Trojans’ offense stalls

Cary-Grove's Patrick Snell (right) battles against Notre Dame's Alex Murphy during the first period of Monday's game at the Crystal Ice House. Notre Dame won, 2-0. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com) (Travis Haughton ())

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Cary-Grove yearned for a shot to advance in the AHAI Blackhawk Cup White Division State Tournament and see what could happen, especially with goalie Matt Rowe backing up the defense.

The Trojans were left wondering what was wrong as their season came to a halt Monday night.

Eighth-seeded C-G generated few quality chances and lost to No. 9 Niles Notre Dame, 2-0, at the Crystal Ice House in their first-round Blackhawk Cup White game. The Dons (15-30) move on to face top-seeded Mundelein at 6:30 p.m. March 2 at The Edge in Bensenville.

“I don’t know what we were waiting for,” Trojans coach Mike Morrison said. “We never got a jump. We seemed to be waiting for opportunities instead of creating opportunities.”

C-G (12-16-2) was outshot, 41-20, and lost its fifth consecutive game to end the season.

“Everybody looked really slow,” center Jack Segerson said. “No one could connect on passes, and no one was hitting. I don’t know what it was, we’ve been playing really well.”

Even with four losses in the Metro Central Division Scholastic Cup playoffs, the Trojans felt good about their chances in the state tournament. After C-G knocked off Metro Central champion Barrington, 4-3, on Feb. 6, Morrison thought they could make a run in the White Division.

“We all did,” Segerson said. “We’ve been playing tough teams and we improved from when we played them earlier in the season. It just wasn’t happening tonight. It’s a very disappointing way to end my career.”

Notre Dame scored with 9:53 remaining in the second period on a short-handed goal when Alex Murphy intercepted a pass at center ice. He skated in on Rowe, who poked the puck away before Murphy could get a good shot, but Kyle Gronset was there to tap it in.

“I saw the defenseman bringing it up, and he was carrying the puck a little loose on his stick,” Murphy said. “I poked it past another defender and tried to pull it to my backhand. Their goalie’s good and he poked it away, but Kyle was there.”

In the third period, Gronset assisted on David Fabris’ goal that sealed the game.

C-G’s players thought the team got away from its dump-and-chase style that had been so effective against Barrington and other teams.

“We seemed slow,” said Rowe, who had 39 saves. “Our defense wasn’t bad, but on offense we got away from what we were doing. I still have college (he will play for the University of Tennessee’s hockey club), but it’s tough for high school to be over. I have a lot of good friends I’ll never play with again.”