St. Jude Hockey Club

Whenever a #2 seed and a number #3 seed in a tournament play eachother its always a battle.  The Knights and Falcons battled each other 3 times early in the season. All 3 times, the Falcons were victorious.  4-3, 7-2, and 6-2. Three of the Knights 8 losses on the season all came against the fast skating, tenacious Falcons. 

But then there was the 4th try....

After the brackets were posted, the Knights knew that the road to the Wolves Cup was going to have to go through the Falcons.  Kudos to the Falcons for their intense style of play and finishing 2nd overall in the NIHL Mite Elite League. 

2 HUGE points were on the line for this game.  If either team won, they would be in the drivers seat for the Wolves Cup Championship Game with 1 game left to play.  When the game started, it was obvious that both teams were focused and determined to get 2 points.   Based on goal differential rules in the tournament, the Knights knew they had to win outright and not settle for a tie or loss.  No pressure right?

The game was fast from the get go with both teams putting constant pressure on each goalie.  After a scoreless first period thanks to our goalie #1 Richie Haley and our fantastic four on defense of #99 Tommy Wright, #88 Jimmy Jurcev, #7 Mick Badke, and #38 Jelani Wilson.  The defense set the tone for the rest of the game. 

Ten minutes into the 2nd period, the Falcons were on a power play and struck first to take a 1-0 lead at the 10:40 mark.  With 2 minutes to go in the period the Falcons were awarded a penalty shot and this was now going to be the turning point of the game.  Knowing that we have the best goalie in the state, we knew that our chances were good on this one...and once again, RICHIE SAVES THE DAY!!  After that save, suddenly the Knights kicked it into another level for the 3rd period.

As soon as the puck was dropped in the 3rd period, the Knights were like fireflies in the opponents zone.  Bound and determined on the first shift, #71 McCarthy (goal) 
#12 Sobczak (assist)  #38 Wilson (assist) finished off a well earned goal 40 seconds into the 3rd period and suddenly the tempo was favoring the Green Boys from the South Side..  The rest of the period, the Knights did not give any quality chances to the Falcons because of the relentless backchecking by our forwards and especially our 2 centers, #12 Sobczak and #10 Lawrence. 

With 1:20 second to go in the game,  #10 Lawrence was working along the boards and Lawrence sprung the puck free and started the rush up the ice with #38 Jelani Wilson by his side.  #38 Wilson accepted the hard work pass from Lawrence and made his was up the ice, bound and determined to score...  When Wilson reached the top of the circle, he let out a howitzer type wrist shot that deflected off the Falcons goalie's shoulder and found the back of the net for a Knights Winner!!!!

The road to the Wolves Cup Championship is in the hands of the St. Jude Knights.  If the Knights can pull off 1 point vs. the Jaguars on Monday, March 12 @ 6:10pm,  they will be playing in the Wolves Cup Championship on Sunday, March 18th vs. the Chicago Hawks who won the President's Cup for the best record in the NIHL MIte Elite Division. 

Good Luck Knights!!

There was alot on the line for the St. Jude Knights Mite Elite Team as they faced off against their arch rival the Joliet Jaguars.   After starting the regular season 0-3, the Knights put themselves in position to clinch 3rd place alone in the ever competitive NIHL Mite Elite Division.  As soon as the puck dropped, it was obvious that the Knights came to make a statement.

The word of the day was DEFENSE!  The Jaguars possibly had 4 good scoring chances all night thanks to the lock down defense of #88 Jurcev, #7 Badke, #38 Wilson, & #99 Wright.  They were absolutely awesome!  But alot of credit on the night needs to also goto the forwards #39 Breitzke, #81 Mullarkey, #17 Rhoda, #22 Albanese, #12 Sobczak, #10 Lawrence, and #71 McCarthy, for their tenacious back checking.  This was a complete team effort lead by none other than our backstopper #1 Richie Haley.

After a scoreless first, #10 Luke Lawrence scored off a pin point assist by #71 his sister J.J. McCarthy.  Not even 3 minutes later..#10 Lawrence shot a backhand that popped the corner like only the professionals could do.  #39 Blake Breitzke with the assist on Lawrence's 2nd Goal.   The rest was history as the Knights locked down their defense and completed the shut out.  Knights 2..Jaguars 0

With this win, the St. Jude Knights clinched 3rd Place going into the Wolves Cup Playoffs.  The quest to raise a Wolves Cup Banner begins on Saturday, March 10th.  The Knights finished 8-4-2 in the regular season after starting off 0-3.  Great job to all the coaches and to a supportive group of parents.