Trojans keep their cool

Cary-Grove goalie Kevin Opfer blocks a shot from Conant’s Anthony Altosino (left) on Sunday during a Scholastic playoff game at the Crystal Ice House. The Trojans won, 8-4, and are 2-2 in the playoffs. Opfer made 24 saves. (Sarah Nader – snader@nwherald.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Cary-Grove was not overly concerned when its three-goal lead shrunk to one late in the second period against Conant.

C-G coach Mike Morrison didn’t rant and rave in the locker room between periods because the Trojans had let the Cougars slip closer.

“We had control of the game at that point,” left wing Evan Rankin said. “One of their goals was deflected in by one of our guys. We knew we would come back.”

C-G center Mike Vilardo stole a pass near the Trojans’ blue line and raced in for a shorthanded goal, and the Trojans were off again. They added two more before Conant answered, and rolled to an 8-4 victory Sunday in their Metro Central Division Scholastic Cup playoffs game at the Crystal Ice House.

“We knew we had dominated the game, we just had to keep up the effort and the tempo,” Morrison said. “We weren’t too worried. We felt like we were still in control.”

C-G (18-9-3 overall, 2-2 Scholastic Cup) rebounded from a deflating loss to Crystal Lake South, 6-1, on Saturday. With two losses and two games left, the Trojans needed lots of help to grab one of the top two spots and advance in the playoffs.

“Yesterday we were struggling,” said Rankin, who had a hat trick and two assists. “It seemed like we weren’t in it. We talked last night about [Sunday] being a new day. We had good communication and everyone came out with energy.”

Goalie Kevin Opfer had 24 saves as C-G never trailed. Vilardo scored two goals and had two assists while playing in front of an Edmonton Oilers scout. Vilardo played eight years of Triple-A youth hockey and the Oilers highly regarded him last year when he played with the U.S. National Training Development Program U18 program before returning to finish high school at C-G.

Both of Vilardo’s goals came on similar plays when he stole the puck while killing a penalty, beat everyone down the ice and put several moves on goalie Emmet O’Malley.

“We really improved on not taking penalties today,” left wing Everett Hansen said. “We were really moving well. We worked on keeping our cool and putting the puck in the net.”

Conant (0-3-1 in Scholastic) got a goal and two assists from Jacob Pritscher and scored its first two goals in shorthanded situations.

“That second one gave us a lot of momentum,” Cougars coach Matt Turinsky said. “We didn’t come out in the third period with the fire and intensity we had in the second, and they took it to us.”

Carsten Gallant, Mitch Cummins and Thomas Wahl also scored for the Trojans, who finish at Barrington at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday.