defeated CYA on October 30th by the score of 3-1.

Both teams battled hard in the first period, however neither team scored and the period ended 0-0. James Werner assisted by Tom Healy and Bryce Aneloski  scored TI’s first goal just thirty-four seconds into the second period.  That was the only goal of the period setting the stage for an exciting third period.

Hugo Margoc assisted by Scott Barrera increased TI’s lead to 2-0 when he scored at 5:47 of the third period.   CYA’s Cody Keefer assisted by Mitch Kriz and Kyle Smith scored at 12:19 of the third period to trim TI’s lead to one goal.  It would be CYA’s only goal of the game as Arthur Hollinger shut the door for the remaining twelve minutes for him 21st victory of the year.  Hollinger stopped 38 out of 39 shots he faced.  

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Midget Minors lose to Chicago Mission;
return one day later for exciting 2-1 victory
U16 Midget Minor News

ADDISON -- The Team Illinois Midget Minors matched up with the Chicago Mission on February 3-4 at the Addison Ice Arena. If Charles Dickens was to summarize the weekend, he would most likely write: "

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times." Game one was all Mission, as the team skated away with a 5-1 win. Austin Cihak averted the shutout, tallying T.I.'s only goal on passes from Luke Baumgarten and Jeff Fehrmann.

The Mission had momentum going into Sunday's game, but the T.I. squad shook off the previous day's loss and came out prepared to compete. The result was an end-to-end contest dripping with playoff-style intensity. The Mission worked hard for the weekend sweep, but after 51 minutes of hard-nosed hockey, T.I. emerged with a 2-1 win.

Johnny Leonard got T.I. on the board in the first period, taking passes from Baumgarten and Cihak and drilling a slap shot through heavy traffic. The Mission tied the score at 1-1 in the second period on a power-play opportunity. Matt Wiggemansen then scored the game-winner in the third stanza, finishing a 3-on-1 break with assists to Anthony Coles and Fehrmann.

T.I. netminder Matt Mandernach, who finished with 25 saves, confidently shut the door the rest of the way to seal the win. He was aided by defensemen Anthony Sangiacomo, Robbie Luke, Nick Gawron, Tommy Robaczewski, Cody Walsh and Leonard, who worked hard to stymie the talented Mission squad.

Next up for the T.I. Midget Minors is the final Showcase in Detroit Feb. 16-18 against the five "Motor City" squads, followed by Blackhawk Cup round-robin games against the Mission, Chicago Young Americans and Chicago Chill.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Short Circuits Marquette Electrician’s
U18 Midget Major News

Bensenville, IL – Team Illinois short circuited the Marquette Electrician’s, defeating them twice in MWEHL action. TI defeated the Electricians 7-2 on Saturday and then they defeated them again by the score of 6-2 on Sunday. This was the first and only scheduled meetings between the two teams this year.

Sam Calabrese got the scoring started for TI during a delayed penalty call against the Electricians. Calabrese blasted a slap shot from the left face of dot that beat Marquette goaltender Drake Todd for Team Illinois’ first goal. The Electricians bounced back and knotted the score at 1-1 at 8:02 of the first period. Eric Springer assisted by Marco Fiala and Hogo Margoc gave TI the lead again at 8:34 of the first period. Sam Calabrese assisted by Hugo Margoc and Billy Allen added to TI’s lead and the first period ended with TI leading 3-1.

In the second period, Billy Allen assisted by Conor Allen and Fredrik Csisar gave TI a 4-1 lead with five minutes gone by in the period. The Electricians added a goal to close the gap to 4-2; however Chris Bournazos assisted by Bryce Aneloski answered the Marquette goal to again give TI a three goal lead at 5-2.

TI scored two more goals in the third period for the 7-2 final. Chris Bournazos assisted by Billy Allen scored the first goal of the third period for TI and Marco Fiala added an unassisted goal for TI’s final tally. Arthur Hollinger got the win stopping 17 of the 19 shots he faced.

In Sunday’s action, Marquette struck first at 2:53 of the first period for an early 1-0 lead. Billy Allen assisted by Bryce Aneloski and Hugo Margoc tied the game with just 26 seconds remaining in the first period.

