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Wildhawks continue domination of OPRF
Oak Park-River Forest's Anthony Rorres (24) skates with the pack against Bartlett Jan. 13, 2013 at the Paul Hruby Ice Arena in Oak Park. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media
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OAK PARK — Sunday night was the third of three games between the Oak Park-River Forest and Wildhawks hockey teams this season, and the Wildhawks continued their dominance over the Huskies with a convincing 6-0 victory at Ridgeland Common Ice Rink.
The Wildhawks — a combined team primarily comprised of players from West Chicago and Bartlett high schools — were led by winger Dean LaMantia. LaMantia, a sophomore at Bartlett, emphatically left his imprint on the game, scoring the game’s second and third goals. He also assisted on the Wildhawks’ pair of goals in the third period.
“We didn’t really do anything different,” LaMantia said. “I think we just outplayed them ... . They came out pretty strong because it was their senior night, but just came up a little short.”
Sunday’s 6-0 victory was the second time the Wildhawks have defeated Oak Park-River Forest by six goals this season — the first 6-0 result took place on Oct. 26, and they beat the Huskies 3-1 on Jan. 5. Oak Park-River Forest has been dominated in all three games largely because of the Wildhawks’ talent and style of play.
“They’re a team that likes to bring the puck up the ice,” Oak Park-River Forest senior Kevin Rogers said. “They get a lot of shots to the net and they possess the puck a lot. I think the issue (tonight) was more that we really weren’t getting the puck out of the zone. When they dominate the puck possession game like that, we don’t really have a chance to stop them from scoring or score ourselves.”
Despite allowing six goals in Sunday night’s game, Oak Park-River Forest goalie Wiley Lauerman played well. The junior stopped 34 of the Wildhawks’ 40 shots on goal. The Huskies generated 15 shots in the game, all of which were saved by Kyle Nielson, a senior at West Chicago.
