After finishing the regular season with only one conference loss, the Highland Park Giants hockey team continued its hot streak in the playoffs, advancing to the championship round of the Illinois High School Hockey League North Central Division this week.
The Giants defeated Maine Township 3-0 on Friday night to win the three-game series in two straight and advance to the final round, where it will square off against either New Trier Blue or Buffalo Grove/Hersey/Wheeling High School on Wednesday night. The division championship will be decided by another three-game series, with game two being played on Friday and game three, if necessary, on Sunday.
Highland Park, which finished the season 15-1-2 in conference, had a first-round bye in the playoffs, then defeated the New Trier White team 3-1 and 7-0 in consecutive games to advance to the semifinals against Maine Township. The Giants opened the scoring quickly in the first game against Maine Township, as junior Gavin Proeh scored on an assist from sophomore Tommy Quirk just 48 seconds after the puck dropped.
The Giants extended their lead to 2-0 in the second period on a shot from junior David Shapiro with assists from Quirk and Andrew Krug. A shorthanded goal by Proeh began the third period to up the lead to 3-0. Maine Township was able to get one past goaltender senior Liam McCann with just over a minute remaining to spoil the shutout. Highland Park ended the game with an empty-netter to win 4-1.
On Friday night at the Iceland Arena in Niles, Highland Park was able to once again able to build a lead on Maine Township with Shapiro scoring a shorthanded goal with four minutes to go in the first period. With just over three minutes left in the second period, junior Kieran Jagadeesh pushed the puck up the ice, faked a shot and found an open Zach Harris who hit the open net to up the lead to 2-0. McCann kept the puck out of the net — including in a two-man advantage situation when Maine Township pulled their goalie —and Highland Park advanced.
While the North Central Division Championship is Highland Park’s focus this week, the team also is competing in the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois State Hockey Championship, which began on Sunday with a 2-0 win over York High School. The win advanced 10th-seeded Highland Park to the next round, where the Giants will face either Warren High School or Naperville Central High School on Tuesdayat the Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville.
“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.”
The state championship game — should Highland Park advance that far — will be played at the United Center on March 22.