Mar 21 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Defeated in District Championships
Mar 21 - U16 - Midget Minors lose in overtime to finish second in USA Hockey Central Regionals
Mar 16 - Spring Program - 97/98 Spring Program Cancelled
Mar 6 - U16 - Midget Minors win two overtime thrillers to earn 2007 Blackhawk Cup state championship
Mar 6 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Win State
Mar 4 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Loses to Chill – Series Tied 1-1
Mar 2 - 96s - Chicago Wolves player Bob Nardella will instruct a TI Checking Clinic for 96's
Mar 2 - U18 - Team Illinois Midget Major Team Defeats Chill in a Thriller

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Defeats Chill in a Thriller
U18 Midget Major News

Bensenville, IL – Team Illinois Midget Majors faced off against the Chicago Chill in the first game of the State Championship Series on Thursday night. The Championship series format is a best of three games with the winner not only capturing the state title at the U18 Tier 1 level, but also advancing to the Central District Championship starting March 16th. In a short series, the first game is a must win, putting the pressure on the other team to win two straight.

Team Illinois jumped out to a two goal lead only to see the Chill answer with three goals of their own. Marc Rodriguez’s unassisted goal gave TI an early lead and then a pair of defensemen; Eric Springer, assisted by Bryce Aneloski gave TI a 2-0 lead. However, the Chill came storming back with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead after one period.

Chris Bournazos assisted by Bryce Aneloski and Kyle Meluch scored to tie the game at 3-3. John Lamorgese assisted by Kyle Meluch and Tom Healy gave TI the lead and TI would cling to the one goal lead until late into the third period when the Chill tied the game at 4-4. It looked like the game was destined for overtime and then with 1.9 seconds remaining in the game TI scored the game winner. The play started with Tom Healy feeding the puck to Eric Springer at the blue line. Springer let go with a blast which was tipped by Scott Barrera and bounced by Chill goaltender, John Brown for the win.

Scott Pederson got credited with the win to increase his overall record to 26-3-2 and 3-0 in the State Tournament.

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Former Chicago Wolves player Bob Nardella will instruct a
TI Checking Clinic for 96's

The instruction will be to instruct the kids on the proper body checking technique.
Instruction, demonstration, and checking technique practice for all players attending.
All 96 players are welcome.

Saturday March 10, 2007
Edge East
5:40-6:40p

Sign up soon as spots are limited.
Cost is $15 per player.

Make checks payable to: Team Illinois Hockey Training and
Send to: Team Illinois 30 Squire Road Hawthorn woods IL 60047

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Loses to Chill – Series Tied 1-1
U18 Midget Major News

Vernon Hills, IL – Team Illinois Midget Majors squared off against the Chicago Chill in the second game of the State Championship Series on Saturday night. The game was a must win for the Chill; a TI victory and the Chill would be eliminated. The Chill came out strong and handed TI a 3-0 defeat to even the series at one win a piece. Sunday’s game will determine the state champion and the team who will earn the right to advance to the Central District Championship.

The first period was a defensive battle with TI out shooting the Chill 11 – 9. The game remained tied 0-0 until with 37 seconds to play in the second period, the Chill scored on a power play to take a 1-0 lead. The Chill out shoot TI 15 -8 in the second period. In the third period, the Chill continued to out shoot TI and half way through the period scored again to take a 2-0 lead. The Chill added an empty net goal with a minute to play in the period for the 3-0 final.

Scott Pederson was strong in net for TI stopping 28 out of 30 shots he faced. Pederson’s overall record is now 26-4-2.

Team Illinois will face the Chill again on Sunday afternoon at the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills. The game is slated to start at 2:30 pm.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Win State
U18 Midget Major News

Vernon Hills, IL – Team Illinois Midget Majors faced the Chicago Chill on Sunday to decide the Illinois Tier 1 State Championship. It is no surprise that the championship best of three series needed a game three as the two teams played each other evenly over the course of the year: 3-3-1 (W/L/T). The final game was a mirror copy of the previous day, only with a different outcome: a Team Illinois victory. In both games the first goal was a power play goal in the first period, then an insurance goal in the third, followed by an empty net goal to close out the game. Only this time, it was Team Illinois who came away with the 3-0 victory.

