HP_011917

28 | January 19, 2017 | The highland park landmark sports
hplandmark.com
Boys Ice Hockey
Giants match season-long win streak
Derek Wolff, Sports Editor
With a myriad of injuries
that plagued it throughout
the first half of its season,
Highland Park must have
felt like it was consistently
on the penalty kill.
Now skating 11 forwards
and six defensemen,
the Giants (13-17-6) are
as close as ever to skating
at full strength. They tied
a season-long win streak
of three games after a 5-1
victory over the D155
Predators on Wednesday,
Jan. 11, at Centennial Ice
Arena in Highland Park.
Three opening period
goals and a barrage of
shots enabled the Giants
to have their way with the
visitors.
Senior winger Tommy
Quirk started the scoring
with an unassisted tally 55
seconds into the contest.
He crashed the net and
then found the back of it
after a loose puck bounced
off a defenseman’s skate
right to him.
“I couldn’t take credit
for that,” Quirk said. “It
hit off that kids skate but
I’ll take it.”
The Giants often found
themselves in the right
place at the right time
throughout the game as a
result of getting to the gritty
areas, winning battles in
the corners and putting the
puck on net.
“(Coach) Sean (Freeman)
was preaching all
night, shoot, put the puck
on net,” Quirk said. “It
doesn’t need to be pretty,
it just needs to go in. We
needed the goals. We
haven’t been burying a lot
of our chances lately.”
After the Giants killed
a penalty late in the first
period, Gabe Schlussel
and captain Jake Mandel
scored 13 seconds apart.
Schlussel corked a wrist
shot from the high slot that
beat Predators netminder
Ren Pretkelis high to the
stick side, assisted by
Charlie Levine-Wolf and
Jack Elbaum.
Forward Kyle Powers
drove hard to the net after
Mandel won the next faceoff
and earned an assist
on an easy pass right at
the net mouth that Mandel
buried. Defenseman Jeff
Ransom also earned an assist
on the play, which gave
the Giants a commanding
3-0 lead with 1:21 to play
in the first period.
After Highland Park
killed off D155’s second
power play of the night,
Russell Catt scored to get
the Predators on the board,
beating Giants goaltender
Chase McKellar with a
wrist shot that sent off his
stick and in about eight
minutes into the second
period.
The Predators earned
their third and final power
play of the night directly
after, but a shorthanded
goal from Giants’ leading
scorer Dylan Abt made it
4-1.
Abt won a battle along
the half boards in the offensive
zone and fired a
puck toward the net in a
clearing attempt, but it
connected with a Predators
stick to redirect past
backup goaltender Clint
Billimack and in. It was
Abt’s 22 goal and 43 point
of the season.
“He’s just got a motor
on him,” head coach Sean
Freeman said on Abt, one
of the team’s assistant
captains. “He just works
and elevates the game for
the rest of the guys around
him. Him and Zach Chamberlin,
they go until they
can’t move; they go until
their last breath. It’s inspiring
for the guys. He’s a
captain but he’s not a captain
because he talks and
leads with his mouth, he
leads by example. That’s
important.”
The Giants killed off
the rest of the power play
and took a 4-1 lead into
the second intermission,
where they held a 20-9
shots on goal advantage.
Assistant captain Dylan Abt, pictured here in a game
from earlier this season, scored his team-leading 22nd
goal of the season. 22nd century media file photo
Quirk scored his second
of the night on a wrist shot
from the right circle that
beat Billimack’s glove side
with 7:02 remaining in the
contest.
Highland Park outshot
D155 33-12 in the game,
making it an easy night
for McKellar, though the
Giants penalty kill made
major strides in the contest
by killing off all three
chances against it.
“The PK is all effort,”
Levine-Wolf said. “Guys
are laying down and blocking
shots. Sean pointed
out early that they had no
support on the power play
so we were able to be aggressive
in the corners and
went after 1-on-1 battles
because he was confident
in the D that we’d make
the play and we did.”
Levine-Wolf missed the
entirety of the 2016 portion
of the season due to
injury but has been a physical
force for the Giants
since his return in January,
where Freeman estimates
he’s averaging around
eight hits per game, bringing
an additional element
to the Giants’ game.
“If you lay a body out
early in the game it sets
a tone for the rest of it,”
Levine-Wolf said. “I just
want to get the guys going.”
The Giants will be off
until taking on Kings on
Saturday, Jan. 21, at Leafs
Ice Center in West Dundee.
Looking to stretch their
winning streak to its longest
point this season,
they’ll hope to do it against
the team that started it after
Highland Park defeated
Kings 7-5 on Jan. 8.
Freeman has the team
doing bicycle conditioning
on a program that former
New York Rangers left
winger Mike Hartman-
-who won a Cup with the
team in 1994--taught him.
But the biggest key to
not getting complacent
and extending the winning
streak will be continuing
to get quality reps on the
ice, Quirk said.
“We really have to get
on the ice, stickhandling
and shooting, just being
comfortable with your
equipment and with the
stick,” he said. “Running
is a big part of it, but the
biggest thing is just getting
on the ice and practicing.”