Crystal Lake South Hockey Upsets Barrington

Years of frustration ended Tuesday night at the Crystal Ice House in Crystal Lake when the Crystal Lake South Gators upset the perennial Metro Central Champion Barrington Broncos, 5-3. 

It marked the first time in school history that the Gators defeated Barrington in a varsity game.

Their roster down four players, South relied on a strong team performance and solid goal-tending from Ben Allison (27 saves). The Gators struck first quickly — just 14 seconds into the game Shane Gustafson, of Lake in the Hills, tapped in a pass from Austin Wiggerman, also of Lake in the Hills, to give South an early 1-0 lead. 

The first period remained 1-0 until Barrington got on the board on a goal from Tommy Lekai with 1:25 remaining in the period. Barrington struck again 1:30 into the second period to take a 2-1 lead, on Lekai's second goal of the game.

Barrington controlled play in the second period, until two late penalties in the second stanza put South on a 5-3 power play. South coach Rich Perillo opted to use his time out to set up a play that proved to be the tying goal when senior captain Joey Bower blasted a slap shot past Barrington goalie Phil Gilroy to tie the game with 31 seconds remaining in the period.

The Gators built on the power play goal and came out flying in the third, scoring on the first shift when Jordan Ross sprung Jake Bigos for a breakaway goal in the first minute of the final period. Ross later added to the lead with a goal from the high slot to give South a 4-2 lead.

The Gators appeared to have the game in control but found themselves down two men late in the third period setting up an opportunity for Barrington to get back into the game. 

The Broncos capitalized on the 5-3 when defenseman Nathan Alosio scored to cut the lead to 4-3. 

South was able to kill the rest of the power play. With the clock ticking down and Gilroy out of the net, Bigos blocked a shot and outraced the Barrington defenseman to the puck, which he tapped into the empty net to secure the victory

After the game, Perillo said he was pleased with all aspects of his team. “We got great goaltending, our defense was great from the defensemen all the way to the forwards that back-checked hard through the whole game, and we got production from our top line that produced when we needed them to,” he said. Bower, Bigos and Ross had combined for 7 points.

The victory gave South sole possession of first place in Metro Central with a 5-0 record (13-5 overall).

Box Score:

First period:

CLS: Gustafson (Wiggerman, Kinker)

Barrington: Lekai (Towne)

Second period:

Barrington: Lekai (Alosio, Wagner)

CLS: Bower (Bigos, Hudak)

Third period:

CLS: Bigos (Ross, Franco)

CLS: Ross (Bigos)

Barrington: Alosio (Schmeling)

CLS: Bigos

Saves:

CLS: Allison-27

Barrington: Gilroy-13

Source: Submitted by the Crystal Lake South Hockey Club