The Glenview Stars Mite Silver team spent the past weekend in Wisconsin playing in the Dells Waterpark Classic. Coaches Joe Walker, Brien Martin and Rob Emme learned a lot about their high voltage offensive team.
 
The Stars won their first three preliminary round games in dramatic fashion marked by furious end-to-end action. The coaching staff told the kids to "play your game" and the young guns took matters into their own hands by compiling 22 GF and 3 GA.  Behind the stellar defense of Peter "Baby Face" Lanscioni, John "Deke" Fushi, John "Big Tuna" Jarosz, Nathan "Mad Dog" Sondag, Joey "The Clown" Walker and in front of Nicolas "The Wall" Botvinnik (who got the call up from the minors), the Stars were poised for the fight.

The potent offense of Shaun "Vamanos" Mannion, Saijai "One-Handed" Kaushal,  Makayla "The Speedster" Paulson, Liam "Quick Hands" Denten, Charlie "Machine Gun" Emme and Will "Captain Serious" Friedman shared the scoring flurry that advanced Glenview to the big dance.
 
Like most championship games, things got off to a measured start between the Glenview Stars and the Milwaukee Winter Club, with one man fore checks, coast-to-coast rushes and neutral zone traps being the rule of the game. With the shot count mounting, Shaun Mannion finally got the party started with a one timer that tickled the twine.

In the third, Saijai Kaushal grabbed the lead by banging in a rebound from a missile launched by Joey Walker at the point. With 46 ticks left on the clock in regulation, the Stars gave up the tying goal that sent the game into OT.

With just seconds left in the OT period, Stars net minder Nicolas Botvinnik was all by his lonesome facing a warrior on his doorstep. The Winter Club shooter unleashed a wicked wrister, but Botvinnik stood strong and gobbled up the biscuit to break the collective hearts of the Winter Club crowd as the OT period ended in a tie.

The championship match up between the two storied powerhouses came down to a shootout. Johnny Fushi got the first Stars' goal by depositing the rubber with a nifty Turcotte fake, going top shelf with the backhand.

Saijai Kaushal had the opportunity to pick the low-hanging fruit and be the hero of the game with the last shot of the shootout. Saijai skated up to the goalie and like two gunfighters on a dusty main street in an old western town, the shooter and the goalie stared each other down. Saijai then stuffed a wrister which whistled past the goalie as if he never saw it, vaulting the Stars to the victory and sending the Winter Club packing for the long cold ride back to Milwaukee.

Keep your eyes on this over-achieving squad as they head into the Wishbone tournament over Thanksgiving.

See the exciting conclusion to the tournament championship game. Click video to enlarge.