York withstood an opening first-period punch of 22 New Trier shots on Sunday, only giving up a single goal to Green’s fast start.

The Dukes then earned an 11-6 edge in shots and scored two goals in the second period to grab a 2-1 lead by intermission.

Then Godzilla woke up.

“You can’t just have a good game against them,” York coach Mat Boeing said of New Trier. “You have to have your best game against them.”

As the SHL’s top seed, New Trier scored three unanswered goals to start the third period en route to an eventual 5-3 victory, to sweep the best-of-three quarterfinal series against York.

At intermission, top-seeded New Trier knew what was needed against eighth-seeded York.

“I think we let off on the gas pedal and got a little comfortable,” New Trier defenseman Charlie Fiske said. “But we picked it up in the third period, we got it going, and the energy on the bench was super good. Especially for this team, that’s important. We’ve got a ton of talent but we’ve got to keep the energy high.”

New Trier led 1-0 on Aiden Nolan’s third goal of the series. It came with 11:19 remaining in the first period, when Ashton Freel sent a pass from the left side across to Nolan, who buried it at the far post. Juhan Jaason also assisted on the play.

For York, surviving 20-plus shots and only giving a single goal wasn’t all that bad of a place to be.

“(Caden) Buenz, (Noah) Hughes and (Jack) Paschen are kind of our shut-down line,” Boeing said. “They did their best to try to shut down some of (New Trier’s) big dogs and they did a good job.”

York answered with two goals scored in just over a one-minute span, midway through the second period.

York’s first strike came when Paschen punched in a rebound after York sent a puck to the goalmouth from the right corner, with 7:25 remaining. Little more than a minute later, York took the lead when Ben Smith centered a pass from the left side that Ben Dizillo touched over to the far side, with Frank Rosa charging the far post and burying it.

“Especially after out-shooting them 22-7 in the first period, we knew York was going to fight back,” New Trier coach Adam Cheris said. “In the second period we kind of took our foot off the gas and stopped battling and when you do that, bad things happen.”

At the break, New Trier was unified on how to to turn those bad things into good things during the game’s final 17 minutes.

“It’s just about our effort,” New Trier forward John Curry said. “At the beginning of the season we thought we had the best skill in the SHL but I think our motivation has changed. Now it’s all about being dogs.

“We just had to play our game. We think we’re the better team and that we can win this game, and we’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do.”

New Trier came out flying to start the third period. Luke Chiu knotted the game at the 13:47 mark, taking a pass from Fiske in Green’s D zone and taking off up the ice. Chiu skated around two defensemen before a sweet wrist shot stretched the back netting to tie the game 2-2. 

“When Chiu scored that second goal, you could just feel it on the bench,” Cheris said.

Play evened out for a five-minute span after Chiu’s game-tying goal. But New Trier took the lead on a rush, with defenseman Fiske skating up and and leaving a puck for Curry, who walked in and deposited a goal that gave Green a lead it would not relinquish.

“It’s go-time and we’re playing every game like it’s our last,” Fiske said. “I think that’s motivating a lot of the guys and John Curry is playing some of the best hockey he’s played all year.”

New Trier went up 4-2 a mere 17 seconds later. Harrison Miller took a short pass from David Wolff deep on the right side of York’s net, and Miller’s low shot from an crazy angle snuck past the near post and caromed in off the back of York goalie Jack Brown.

York kept battling and cut its deficit to 4-3 with 5:36 left to play. The Dukes’ Matthew Soehn took a pass from Luke Composono and had time and space at the point to size up a shot. His wrist shot found pay-dirt, giving the York faithful hope down the stretch. Ethan Maurer also assisted on the goal.

The York comeback wasn’t to be. The teams went back-and-forth before New Trier iced the game with 2:57 remaining on a Shane Randle goal.

Randle’s shot from the right circle made it 5-3, with Miller and Wolff assisting on the play. The final few minutes ticked down and New Trier had secured a spot in the SHL semifinals.

New Trier won 6-1 in Game One of the series against York on Saturday, when Nolan scored twice to go with goals from Chiu, Randle, Freel and Garrett Chong. Noah Hughes scored for York in Saturday’s game.

Cheris got solid efforts up and down his lineup in the series.

“Aiden’s been outstanding, Chiu’s been really good, and Fiske had a really good game on the back end,” Cheris said. “Fiske created two of those goals for us and Freel-to-Nolan was nice. And Curry has been amazing.”

Add two of the best goaltenders around splitting time in Drew Durdov on Sunday and Wyatt Schmidt on Saturday, and New Trier has all the pieces in place.

Sunday’s win completed a season sweep for New Trier, which went 5-0 against against York this season in SHL play.

“Last year we played Carmel eight times. It’s hard,” Cheris said. “You’re bound to lose one, especially against a good team like York, against a good coach, which plays a good system. But we knew what our strength was in this series and we were able to keep a lot of pressure on them. We wanted to get on top of them and make them battle in their D zone.”

Boeing was pleased with the effort his boys gave in both quarterfinal games against New Trier. After reaching the state title game last year led by a group of 15 seniors, York has seen good progress from a painfully young team this year.

“At the end of the day, a lot of our kids can’t even drive themselves to the rink and we’re expecting them to compete against some of the best 18-year-olds in the state,” Boeing said. “We have a lot of young players, a lot of sophomores, that had to learn how to play with the big boys this year. New Trier is loaded but I think we played well against them these last two games.”

Boeing applauded the play all season of defensemen Rosa and Drew Gami, “and Nicky Sanfilippo’s forecheck has looked great. He’s always trying to cause turnovers and he’s two hundred feet up-and-down the ice,” Boeing said. “Paschen scored that goal for us today, (Ethan) Maurer has been having a lot of opportunities, and so has (Luke) Composono.”

Boeing’s message to his troops was clear after Sunday’s game.

“We told the team that the SHL season is wrapped up, we love you guys and we’re proud of how you’ve played so far,” Boeing said. “But we know we have a whole other level we need to get to, so (Monday night) we’ll practice at 9:15 p.m., then Wednesday and Friday, and then just focus on our next target.”

That next target is an opening game in the state tournament. Seeded 7th in Illinois, York opens play Feb. 16 on its home ice against Glenbrook South’s 26th-seeded Blue team. A win there would send the Dukes to a round of 16 game against the winner between No. 10 Lyons and No. 23 Brother Rice.

“We’ll be ready,” Boeing said. “We’ve beaten some really good teams and lost to some okay teams, and it’s all about who’s going to show up in high school hockey.

“Every team you play has at least one guy that can put pucks away so if you give any team an opportunity, they’ll have a chance to win the game. There are going to be highs and lows but you have to come ready to play, no matter what the score is, up or down.”