Team Illinois came out much stronger than the previous day, looking determined to score the first goal and gain an early advantage. However, the Chill seemed equally determined and the first period went back and forth until Chris Bournazos, assisted by Marc Rodriguez and Kurt Akers scored on a power play to give TI an early 1-0 lead. Both teams continued to battle, however the first intermission ended with TI holding on to a slim 1-0 lead.

In the second period, both goaltenders made huge saves to keep the game close. Midway through the second period, TI goaltender Scott Pederson stoned a breakaway after TI got caught in a line change. Then with under a minute to play the Chill goaltender, John Brown made a huge glove save to keep his team within one goal of TI.

Both teams continue to pressure the goaltenders in the third period: Brown (Chill) stoned a breakaway and again flashed the glove on a Springer blast while Pederson (TI), with the help of Bryce Aneloski stopped a 3-on-1 to keep TI in the lead. Then with 3:41 remaining on the clock, Hugo Margoc’s strong forecheck caused a turnover in the Chill’s zone. Fredrik Csisar gained control of the puck, skated to the high slot, and blasted a slap shot which beat Brown high to the blocker side. The goal gave Team Illinois a two goal lead with just minutes to play in the contest. The Chill pulled their goaltender with 2:30 to play to give them an extra attacker and keep the pressure on TI. After several TI attempts to hit the empty net, Kurt Akers’s shot from the Chill’s blue line found the net and sealed the victory for Team Illinois. The empty net goal was set up by Bryce Aneloski’s outlet pass to Marc Rodriguez who then feathered a soft pass off of the boards to Akers who in turn buried the puck in the net.

Scott Pederson was solid in net for TI stopping all 25 shots he faced for the win. It was Pederson’s 8th shut out and 27th victory of the season.

Congratulations to Coach Marchi, Coach Gohde, Coach Kane and all the boys for winning the Illinois Tier 1 State Championship. Eric Springer, we hope to see you back on the ice soon.

Congratulations to a strong Chicago Chill team for a great season and proof once again that Illinois has more than one team who could compete for a national title.

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Midget Minors win two overtime thrillers to earn 2007 Blackhawk Cup state championship
U16 Midget Minor News

VERNON HILLS -- The Team Illinois midget minors have dealt with their share of adversity during the 2006-07 season.

Head Coach Marc Kapsalis' squad faced the nation's toughest schedule out of 143 midget minor teams, according to www.midgetaaahockey.com, including 24 games against top 10 ranked teams. The team also featured 11 players competing for the first time in the rigors of AAA hockey, and five more players were only in their second year at the AAA level.

Very little came easy for this group, and in a strange way the team's 20 players seemed to enjoy the harsh environments they found themselves in. They seemed most comfortable with their backs against a brick wall, facing a firing squad.

That was never more evident than the Blackhawk Cup 2007 state finals against the cross-town rival Chicago Mission. The Mission won game one 3-1 at the Edge Ice Arena on March 1 in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate. Luke Baumgarten was T.I.'s only goal scorer in a somewhat listless team effort, and Team Illinois was one loss away from elimination.

The series moved to Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills for game two as part of "AAA Super Saturday." The buzz in the rink was palpable, and both teams packed the house with energized fans. The Mission boosters were pleading for a sweep, while the T.I. faithful prayed for survival.

Team Illinois was once again staring adversity in the eyeballs. And how did they respond? With a thrilling 3-2 double-overtime victory in a game that featured big hits, end-to-end action, power-play opportunities and outstanding goaltending from Team Illinois' Matt Mandernach and the Mission's Jeff Teglia.

Andrew Cardona got things going on a penalty kill when he burst into the Mission zone for an errant puck, beat a diving Teglia to the biscuit and softly slid the puck into the empty net. The Mission then tied the game at 1-1, scoring on an extended power play when defenseman Anthony Sangiacomo was assessed a questionable five-minute major penalty.

Team Illinois settled down soon after, and the defensive quintet -- Johnny Leonard, Tommy Robaczewski, Cody Walsh, Robbie Luke and Nick Gawron -- elevated their games to "warrior" status to account for the absence of Sangiacomo, their departed defensive colleague. Cardona won several key faceoffs, Jeff Fehrmann, Jason McAloon, Jon Luevano and Baumgarten forechecked with ferocity and Austin Cihak and George Malliaras made more hustle plays than Subway has sandwiches.

Johnny Amann then put T.I. ahead 2-1, finishing a pretty pass from Anthony Coles. The hard-charging Mission then scored to tie the game at 2-2. The contest remained tied until the regulation buzzer sounded, and T.I. knew the next goal would either end or extend their season.

