November 13, 2024
Boys Hockey

High school hockey: Kings' hot start leads to big playoff victory

By MIKE DeFABO

Jeff Krage ñ For Shaw Media Kings' Jimmy Giuliano heads up ice during Sunday's game against DuPage at The Edge Ice Arena. Bensenville 3/6/16

BENSENVILLE – To say the Kings Hockey Club started the postseason fast would be an understatement.

It took less than a minute for Matteo Garwacki to score the first goal, less than five minutes to force the DuPage starting goalie from the game and less than seven minutes for the Kings to score what turned out to be the go-ahead goal.

From start to finish, the sixth-seeded Kings outmatched No. 11-seeded DuPage in an 8-2 playoff victory in the Combined Varsity Division of the Amateur Hockey Association Illinois Blackhawks Cup.

The Kings (26-21-5) advance to play Buffalo Grove at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Elite Eight at Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville.

“We talked before the game about coming out fast,” said forward Jaret Pernice, who led the Kings with two goals. “We did just that. We really couldn’t have played better in the first five minutes. That really set the tone.”

The Kings, who are made up of players from Huntley, Hampshire, Jacobs, Dundee-Crown and Burlington Central high schools, put relentless pressure on the DuPage goaltenders, peppering them with 42 shots. This led to scoring opportunities across all four of the Kings’ lines.

Seven players found the back of the net for the Kings. In addition to Pernice’s two goals and Garwacki’s early tone-setter, the Kings got goals from defenseman Jackson Wilken, forward Scott Pfaff, forward Nick Madej, forward Ryan Ringa and forward James Giuliano.

“It’s good to see so many guys contributing and not just focus on one player,” said Pfaff, the team captain. “It’s good to have more diverse scoring. That will come in handy later in the season in bigger games.”

Meanwhile, the Kings limited DuPage to only eight shots on goal. Goalie Anthony Oleksy turned away six of those attempts.

“We did a really good job of getting pucks out of our zone, too,” Kings coach Joseph Fell said. “That’s another thing I preach – get pucks in, get pucks out. We did a really good job of that. And then we were winning a lot of the races because we’re so fast.”

After the game, the Kings turned their attention to Friday’s game almost as quickly as they started Sunday. The Kings lost both previous meetings with Buffalo Grove. Each time the margin was only one goal.

“This time of year that doesn’t matter,” Fell said. “It doesn’t matter your record or your ranking or anything else. What we do on the ice Friday night is all that matters. We were right there the first two times. We’ve got to change a couple plays.”