The mood inside the Loyola girls hockey team’s locker room was a mixture of excitement and nervousness prior to its state semifinal against New Trier, sophomore forward Anne Bloomer said.
Even though he led Loyola to the state championship game each of the last two seasons, Ramblers coach Conor Sedam was among those feeling nervous. He said it’s the most nervous he’s been prior to a game. The primary reason why, he explained, was the way the Ramblers punched their ticket to the United Center each of the last two seasons. In both cases, they prevailed in one-goal nail-biters.
“[Winning a state title has] been our goal since Day 1,” Sedam added. “It’s not easy to get there.”
It was this time, however.
Loyola stormed out to a four-goal lead after one period en route to an 8-2 victory over New Trier in Bensenville on Thursday, March 10.
Bloomer and junior forward Tess Dettling were both magnificent against the third-seeded Trevians. They scored four goals apiece — Bloomer had a hat trick in the first period — to lead second-seeded Loyola back to the United Center. The Ramblers will play top-seeded Barrington at 4 p.m. Friday, March 18.
The Ramblers’ hope is that their state championship game — like the state semifinals this year — unfolds much differently than their last two state championship games. Loyola lost in double overtime to New Trier in 2014. It lost by one goal to Latin a year ago.
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“It’s been hard [to finish second] both years,” Dettling said. “I think that’s definitely motivated us a little more to do it this time.”
Sedam added: “More than anything, we’ve bonded as a team over those experiences. Hopefully that will give us a little edge.”
The Ramblers were a young, up-and-coming squad in 2014 and 2015. The core members of the team — Dettling, Bloomer, junior forward Valerie Caldwell, sophomore goalie Tianna Lavalle and senior captains Emma Wright and Margaret Cusick — were all slated to return after losing to Latin.
That was a big reason for the team’s sense of optimism, following its second straight second-place finish.
“I was pretty upset after [losing to Latin], but the older girls had been through it before and they kind of said, ‘It’s OK. We can learn from it. We’ll get it next year,’ ” Bloomer said. “It was a good experience, the loss, just because you know what to expect and you know the kind of pressure that’s on you and that the emotions are running high. It’s good to control them and learn from them.”
Next year is now for Loyola. All the core players returned. Only the Fillies stand between the Ramblers and their first state championship since 2004.
Barrington has a lot of individual, game-changing talent on its roster. The Ramblers have a similar amount of firepower — specifically, Dettling, Bloomer and Caldwell — but they have a bigger roster. Loyola has 22 players listed on its roster, while Barrington only has 15.
“They have a smaller team than we do, so I think that a key to beating them will be wearing them out over time — just because they have such a short bench and we have so many good players and such depth on our team,” Bloomer said. “I think that will be key.”
Eric Van Dril is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @VanDrilSports