The first 10-minute overtime tested the nerves of everyone in the rink but the calm-and-cool Mandernach, who turned away several Mission scoring opportunities. A glimmer of offensive punch generated near the end of the first OT stanza brought hope to the sweaty-palmed T.I. contingent.

Team Illinois then came out flying to start the second overtime, creating several great scoring chances before Robbie Luke and Wiggemansen skated to the rescue. Luke blasted a shot from the high slot, creating a rebound that landed on Wiggemansen's blade. While carnage occurred in the Mission crease, "Wiggy" serenely surveyed the scene, backed up a step and shot the puck over the pile into the top of the net for the 3-2 win as bedlam ensued on the ice and in the stands.

The two teams faced off again 16 hours later on Sunday before another rambunctious, overflow Glacier crowd. The Mission came out of the gate quickly, giving Mandernach the business. He was equal to the task until another five-minute Mission power play created a 1-0 lead. T.I. took over the game in the second period, and an unassisted Amann lamp-lighter tied the game at 1-1. Mandernach and Teglia stared each other down in third period, going save for save, and when the third period buzzer sounded it officially became "next goal wins."

After a short break, the two teams lined up for the overtime faceoff. The way the goaltenders were playing, fans were settling in for a lengthy overtime. Amann had other ideas, however, as he took a head-man pass from Coles, raced up the right wing and sniped a snap shot, scoring the season's biggest goal after only 45 seconds of OT play for a 2-1 win.

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97/98 Spring Program has been cancelled
Spring Training

Due to the lack of registrations the 97/98 spring program has been cancelled. All pre-registered applicants will be refunded within the next two weeks. Thank you for your interest in Team Illinois.

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Midget Minors lose in overtime to finish second in USA Hockey Central Regionals
U16 Midget Minor News

MADISON, Wisconsin -- For the Team Illinois midget minors, a season that began in August 2006 in the wilderness of western Illinois at Army Ranger Camp ended in the wilds of central Wisconsin in a sudden-death loss to Team Wisconsin in the USA Hockey Central District championship game.

Head Coach Marc Kapsalis' squad came home from Ranger Camp last summer with bug bites, muddy laundry and a couple of cases of poison ivy. The team left Madison seven months later with the proud satisfaction of knowing they experienced an outstanding season of AAA ice hockey, finishing one overtime goal away from a spot in the USA Hockey Nationals in Fraser, Mich.

Highlights for the 2006-07 season included finishing tenth in a 28-team Midget Major AAA tournament, playing 26 games against midget minor teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation, a 6-1 win over No. 1 ranked Honeybaked, a fourth-place finish in the Midwest Elite Hockey League, a 13-3-3 overall record against Chicago-area AAA teams and a Blackhawk Cup state championship that featured two heart-stopping overtime wins over the Chicago Mission.

The Central District Regional tournament began on March 16 with a date against Russell Stover from suburban Kansas City. T.I. exploded for a 7-1 win, with Andrew Cardona, Johnny Amann and Matt Wiggemansen each scoring two lamplighters and George Malliaras adding the "extra point." Play-making defensemen Nick Gawron and Tommy Robaczewski each tallied three assists. T.I. netminder Matt Mandernach had 15 saves for the near-shutout.

Game two later that day was a matchup with the St. Louis Jr. Blues, who confounded T.I. early in the game with a cherry-picker offense that sprung the Blues for a variety of odd-man breaks. Anthony Coles and Cody Walsh (from Robaczewski) scored to even the game at 2-2 after two periods,and a Malliaras twine-tickler gave T.I. a short lead before St. Louis struck again for a 3-3 tie.

That's when T.I. went on a mission and decided to let St. Louis cherry pick all they wanted. It was time to put the game away, and three unanswered goals from Amann (from Coles and Jason McAloon), Luke Baumgarten (from Jeff Fehrmann and Wiggemansen) and Amann again (from Austin Cihak) cemented a 6-3 victory. Mandernach loomed large between the pipes and finished with 25 saves.

Game three on March 17 was against a talented Team Wisconsin squad, a before-and-after team of high school all-stars from throughout the Dairy State. Team Wisconsin, the nation's eighth-ranked team, had to win to ensure a spot in the championship game against Team Illinois. A Team Wisconsin loss meant the Junior Blues would engage T.I. in the title tilt.

