The OPRF Hockey Club shut out the Cary Grove Trojans 5-0 behind Evan McCall’s goaltending at Ridgeland Common last week.
Both teams entered the game with identical 6-1-1 records in the Metro Invitational Tournament (MIT), but Huskies skated to an easy win. Goals by Evan Vondrasek and Phil O’Connor in the first four minutes of the game put the Huskies up 2-0. Defenseman Joel Meyerson assisted on both goals.
The Huskies broke the game open in the third period with two goals from Jack Brofman. On the first goal, Brofman took the puck end to end, skating down left wing, cutting back to the center of the ice, and beating the Cary Grove goalie with a high stick side wrist shot. Brofman’s second goal came on a perfectly executed 2-on-1 with Seth Molek. O’Connor scored his second goal with 1:45 remaining to complete the scoring.
With a 7-1-1 record and only one game remaining, the Huskies will finish the 14-team field MIT in second place. With an 8-0-2 record, Highland Park has already wrapped up first place.
The results were not so pretty in the Huskies’ Metro West playoff opener as they were soundly beaten 8-1 by the St. Charles North Stars. The game turned on a fluke play late in the first period. With the Huskies trailing 1-0, the puck was frozen for several seconds on the back of the OPRF net. Goalie Tanner Houston had his glove in the air, calling for an official’s whistle that never came.
Instead, the puck popped up in the air and landed in the OPRF crease where a North Star player was waiting to poke the puck into the net. The Huskies never recovered. St. Charles scored three more quick goals, turning a close game into a rout. Brofman scored the Huskies’ only goal on a power play midway through the third period.
The Huskies received some bad news last week, losing defenseman Jonah Rice for the remainder of the season. Rice broke a rib during a January game and then was diagnosed with mononucleosis. Without Rice in the lineup, the Huskies have a tough schedule with four Metro West playoff games in the next week.
The Huskies will play either Bartlett or Conant at Ridgeland Common on tonight (8 p.m.) and will host Naperville North on Sunday (6:10 p.m.).
A press release contributed to this report.
