Hockey: New Trier downs Naperville Central
By Dan Ruane For Sun-Times Media March 13, 2013 9:12PM
New Trier Green’s first line was so good on Wednesday night that the only time the game was in balance between the Trevians and Naperville Central was when the Redhawks had a power play.
The line of Kyle Melton, Brian Enriquez and Andrew Koch set the tone from the very beginning as New Trier coasted to an easy 8-1 victory in the state playoffs and will face the winner of the Naperville North vs. Sandburg contest on Sunday at the Edge in Bensenville in the final four.
``That line has been our go-to line all year,’’ Trevians coach Bob Melton said. ``Late in the season we moved Brian back to defense because we had issues there but tonight we moved him back and it gave us a shot in the arm.’’
Just 22 seconds into the game, Melton set up on the right side and flipped a wrist shot at goalie Austin Smith that Koch re-directed for a 1-0 lead. Previous to the shot, New Trier set up in the Redhawks zone as if it had a power play by the way it controlled the puck even though both teams were at full strength.
``We’ve been playing together for five or six years,’’ Kyle Melton said. ``All of our lines do different things but our line likes to control the puck and control the game.’’
The first period ended as it began with Koch scoring on assists from Melton and Enriquez with just 35 seconds remaining in the period for a 2-0 lead. Koch scored a hat trick for the game and the first line was responsible for five of New Trier’s goals all of them while Naperville (32-19-3) was still within contention during the game.
A key moment in the game came when Kyle Melton took his captain role to heart by preventing his teammates from retaliating on a cross-check that ended up being a major penalty against Naperville.
Enriquez and Zev Glass scored within seconds of each other during the same power play that brought the score to 4-0.
``This is Kyle’s third year on the Green,’’ Bob Melton said. ``He has had those leadership qualities passed down to him by the guys who came before him.’’
Glass and Enriquez both scored in the third period and Jesse Arnold added a goal for the No. 2 Trevians (53-15-1). Melton had three assists.
Matthew Mullally scored the lone Redwings goal on a tip-in from Joe Schick.
