The Combined team of the Warriors traveled to Willowbrook Ice Arena Saturday afternoon to face the Hinsdale Central Red Devils. With the warriors coming off a state championship in March, the Red Devils knew they were going to be in a battle and had something to prove.

     And prove they did holding off the Warriors 4-3.

     “We knew how good they were just based off of what they did last season,” Red Devils fwd. Noah Rzeppa said. “We had to put the pedal to the metal with that top line they have. But I think we did a really good job today of limiting their chances in the crease area.”

     While the Red Devils were doing their part on defense, fwd. Derek Daze gave the home side a 1-0 lead with 2:40 left in their opening frame on a shot from in close to Warriors goalie Tyler Bellot (24 saves).

     The visitors would knot the game at 1-1 at the 10:37 mark of the middle period when sr. fwd. Josh Pijanowski (Waubonsie Valley) took a feed from def. Jacob Morgan (Metea valley) and sent a snap shop from the top of the far faceoff circle past Red Devils netminder Eli Mathieu (20 saves).

     Hinsdale Central would re-take the lead at 2-1 with 6:33 left in the second period when fwd. Dennis Nikolaev stole a loose puck in front of the Warriors net and sent a quick shot past the stick side of Bellot.

      “I really think this group of guys we got this year is not like any others we have ever had in my four years here,” Rzeppa said. “We trust in our coach and the system he puts in for us. There is no one individual with this team. We kept our composure despite all the penalties we took.”

     Each team would take seven minor penalties on the day.

     The Warriors scored the next two goals to take a 3-2 lead thanks to work of fwd. Michael Jaime who tied the score at 2-2 at the 5:55 mark. This was followed by Pijanowski who scored his second goal of the contest with 14:24 left in regulation time making it 3-2.

     Red Devils fwd. Dennis Nikolaev knotted the contest at 3-3 with 7:14 remaining when he advanced the puck into the Warriors zone and sent a hard wrist shot past Bellot.

     The game winner would come off the stick of Rzeppa just :24 seconds later when he scored off a shot just outside the Warriors crease area for the 4-3 advantage.

     “As the game went on, I started to figure out what kind of plays they wanted to run in our end,” Red Devils Eli Mathieu said. “I liked the way I adjusted to their back-door scoring chances as the game went on. I felt like I was seeing the puck really well today.”

     Hinsdale Central would outshoot the Warriors 28-23 for the game.