Terry Ott grew up in Naperville and as the current coach of the Regis Jesuit team from Colorado, he didn’t hesitate when Saint Viator coach Tim Benz asked if he’d like to have his team play in the inaugural SHL Showcase this year.

“Being from Illinois, I know high school hockey here and when Tim called and said they were hosting this, I said ‘we’re in’,” Ott said.

“We usually come out for the Jesuit Cup in December, with Loyola and Saint Ignatius, and I like bringing our teams out here. It’s an easy flight from Denver, you know you’re going to get good competition when you get here, and it gives the team a good opportunity to enjoy each other a little bit.”

Eight out-of-state teams and last year’s top eight SHL finishers kicked off the Showcase Friday in Mt. Prospect. The tournament runs through Sunday with each team playing four games.

The SHL went 6-1-1 in Showcase play on Friday, including Saint Viator’s 5-0 win over Regis Jesuit. Charlie Hoffman had a pair of goals in the Lions’ win.

“I think it’s great,” Hoffman said of the SHL Showcase. “I think having clubs from all over the country come over is an awesome idea.”

Saint Viator struck twice in the first period and three more times in the second in securing the win against Regis Jesuit.

“The first period was good and liked our start,” Benz said. “I know our first couple goals were goals their goaltender would probably like to have back, but we played well.

“We’ve been in kind of a downward spiral the past six or seven games, until a win against GBN on Thursday, and it was good to get another win.”

The Lions won eight of their first nine SHL games before hitting a four-game losing streak. Benz had his boys get back to basics, and that approach was evident in Friday’s win.

“We moved the puck very well tonight,” Hoffman said. “Offensively we were able to control the puck and got on our forecheck really well, which has been our low point in the past couple weeks. So we tweaked that up. 

“And in our D zone, we were getting pucks out of the zone and not playing with it, or losing it, but getting it up to our forwards and moving it up the ice.”

Despite seeing his side chasing a deficit all game long, Ott was happy to see his boys’ compete level rise as the game wore on. But the Raiders’ coach wants to see more consistent intensity on the ice, and Regis Jesuit forward Ian Beck agrees.

“We’ve had a problem starting early,” Beck said. “When we get going we play a good game but our problem is getting it out there at the beginning. Some games we’ve started out great, and some games it’s been like (tonight).”

With New Trier, Loyola, and Glenbrook North remaining for the Raiders in Showcase play, they have their work cut out for them. Beck sees value in facing top Illinois competition for his Aurora, Colorado team, starting with lessons learned on Friday against Saint Viator.

“They have a lot of speed and they’re very strong on their sticks, and that made things difficult,” Beck said of Saint Viator. “We’ll go home stronger on our sticks, especially after tonight. And we need some more compete on our back-check because a few odd-man rushes got us tonight.”

Benz applauded the line of freshmen Colton Neuhaus and Connor Sibigtroth, and junior Aidan O’Neill for its play in the win “and Charlie Hoffman is always a beast,” Benz said. “Same with Jack Kuffel, who’s always reliable, and I thought Tommy Speck really upped his game tonight.”

Goalie Patrick O’Gara earned the shutout in net for Saint Viator.

“Brock (Harer) has been getting the majority of our SHL games but Pat O’Gara is obviously no slouch,” Benz said. “It was good to get him some game time and he’s big so it’s tough to get a puck past him.”

Saint Viator will play Valor Christian from Colorado and Notre Dame from Arizona on Saturday, and finish tournament play against Norwich Free Academy from Connecticut on Sunday.

Hoffman wants to see his Lions continue to rise after their recent struggles.

“We’ve been in a slump but recently we started putting the puck in the net,” Hoffman said. “We changed up some of our systems and how we play.

“As soon as we scored the first goal tonight we felt like we had control of the game. In the SHL games can go either way but tonight I felt confident as soon as we got that first goal.”