Crowd—Electric. Vibes—immaculate. LAG—is life.

Last Saturday the Ramblers won the SHL championships in a stunning game against New Trier’s top team, New Trier Green, in a 3-1 game.

The Rambler offense was hard at work, scoring 2 goals in the first period, gaining Loyola an early lead against NTG.

Defense was hard at work, too, during the first period with a lot of action by the Loyola goal with junior Braden Haynie covering the net, and working hard to only let 1 goal in during the second period.

There was so much action by the Loyola goal defenseman Charlie Fritzsche said, “I couldn’t feel my legs by the second period. The NTG offense was doing a good job keeping the puck near us, but we had them beat even at the end when they took their goalie out and added an extra guy on the offense.”

Unfortunately for the Trevians, you need to have a good defense for your offense to actually have an effect. Even with the puck being mostly at the Loyola end of the rink, Rambler offense made quick work of scoring goals on tender Dean Lawrence.

As for the stands…it’s safe to say that the Rambler spirit was alive and well at the Centennial Hockey Arena in Wilmette.

Even with New Trier calling the rink home, Loyola had “easily twice as many people, and more than twice as many chants,” said senior Danny Mitchell who was watching from the front row at the game. “It makes me proud to go to Loyola when we can out fill the stands over a school that calls the rink home and has twice as many kids enrolled than us.”

“Everyone showed,” said Senior Liam Zidar. “Underclassmen and upperclassmen alike, everyone was there to support the boys.”

Whether that is the reason that the Ramblers won is unlikely, but according to Fritszche, LAG “loves to see everyone show up. It really gives us an extra boost when the chants start flying and at least for me, it picks me up. Even though I felt exhausted towards the end of the game, the people who came are what pushed me to play harder, for the fans, and for my friends.”

After winning their league championship, LAG will play Stevenson at The Edge Ice Arena, in Bensenville on Wednesday, March 9, on their road to state.