Stevenson forward Bryan Wojdelko skated through both emotional extremes Thursday night at Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion in Buffalo Grove as the Patriots lost 3-2 in overtime to Saint Ignatius.

The Patriots were on a 5-on-3 penalty-kill minutes into the second period of a 1-1 game. Wojdelko swiped the puck from an Ignatius defenseman and sprinted in on goal. He scored the breakaway and gave the Pats, as their black home uniforms boast, a 2-1 edge. Wojdelko, who is now tied with Sean Yurkov for the team-lead in SHL points (12), zipped right after the goal, celebrating in front of the crowd and seemingly encouraging the Stevenson faithful in attendance to up their cheering.

“I poke-checked the puck (from the defenseman) and had a ton of space (heading toward the Ignatius goalie). I did a few dekes and froze the goalie,” Wojdelko said. “In my head, I was thinking, ‘Top right, top right.’ I shot it and it went in; that was the best feeling in my heart.

“I was trying to get the team really pumped up (after the goal) and knew we needed to keep the energy going.”

Flash-forward to overtime, the 3-on-3 setting for the 5-minute overtime became a 4-on-3 man-advantage for Ignatius :11 seconds into the extra period when defenseman Sam Winkelman was whistled for a cross-checking penalty.

Despite the penalty that the Patriots had to kill, Wojdelko was able to secure the puck about :10 after the penalty started and moved in on Ignatius goalie Brody Netzky. 

This time, Wojdelko couldn’t convert the breakaway.

“I got the puck and tried to go under his glove,” but couldn’t score, said Wojdelko, who fell after the shot. “I got up and was skating (back to our defensive zone) as hard as I could and angled the (opponent) to the wall, but (his shot) just bounced over our goalie’s stick, through his legs, into the goal.

“It was an unlucky goal.”

Ignatius forward Tiernan Ryan scored the game-winner as the visitors celebrated their come-from-behind victory. 

“I was mad that I didn’t score and it just got even worse when he scored,” Wojdelko said. “I had bad thoughts going through my head, but we’ve got to keep it together and get ready for our next game.”

The Patriots have now lost 5 consecutive SHL games and their record is 2-9. Saint Ignatius has won 3 in a row and moved their record to 7-4.

“We played well. We could have played better in the overtime; we could have back-checked more,” said Wojdelko, who leads Stevenson with 7 goals in his 10 SHL games played. “I think we played three solid periods. I think we deserved that one; we got unlucky with a few bounces and an unlucky penalty (in overtime).”

Stevenson struck first, grabbing a 1-0 lead at 11:57 of the first period on Chase Kassulet’s third SHL goal of the season, assisted by Wojdelko.

Ignatius answered about 3 minutes later when Jackson Steinlauf scored a powerplay goal from the right side past Patriots goalie Asher Ali, assisted by Austin Haynes and Ryan.

“It was a broke down play,” Steinlauf said. “Tiernan found me and I kind of whiffed (on the shot), but it still went over the goalie’s pad (for the goal).

“Our powerplay hasn’t been that good, so it was good to score on the powerplay.”

The first ended 1-1 and the second ended 2-2 after Charles Gerami scored his first SHL goal of the season with 4:27 remaining in the second on a powerplay, assisted by Eghan Ryan and Samuel Reif.

“We’re not very good on weekday games, so at least we won. It was good to break that (issue). It was not a very good game, but we won nonetheless,” Steinlauf said. “A win’s a win.”

Ignatius needed extra time to secure the victory. Not much, though. Ryan scored at 4:09.

Steinlauf tagged Ryan’s game-winner as a “greasy goal.”

“I think I got a lucky bounce,” Ryan said of his overtime tally. “I got a lucky bounce out to me and started taking ice (toward the Stevenson goal). I saw either Colum (Chinlund) or (Michael) Hollub following with me and saw that I had a pass (opportunity), but also saw I had an angle (toward the goal). I started toward the goal and got a quick shot off. And shots on goal can go in, and it did.

“I was glad to see it trickle in (the net).”

Ryan after the game also noted Ignatius’ struggles on weekday games, anchored around their heavy schedule of SHL and CCHL games.

“We’re tired and injured and got another (injured player) today, but we’ve just got to keep working hard and power through. We have to get better as a team, work hard and just take it to teams as hard as we can,” Ryan said.

Ignatius defenseman Simon Moynihan had to be helped off the ice in the third period and was hobbling around after the game with his right knee bandaged.

“We got off to a slow start,” Ryan said. “It’s an hour drive (to the rink) and you’re supposed to come out as hard as you can, with guns blazing. At times, that’s hard to do, especially after a long day of school.

“But we showed resilience.”

Ignatius associate head coach Jeff Rogers said the game was a “battle and I’m just glad the boys came together in the third (period and overtime) and pulled out the victory; that’s what matters.”

Rogers praised the play of goalie Netzky, “who came up really big for us.”

Wojdelko also sang the praise of Patriots netminder Ali: “Goaltending was good throughout.”

Wojdelko added, “We took some bad penalties and they scored. If we can keep our discipline and get our penalty-kill better, block more shots, we could keep the momentum (and win).

The Patriots return to SHL ice Monday night in Lake Forest. 

Ignatius is on the road next Thursday against No. 1-ranked New Trier Green.