The Ballad of Nick Klytta

This weekend senior hockey player Nick Klytta tied up his skates for one last hoorah. Klytta has been playing hockey for thirteen years of his 18 year-old life. This past season he played for the Hawks, an NIHL (Northern Illinois Hockey League) team. Nonetheless, it is possible that he will never take the ice again, despite an opportunity to play for Western Illinois University club hockey team.

Klytta and company took the ice early Saturday morning to compete in the Rock n’ Roll Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio. They got off to a stellar start winning three in a row with Klytta recording three goals and three assists. 

Late in the third period of the third game, Klytta was punched by a frustrated member of the opposing team. Klytta responded and broke the player’s nose. He was suspended for game four, and the Hawks struggled without its star player, losing the match. Luckily the tourney was double elimination and Klytta and company would still play in the championship.

“I knew that I had to go out with a bang, more so a championship,” Klytta said of his pre-game thoughts.  Klytta was awarded tourney MVP for his outstanding six goals and three assists.

After the game, Klytta said, “I was on cloud nine.  Then I caught the over time of the USA vs. Canada gold medal game.”

Klytta is still undecided on whether he will play hockey at the next level. He is unsure on if he can balance the college work load and playing hockey, but also unsure of if he can live without the game.

Football lives on in pickup games

On November 7, the second week of Indian Garden’s football kicked off. This group of 11 Bulldogs and one friar engaged in some hardcore football, even drawing blood. The students used the lines from a soccer field as boundaries with goal lines marked off by cones.

The teams were picked by Captains Vince Varbaro and Ted Radek. Team Bag-o-Donuts consisted of Varbaro, Alex Kavouriaris, Christian Hitt, Paul Beckett, Ian Robertson, and Tommy Gilbert. Team Tommy D consisted of Ted Radek, Tommy Doherty, Ben Johnson, Jeremy Fong, Ivan Garcia, and Alex Magdic.

The game kicked off around 2 o’clock with a lot of miscommunication because of two touchdowns in three plays. The Kavouriaris and Hitt connection was seemingly unbeatable with four touchdowns through the air. Hitt was clearly the sleeper in this draft – second to last pick.

Although the defense was rocky at first, Bag-o-Donuts picked up in the end with big tackles out of Robertson and Beckett. Robertson Kavouriaris both had rushing touchdowns as well.

Despite Bag-o-Donuts effort it was no match for Team Doherty’s wildcat offense. With  Doherty taking the snaps, lead blocking by Radek and Johnson, the run game was truly unbeatable. Doherty had a career day with six rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown.

But the play of the day must be credited to Magdic forcing Beckett to fumble going into the end zone. That takeaway set up the game winning pass-and-catch between Doherty and Garcia for a Team Doherty victory 7-6.

Frampton, Devolio, Dalton lead Girl’s Golf

Riverside Brookfield’s Girl’s Golf team’s road to glory came to an end last week at Regionals. The Lady Bulldogs were 4-8 in regular season play with great performances from Kristy Frampton, Jackie Devolio, and Taylor Dalton, a first time golfer.

Dalton first picked up a club in August 2009 at summer camp. With the help of coach Barb Panek and her fellow Bulldogs, Taylor placed tenth at the conference meet.

The Lady Bulldogs advanced through conference with Frampton, Devolio, and Dalton all placing top ten. Regionals were not as successful.  Frampton was the only Bulldog to move on to Sectionals with a score of 90.

Frampton shot a 100 at Sectionals, which wasn’t enough to place. The 100 was over Frampton’s average of the year, but the conditions were misty and cold.  Frampton’s average for nine holes was 46 with her best game being a 37 at Ken-lock, where she medaled.

All of the Bulldogs showed a lot of improvement as the year advanced.  Forty percent of the team received Academic All-Conference.