While the Electricians scored first in the second period to take a 2-1 lead, TI stormed back with 3 unanswered goals for a 4-2 lead at the second intermission. Eric Springer assisted by Sam Calabrese and Fredrik Csisar scored during a TI power play to tie the game at 2-2 in the second period. Tom Healy assisted by Bryce Aneloski scored mid way through the second period to give TI their first lead of the game. Billy Allen’s second goal of the game gave TI a 4-2 lead heading into the third period. Allen was assisted by Steven Spinell and Fredrik Csisar.

In the final period, Tom Healy scored his second goal of the game assisted by Bryce Aneloski to increasing TI’s lead to 5-2. James Werner assisted by Kyle Meluch and Conor Allen added the final goal for TI with just over three minutes to go in the game. Arthur Hollinger got the win for TI stopping 37 shots. The win gives Hollinger 23 victories on the year.

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Midget Minors fend off adversity to finish MWEHL Showcase on a high note
U16 Midget Minor News

DETROIT -- The Team Illinois Midget Minors were dealt a dose of adversity at their final MWEHL Showcase Feb. 16-18. The team got smacked around by a flu bug, along with playing five games in 47 hours against Detroit's AAA representatives.

But Head Coach Marc Kapsalis' team fought through the tough times to finish the weekend on a positive note with a thrilling 2-1 win over Belle Tire, the nation's fifth-ranked team. Two goals 46 seconds apart in the second period held up for the win. Matt Wiggemensen deposited a rebound (Andrew Miller and Nick Gawron assists), and soon after Austin Cihak fired home a slapper on feeds from Johnny Amann and Anthony Coles.

T.I. netminder Matt Mandernach was staunch between the pipes, kicking out 31 shots for the game. Defensemen Anthony Sangiacomo, Tommy Robaczewski and Cody Walsh also brought their physical games in an effort to flatten Belle Tire.

The Showcase weekend began with a 1-1 tie against Compuware. Johnny Leonard scored T.I.'s only goal on a pass from defensive partner Robbie Luke. Nick Chudoba made 15 saves in net.

Game two was a 4-1 loss to Honeybaked. The nation's No. 1 team took advantage of several odd-man breaks to skate home with the victory. Coles averted the shutout with a power-play goal on passes from Wiggemansen and Jeff Fehrmann.

Game three was a tough 3-2 loss to Little Caesars, the nation's No. 4 team. The pizza pucksters garnered an early 2-0 lead, then T.I. fought back to tie the game on goals from Nick Gawron (Jon Luevano helper) and Fehrmann (from Luke Baumgarten and Andrew Cardona). But a Caesars' goal with 5:21 remaining sealed the loss. Mandernach played well in defeat, finishing with 30 saves.

The weekend's fourth game against Victory Honda was a 6-1 defeat. Jason McAloon (from Cihak and Gawron) scored the only twine-tickler. The squad then wrapped up with weekend with the win over Belle Tire, making for a more festive journey home.

The Blackhawk Cup round robin is next on the docket for the Team Illinois Midget Minors, with games Feb. 22 at 8:50 p.m. against the Chicago Chill at Edge West, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. against the Chicago Young Americans at Heartland Ice Arena and Feb. 25 at 1:25 p.m. against the Chicago Mission at Addison Ice Arena.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Win First State Round Robin Game
U18 Midget Major News

Orland Park, MI – All four Illinois MM Tier I teams started their quest for a birth to the State Final Champion Series today. The preliminary round robin games to determine who will advance to the Champion Series started with the Chicago Young Americans playing host to the Chicago Mission and the Chicago Chill playing host to Team Illinois. Home ice proved not to be an advantage as both visiting teams won their respective games. The Mission team defeated CYA by the score of 3-0 while Team Illinois defeated the Chill 3-1.

