Gators rally to stun Glenbrook North

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Crystal Lake South replaced a 1-0 first-period deficit with a 2-1 second-period lead and goalie Trevor Kristensen made 21 saves in the third period as the Gators knocked off two-time defending champion Glenbrook North 2-1 in the second round of the Blackhawk Cup state tournament Thursday night at The Edge in Bensenville.

Glenbrook North (39-16-5) dominated early and jumped ahead 1-0 when Daniel Vietinghoff netted a Mathew Vishny pass in front of the net with 11:16 remaining in the first period. The Gators (47-10-3) did not threaten until Eric Purcell scored a power-play goal on a pass from Kenneth Hall with 7:53 remaining in the second period.

“They’re the two-time defending state champs so it took us a few minutes to realize that we belong here,” Crystal Lake South assistant coach Wayne Bower said. “Once we got going we realized that we did belong here and took it from there.”

Hall then found Scottie Stalo in front of the net and Stalo flipped the puck over Glenbrook North goalie Troy Carroll (20 saves) to make it 2-1 with 5:12 remaining in the second.

“We’re pretty fast, but we realized that we wouldn’t be able to keep up with them so we had to change up the game and hit them,” Hall said. “[Our plan became] ‘hit them in the mouth and put the puck in the net.’”

Glenbrook North attempted a frenzied comeback in the third as it controlled the puck in Gator territory for most of the period. But South goalie Trevor Kristensen (40 saves) repeatedly froze the Spartans and knocked rebounds to the corner to protect the lead.

“He’s been phenomenal for us all year,” Bower said of Kristensen. “He’s carried us at times throughout the whole season. If he’s not the best goalie in the state, then I haven’t seen the best goalie in the state.”