Last August, weeks before the season was set to start for the Chicago Mission 15s, head coach Christian Hmura accepted a new job as the Skills and Performance Coach for the New York Rangers.
Hmura’s departure pushed club president Gino Cavallini onto the bench, with his 20-plus years of coaching experience.
“When I started practicing with this team and saw them in their first game at the end of August, I thought we were good. Really good,” said Cavallini, who had nothing to do with picking the team during tryouts.
“This may have been the deepest group I’ve had to coach at the club.”
Flash-forward to Sunday, April 7: the Mission used a hat trick from Robin Kuzma to defeat the Long Island Gulls 4-1 at the 2024 Chipotle-USA hockey Tier 1 15O National Championship, played at Scheels Arena in Fargo, N.D.
The Mission finished the season 69-12-3 and Cavallini is now a two-time national champion coach, along with four or five second-place finishes.
“Winning the national championship is rewarding; it’s pretty cool. Anytime you win something this big, whether playing or coaching, it’s huge,” said Cavallini, who has coached locally at the high school level and for the Mission since the 2011-12 season.
“Every line over the course of the tournament delivered. Sure, some players got more points than others, but ultimately everyone contributed, pulling us along.
“This is a special group of young men who play hard for each other, and they enjoy each other’s success.”
Kuzma scored with 5:06 remaining in the first period and the Mission led 1-0 after the first. The Gulls tied the game midway into the second, but the Mission answered about three minutes later with what proved to be the game-winner: an unassisted goal from Kuzma.
“He plays a great 200-feet of hockey, is a complete workhorse on the ice. And when you play the right way, good things happen,” Cavallini said. “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work – for him and everyone on the team. He garners a lot of attention, based on the way he plays the game.”
Kuzma iced the win with his third goal late in the third.
Aurelio Garcia also had a goal and an assist, and goalie Jake Windbiel stopped 29 shots.
“Donovan Dunlay played unbelievably well (in the semifinal win over) Shattuck St. Mary’s. Windbiel shut the door to close it out,” Cavallini said.
“I’m sure the boys on both sides had butterflies at the start (of the game), but then we just settled into our game and got a couple of timely goals early. We kept the pace of play as high as we could. We practiced all year at a high level, so that the games are easy.
We brought that same intensity in the third period today, just as we did in the first period of game of this tournament. It’s tough for opponents; the level of play for this team is fantastic. We’re a deep, highly skilled, puck-moving, puck-possession team. Once we find our rhythm, there are not a lot of teams that can skate three periods with us.”