Team Illinois started the game a bit sluggish, but Robbie Luke and Anthony Sangiacomo dished out a couple of big hits to get the team going. Baumgarten and Amann scored to forge a 2-2 deadlock after two periods. The excited crowd anticipated overtime as the third-period clock wound down, but McAloon had other ideas. Mandernach fired an outlet pass to Coles, who sprung McAloon on a breakaway to put T.I. up 3-2 with 1:50 remaining.

Unfortunately, Team Wisconsin scored with an extra attacker 65 seconds later to force overtime. After a scoreless extra five minutes, the game moved to a shootout. Mandernach stoned four of the five Wisconsin shooters, but T.I. went scoreless on the other end. As Team Wisconsin celebrated their berth in the championship game, the boys in blue regrouped for the next day's challenge.

Sunday dawned bright and chilly, and the atmosphere was frenetic at the Capitol Ice Center. T.I. got on the board first when Malliaras took feeds from Sangiacomo and Jon Luevano and buried a snap shot. Team Wisconsin dented Mandernach for a goal in the second, setting up a decisive third period with a 1-1 score. Mandernach, who finished the game with 40 saves, came up big several times in the third, and after 51 minutes of regulation the game went into an extra stanza.

For the T.I. midget minors it was their fourth overtime in their last six contests, going back to the last two games of the state finals against the Mission. Both squads played at a furious pace for the first eight minutes of overtime, when Team Wisconsin came busting up the ice in a 2-on-1 break. Mandernach made the first save, but the weak-side Wisconsin winger crashed the net and scored. Team Wisconsin's 42nd shot of the game was the dagger that ended Team Illinois' season.

Congratulations are in order for Coach Kapsalis, assistant coaches Evan Hall and Jon Hull, skaters Johnny Amann, Luke Baumgarten, Andrew Cardona, Austin Cihak, Anthony Coles, Jeff Fehrmann, Nick Gawron, Johnny Leonard, Jon Luevano, Robbie Luke, George Malliaras, Jason McAloon, Andrew Miller, Tommy Robaczewski, Anthony Sangiacomo, Vinny Senese, Cody Walsh and Matthew Wiggemansen and goaltenders Nick Chudoba and Matt Mandernach.

Thanks also go to team manager Mickey Sangiacomo, team photographer Andy Miller and team statistician Tom Robaczewski.

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Team Illinois Midget Major Team Defeated in District Championships
U18 Midget Major News

Middleton, WI –  The Tier 1 Central District Championship games were played at the Cap Ice Center in Middleton, Wisconsin this past weekend.   The weekend featured games for the boys Midget, PeeWee and Bantam levels as well as the Girls U19, U16 and U12 levels.  The winners will advance to the National Championship to be held in Fraser, Michigan at the end of March.  At the Midget Major level, four teams were competing for the title of Central District Champions:  Team Illinois, Russell Stover Stars, St. Louis Blues, and Wisconsin AAA.

Team Illinois’ first opponent was the Russell Stover Stars from Kansas City, Missouri.  The two faced one another twice before: at the Chill Invitational and at the TI Thanksgiving classic.  Team Illinois won both of those games, winning the first match-up 4-0 and then winning the second match-up by the score of 2-1.

Scott Barrera assisted by Sam Calabrese scored on a power play to put TI up 1-0 mid way through the first period.  Russell Stover answered with a power play goal at 8:49 of the first period to knot the game at 1-1.  With just thirty-seven seconds to go in the first period, Stover struck for their second power play goal to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Stover struck again at 7:59 of the second period to go up 3-1.  Kurt Akers assisted by Chris Bournazos and Marc Rodriguez backhanded a shot over the blocker of Russell Stover’s goaltender, Jake Kremer to close the gap to 3-2.  The period ended with Stover leading 2-1.

With six minutes remaining in the game, Marco Fiala assisted by Scott Barrera slid the puck through Kremer’s five hole to tie the game at 3-3. Both teams continued to battle hard, however the game remained tied until the horn sounded, ending the third period and sending the game into overtime.  It took Marc Rodriguez just fifteen seconds into overtime to get the game winner for Team Illinois.  The winning goal was set up by a nice dish from Chris Bournazos who slid the puck to Rodriguez in the slot for the game winner.    

Scott Pederson stopped 19 of the 22 shots he faced for the win.  It was Pederson’s 28th victory of the season.

