Waubonsie falls in title game

A five-minute stretch in the second period was about all Rockford needed to put away Waubonsie Valley and retain its reign over the Combined Division in Illinois hockey.

The Icemen (28-5-3) scored four times Monday during the dominant second period stretch en route to a 7-5 win the Blackhawk Cup, played at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville.

The Warriors finished 35-22-6, and the Icemen win was Rockford's 14th consecutive state championship.

"They were wearing their (past championship) rings in warmups; we saw them. That was a little intimidation factor," said Warriors junior Russ Jordan.

The fear factor didn't impact Waubonsie Valley in the first period, which ended 2-2. Then the roofed collapsed.

Rockford's Tim Santopoalo scored a rebound goal at 8:29 of the second period, giving the Icemen their first lead of the night, 3-2 - and Santopoalo's goal came seconds after the Icemen killed off a 5-on-3 man disadvantage.

Trevor Edwards converted a penalty shot at 6:30 of the second, then added another tally at 4:45 off an assist from Connor Anderson

Anderson then scored an upper-corner tally at 3:07 to build a 6-2 lead.

"We let the penalties (in the second period) get to us," Jordan said. "We played a little dirty and they pounded on us and got a few goals."

The Warriors were whistled for 14 penalties, while Rockford was called for 6.

"I thought it was a good hockey game," Rockford coach Tim Mattila said. "Hockey is a game of momentum, and we certainly took it over at that point (in the second). The game probably was won there."

Waubonsie didn't fold in the third, it just ran out of time. Jordan, the team captain, scored a hat trick in about a four-minute stretch of the third.

"They were a little passive on the puck (in the third) and that's when we hopped on them," Jordan said.

Jonathan Morin scored the first goal on an assist from Louis Storto. Joe Storto scored Waubonsie's second goal off a pass from Alex Crowe.