Glenbrook South tops Glenbrook North in annual Thanksgiving Eve hockey classic

Using both finesse and force, plus solid goaltending and game plan, Glenbrook South won its second straight Thanksgiving Eve hockey classic against Glenbrook North, 2-0 Nov. 23 at Centennial Ice Rink in Wilmette.

Rink staff said capacity is "roughly 1,000," but reports had some 1,500 students, parents, hockey alumni and youth players from both Scholastic Hockey League programs crammed into the space.

Glenbrook North coach Evan Poulakidas, whose team had won 15 straight meetings leading up to the 2021 game, thought the count exceeded even that.

"It was beyond overflow, and then people were trying to get in and they were turning people away," Poulakidas said.

Before the game each program provided a $2,500 donation to Northfield Township Supervisor Shiva Mohsenzadeh for the Township Food Pantry.

Pregame announcements also noted Glenbrook South coach Jim Philbin's upcoming Jan. 29 induction into the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame.

"Which threw me off a little bit," said an unsuspecting Philbin.

Glenbrook South's game remained unshaken. The Titans, the annual host of the rivalry game, opened the scoring with 2 minutes, 54 seconds left in the first period.

Co-captain Zach Freimuth, a defenseman until Philbin turned him into a forward as a freshman, skated fast into the offensive zone after senior forward Jason Ban pried the puck off the boards at his own blue line.

Feeling inside defensive pressure as he bore in from the left, Freimuth made a spin-o-rama move and from inside the faceoff dot the junior right winger slid a backhand shot underneath Glenbrook South goaltender Nate Kasdan.

"Denis Savard-like," Philbin said.

Ban and Adrian Sokol picked up the assists.

At 15:00 of the second period, Glenbrook South senior center Jack Mulvey skated into the offensive zone but lost the puck into the right corner. He charged in and delivered a big shoulder to Glenbrook North defender Jacob Smith to create space.

Mulvey gathered the puck then whipped a blind pass straight into the slot, where wide-open junior left wing Wyatt Sherwood lifted a shot top-shelf for the 2-0 Titans lead.

"I'm glad Wyatt went to the net hard and was talking. But Mulvey made that play," Philbin said.

Getting 36 saves from all-state goalie Luke Winger, the reigning SHL player of the year, Glenbrook South (10-3-5 entering Wednesday) held on as the Spartans outshot the hosts 17-9 in the third period.

"I think it was a great game for both teams," Philbin said.

"I think from our side we needed to shut down their top scoring line with Owen Just, he's one of the best players in the state. We wanted to shut them down in the neutral zone and play a more defensive style and force them to dump pucks. Have our defensive men play a little bit back and have clean, quick outs.

"We needed to control the puck and the play in order to beat North. If they don't have the puck, they can't score," Philbin said.

The Hall of Fame coach highlighted Winger's puck-handling ability to act nearly as a third defenseman, along with Titans defensive stalwarts such as senior Owen Almburg.

Poulakidas didn't think Glenbrook North (22-7) hit its stride, and its forecheck, until midway through the game.

"We played fine, we just didn't do enough to win," Poulakidas said. "We let a period and a half go by until we decided to play our style of hockey. And their goalie, Luke Winger, is the best goalie in the state."

He praised his senior defenseman, Conor Katsamakis, as well as senior goaltender, Kasdan, who stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced, including some odd-man breakaways.

"The game could have gotten away from us," were it not for Kasdan, Poulakidas said.

"A lot of things happened in that game because of the crowd. It is a little unnerving, it's loud, it's boisterous," Poulakidas said.