21 seed Neuqua Valley and Michael Viola play host to 22 seed Deerfield in the 1st round of the Blackhawk Cup. Jack Blanchard gets the nod in net for Neuqua. The winner moves to play Lake Forest.
Deerfield comes out fast right out of the gate. Samuel Paley flies up the ice and gets a good look, but his shot is saved by Blanchard.
The Warriors open up the scoring shortly after that, but the Wildcats get a power play with 3 minutes left in the 1st. Tim Guagliardo throws the puck on net and it finds Michael Viola, he sends this game to the 2nd all even at 1.
The Warriors have a power play a minute into the 2nd period. They play some tick tac toe and the puck finds Jack Gerber who puts it in the open net to give Deerfield the lead back.
Now trailing by a goal, Neuqua once again turns to Michael Viola and the senior answers the call, blocking a dump in, then poke checking the puck free, and finishing it off with a filthy backhand and that goal ignites the rest of the Wildcats.
Shortly after Jake Haggerty takes it himself, skating over the blue line and firing the shot past Seth Miller to give the Wildcats the lead 3-2.
The Warriors look to get that goal back. Zach Goldman flies up the ice and splits a pair of defenders, but Jack Blanchard is there for the stop and Matthew McDonnell swipes the rebound away.
With 2 minutes left in the period Deerfield makes the mistake of giving Jake Boudreau all the space he wants and he snipes it top shelf on Miller to give Neuqua a 4-2 advantage.
20 seconds later the Wildcats cap off a monster second period as Marco Rovito finds a loose puck and buries it to give NV a 3 goal cushion heading to the 3rd period
The Wildcats don’t let up in the 3rd. Jake Boudreau gets between the circles and snipes home his 2nd of the game and Neuqua leads 6-2.
Shortly after that, Dakota Houlihan gets boarded, then gets up and centers for Marco Rovito and he sends home his 2nd of the game to seal the deal. Wildcats with an 8 goal out burst and will play Lake Forest in the 2nd round.
