With the Illinois West Cup in its possession, Waubonsie Valley has work to do in the Blackhawk Cup. The top seeded Warriors opponent in the sweet 16 is the Fox Valley Hawks.
Scoreless with just over 4 minutes to play in the 1st period. The Warriors get some action on net and the puck finds Dylan Blessing and he snipes it past Nick Csekme.
2 minutes later Blessing throws the puck on net. The Warriors get some good looks before Andrew McCoy hits Zach Pearce knocking on the doorstep. The Warriors take a 2-0 lead into the 2nd period.
WV has a power play at the beginning of the 2nd, however Joseph Mullaghy forces a turnover. Johnny Ambrogio takes the present and goes hard to the net. Justin Howard makes a save, but the puck sits and Ambrogio puts it in the back of the net to cut the deficit in half.
The Hawks with some momentum and Derek Lueker forces a turnover leading to a 2 on 1 break, but Howard comes up with a save.
Midway through the period the Warriors look to extend the lead. McCoy passes off the boards to Blessing and he hammers the one timer top shelf for his 2nd goal of the game. Waubonsie leads 3-1 heading to the 3rd.
A few minutes into the 3rd the Warriors get some insurance. Dylan Blessing has had the hot stick all night, so WV once again turns to the defenseman. He rifles it through some traffic and into the back of the net for his 3rd of the game, giving him a hat trick.
Less than 2 minutes later Fox Valley is gifted with an extended 5 on 3 power play. Adrian Osborne is able to fake out a couple Warriors and then goes glove side to beat Howard to cut the WV lead to 4-2.
The Hawks don’t give up in this one as they are down by 2 with 7 minutes remaining. Thomas Purton makes a strong move around Chris Bishop, then sneaks the puck past Howard to make it a 1 goal game.
Fox Valley is relentless in their pursuit of the tying goal, but they just couldn’t get one more past Howard. He makes a point blank save at the end and the Warriors hold on for the win. Up next for Waubonsie Valley in the Blackhawk Cup is BGHW. The Warriors will be looking for revenge as this is a rematch of last years State Championship.
