It was a solemn atmosphere in the Skokie Skatium last Saturday night as the Niles Nighthawks (Niles West and North’s collective hockey team) lost their final game, a playoff match to the Lake Zurich Bears 3-0.

The Bears were the more aggressive team from the start, taking a few penalties, but jumping out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.

It didn’t get any better from there, even with a five minute major and two minor penalties on Lake Zurich, the Nighthawks failed to score a single goal, and let in another to bring the score to 3-0.

The third period, save for the occasional rude remark directed toward the referee, was fairly uneventful. The Bears held their lead and went on to win the game 3-0.

Senior Brent Speizman was speechless at first when asked how the team preformed.

“We played hard, but we can always do better and I guess we just didn’t play our best today,” he said.

Senior Jeremy Jakiel added that the team didn’t play its best.

“We just didn’t play to our fullest potential, and that’s all I can say about that.”