PREP News and Events

PREP’s First Annual Freeze Out Tournament

PREP’s first annual Freeze Out Tournament took place the weekend after Christmas. The opening morning featured a game against the Huntley Raiders. Despite a steady snowfall outside, both teams were able to get to the rink for the opening face off. An entertaining first period ended with neither team able to score. Mitch Carpenter was able to break that tie one minute and twenty seconds into the second period. He punched in Jim Sitkiewicz’s goal mouth pass making the score 1-0. Huntley tied the game with a power play goal 3 minutes later. Vince Lullo’s rebound goal 6 seconds later put PREP on top for good in the game. Sean Cadwell and Bryan Kirsten assisted. Carpenter’s second goal made it 3-1 as he scored off a nice pass from Vinny Carbone. Sitkiewicz also assisted on the play. Nick Natola’s short-handed goal in the third period was PREP’s final tally as the final buzzer sounded on a 4-1 victory. Doug Behles got the win in net with relief from James Tuccori.

The Andrew Lighting Bolts were next for PREP in a Saturday afternoon game. Nolan Peterson started the scoring when his long slapshot from ten feet outside the blue line was mishandled by the Andrew’s goalie right into the net. Three minutes later Carpenter scored on passes from Sitkiewicz and Carbone. Kirsten capped off the first period scoring when he scored on a nice backhand from in front. Tyler Popp’s pass started the play. Andrew scored their only goal in the second to make the score 3-1 at the end of the two periods. Cadwell scored 31 seconds into the third period and started a string of 5 straight PREP goals. Kirsten assisted on his goal. Nick Chromy broke a long scoring drought with a goal at 8:50. Russ Burgert assisted. Eight seconds later, Kirsten stole with puck and scored making it 6-1. Burgert’s pass put Kirsten in alone for a break-a-away goal and his hat trick at the 4:40 mark. That goal made the score 7-1. Dan Micholson closed out the scoring with Carpenter assisting at the .50 second mark. Goalie, James Tuccori’s 8-1 win put PREP into the semi-finals with their second win of the tournament.

Sunday’s game against the Leyden Eagles featured two teams with 2-0 records. The winner would get the number one seed and the loser the number two seed. PREP took a 1-0 lead when Ryan Morgan scored a power play goal off a nice pass from behind the net by Kirsten at 2:03. Devin Fracassi started the play. The Eagles scored a goal to even the score at 1 to 1 at the end of period one. Leyden out worked PREP, scoring two goals in the second but Peterson’s late goal cut the Eagle’s lead to 3-2 at the end of the second period. Carpenter got the helper on the power play goal. Three minutes into the third period, Carpenter tied the game, scoring another power play goal with assists from Peterson and Carbone. Lullo’s goal with 31 seconds left broke the tie and put PREP ahead 4-3. His goal was PREP’s fourth power play goal of the game. Morgan and Kirsten assisted. Morgan’s long pass put Lullo in for an empty net goal with sixteen seconds left and sealed PREP’s 5-3 comeback victory. Doug Behles started the game and James Tuccori came in halfway and got the win in a relief performance. The victory put PREP into the semi-finals as the #1 seed from their division.

Monday morning’s game was against the Lincoln Way Central Knights. They had gotten to the semi-final game with a 1 win,1 loss, 1 tie record and had moved ahead of New Trier White because they had given up less goals. Just like the last three games, PREP scored first, taking a 1-0 lead on Kirsten’s goal at 9:54. Morgan and Lullo assisted on the play. Sixteen seconds later , the Knights tied the game and the period ended with the score 1-1. Lincoln Way Central scored two goals early in the second to take a 3-1 lead. PREP scored the next two goal to tie it back up. Carpenter started the comeback with a goal at the 9:40 mark. Peterson and Sitkiewicz assisting, then Morgan scored off Lullo’s pass with Kirsten assisting also to knot the score at 3-3 at the end of two periods. The Knights took an elbowing penalty at the end of the period that came back to haunt them when Kirsten scored on the power play at 13:19 of the third to give PREP a 4-3 lead. Another penalty put PREP back on the power play and Morgan tallied on assists from Kirsten and Fraccasi. That score made it 5-3 and is the way the game ended with Behles and Turocci splitting the game in net.

The South Elgin Storm stood between PREP and the championship trophy. The Strom had 2 wins and 1 loss in their bracket and had beaten the Leyden Eagles to get to the finals.

The Storm scored two goals in the first nine minutes to take a 2-0 lead. With four minutes left, Lullo ‘s wrist shot from the right circle cut the Storm’s lead to one. Popp’s outlet pass set up the play making it 2-1 at the end of the first period. South Elgin scored again at 19 seconds into the second period to take at 3-1 lead. Cadwell picked up a loose puck and beat the Storm goalie to cut PREP’s deficit in half. Four minutes later, Lullo scored again on passes from Popp and Kirsten to even the score at three. Carpenter’s goal from in front gave PREP it’s first lead of the game at 7:32 of the second period. Carbone and Sitkiewicz got the helpers. Carpenter and Carbone hooked up again to make the score 5-3 at the end of two. Lullo completed his hat trick 31 seconds into the third period when he tapped in Morgan’s goalmouth pass. Kirsten started the play from behind the net. South Elgin managed only 5 shots in the third period as PREP hung on to finish the 6-3 win. PREP outshot the Storm 36-15 in the game with goalies Doug Behles and James Tuccori leading the way to the tournament championship. Mitch Carpenter earned the tournament MVP award as he ad 7 goals and two assists in the 5 games.