In a Showcase Measured by Halves, the Chicago T-Rex Found Their Bearings
- Chicago T-Rex Communications / t-rexchicagohockey.com
- Dec 17, 2025
- 3 min read
LOCKPORT, IL - The Chicago Showcase is not built for comfort or correction.
With games played in two 25-minute halves, there is no third period to chase momentum and no extended runway to feel your way into a game. Each half functions as its own referendum. Fall behind early, and the clock becomes an opponent. Lose details for a five-minute stretch, and the margin disappears.
Across four games at Summit Ice Center, the Chicago T-Rex learned how to manage that reality. By the end of the weekend, they were 3–1, a record that reflected not just results but adaptation.
“This format forces decisions,” head coach Danny Randall said. “You don’t have time to wait things out. You have to play the game as it’s happening.”
A composed beginning for the Chicago T-Rex
Chicago opened the Showcase against Minnesota Blue Ox in a game that unfolded deliberately despite the shortened structure. Minnesota struck first, testing Chicago’s ability to respond rather than dictate.
The response came through structure and special teams. Logan Kral scored on the power play, followed by Ilia Moskvin, both goals born from quick puck movement and a willingness to attack interior space instead of circling the zone.
The halves passed without panic. When overtime arrived, the ice opened up.
Jason Gongol ended it decisively.
“In overtime, there’s no benefit to waiting,” Gongol said. “You read it and go.”
It was an early signal that Chicago understood the difference between patience and hesitation.
A lesson delivered quickly
Against Red River, the T-Rex started with confidence. Gongol scored early. Fernando Zegarra followed. Through the opening half, Chicago looked in control.
But Red River adjusted. The Spartans closed the neutral zone, shortened Chicago’s time with the puck, and turned possession into pressure. In a format divided into halves, the second one became decisive.
Four unanswered goals ended the game.
“In this setup, a bad half costs you,” defenseman Michal Bakiej said. “There’s no easing back into it.”
It was Chicago’s lone loss of the weekend, and it arrived with clarity.
Structure takes hold
The response came the following game against Fresh Coast Freeze.
Chicago played faster without rushing. Samuel Harper scored twice in the first half, finding space rather than forcing plays. In the second, Gongol added two more, while Teegan Gardner finished a sequence built on sustained zone time.
What stood out was not the scoreline but the spacing. Chicago’s forecheck arrived layered. Breakouts were shorter. Defensemen stepped into lanes with confidence, knowing support was close behind.
“We simplified,” Gardner said. “That made everything else easier.”
The result was a 5–1 win that never drifted.
When pace overwhelms structure
The rematch with Fresh Coast turned volatile early. Goals came late in the half. Momentum shifted quickly. The game threatened to dissolve into exchanges rather than sequences.
Gongol prevented that.
His four goals came from different looks — off the rush, between coverage, through traffic — but all shared the same quality: decisiveness. In a format where time compresses choices, he made them quickly.
“When he’s attacking, it raises the tempo for everyone,” Kral said. “You don’t want to slow it down.”
There were moments where the game stretched — a short-handed goal, a scramble finish, a late push — but Chicago stayed within itself. Harper’s empty-net goal closed the game, and with it, the Showcase.
“That’s a player owning the moment,” Randall said. “He didn’t wait for control. He created it.”
What remained
Chicago left the Showcase with a 3–1 record and a clearer understanding of how to play within a two-half structure.
They learned that halves must be managed, not survived. That urgency doesn’t require chaos. And that when their best players commit to pace and simplicity, the game tilts.
The Showcase did not offer final answers. It rarely does. But across four games measured in halves rather than periods, the Chicago T-Rex found something steadier than momentum.
They found rhythm.