Gators stay in title hunt

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CRYSTAL LAKE – After falling behind 2-0 in the first period against Fremd on Saturday, Crystal Lake South’s hockey team could have easily called it a day.

Instead, the Gators scored four unanswered goals to beat the Vikings, 4-2, in a critical Metro Central American Division matchup at Crystal Ice House. The victory kept South in the hunt for a division title with two regular season games remaining on its Metro Central schedule, but it will need some help along the way.

“Barrington is in first place, and they have four games left – if they lose two of them, we win our division,” South coach Rich Perillo said.

Senior Mark Greenberg (one goal, two assists) and sophomore Joey Bower (one goal, one assist) worked well on the same line together Saturday, and it was their chemistry that seemed to spark South when it needed it most.

Bower’s power play tally late in the second tied the score at 2-2, after Greenberg’s slapper from just inside the blue line rebounded to Bower, who stuffed the loose puck past the stick side of Fremd goalie Ryan Davie.

Bower returned the favor late in the third, when he set up the eventual game-winner with 4:37 left. Bower lifted the stick of a Fremd defender in the corner, stole the puck, then rocketed a pass from to Greenberg. Greenberg ripped the go-ahead goal low past the stick side of Davie, for a 3-2 South lead.  

“He [Bower] knew exactly where I was out there on the ice,” Greenberg said. “It’s pretty exciting that we have the kind of chemistry we do out there as a team, where we all know where the other guy is going to be.”

The Gators added an insurance goal just more than a minute later, on Eric Purcell’s backhander.

The victory didn’t come easily, though. Early on, South (30-12-3 overall) looked a step behind thanks in part to a late game, and lengthy team bus ride, the night before.

That’s exactly what it [the slow start] was,” Perillo said. “We had slow feet early on.”