When you are just beginning to develop your hockey skills, it is beneficial to have as much time on the ice as possible.

The members of Jaguar Mite Zschach could not be sure before Sunday, March 1, however, that the extra time they have spent on the ice over the past few weeks would have such immediate and gratifying results.

Their extra investment in time left these 7- and 8-year-olds not just with the sore legs and stinky jerseys they would have come to expect, but also with a Northern Illinois Hockey Leagues Wolves Cup Championship in the Mite Silver division.

Definitely something that makes working overtime worthwhile.

In the case of their championship game, Coach Ken Zschach’s Mighty Mites needed 4 minutes and 36 seconds of overtime to get their job done.

That is when, just shy of halfway through the game’s fourth period – the first period of OT – Jameson Thulin found the back of the net, converting an assist from game MVP Mateo Campasano, to cap a 2-1 win for the Jaguars over the Sabres and wrap up the Wolves Cup.

Campasano had gotten the Jaguars on the board in the second period, scoring on an assist from Lincoln Chizmark. Nathan Ortinau of the Sabres tied the game about three minutes later, at the 4:45 mark, and the score remained knotted until Thulin’s tally the equivalent of two periods later.

“Zschach’s mighty mites are the mightiest of them all!! Champions!!!,” declared an obviously exuberant Coach Zschach on his Facebook page after the game. “So proud of them! Never gave up!!!!”

Zschach’s reference to his team never giving up came not just as a nod to the overtime win in the championship. It also took the extra period for the Jaguars to advance out of their semi-final game with a 4-3 victory the weekend prior.

The championship win was backstopped by Jason Gabelman and Connor Louthan, who combined for 23 saves between the pipes for the Jaguars.

Other members of the NIHL Wolves Cup Champions, in addition to Campasano, Thulin, Chizmark, Gabelman and Louthan, are Mason Laney, Daniel Lunn, Aidan Kilcoyne, Adam Lukwinski, Alexander Humann, AJ Fazio, Lukas Woodrow and Sean Brophy.