NIHL-Blackhawks Tournament title games set for Inwood

The Northern Illinois Hockey League is the largest youth hockey league in the state of Illinois. The league has teamed up with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League to present the annual season-ending tournament weekends, which are presented each year at Inwood Ice Arena in Joliet, in partnership with the Jaguar Hockey Club.

The NIHL-Blackhawks Tournament Championship games involving the Jaguars U18 Elite team at 4:30 p.m., and the local U12 team at 2:30 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 22, will be just two of 22 NIHL championship games to be played at Inwood during the two championship weekends.

The Jaguars U18 Elite Team consists of program graduating seniors Joseph Ambroffi, Brandon Weitzel, Layne Brubaker-Egner, and Dustyn Perona, along with other outgoing seniors Maxwell Krause, Aidan Ogarek, Joshua McDonald, Jayden Tkaczuk, Spencer Graziano, Erik Noon, Cole Walsh, Kevin Stewart, and Cody Comparetto. Austin Parr, Tyler Zelinski, Kevin Lynch, Maximos Sterioti, Connor Podlesak and Jack Lombardi complete the team.

They are coached by Christopher Luedtke.

Coming into Saturday’s championship game against the top-seeded Bloomington Thunder, the Jaguars boast a 31-24-6 overall record. That record includes a third-place regular-season finish in NIHL league play and historic success in the National Junior Prospects (NJP) Premier Hockey League .

Wth a 12-12-1 record in NJP showcase play, this year’s U18 team posted more wins and the greatest number of standings points (25) by any Jaguar team at any level in NJP play ever.

The Jaguars U12 team enters the championship with an overall 35-10-7 record, including an 11-2-5 regular season mark in the Northern Illinois Hockey League. That mark was good enough for second place and a first-round playoff bye. They then swept the Falcons in the two-game semifinal series to earn their way to the big game against the Knights, who enter as the sixth seed.

The team consists of Evan Mattison, Jack Igric, Logan Krupa, Dominic Gregori, Nicholas Brascia, Joshua Kundert, Brody Luzbetak, John Mendoza, Aiden Flood, Mitchell Fulayter, Bryce Reardanz, Wilson Terrutty, Colin Lassiter, and Quinn O’Connell.

The team is coached by Joe Krupa.

Play begins at 9 a.m. each day, this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 22 and 23, and continues next weekend.

The games are open to the public. An admission fee is charged.

All games will also be live-streamed on the Internet by Jaguar Television. You can link to the broadcasts from the Jaguar TV link on www.jaguarhockeyclub.com.

Brackets and scheduled game times can be found on the NIHL website at www.nihl.info.