Glenbrook North 4, Prairie Ridge 2
THE SKINNY
The Glenbrook North boys hockey team improved its record to 4-0 against Prairie Ridge this season on Wednesday night at the Northbrook Sports Center. The Spartans (51-12-1 overall, 19-4-0 Scholastic Hockey League) can clinch the SHL title by beating St. Viator on Saturday.
TURNING POINT
Prairie Ridge senior forward Kyle Buresch cut the Spartans’ lead to 2-1 with 10 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the second period, but Glenbrook North senior captain Nick Day answered with the eventual game-winning goal. Day collected a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated into the Wolves’ zone and beat Prairie Ridge goalie Ren Pretkelis with a wrist shot. Day’s goal came with 9:03 remaining in the second.
THE STAR
Glenbrook North junior forward Chris Zhang scored the Spartans’ second and fourth goals. He had a hat trick against the Wolves (9-20, 7-16) in the Spartans’ 6-3 victory on Jan. 18.
BY THE NUMBERS
Glenbrook North senior defenseman John McNally scored the first goal of the game with a wicked slap shot with 8:55 left in the first period. Glenbrook North peppered Pretkelis with 44 shots, and the freshman turned away 40 of them. Glenbrook North has outscored Prairie Ridge 23-8 this season.
QUOTABLE
“This time of the year, we don’t really want to take any steps back, and I think tonight we definitely didn’t play our best. Coming off a big win like New Trier, it’s easy to just come into every game and say, ‘All we need to do is show up.’ Clearly we didn’t have our heads in the game and that led to the pretty poor effort overall.” — Glenbrook North senior defenseman Parker Roth. Glenbrook North beat New Trier Green 3-2 on Sunday.
