The Scouts Hockey club team competed on home ice this week and faced off against the power house team: New Trier Green. The Scouts battled it out against the three-time defending State Champions last Monday night. The matchup drew lots of anticipation, considering the Scouts had never beaten New Trier Green in program history.
The Scouts, a club team not affiliated with the high school, rose to the occasion, and delivered a statement win of 3-1. With the win, not only do the Scouts earn bragging rights, but also make a bold position amongst other teams leading up to the state finals.
Heading into the matchup against New Trier, the Scouts knew they needed a simple, strong, focused, approach to come out on top. The team honed in on refining their positioning and sharpening their defensive strategies.
“Prior to our game against New Trier, we knew the key to success would be playing solid positional hockey. In the practices leading up to the game, we focused heavily on our defensive strategy and on winning puck battles,” Head Coach Steve Sarauer said.
The game was over before it even started- when the Scouts glided onto the ice, the intensity echoed before the first horn blew.
The Scouts wasted no time with a pair of two goals in the first period, seizing control early on in the game. The first goal was scored by junior, Michael Catalano and the second was scored by senior, Cal Eggers.
By the second period, they tacked on another goal scored by sophomore, Ezio Berrettini although, it was shortly followed by a goal from New Trier, heading into the half with a commanding 3-1 lead.
Coming back from the intermission, both teams locked things down in their zone and let up no points, closing out the game with a 3-1 victory for the Scouts.
This win was nothing short of monumental. Every play, hit, and shot cemented this as the win they truly deserve.
“The boys knew we could win this game, and that is 50% of it. We worked the whole game, which led us to victory. When we are all playing our game, we feel like we have a very good shot,” senior captain Tommy Esplin said.
The grind isn’t over for the Scouts as they continue to make moves in the Scholastic Hockey League(SHL) and play for a higher rank. Even though they earned high respect in the league, that single win won’t define their season and they will continue to hustle each game.
“We will go into every game with the intensity we did with this game… We have to keep our foot on the gas and go into every game like we are playing New Trier,” junior captain Logan Marsch said.
“Every player contributed to Monday’s victory- we stuck to the plan, battled together, and achieved our first win against New Trier Green. We have put the SHL on notice-we’re coming and you better bring your best if you want to beat the Scouts!”
