The Archbishop Moeller Crusaders will be icing a young, nearly entirely new varsity team in 2019-20 looking to forge its own identity following the graduation of a very successful senior class and the retirement of Mike Reeder – the winningest coach in program history.

Brad Gibson will have a (mostly) clean slate to work with as he embarks on his first season as head coach.  The Crusaders graduated 16 players and the roster was largely assembled through early-season tryouts.

Gibson sees his goaltending and a strong freshman class as big positives for the team.  Brennan Morton Strauss returns between the pipes after playing varsity as a freshman.  Gibson will also look to Clay Matthews to step up offensively in his junior year to replace the scoring from departed seniors, and newcomer Nowell Snarey to play big minutes on defense as a sophomore.

The Crusaders have had mixed results early this season (3-5-1).  In addition to the 16-game league schedule, they will participate in a pair of in-season tournaments in northwest Ohio – Bowling Green’s Hollydaze Tournament and the Rasmus Memorial Tournament host by Toledo St. John’s.

Gibson also has December 19 (vs. St. Xavier at US Bank Arena) circled on his calendar as a key game, along with a date with state runner-up Dublin Jerome on January 26.

Dublin Coffman is off to a (sham)rocky start at 1-6-2…sorry I couldn’t help it…

The 16-game CHC schedule will be a challenge for the Rocks but their numbers are strong with 22 players on the roster and, after winning six games in 2017-18 and 10 last year, Coffman hopes to keep pushing the Rock(s) up the hill…sorry I did it again… 

Olentangy has been up and down in the early part of the season.  Their 3-4-0 record includes a 13-3 win (over Scioto) and an 11-0 loss (to Upper Arlington).

They did register an impressive win, 3-1, over Cleveland Heights from the GCHSHL Red Division as they get into the meat of the CHC schedule.

The Braves will also head to Northwest Ohio for the Holly Daze Tournament after Christmas and will face some stiff competition there.

Tim Pennington started the program at Olentangy Berlin two years ago.  The Bears posted a respectable 11-13-1-1 overall in their inaugural season.  The Bears made admirable strides in their first season at the varsity level but, as you can imagine, there is still a considerable amount of work still to be done, but the Bears are on solid footing and Pennington is excited to continue the process of growing the program.

“We have enough kids to have a JV team,” said Pennington.  “That is important for the continued growth of the program,”

One of four Olentangy Schools in the CHC, the Bears have some natural rivalries, but are also developing some organically as they grow as a program.

“I don’t think we have established any rivalries yet,” Pennington said.  “But we are excited to play the other Olentangy schools.”

Pennington said the team’s top scoring threats include Rogers, junior forward Cole Mascari and sophomore forwards Nick Piccioni and Zack Zielinski. Berlin also has three new forwards who should be sound around the net in junior Henderson Bishop, who moved back from Colorado, as well as junior Sebastian Dondalski and sophomore Carson Jankowski, both of whom played for AAA club teams last year.

“Our defense is solid but young,” said Pennington.  “We will develop it this year.”

The team has only three seniors in Rogers, defenseman Layne Comyns and forward Tanner Shimp. Comyns played forward last year.

Sophomore Josh Chmielewski is back in goal.

John Damrath is another White Division head coach heading into his second season with his team, but the Olentangy Orange bench boss already sees cohesion in his staff.

“We have a coaching staff that is familiar and in sync with one another,” he said.

The Pioneers are developing strong rivalries with the other Olentangy schools in the division – the Olentangy Braves and the new kids on the block from Berlin – but the 16-game CHC schedule provides quality competition at every turn.

“There are no easy games and all the teams in the area are highly competitive,” said Damrath. 

The Pioneers will focus on the process all season long as they attempt to distinguish themselves among the eight-team middle tier of the CHC.

“We are focusing on discipline, respecting the game and winning the blue line on every shift,” he said.  “We are working hard to develop every day.”

Damrath feels the program at Orange is positioned well to succeed.

“Super kids, great school and strong athletic department support,” he said.

The Springboro Panthers embark on their fourth season in the Capital Hockey Conference after arriving from the SWOHSHL in 2016.

Nate Reynolds guided the team to a 13-14-2 mark in his debut as the head coach and has 15 players back from last season to build around.  The Panthers are working just one freshman in at forward, defense and in goal.

The returning veterans include 11 forwards, so it is no surprise that Reynolds identified experience and offensive potential as strengths of the team going into the season.  That experience should help as Reynolds tries to keep the team on an even keel over the course of the season.

The returning veterans include Slade Surikov, Coleman Houser, Danny Murrow, JD Schumann, Theo DeRosa, Tyler Conte, Ryan Schroeder and Luke Halverson.

Newcomers to watch out for are Ryan Pohlkotte, and Chris Scherer.

Springboro will play in tournaments in Miami, Kent and Columbus, giving them a chance to see a variety of teams from all over the state.

Reynolds looks at every league game as a measuring stick, but identified former SWOHSHL rivals Moeller and St. Xavier, along with Olentangy Orange as some games that his team will have no problem getting up for.

Still, the second-year head coach says he needs to make sure the team does not get too high or too low emotionally during the season.

“We need to keep our emotions in check,” he said.

Reynolds had a simple answer when asked who he thought was the team to beat in the CHC White Division:

“Everyone,” he said.  “The division is wide open this year.”

Although the Bombers have not exactly set the world on fire so far at 2-3-1, they did post a 7-2 win over Kenston on November 30 and picked up an impressive 5-5 tie against a quality Anthony Wayne team last week. 

If St. X can play more consistently, they may be able to take a run at a top three spot in the division and a berth in the Blue Jackets Cup.

A veteran-laden Thomas Worthington team is off to a 5-2-0 start.  That may be enough to give some Cardinals fans hope to start thinking about a return to the Blue Jackets Cup.

Worthington, founding members of the CHC, won the first two Blue Jackets Cups (2002 & 2003) but have not claimed the trophy since.  They are coming off a regular season title in the CHC Blue Division and move up to try their hand in the expanded, competitive White Division this year.

Senior forward Will Pischell, a 31-goal scorer last season, has produced multiple points in six of the first seven games on the schedule, totaling 14 points (7-7-14) in all.  He eclipsed the century mark in career points late last season and is now up to 116 points (61-55-116) in 82 career games.

Junior Evan Kendall has matched Pischell’s seven-goal output and has produced over a point-per-game in his OHSAA career (25-37-62 in 61 career games).

Collin Stegemiller put up 19 points (7-12-19) in 28 games as a freshman last year and will look to build on that performance as he continues his varsity career.

Another senior, Jorge Bare, has been between the pipes for every game so far this season and has posted a 2.43 goals-against average.  He is in his fourth season as Worthington’s starting goaltender and should easily surpass 100 career starts later this season.  

A steady, experienced goaltender is a commodity any high school hockey team would love to have come tournament time.