Loyola and Norwich Free Academy got into a slugfest in their third-round game of this year’s SHL Showcase, and time ran out before a winner could get crowned.

The game ended in a 4-4 tie, one of five ties in the 32 games played between 16 teams. With three rinks being used in Mt. Prospect and so many games scheduled, no overtime or shootouts took place.

The teams engaged in a back-and-forth until Loyola’s Charlie Merrill forced the 4-4 tie with the game’s final goal, with little more than three minutes remaining. Loyola went down 4-3 just two minutes earlier when Felix-Antoine Laflamme of Norwich ripped a shot from the right side at a tough angle that went in off a defenseman in front of the net.

Merrill’s game-tying goal on a shot taken from the left side also came from a wicked angle.

“I’m glad (Merrill) did that because we were calculating when to pull the goalie,” Loyola coach Scott Ciraulo said.

Loyola finished the tournament with a 3-0-1 record, with wins over Notre Dame (AZ), Regis Jesuit (CO), and Valor Christian (CO). Norwich went 2-1-1 in Showcase play, having beaten Glenbrook North and Saint Viator, and lost to New Trier.

Norwich finished with the best record among the eight out-of-state teams that participated. Norwich was on the power play late in a 3-2 loss to New Trier but couldn’t find an equalizer against New Trier goalie Drew Durdov.

“We stayed right with them,” Norwich coach Wayne Sheehan said. “Their goalie just kept the puck out. Sometimes your best penalty kill has got to be your goalie.

“I’m really pleased with how we’ve traveled and played well out here. These are all really good teams and it’s fun hockey. It’s exciting for us to come out here and play well, and know we can compete at a national level.”

It took Loyola a period or so to adjust to Norwich’s style of play.

“They were a good, fast team that has a handful of very skilled players,” Ciraulo said. “They got us early; we didn’t adjust to their stretch style. They threw the puck up the ice and they have guys with speed that can go get it. They got behind us early and that’s how we dug ourselves a bit of a hole.”

Norwich took a 1-0 lead on a Daniel Morrison goal with 8:20 left in the first period, on an assist from Nathan Desrosiers. Loyola answered just 18 seconds later with a goal from Tom Macina. Assists on the goal came from Cole Joubert and Mack Klein.

Joubert went in alone on net and scored to give Loyola a 2-1 lead with roughly four minutes left in the first period, but Norwich made it 2-2 with only 15 seconds remaining on a Zachary Gagnon goal, on a stretch pass from Christopher Tellier-Pelletier.

“They’re probably the best team we’ve played so far,” Loyola captain Chris Sipe said. “The biggest strength is the rush for them, That was probably their biggest strength and they had a lot of opportunities and were able to capitalize.”

Sipe put his boys up 3-2 on the power play, less than five minutes into the second period on an assist from Liam Finnegan. But Norwich answered back quickly, with Laflamme burying a point-blank shot on a feed from behind the net just one minute later.

The 3-3 tie held until the 4:51 mark of the third period on Laflamme’s goal, before Merrill knotted the game to end the day’s scoring with 3:07 remaining.

With very little scouting possible, all teams largely went in blind against their opponents during Showcase play.

“The approach was just to play simple to start, figure out what the other team is doing — their forecheck, their breakout — and make the adjustments,” Ciraulo said. “It took us until the second period to adjust to (Norwich’s) stretch style but once we did, I thought we looked a lot better.

“I’m really happy they set this up and it’s been nice to see different teams. The best thing about it is there are all these games so we get to watch games before ours. It’s so rare that we get to watch high school games before ours.”

Through three games, Ciraulo applauded the tournament play of his line led by Liam Finnegan and Charlie Baine, and the line led by Cole Joubert, “and Jack Dwyer is starting to get adjusted to the speed after coming back from football,” Ciraulo said.

Loyola capped its weekend with a 4-1 win over Valor Christian (CO) on Sunday. Finnegan had two goals, Merrill scored once, and Baine had a goal and two assists in the win.

Sheehan was impressed by Baine on Saturday.

“Number 95? That kid is legit,” Sheehan said. “He’s strong, good hands, he can shoot — it’s been fun watching these games, honestly.

“For us, Owen Catledge flies under the radar. He’s so fast. Guys think they have a step on him and he just catches them. He’s only about 5-foot-9 but in the gym he’s one of our strongest guys, His core is so strong. I’m really pleased with how he’s doing. And All three of my goalies have played so far and they’ve done a really nice job.”

Connor Mierz, Nicolas Halle-Tanco, and Noah Koscher have all started in net for Norwich during Showcase play. 

Sipe liked what he saw from his side over the weekend.

“There was a lot of effort, which was nice. Our forecheck was good and besides the rush we played really good in our zone,” Sipe said. 

“We have a foundation built on our defense so it’s just to keep improving on that, finding our guys. And we have to keep establishing our forecheck and keep that going.”