Trojan Hockey: Two Games and a Facebook Page

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First, let me say that, I am way behind on my blog. The Martin Luther King holiday weekend threw me off. We didn’t play any games that weekend, but I still hadn’t written about the ones from the week before. So here is how I remember those games being played.

The Trojans returned to the ice Jan. 8 after a long Christmas break. We hadn’t played a game since Dec. 17. It showed. The boys looked like they spent their whole break staying up late, sleeping in and playing video  games—but that’s what teenage boys are supposed to do. So we’ll cut them a little slack. Just this once.

We had faced Joliet Catholic Academy a few weeks before and beat them 5-3. The last goal was on an open net, so it was a close game. We learned from that match-up that JCA has one skater who scores most of their goals. Unfortunately, we didn’t remember that key piece of information when it came time to play this game. That one player scored all four of his team’s goals this time. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief over that. How did we not keep this kid off of the puck? The good news is, despite the hot shot, we didn’t walk away with a loss. Or a win. The game ended in an exciting 4-4 tie.

JCA was ahead 2-0 going into the second period. T.J. Laper scored the first Trojan goal, unassisted. Bryan Roy tied it up a minute later, with an assist from Joe Paloian. The Trojans took the lead about halfway through the third period with a goal from Mike Cronin, assisted by David Ulanski and Danny Desmond. JCA then came back to even the score. A resounding “Nooooooo!” was shouted by the Trojan players and their fans when Joliet scored (the potentially winning goal) with only 28 seconds left on the clock. Coach Bill called a timeout, took out the whiteboard and drew out a last chance play. The Trojans pulled their goalie and put a sixth man in the zone. After some scrappy work in front of the net, Kyle Millinowicz, assisted by T.J. Laper and Joe Paloian, poked one past the goalie with five seconds left to finish the game with a tie.

A few nights later, the Lincolnway/Lockport Rage hosted the Trojans in a late game on Jan. 11. Down a few skaters due to finals week at Downers Grove North, the team stepped up and played a hard game. The refs made some interesting mistakes (i.e. How do you put a player in the box for a "2 and a 10" and forget to pull an extra player off the bench to sit out the two minute part of the penalty?), but the boys overcame the penalties and short-handed play and pulled out a 4-1 win over the Rage. 

Kyle Millinowicz scored first, unassisted, in the first period. The Rage tied it up, but that would be their only goal of the game. David Ulanski, assisted by Danny Desmond, ripped a shot over the shoulder of the goalie to put the Trojans ahead in the second period. Two more goals, scored by Bryan Roy, assisted by Danny Desmond, and Unknown Player #26 (seriously ref, the numbers are pretty big on our jerseys), brought the game to an end with the Trojans taking the 4-1 win over the Rage.

The Trojan High School Hockey Club is a combined team consisting of players from five high schools: Lemont, Downers Grove North, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, and Lisle.  If you have any questions about our team, please email us at trojanhockey@hotmail.com.