Hammond, IN - One of the greatest aspects of high school sports is the opportunity to play a sport you enjoy with people you love. Hockey is one of those sports at North Catholic. The teammates, the games, the rinks, the moments all add up to the incredible memories of being able to play high school hockey. The Trojans had their share of memories to take back home from their tournament in Hammond, Indiana, in November over the 10-12th. It was a successful weekend for North Catholic as they finished 2-2-1 by battling their way through adversity to finish as the runner-up at the 3rd Annual Bishop Noll Catholic High School Invitational. 

Game 1: Bishop Noll Institute (Hammond, IN)
The Trojans started their slate of games by facing off against the home team Warriors of Bishop Noll. North Catholic got the legs moving early and got out to an early lead courtesy of Captain Emilio Laracuente, who notched the first tally of the contest just 2:58 into the 1st period. The Trojans would add to their lead just 32 seconds later as Ryan Berry, with an assist from Ryder Graff, made goaltender Shelton look silly. North Catholic now led 2-0. Conor Berry would head to the box for a double minor penalty for cross-checking with 5:19 remaining in the 1st, but the scoring never left the ice as Beckett Dunn shot down the ice and buried it for the short-handed goal, which put them up 3-0 in the 1st. That score would hold until 10:15 of the 3rd period when Bishop Noll cut their deficit to 2. Beckett Dunn wasn't having it; he ripped his second of the night after an assist by Ryan Berry just 2 minutes and 8 seconds later to make it 4-1 North Catholic. That's how the score would stay the rest of the way, as the Trojans won Game 1 with authority. 

• Wyatt Cleveland was excellent in net, stopping 18 of 19 shots. 

• There were 24 penalty minutes for North Catholic, but they were able to kill all power plays and protected themselves well in a physical affair. 

Game 2: St. Joesph High School (South Bend, IN)
North Catholic started their Saturday with their second game of the weekend against a solid St. Joesph squad. The Indians got the game's first goal with 1:55 remaining in the 1st period. The Trojans would respond just a couple minutes into the 2nd period with a big goal by the fantastic freshman Quinn Lee, who was assisted by the rest of his line, Laracuente and Carson Paglia. Pags plays such a strong game, with a powerful forechecking ability, and on top of that, has a lot of hockey smarts, which makes him a very valuable player to have on the team, in addition to having the Captain on that line, Quinn Lee has the makings of a star for North Catholic. He has hands for days and is such a savvy player that he will continue to strengthen and grow his role on the team as this season progresses. He's still only a freshman. St. Joesph scored the next goal about midway through the 2nd on a Power Play, giving them the lead they would carry into the 3rd until Paglia tickled the twine on the Power Play off the assist of Ryan Berry, which deadlocked them at 2. The game would end in a 2-2 tie, and the tournament pool play rules have each game scored a point per period, meaning that each period was a mini-game and the team that scored more goals in the period would get the point, and if it were a tie, they would both get points. Because of the distribution of goals in this game, both teams ended with the same amount of points, making it a proper tie in more ways than one. 

• Conner Racette stood tall in net, stopping 18 of 20 in the contest. 

• Sophomore forward Miles Robinson was injured in this game and was not able to play the rest of the tournament because of the severity of the injury. Hopefully he will be back after the Thanksgiving break because he is a significant loss for the team. 

Game 3: Brother Rice (Chicago, IL)
North Catholic's final pool play game came against the Brother Rice Crusaders on Saturday evening. The Trojans would get the first goal with 2:20 remaining in the 1st period off an impressive shot by sophomore defenseman Jack Anderson, assisted by Beckett Dunn. They would carry the advantage until the Crusaders tied it with 29 seconds remaining in the 2nd. In the 3rd, Brother Rice would put on a quick two more goals to make it 3-1, and that was responded to appropriately by an outstanding goal by Ryan Berry with 7:34 left in the contest, assisted by Jack Brit, and Jack Anderson who had an exciting game for himself offensively. The Crusaders added to their lead late in the 3rd on an empty netter, giving them the win 4-2. It was an unfortunate loss in a close game where North Catholic had plenty of opportunities to win. 

• Wyatt Cleveland was excellent in goal, stopping 28 of 31 shots. 

• No penalty minutes for North. 

Game 4: Brother Rice (Chicago, IL)
The Trojans would head into Championship Sunday as the 4 seed out of 6 teams. The top 4 had a chance to play in the final, with the 2nd seed playing the 3rd seed while the 4th seed played the 1st seed. North Catholic's loss to Brother Rice the previous night propelled them into a rematch in the semifinals on Sunday morning. This one was even closer. The Trojans had a ton of penalties in this game, including two 2 and 10 penalties for boarding. North Catholic had to buckle down defensively, playing with as few as 7 forwards; they knew they would have to be opportunistic. They would score the first goal 3:51 into the 2nd period as Ryan Berry got back on the board, assisted by Beckett Dunn. Those two forwards for the Trojans make up one of the very best lines in PIHL (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League) and are two guys who lead this team by example in many more ways than just on the scoresheet. The Crusaders would strike back and tie it 5 and ½ minutes later, and the score would stick till the end of regulation. Games don't end in a tie on Sunday, so they continued into overtime. For a tense 3 minutes and 55 seconds, the game remained knotted at 1, but Beckett Dunn got the puck on his stick and dished it off to Ryder Graff, who ripped it… IN!! North Catholic was heading to the Championship off Ryder's OT winner! And he was smiling like a butcher's dog. 

Game 5: St. Xavier (Cincinatti, OH)
North Catholic earned their spot in the final on Sunday afternoon against the St. Xavier Bombers. The Bombers would strike first, and it came while they were short-handed as the Trojans power play fell apart 43 seconds into it, and St. Xavier capitalized. North Catholic would strike back 4 and ½ minutes later on their next Power Play as Ryan Berry touched nylon once again after the assist by Quinn Lee. That 1-1 score would continue into the beginning of the 3rd where the Bombers scored to make 2-1 with 10:19 to go. They would add to that lead to make it 3-1 with 3:02 remaining in the 3rd. The Trojans would continue to fight, and Conor Berry had his hard work rewarded on a remarkable shot from the right-wing circle off an incredible pass by Colin Gnarra to cut the deficit in half with 13 seconds left. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time left to tie, and St. Xavier would go on to win the Bishop Noll Catholic High School Tournament, but the Trojans left as the Runner Ups. 

• Ryan Berry was named to the All-Tournament team as recognition for being one of the top players in the tournament and, for the sake of truth, the best player at the tournament. 

Takeaways and Moving Forward:
This was an excellent weekend for the boys that they enjoyed immensely as they learned more about each other and what their team was capable of. The teams they played were all top-rate clubs with hosts of solid players up and down the lineup. North Catholic showed that their lineup was as good as anyone's, and the confidence in how they played over the weekend carried into their PIHL game on Monday evening against Butler, where the Trojans won a critical game 4-1. Beckett Dunn got a hat-trick while Ryan Berry tallied one as well, to make them 3-2-1 on the year, and they sit 6th in the Varsity A Gold Division as of Wednesday evening, the 15th. Their next game will be the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, the 28th, at McDowell. Pay attention to this team. They're going places. 

Let's go Trojans!