There are not many teams in Illinois West this season who can keep up with Combined team of the Warriors (15-5).    

     But one of those teams who can are the Hinsdale Central Red Devils (14-5). The Red Devils skating ability was on full display Sunday evening at All Seasons Ice Arena in Aurora as the Red Devils caught the Warriors in holiday ‘hang-over’ and hung on for a 2-1 win.’

      “I think they (Warriors) really rely on their top line,” Red Devils coach William Brooks said. “And when their top line does not produce, they seem to struggle. They lost a lot of their depth from last season due to graduations (of players). So, our plan tonight was to shut down their top line and I think we did a good job doing that.”

       The Red Devils were also helped by the playing of starting goaltender Eli Mathieu who stopped all but one of the 28 shots he faced on the night. His Busiest period on the night would come in the third period as he would stop 12 of the 13 shots he would face.

     “We are not a team who is built to win a shootout type of game,” Brooks said. “We have been getting out win when they are low-scoring game like what tonight was. We do rely on our top line to score for us. So, tonight was good to get some scoring from our second line.”

      After a scoreless opening 17 minutes of play, the Red Devils would get on the scoreboard when fwd. Derek Daze skated into Warrior zone on a two-on-one along with teammate, Sr. Carter Draudt. Daze would send the puck onto the stick of Draudt who would beat Warrior’s goalie Spencer Afseth with a wrist shot to the glove side for the 1-0 lead with 14:56 left in the middle period.

      The Warriors offensive struggles would also be highlighted by the team going 0-5 on the man-advantage.

      “I think we got Warriors on their heels a lot in the first and second periods,” Draudt said. “I do not think they expected us to come out as hard as we did tonight. They (Warriors) have a lot of guys who just skate really bad teams into the ground. But when they come up against a team who skates as well as they do, they get a little lost.”

      Draudt would continue to make his presence known later in the middle period.

     The Red Devils would up their lead to 2-0 at the 6:16 mark of the second frame when Draudt would take a feed from Bob MacPherson and score his sixth goal of the year beating Afseth to his glove hand.

     “It was a very hard game for both teams,” Draudt said. “I think the better of my two goals was the first one. Coming off just killing off a penalty it was great to get that first one. I think it also helped we had no games for almost three weeks. We needed the time off after a long stretch of games in November and December.”

      The Warriors lone tally on the night would come off the stick of Joseph Pijanowski with 4:49 left in regulation time making it 2-1, which was as close as the home side would get.

        “It was not the result we were hoping for tonight,” Warriors coach Keith Fahrforth said. “This game just proved that anything could happen when the teams in the top six in our league get together. We did start slow tonight but I thought we had some really good chances to even the game up if not take the lead and win it. For us now, it’s onto the next game and close on the regular season strong.”
     The Warriors face Lyons Twp. Saturday afternoon at Willowbrook Ice Arena at 4:30 P.M. and then return home to face league leading Maine Twp. Jan. 11 at 7 P.M. at All Seasons.

     The Red Devils face off against Maine Twp. Friday night at 9 P.M. in Park Ridge at Oakton Ice Arena.