The Glenbard Varsity squad entered the Blackhawk Cup SemiFinals as a big underdog.  Not only would they be facing the top-seeded Rockford team, but the team that won the Varsity Combined State Championship 15 years in a row.  To add to the motivation of both teams, this is the first year that the Varsity Combined State Championship game would be played at United Center, home of the Chicago Blackhawks.  The much anticipated semifinal game got off to a late start as the game before ended up going 4 OT's so the start time was an hour and a half after it was supposed to start. 

Both teams finally got things started and the deteriorating ice conditions was evident early on in the game as both teams were slowed down.  But despite the ice, the pace of the game early on saw both teams with good chances in the first period.  With both goaltenders on top of their games, the score remained scoreless early on.  Glenbard received the game's first powerplay at 4:10 of the first period, but were unable to get one past the Rockford goalie.  Towards the end of the Rockford penalty, Junior Nick Riscossa got whistled off for slashing and Glenbard had to kill their first penalty of the game.  Glenbard would kill it off and the first period would end scoreless with Rockford holding the shot advantage 8-6.

The second period got started in a similar way to the first period with both goaltenders making it difficult to get on the board.  Glenbard's best opportunity of the game came mid-way through the 2nd period when Junior Rocco Stachowiak was robbed by the Rockford goalie's glove on a point blank opportunity.  Glenbard had a late powerplay in the 2nd period, but were unable to cash in and score remained 0-0 heading into the 2nd period intermission.  Glenbard had the shot advantage in the 2nd period 9-6 and 15-14 after the first 2 periods. 

During the 2nd period intermission, the referees and rink staff looked to repair a hole in the ice, but were unable to do so.  The 3rd period would have to be played on the other sheet of ice at the Edge.  The fans made their way to over to the other rink and were packed in for what would be a great finish to this semifinal game. 

Knowing that the first goal could be the deciding factor, both teams came out firing looking to get that go-ahead goal early in the 3rd period.  Both once again, both goalies were on their game and kept the game knotted up at zero.  With 9:33 left in the 3rd period, Glenbard would find itself on its third powerplay of the game when Rockford was called for a boarding penalty.  Despite some good chances, Glenbard would not be able to get once past the Rockford goalie and the scoreless dual would continue.  Wit the ice starting to tilt in Rockford's favor late in the 3rd, Glenbard used their timeout to try to settle things down, but the Rockford attack was too much for Glenbard.  On a rebound, Rockford was able to get to the front of the net and sneak one past Chris Matza with 2:50 left on the clock.  Glenbard was now in desperation mode with their season in the balance.  With the clock ticking down, they were able to get Matza pulled for a sixth attacker with just over a minute left, but were unable to get a puck on net.  Rockford gained control of the puck and took a shot at the empty net that would miss for an icing call and give Glenbard an offensive faceoff with 46 seconds left in the game.  Glenbard's Rocco Stachowiak would win the faceoff back to Nick Riscossa who quickly fired a shot on net.  Riscossa's shot was deflected by the stick of Senior Anthony Chesrow who was going to the front of the net and went over the shoulder of the Rockford goalie to tie the game up with 41 seconds left.  While a stunned Rockford crowd looked on, the final seconds in the 3rd period would wind down and the game would head into overtime.  Glenbard was able to outshoot Rockford 9-7 in the final period, but all it would take is one shot now to book a trip to the United Center next Friday.

The overtime period got underway with Rockford getting the best of the chances, but Matza was there to steer aside all threats.  Just over a minute and a half into overtime, the Glenbard penalty killers would face their biggest test as Brandon Kressner was called for holding at 8:27.  Glenbard rose to the occassion and successfully killed off the penalty.  Later in the overtime period, with 3:31 left, Stachowiak was able to break into the Rockford zone with Riscossa crashing the net.  Stachowiak slid a backhand pass in front that was re-directed by Riscossa past the stretched out Rockford goalie and the celebration began.  Matza stopped 24 Rockford shots in the victory, including 4 in the overtime period. 

Glenbard's overtime win over 15-time champion and top-seeded Rockford sent shockwaves through the Edge Ice Arena as Glenbard punched their ticket to the United Center to play in the State Championship game.  This is the first time the young Glenbard club has reached the state title game and will face-off against Bartlett/Wheaton West who handled AWFG easily, 8-0 in the other semefinal.  The title game will be Friday, March 23rd 8:45pm at the United Center.