The Highland Park hockey team took a three-week break for the holidays, but came back to the ice the same way it left — red hot.
The Giants started the new year with two straight victories, one over archrival Deerfield, to up their overall record to 14-1-0 in the Champions Conference of the Illinois High School Hockey League’s North Central Division, one of the state’s most competitive.
“This is a team that can compete for a state championship,” said head coach Sean Freeman. “We have two of the best goal scorers in the state, and what I think is the best goalie in the state. We’re solid on defense and work together as a team. We just have to keep playing the way we’ve been playing and we can take on anyone.”
Last week, Highland Park topped the Lake Forest Scouts 4-1 in their first game of the new year. Then the Giants had the comeback win against Deerfield, taking the game 5-3 after scoring all five goals in the third period on senior night.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m Nostradamus, but I knew we could win that game, even though we were down 3-0,” Freeman said. “I told the kids at the end of the second period that we were getting the shots, we were playing well, we just needed to keep up the pressure and we’d drop five goals. And that’s what we did.”
Highland Park’s first game against Deerfield on Nov. 26 wasn’t close, with the Giants topping their rivals 8-3. This time, at the Centennial Ice Arena, despite numerous opportunities in the first two periods, Highland Park fell behind.
“The Deerfield goalie is solid, but he was having the game of his life,” Freeman said. “He was zoned in and nothing was getting through, no matter how good the shots we were getting.
“To them, this was their Stanley Cup, to beat us in a rivalry game,” Freeman said. “And they were playing great. But I knew that if we could break through, we could come back.”
The Warriors were leading 2-0 when Highland Park finally got on the board with 14:27 left in the third period on an unassisted goal by David Shapiro. Deerfield struck back five minutes later on a short-handed goal to up their lead to 3-1. But Highland Park didn’t stop shooting. Andrew Krug made it 3-2 on an unassisted power play, and the Giants tied the game at three on a goal from Kieran Jagadeesh, assisted by Shapiro.
With 1:22 remaining in the game, Gavin Proeh scored on an assist from Shapiro to give the Giants their first lead. Garrett Collopy added an empty net insurance goal with three seconds remaining to end the game 5-3.
The team also started slowly against Lake Forest, allowing the Scouts to score with two minutes remaining in the first period. But it took the Giants only 44 seconds to respond, when Noah Friedenberg scored on a low wrist shot after taking a pass from Alec Sullivan. Just a minute later, Highland Park took the lead when Proeh was able to keep the puck in the Lake Forest zone and scored on a tight shot. Tommy Quirk was given the assist on the play.
Highland Park upped its lead to 3-1 early in the third period when Collopy’s quick wrist shot made it past the goalie after an assist from Jack Clark. Zach Harris scored the final goal of the game later in the period with an assist from Krug.
Highland Park has been led this year by the prodigious goal scoring of Proeh and Shapiro. But it has been the excellent goaltending of Liam McCann, a senior who’s playing his first year on the Giants after previously playing on AAA teams, that has brought Highland Park to championship caliber.
“He’s the best in the state, and I don’t think you’ll find more than two other coaches anywhere who would disagree,” Freeman said. “His play is amazing. He’s a captain — and goalies really aren’t supposed to be captains — and his leadership in practice is amazing. He’s the player that does the talking. He’s not hollering or screaming or pounding his chest. He talks softly, but everyone leans in and listens. That’s been huge for our team.”
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The Giants have about 20 more games before the start of the playoffs in March, and Freedman is hoping his team continues to build on its momentum.
“We have to keep this cadence, keep up this tempo,” he said. “A great team plays the same way every night, no matter who you’re playing. We keep this up and we can become a great team.”