#3 Olentangy Liberty (23-5-6) vs. #4 New Albany (20-12-2)
2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 7
IceHaus-Nationwide; 200 W. Nationwide Blvd., Columbus, OH
Season series:
January 4; New Albany 3, Liberty 1
January 31; New Albany 2, Liberty 2
The apple cart was upset last weekend in the semifinals of the Columbus District as the top two seeds – undefeated Blue Jackets Cup champion Upper Arlington and top challenger St. Charles – were knocked out on the same day.
The two teams responsible for the upsets meet for the district title and one of them will continue their season next week at Nationwide Arena.
New Albany, which has never won a district tournament, had a tough road in. They needed overtime to put an end to Dublin Coffman’s Cinderella playoff story before going up against then-undefeated Upper Arlington in the semifinals.
The #4 seed in the bracket, they kind of stayed under the radar all season, but they pulled off a stunning upset of UA and recorded a win and a tie against Liberty, among other quality wins, during the Capital Hockey Conference season so they are a team to be reckoned with.
When New Albany needs a goal, it often turns to seniors Brandon Barash (16-36-52), Jackson Buss (21-29-50) and Matthew Moellering (26-18-44). The Eagles come into the district final on an 8-2-1 run with both of their losses during that stretch coming against Dublin Jerome. Their recent wins over Coffman (4-3 in OT) and Upper Arlington (3-2) saw them come through in tight playoff hockey games.
Olentangy Liberty was ranked as high as #5 in the state poll early in the season, but didn’t manage to live up to that billing, sliding down as low as #8 and ending at #7 in the final edition. But, while the Patriots let some winnable games get away here and there during the season, they never went into a huge slide either. It’s been steady as she goes for head coach Kevin Alexander and his charges.
The Patriots, who have been to the state tournament on three occasions (2011, 2013, 2017) are 7-2-0 over their last nine games with a 2-0 loss to Upper Arlington and a 3-2 loss to St. Charles in the Blue Jackets Cup their only setbacks, but Alexander does not think they are playing their best hockey of the season. He thinks they were at the top of their game at the Padua Holiday Tournament just before Christmas.
“I would argue that we are not peaking at the right time,” said Alexander. “It’s been a tough couple of months. The great news is we are healthy right now and have shown periods of being great, but we have not shown a 45-minute effort in a long time.”
One player who had a good effort last weekend was sophomore Gage Schlotterbeck. He fired home five goals in the 7-4 win over Olentangy Orange in the semis, setting a school playoff game record. He is up to 41 goals on the season. Three other Patriots skaters – Korey Raymond (20-35-55), Nik Jozefiak (23-28-51) and Aidan King (20-12-32) – have reached the 20-goal plateau.
“Gage was First Team All-League and has been fantastic,” said Alexander. “As well as Raymond and Jozefiak who were league honorable mention. Keegan Pullins, our First Team All-League defensemen, is playing his best hockey of the year.”
Senior Andrew Vidrick (14-5-6, 1.94, .921) has drawn the tougher starting assignments all season and you can expect to see him between the pipes on Saturday.
“We have a very talented team,” Alexander said. “In fact, one of the best Liberty teams I have coached, so I hope we work hard this weekend and show our true potential.”
Olentangy Liberty
Against the field: 1-1-2
11.29.19 Toledo St. Francis W, 4-1
12.20.19 St. Edward T, 2-2
01.04.20 New Albany L, 1-3
01.31.20 New Albany T, 2-2
New Albany
Against the field: 1-1-1
01.04.20 Olentangy Liberty W, 3-1
01.17.20 St. Edward L, 1-4
01.31.20 Olentangy Liberty T, 2-2
--- Scott Harrington for Ohio Hockey Digest
