WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Connor Hirschtritt scored unassisted about a minute into the second period, tying the Thursday morning game, 1-1, between New Trier Green and the Norwich Hockey Club of Connecticut.

            The rest of the second period was a disaster for the Trevians, who ultimately lost 6-3 in their second game of the 2024 USA Hockey-Chipotle High School National Championships, played at the multi-rink Ice Line Arena.

            The Trevians endured eight consecutive penalties, including three five-on-three penalty-kill situations in the second – and Norwich scored on all three. Plus, flashy forward Austin Freel sat for 12 minutes after a slashing penalty was followed by a 10-minute misconduct.

            “We took a ton of penalties in the second; we can’t give them so many opportunities on the powerplay – and it cost us,” said New Trier defenseman Zack Huebsch, whose body language throughout the second period spoke volumes to his frustration with the penalty-filled period from the Trevians.

            “I was very angry with the number of penalties we were taking. I wanted to have a fighting chance (to win), but with the penalties, we were shooting ourselves in the foot.”

            Norwich silenced the Trevians in the second with four goals in an 11-minute span, including a goal and an assist from both Jacob Martineau and Felix-Antoine LaFlamme.

            New Trier captain Brendan Heneghan said it was “undisciplined play” that impacted the Trevians in the second, arguably the worst period for the Trevians all season.

            “It was just a parade to the penalty box,” said New Trier head coach Adam Cheris, who watched the Trevians’ whistled 11 times for penalties in the game, only three penalties against Norwich – and that was the difference in the game, he added.

            “It was an extremely frustrating game.”

            The Trevians re-grouped during the break heading into the third period and outshot Norwich 17-2 in the final 17 minutes. But Green only scored twice.

            “Our first and third periods were great, especially the third period,” Huebsch said. “We put up a good fight and knew we were going to be facing a good team. Sadly, we couldn’t come out on top.”

            Defenseman Charlie Fiske scored 1:00 into the third period, making it 5-2, assisted by Heneghan. Huebsch made it 5-3 with a powerplay wristshot goal, assisted by Luke Chiu and Harrison Miller.

            “I was just trying to get us back in the game; I wanted to have a chance to win and scoring a goal was necessary,” Huebsch said.

Said Heneghan: “It was just a rough game overall. The first two periods, we were down pretty much the whole time. The third period, that’s how we need to play; I was proud of the way we played in the third period.”

The Trevians outshot Norwich 33-24 but couldn’t get anymore past goalie Noah Koscher.

Drew Durdov was in goal for the Trevians.

“They get under our skin pretty well; they do a good job of that, so credit to them, but we have to be better than we were today. That was the difference,” Cheris said. “We had a lot of chances to (cut the lead) to 5-4, and then I think we could have tied the game, but their goalie played well.”

The Trevians are skating for a national championship without five players from their Illinois High School Hockey State Championship, won March 13 at the United Center, including Aidan Nolan, Garrett Chong and Hans Huber.

“You spend all season gelling and trying to find the right fit (among teammates), but now we’re without five key players, fiery players,” Cheris said. “There was frustration as a group today; I could see it on the bench and no matter what we were saying, it was falling on deaf ears.”

The Trevians opened Nationals with a 1-0 win over Culver Academy (Indiana) on March 20. Luke Chiu scored the game-winner, assisted by John Curry in the first period. Wyatt Schmidt was flawless in goal for the Trevians.

“They’re a really talented team, which we saw last November (in the SHL Showcase, played in Mount Prospect) – and I think that helped us prepare for today,” said Norwich head coach Wayne Sheehan.

The Trevians defeated Norwich 3-2 on November 11, 2023.

“We had some strategies for their penalty kill, particularly in the neutral zone because they’re excellent at their trap. We were able to get by that trap and set up in the offensive zone. Our three powerplay goals really helped; that was the difference,” Sheehan said.

The Trevians are playing in the National Championship for the third year in a row. This is the national debut for Norwich, which is in its second season overall. “For us to get this win over New Trier is a confidence-boost,” Sheehan said.

When the Trevians cut the third period score to 5-3, Sheehan stressed to his team that it must stay aggressive, attack the puck-carrier, don’t give New Trier space to skate.

Olli Nyfors iced the Norwich win with a late third period goal, assisted by Nathan Desrosiers.

The second period “changed the momentum of the game,” Sheehan said. “It was a hard-fought battle in the first period between two talented teams. We gained control of the game in the second, yet they came out fired up in the third period.”

• Waubonsie/Metea also lost on March 21at the 2024 USA Hockey-Chipotle High School National Championships, falling 9-1 to Shattuck-St. Mary’s of Minnesota. Joseph Pijanowski scored the Warriors lone goal, assisted by Joshua Pijanowski.
• The Trevians play CATS Academy of Massachusetts on Friday night, March 22 in the final game of pool play. The Warriors face Fairmont (California).