The Chicago Chill got on the board first at 10:31 of the first period when a shot from the point was tipped past Team Illinois’ goaltender, Scott Pederson. Team Illinois scored what they thought was a game tying goal minutes later, however the referee ruled that the puck had been contacted with a high stick and the goal was disallowed. Both teams battled hard and the period ended with the Chill leading TI 1-0.

In period two, Team Illinois scored three unanswered goals during a two minute time span to take a 3-1 lead. Bryce Aneloski scored on a Team Illinois power play at 4:28 of the period when he blasted a shot from the point past Chill goaltender, John Brown. Aneloski was assisted by Steven Spinell and Chris Bournazos. Billy Allen, fore checking aggressively in the Chill zone forced a turnover and Hugo Margoc slid the pack pass Brown for TI’s second goal. John Lamorgese assisted by Eric Springer dangled the puck pass a Chill defender and then buried the puck at 6:29 of the period for TI’s third, and final goal.

In the third period, the Chill out shot TI 15 to 3, however TI goaltender, Scott Pederson was equal to the task including one save while doing the splits to preserve the two goal lead. Pederson stopped 22 shots for the victory.

Team Illinois’ next opponent is the Chicago Young American Team at home on Saturday starting at 4:50. TI will then play the Mission on Sunday starting at 11:15 am. The game against the Mission will be played at the Addison rink.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Win Second State Round Robin Game
U18 Midget Major News

Bensenville, IL – All four Illinois MM Tier I teams continued their quest for a birth to the State Final Champion Series today. The second of three preliminary round robin games to determine who will advance to the Champion Series were played on Saturday.
The Chicago Chill defeated the Mission in overtime by the score of 4-3 while Team Illinois defeated CYA 2-1.

The game between CYA and Team Illinois proved to be a goaltending battle between Daniel Abramson for CYA and Arthur Hollinger for Team Illinois. Abramson faced a total of 39 shots, twenty shots in the first period alone. Hollinger faced 27 shots with 14 coming in the third period. Both goalies made several big saves for their respective teams to keep the game close.

In the first period, Kyle Meluch assisted by John Lamorgese and Bryce Aneloski scored on a power play to give TI the early lead. The period ended with TI holding on to a slim 1-0 lead. In the second period, both goaltenders continued to shine with neither team able to score; so the game headed into the third period with TI leading 1-0. TI was able to capitalize on another power play at 6:27 of the third period to take a two goal lead. Sam Calabrese’s shot from the blue line was tipped by Kurt Akers to give TI a 2-0 lead. CYA continued to battle and scored with 2:05 remaining in the period to close the gap to 2-1. CYA was whistled for two separate penalties in the final two minutes of the game. TI used the 5 on 3 power play to their advantage and the game ended with a TI victory.

Arthur Hollinger stopped 27 saves for the win. Hollinger is now 25-8-4 on the year.

Team Illinois’ will play the Mission on Sunday starting at 11:15 am. The game against the Mission will be played at the Addison rink.

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Midget Minors advance to Blackhawk Cup championship round
as the No. 1 seed
U16 Midget Minor News

The Team Illinois midget minor squad advanced to the championship round of the 2007 Blackhawk Cup with a 2-0-1 record. T.I. advanced as the No. 1 seed with victories over the Chicago Chill and Chicago Mission and a deadlock against the Chicago Young Americans.

Team Illinois will face the Mission in the best-of-three championship round, which will see T.I. Head Coach Marc Kapsalis matching wits with Mission Head Coach Chico Adrahtas.

Game one of the round robin was against the Chicago Chill on Feb. 22 at the Edge Ice Arena. T.I. got their opening-game jitters out of the way with a 5-3 win over the plucky south suburbanites. Austin Cihak (from Anthony Coles) scored a nice "hustle" goal to get things going, Johnny Amann scored two unassisted twine-ticklers and Andrew Cardona and Jon Luevano scored on assists from George Malliaras.

Team Illinois netminder Matt Mandernach finished with 16 saves for the win. One of the game's entertaining sidebars was the season-long battle between T.I. defender Anthony Sangiacomo and the Chill's Mike Fleming. The two locked horns one more time, and "Jock" won the battle yet again.

