By Billy Reardon ‘23

Last week, 11 senior skating Crusaders were honored minutes before playing against the St. Rita Mustangs. The Crusaders won 5-1 and goals in that game for Sean Moran, James Esposito, Cooper Wainwright, Jacob Potoczny, and Andrew Hoefler. The Crusaders will now compete in the Kennedy Cup Playoffs as the regular season has ended.

The varsity hockey team recently defeated Mt. Carmel on January 26 with a win 6-2. Charlie McClorey shot 2 goals and had an assist. Billy Gaskin, James Esposito, Jack Keaty, and Cooper Wainwright scored as well. The next playoff game will be Saturday, February 4th at Arctic Ice Arena.

The skating Crusaders have a lot of confidence after beating our rival, St. Rita, twice this season. This could help us succeed in the upcoming Kennedy Cup Playoffs. The last time we took home the Kennedy Cup was in 2001 and were Chicago Catholic League Champions in 2001 as well. The Crusaders are ranked #4 in the CCHL and 13-11 overall. The #1 team in the CCHL is the St. Ignatius Wolf Pack who are 23-3 overall.

We had a competitive game against the Wolfpacks back in October with a loss of 1-3. If we used whatever plan we did last time, there is a chance we could win. The Wolfpack has a strong offense and all we have to do is play smart.

“The team’s goals for going into playoffs are to just play physical, have good puck movement, get shots on net, and play good defensively. If we can manage to do this then the Kennedy Cup is going to be ours this year which is our overall goal,” said senior Conor Haggerty.