The St. Charles Cardinals spent the past two weekends in Northeast Ohio playing in a pair of tournaments in Strongsville and Kent.

Head coach Rob Sangster’s team compiled a 3-2-2 record at the two events – the Padua Holiday Hockey Tournament and the Greg Shupe Memorial Tournament – facing top competition and clearly made an impression on a voter (or voters) in the Ohio High School Hockey Coach’s Poll.

Two different five-game win streaks earlier in the season were not enough to get St. Charles in the Top 10, but they appeared at #10 this week.

The Cardinals allowed just six goals in four games at the Padua Tournament, defeating Padua Franciscan (5-2) and University School (4-1) and battling #6 St. Edward to a scoreless tie.

At the Shupe Tourney, St. Charles defeated Walsh, 8-0, and tied Rocky River, 5-5.  They also dropped a one-goal decision to #7 Mentor, 2-1.

“That was a good back-and-forth game,” Sangster said of the Top 10 battle.  “It could have gone either way.”

After rotating through four goaltenders for the first month of the season, Sangster thinned out the herd in the crease recently, assigning sophomores Cooper Tyson and Aledia Lennon to the junior varsity squad while keeping a third sophomore – Grant Wolfe – on the varsity roster to back up junior John Martin.

This week, St. Charles returns to league play in the Capital Hockey Conference, facing #3 Olentangy Liberty, Dublin Jerome and St. Xavier.

Thursday’s tilt with Liberty will determine who is in second place behind Red Division leader Upper Arlington heading into the weekend.

Speaking with Sangster 20 minutes before puck drop, he was looking forward to the challenge against the Patriots, letting his team know they would have to match Liberty’s physicality.

“They are a physical, well-coached team with great goaltending,” Sangster said.  “We’ll have to get pucks deep, get traffic in front of their net and tie up sticks in front of our net.”

--- Scott Harrington for Ohio Hockey Digest