Hamrick, CL South hitting their stride
The running truly has been helpful. All 100 miles.
Max Hamrick, 18, a senior hockey player for Crystal Lake South, finished running 100 miles for charity in December as part of a fund-raiser organized by sophomore teammate Joey Bower.
Hamrick ran about 2 miles every other day, mostly on a treadmill to more accurately measure distance, and combined the two raised more than $1,300.
"It was very rewarding, for sure; it felt great to do," said Hamrick, of Lake In The Hills.
And it's been great watching the Gators this season, as they've built a 27-10-3 overall record. They are leading Metro American with a 17-1 record, with a league-leading 134 goals for (24 against).
"We have a deep team this year; there's not one star; everyone is pitching in, doing what they can," said the 5-feet-8, 145-pound Hamrick, in his second season on the varsity team. He has 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists in 35 games) and boasts the team "C" on his jersey for his role as captain.
"We had a good team last year, and we're just improving on that success this year, to take it to the next step. We're not taking anyone for granted; we're focused for every game.
"We're doing better than I expected. We're moving the puck really well. Everyone is pitching in; everyone is doing their job. Our defense is really stepping up and our offense is, basically, scoring at will. Plus, we're getting great goaltending."
The Gators have a multi-dimensional, multi-talented offense, led by junior forwards Ken Hall (31 goals, 29 assists in 18 league games played) and Eric Purcell (23, 30, 18).
"I'm a defensive-minded player," said the right-handed shooting Hamrick. "Whenever I get the chance, I try to help offensively. But we have a lot of guys who score a lot of goals, and that's not really my job. My job is to run the defense and do a lot of the dirty work for the team. And that's just as rewarding (as scoring goals), absolutely."
The Gators' lone Metro setback was a 6-3 loss in early-November to Barrington. Since, they have won 11 in a row.
"Max's work ethic is incredible," said Gators coach Rich Perillo. "Max is a very focused kid who puts all of his efforts into whatever he thinks is right.
"What really sticks out to me about Max is, his determination. He never quits, on or off the ice; that includes (in) games, practices, dry-land (training) and his schoolwork."
Hamrick is a National Honor Society member whose grade point average hovers near a perfect 4.0. He is still undecided on his college choice, but wants to pursue an economics degree. He also does local volunteer work to help at-risk youth, not surprisingly.
After all, he admits he doesn't even remember the few goals he's scored this season.
"They aren't a huge deal to me. I actually tend to remember assists more," he said.
ISHL All-Star Game: Mike Coduto of the co-op Wheaton Wild (Wheaton North) scored a hat trick Jan. 2, in the annual Illinois Suburban Hockey League (ISHL) All Star Game, played at the Darien Sportsplex. Coduto led the White Team to a 9-3 win.
Ironically, it didn't look to be a high-scoring affair after the first period. Instead, it was the goaltenders who shined early stopping a combined 16 of 17 total shots. The Blue team led 1-0 after the first period on a power-play goal at 17:43 from Jeff Zarate, a senior from South Elgin, past Benet senior goaltender Calvin Buckhart.
The White team grabbed a 4-2 lead after the second period, with 4 consecutive goals.
In the third period, the White team built a 6-2 lead on a goal from junior junior John Stevanovich (Riverside-Brookfield). St. Charles North senior Derek Quinn and Nick Webster of the co-op AWF squad scored 1:19 apart late in the third. Lincoln-Way Central senior Mike Ramsay added the final tally of the game for the Blue team in the losing effort.
Senior Luke Nickles (Glenbard North) was the Blue Team MVP.
More coloring: New Trier White, the school's third varsity team, is having a rough run in Metro North. The team has not won a league game since a 4-2 victory over Loyola Maroon on Oct. 24. White has surrendered a league-high 93 goals in 17 games, and has only scored 32. Junior forward Mike Phillips is the only player in double-digit points (3 goals, 7 assists) so far in league play.
Meanwhile, New Trier Blue, the school's No. 2 varsity, is actually the No. 1 team in Metro North, boasting an 11-2-4 record. Blue finished the 2009 portion of its Metro schedule with a 1-0 win over Evanston, and these Trevians are led by junior forward Joe Miller (12, 4). New Trier Green is the No. 1-ranked team in the state and has yet to lose this season to an Illinois high school team.
State Tournament talk: A state champion will be crowned the latest in quite some time, perhaps ever - on Friday night, March 26, which is about two weeks after the champion has been crowned in past years for the Red Division of the Blackhawk Cup.
The game will start at 7 p.m., at the United Center and follows the girls varsity championship game (5 p.m.) and the annual Chicago Police vs. Chicago Fire game (3 p.m.).
The Combined (teams) Championship will be determined on Monday, March 15, at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville - and Rockford appears a lock to skate that day for its 14th consecutive state title.
The White Division Championship for lower-ranked teams is Tuesday, March 16, at The Edge. The Red Division quarterfinals will be March 17-18 and the semifinals will be played March 22, with all games at The Edge.
The brackets for the Blackhawk Cup will be announced later this month.
Stampede update: Cody Barra had a goal and 2 assists in a December game, leading the co-op BGHW Stampede of students representing Buffalo Grove, Wheeling and Hersey to a 5-2 win over Highland Park as part of the season-long Metro Invitational Tournament. Cody's brother, Vincent, also scored.
Cody Barra leads the tournament in scoring (6 goals, 4 assists in 6 games played), followed by Highland Park's Tyler Perlmutter (5, 5, 6).
BGHW goalie Nick Pacini has played in five MIT games and a tournament-high 210 minutes; Matt Barnas played the other MIT game for BGHW. Pacini has allowed 18 goals and faced an MIT-high 129 shots.
Red Devil report: Hinsdale Central has started slow on its 2010 portion of the Metro West schedule. They lost 7-3 to Downers Grove South on Jan. 2, then lost 24 hours later to Lockport 4-0.
The Red Devils have an 8-11-3 record in Metro West and are led by Connor Hincks (17 goals, 7 assists in 20 games played). Hincks has four 2-goal games and tallied a hat trick in October against Neuqua Valley. Jacob Pinski has 11 goals, 4 assists in 18 games while Jad Husayni and Jackson Nelson each have 16 points.
Out West: York skated into 2010 with a 13-3-4 record and was in first-place in Metro West, but the Dukes lost to second-place Sandburg 4-3 on Jan. 3. Sandburg built a 3-0 first period lead on 2 goals from Tom Kenealy and one by Edward Powell.
Connor Whitting scored twice for the Dukes, while Anthony Albergo had a pair of assists in the game. Anthony's brother, Nick, is third in Metro West in scoring (19 goals, 13 assists in 16 games played). Whitting is No. 7 in scoring in Metro West.
The league leader is Naperville Central's Joe Andalina (24 goals, 11 assists in 19 games played).
Girls game: Loyola's Julia Cowan has three game-winning goals among her 10 tallies, to go with 10 assists, in the 10 Metro Girls games she's played this season. Cowan leads the league in scoring, 3 points ahead of Lake Forest's Haley Conroy (8 goals, 9 assists in 10 games).
The Ramblers are in second-place at 10-1-1, only 1 point behind league-leading New Trier (11-1). Loyola's goalies are Kathryn Ogrady, Clare Kennedy and Maria Mieling. Loyola plays host to New Trier on Saturday in Lincolnwood.