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wilmettebeacon.com SPORTS
the wilmette beacon | January 24, 2019 | 41
Boys hockey
New Trier White’s comeback
stuns Lake Forest at home
David Jaffe
Freelance Reporter
Coming back from a big
deficit is almost always a
difficult task.
And New Trier White
had already fought back to
cut a three-goal deficit to
just one after two periods.
When the third period
began, it appeared fatigue
was beginning to set in
for the Trevians. Initially
it seemed that they were
just trying to get their legs
back.
But rather than succumb
to the fatigue, the Trevians
became more energized,
scoring two more
goals in the third period.
Ryan O’Rourke scored
the game-winning goal in
front of the net with three
minutes left completing
New Trier’s comeback
with a 4-3 win over Lake
Forest Wednesday, January
16, at the Winnetka
Ice Arena. The Trevians
trailed 3-0 in the second
period.
“That involved a lot
of puck movement,”
O’Rourke said of his goal.
“We have plays set up for
this type of situation that
we practice over and over
again. So we were very
comfortable with what to
do that late in the game
when it’s close.”
Although New Trier got
off to a slow start on the
scoreboard, they were getting
plenty of opportunities
early on that they were
unable to convert. But that
changed when Johnny
Hackett put the Trevians
on the board with nine
minutes left in the second.
It took less than a minute
New Trier’s Tyler T. Nolan (middle) looks for an open
teammate against Lake Forest on Jan. 16 in Winnetka.
David Kraus/22nd Century Media
for them to score again as
Trevor Jones tipped in a
shot making it 3-2.
“When we got those
back-to-back goals, it
energized the bench and
everyone on the team,”
O’Rourke said. “We knew
we had good looks at the
net. It gave us a chance
when we were able to convert
a couple.”
New Trier had expended
a lot of energy getting
back in the game and
Lake Forest seemed to be
controlling things early in
the third period. But the
Trevians flipped the script
again when Hackett scored
his second goal tying the
game with 6:30 remaining.
“We knew how important
this game was,”
O’Rourke said. “If we
won, we’d probably win
the division. That’s something
we kept thinking
about and allowed us to
push through being tired.”
Lake Forest’s Sam Sheffield
scored 20 seconds
into the game. Carter Blake
increased the advantage to
2-0 with just over eight
minutes left in the first.
Griffin Slobodnik extended
the lead to three goals
less than two minutes into
the second period.
The Trevians showed
what they were made of
staying poised and not
panicking despite their
early struggles.
“I think we’re a team
that plays with a lot of
energy even when we’re
down,” O’Rourke said. “I
think we demonstrated that
today. We came together
and fought through the adversity
as a team.”
For Lake Forest it was
an extremely tough loss to
swallow.
“We gave up two penalties
in that period,” Lake
Forest coach Steve Sarauer
said. “We gave up two
shorthanded goals as a result
and it ended up costing
us.”
Sarauer felt bad for his
team considering how well
they played overall.
“The kids really wanted
to win,” Sarauer said.
“This was the hardest I’ve
seen the kids play as a a
team this season. They really
wanted this one and it
hurts considering how we
started the game.”
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