Team Illinois’s next opponent was St. Louis. Billy Allen’s one timer at 3:12 of the first period gave TI an early 1-0 lead.  Assisting on Allen’s goal was Kyle Meluch and Chris Bournazos.  Kyle Meluch assisted by Cody Murphy and Billy Allen gave Team Illinois a two goal lead at 6:42 of the second period.  St. Louis clawed their way backed into the game on a power play goal at 9:32 of the third and an even strength goal at 12:02 to tie the game at 2-2.  Both teams continued to battle hard in the third period; however the game remained tied and TI was headed into overtime for the second time in as many games.  In the five minute overtime period, TI out shot St. Louis 5-1 but neither team was able to score and the game headed to a shoot out to determine the winner. Both teams were able to only score one goal each in the shoot out with Sam Calabrese getting the lone goal for TI.  With the game still tied, the game went to a sudden death shoot with St Louis scoring on their second shooter to win the game. 

Arthur Hollinger suffered the loss for Team Illinois stopping 17 of the 19 regulation/over time shots he faced and 5 out of the 7 attempts he faced in the shoot out.  

The overtime loss to St Louis meant that Team Illinois needed to win against Wisconsin AAA in order to advance to the championship finals on Sunday.  TI started out fast scoring three goals in the first period and never looked back.

Marc Rodriguez assisted by Chris Bournazos scored TI first goal just forty-six seconds into the game. Kurt Akers assisted by Marc Rodriguez and Bryce Aneloski netted a power play goal two minutes later to give TI a 2-0 lead.  Tom Healy assisted by Scott Barrera scored a short handed goal at 9:08 of the first period to give TI a 3-0 lead after one period of play.

In the second period, Kurt Akers assisted by Marco Fiala and Marc Rodriguez scored the first of four TI goals in the period.  Marc Rodriguez assisted by Chris Bournazos scored at 8:26 of the period.  James Werner assisted by Marc Rodriguez and Kurt Akers scored at 11:42 and Billy Allen assisted by Kyle Meluch score with forty-six seconds in the period to give TI a commanding 7-0 lead after two periods.

Kurt Akers’ goal at 1:23 of the third period gave him a hat trick in the game.  Marc Rodriguez assisted on Akers goal which gave him a total of 8 points for the game (2 goals and 4 assists).  Scott Barrera assisted by Tom Healy tallied TI’s final goal of the game with eleven seconds on the clock to make the final score 9-0.

Scott Pederson stopped all 13 shots he faced for his 9th shut out and 29th victory of the year.

The win guaranteed Team Illinois a spot in the Championship game on Sunday to face off against Russell Stover.

Russell Stover struck first in the championship game during a 5-3 power play at 2:48 of the first period.  It was the only goal scored during the first period and Stover held a 1-0 lead after one.  In the second period, Russell Stover benefited on another 5-3 power play to increase their lead to 2-0.  Stover scored moments later on a power play to increase their lead to 3-0 with seven minutes gone by in the second period.  Chris Bournazos assisted by Sam Calabrese got TI on the score board at 8:27 of the second period.  Both teams had additional power play opportunities in the period; however neither team could capitalize on the odd man situations and the second period ended with Stover leading 3-1.  Marc Rodriguez assisted by Sam Calabrese got TI within one goal when he scored just a 1:54 gone by in the third period.  Russell Stover scored their only even strength goal at 6:25 of the third period to give them a two goal lead at 4-2.  Stover added another power play goal with just under a minute to play to increase their lead to 5-2.  Bryce Aneloski assisted by Steven Spinell score a goal for TI with just thirty-five seconds in the game to cut the Stover lead to 5-3.  TI pulled their goaltender, however Stover added an empty net goal for the 6-3 final.

Scott Pederson received the loss stopping 27 shots.  The loss was Pederson’s fifth loss of the year.

Congratulations to Russell Stover on a great Championship Series and best of luck at Nationals.

Congratulations to Team Illinois and the coaching staff for an outstanding year!!! It has been a pleasure for the parents, siblings and grandparents to watch the team grow and develop over the course of the season.  Thank you for the incredible memories.

For those players who will be moving on next year, we wish you the best of luck.  Hopefully our paths will cross again.  You will always be part of this year’s hockey family and we look forward to watching you display your hockey skills at the next level. 

In addition, a special thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to make the year such a success.  Mike Rodriguez, a special thank you for being the team manager and all the hours you spent to keep the team organized, make the travel plans, collect the money, and pay the bills – JOB WELL DONE.

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