Soaring to a league championship

The Falcons, a team made up of skaters from Highland Park, Lake Forest and Chicago’s North Side, won the prestigious Central States Development Hockey League playoff championship in the Bantam A3 Division.

The Central States Development League is rated the No. 1 Tier 2 league in the country.

En route to the championship at the Darien Sportsplex, the Falcons defeated the Glenview Stars 7-2 in the opening round, the West Dundee Leafs 4-0 in the quarterfinals, Winnetka Warriors 5-3 in the semifinals and the Crystal Lake Yellow Jackets 5-1 in the title game on Feb. 1.

Myles Listick’s four-goal performance made the difference in the nip-and-tuck semifinal. Goaltender Nik Milbert stopped 30 shots in that game and 29 in the championship contest, for which he earned Most Valuable Player honors.

Mike Wagner is the coach of the Falcons, and his assistant is Joe Superfine.

According to Superfine, Michael Gilbert, Jonathan Bossov, Carter Superfine and Ben Milbert (Nik’s twin brother) also had a significant impact on offense.

The other contributors on the road to the championship were Logan Ryan, Brandon Crelman, Ryan Greenspan, Liam Hagle, Owen Jabben, Hunter Kirsner, Adam Popelmayer and George Whittman.

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