Game two against CYA at the Heartland Ice Arena on Feb. 24 was akin to a malfunctioning roller coaster ride at Great America. CYA's Matt Nowack buried a breakaway on the team's first shot on net. Amann then countered on a pass from Johnny Leonard, but CYA scored right off the face-off to retain the lead. When CYA went up 3-1 in the second period, the game became hairier than a "Sasquatch" convention.

T.I. then stormed back with three goals to take a 4-3 lead. The Malliaras-Luevano-Cardona line was clicking, as Luevano scored twice, Cardona scored once, Malliaras had two assists and Cardona had one helper to put T.I. ahead.

But the never-say-die CYA'ers tied the game at 4-4. T.I. then wrested the lead back at 5-4 on a Coles goal (from Luevano and Tommy Robaczewski) with 2:18 remaining. CYA then pulled their goalie with 70 ticks to go, and the defensive-minded T.I. players controlled the blue line with proclivity.

As the T.I. faithful counted down the last seconds of the game, "Nine . . . eight . . . seven . . . six . . .," they did not know disaster was about to strike. The puck found its way to a lonely George Curry of CYA, who unleashed a stick-breaking slap shot that beat Mandernach on the glove side. Pandemonium ensued on the CYA side, while the boys in blue and white pondered their cruel fate.

The tie game put Team Illinois in a must-win situation against the Mission on Feb. 25 at Addison Ice Arena. Of course, as "Miss Scarlett" once said: "After all, tomorrow is another day." Indeed, it was another day as T.I. faced adversity head on and shook off the vomit-inducing CYA tie by jumping atop the Mission from the puck's opening drop.

T.I. scored on their first two shots and never looked back. Matt Wiggemansen (Cihak and Fehrmann assists) scored first, and Malliaras finished a feed from Cardona soon after. Luevano then scored on passes from Nick Gawron and Malliaras for a 3-0 lead.

Mandernach then threw a little offense at the Mission by firing a pass to Wiggemansen in the neutral zone, who fed McAloon for the team's fourth goal. Leonard (from Cihak and Andy Miller) then provided the exclamation point with one of his patented slappers for a 5-0 win.

Mandernach stopped 22 Mission missiles for the shutout, including a "nasty" save on a Tyler Brickler third-period breakaway. T.I. played a physical style all afternoon to neutralize the talented Mission team, accentuated by several equipment-rattling hits from Cody Walsh, Robbie Luke and Robaczewski.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Advances to the State Championship Series against the Chill
U18 Midget Major News

Addison, IL – On the final day of round robin play, three of the MM Tier I teams still had an opportunity to advance to the State Championship series: the Chill, Mission and Team Illinois. The Mission played host to Team Illinois while CYA squared off against the Chill. With a win, the Chicago Young Americans could spoil the chances of the Chill advancing to the post season. However, the Chill narrowly defeated CYA by the score of 3-2 to keep their post season hopes alive. The Mission needed to win against TI in order to advance to the Championship Series. The Mission came out strong scoring two goals in the first period; however TI came back with two goals in both the second and third periods to defeat a tough Mission team by the score of 4-2.

In the game between the Mission and Team Illinois, the Mission came out strong and at 11:52 of the first period, scored off of a shot from the high slot. The Mission then made it 2-0 on a shot from the blue line which was redirected and slid just inside the post for their second goal.

In the second period, TI got their first goal when Bryce Aneloski assisted by Steven Spinell banged home his own rebound to score with 2:16 remaining in the period. Scott Barrera unassisted goal tied the game moments later when he skated to the high slot area and beat the Mission goaltender, T.J. Fuller high to the glove side.

In the third period, both teams continued to battle hard. James Werner assisted by Eric Springer stuffed home the puck at 6:42 of the third period to give TI their first lead of the game. Hugo Margoc assisted by Cody Murphy gave TI a little breathing room when he scored with a blast from the high slot area to beat Fuller high to the blocker side.

The Mission pulled their goaltender with a minute to play, however TI was able to withstand the extra attacker to preserve the 4-2 win. Scott Pederson received the win for TI stopping 33 shots on goal.

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