Gators come alive in 3rd

Crystal Lake South's Joey Bower skates with the puck in the fist period against CCM on Friday at the Crystal Lake Ice House in Crystal Lake. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@shawmedia.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – CCM clearly had momentum after two periods of hockey against Crystal Lake South.

The Tigers had fought through a 5-on-3 disadvantage in front of sophomore goalie Ryan Maloney, then Dakota Slone slipped the puck past South’s Adam Wiese late in the period for the game’s first goal.

“That was disappointing, but we bounce back quick,” Gators center Joey Bower said. “We’ve been a third-period team all season. We moved the puck well and found open opportunities.”

South scored four goals in the third to edge CCM, 4-2, Friday in their Chicago Metro Central Division hockey game at Crystal Ice House. The win puts South at 24-13-2 overall, 14-4 in the Metro Central.

“When you don’t score on a 5-on-3, it’s a big power boost for them and demoralizing for us,” Gators coach Rich Perillo said. “We had our talk between periods about playing as a team and not so much as individuals.”

Defenseman Jack Moehling scored on a power play early in the third to tie the score. Forward Jake Bigos then took a pass from defenseman Brandon Franco and raced down the left side to put the Gators ahead, 2-1.

CCM (12-8-3, 8-6-3) is a team combined of players from Crystal Lake Central, Dundee-Crown, McHenry and Woodstock. The Tigers tied the score, 2-2, on Ryan DelGhingaro’s goal with 4:25 remaining, but Bigos scored again with 1:38 to go for the game-winner. Bower added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

“We knew we weren’t done yet [heading into the third],” Bigos said. “We kept our feet moving better. In the first couple periods we were a little slow.”

Bigos’ winning goal came after Jordan Ross flipped a shot at Maloney. Bigos put in the rebound.

“I kind of fanned on the shot, but luckily I got enough on it that the puck got through,” Bigos said. “[Maloney] was making a lot of huge saves.”

Maloney finished with 31 saves, and Wiese had 21.

“Our defense played a heck of a game,” Maloney said. “And the offense played well too. It was an even game right down to the last part. I wish I could have that one play back. I went to cover the rebound, and in the process their second guy got to it first.”

Maloney has stepped into a larger role for the Tigers with junior goalie Kelsea Cichocki out for the season after undergoing wrist surgery.

“[Maloney] has really come in and played great,” CCM coach John Lenzi said. “I knew we didn’t have it locked up in the third, and I didn’t want to come out and play in defense mode. I’m proud of our kids, that could have gone either way.”

For most of two periods, the defenses rules. Maloney and Wiese handled everything that was sent their way.

“It felt like a game between the goalies, going back and forth,” Wiese said. “Both teams were even played really good games.”