Seeding still up in the air for GLHL's Cleveland Cup
GILMOUR CONTROLS THEIR OWN FATE ON FINAL WEEKEND
Gilmour Academy has the inside track, St. Edward is on their heels, and the Red Raiders of Shaker Heights are not yet mathematically eliminated as the seven members of the Great Lakes Hockey League enter the final weekend of the 2019-20 regular season.
Gilmour needs to secure three of a possible four points in their final two games to claim the GLHL regular season title outright. Heading into Friday’s games they are in a tie for first place with St. Edward. Both teams have 11 points in the league standings, but Gilmour has a game in hand with Shaker Heights (Saturday 3:00 p.m.) and University School (Sunday 5:00 p.m.) still on the docket. St. Edward wraps up their regular season Saturday afternoon against Padua Franciscan.
A Shaker win over Gilmour on Saturday would make things more interesting. The Red Raiders got a boost this week as they cracked the Top 10 in the state poll for the first time this season.
Shaker Heights’ next win will be their 20th of the season and will be the fourth time in five years they reached that plateau after failing to reach it a year ago.
St. Edward has beaten Shaker twice in league play this season to give them the leg up in the event of a tie-breaker between those two teams, but Gilmour took three of four points from the Eagles in league play, meaning St. Edward would have to finish a point ahead of the Lancers to get the #1 seed in the Cleveland Cup.
University School can improve their seeding for the league tournament with a win in their final game against GA, but the Preppers can finish no higher than third.
While the picture is still coming into focus for the top four spots in the standings, positions 5-7 are already set.
Holy Name, ranked #10 in the state as recently as last week, will be the #5 seed for the GLHL post-season tournament as they hold the tie-breaker over Walsh Jesuit. The Warriors will occupy the #6 seed and Padua #7.
GLHL TEAM NOTES
GILMOUR ACADEMY: Junior forward Joe Roddy collected five assists in Gilmour Academy’s 11-1 win over Padua Franciscan on Sunday. Gilmour head coach John Malloy believed that to be a single-gamer record for assists for the Varsity A team. It was a breakout performance for Roddy, who’s single-game high had been two points (2x). Justin Evans scored four goals in that same game and added a pair of assists. It was his second six-point effort of the season (3-3-6 December 20 vs. Walsh Jesuit).
HOLY NAME: Wins over Findlay (3-1 on January 18) and Olentangy Liberty (5-3 on January 19) boosted Holy Name into the Top 10 of the state coach’s poll a week ago, but a 6-2 loss to Gilmour followed by a 2-1 setback against Walsh Jesuit, knocked the Green Wave out of the state Top 10 this week, and also locked the Namers out of the top four positions in the Cleveland Cup seeding.
PADUA FRANCISCAN: Padua Franciscan wraps up their regular season with a pair of tough league games against Shaker Heights and St. Edward. The Bruins will be preparing for their post-season opener—a Cleveland Cup Quarterfinal tilt on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. Padua will meet the #2 seed, which could mean another game against St. Edward.
ST. EDWARD: The Eagles finish up their regular season slate Saturday afternoon against Padua. The plan is to secure two points, then sit back and see if Shaker Heights and University School can help them out by beating Gilmour. St. Edward holds the first tie-breaker against Shaker (head-to-head), so the Eagles cannot finish lower than the #2 seed.
SHAKER HEIGHTS: Shaker Heights was eliminated from the GLHL race with a 4-1 loss to St. Edward on Friday, but bounced back with a quality non-league win over Mentor, ranked #5 in the state, on Saturday. The Raiders appeared at #10 in this week’s coach’s poll. But, as head coach Matt Bartley pointed out, “It is obviously nice to be recognized as one of the top teams in the state but once you begin post-season tournament play the rankings do not mean anything.”
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL: University School is around the middle of the GLHL standings and look like they are destined for the #4 seed for the Cleveland Cup. The Preppers would like to be going into the post-season in a stronger position, but just a year ago, US opened the post-season as the #5 seed for the Cleveland Cup, made it to the final before losing to Holy Name (2-1), then went on a run through the Kent District all the way to the state tournament. Don’t sleep on the Preppers.
WALSH JESUIT: Walsh Jesuit’s 2-1 win over Holy Name in their final league game last Saturday gives the team a little jump heading into the post-season. The Warriors had also traveled to Findlay and posted an impressive 4-2 non-league win the night before. All this comes on the heels of another quality win against Rocky River (#10 in the state on myhockeyrankings.com) two weeks prior. Looks like the Warriors are trending up...Sophomore Brody Lerch stopped 21 of 22 shots in the win over Holy Name.
GLHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK - JOSH FLOYD, SHAKER HEIGHTS
Junior forward Josh Floyd of the Shaker Heights Red Raiders is the Great Lakes League Player of the Week for the week ending February 2.
Floyd scored a hat trick to lead Shaker past the Mentor Cardinals on Saturday. It was the Raiders’ second win of the season over Mentor, the #5-ranked team in the state, and vaulted them into the Top 10 for the first time this season.
“Our goal is always to improve as a team each time we are on the ice together,” said Shaker head coach Matt Bartley. “And our athletes have been working very hard towards that goal this season.”
Floyd has now scored 10 goals in 30 games this season. He had a pair of two-goal games eight days apart last month (1/3 vs. Cleveland Heights and 1/11 vs. Meadville, PA), but the third time was the charm on completing a hat trick.
“Josh had a very good weekend and was obviously a major contributor in our win against Mentor,” Bartley said. “We were battling some injury and illness over the weekend, so it was nice to him step up and produce offensively for us.”
PREVIOUS WINNERS—Brennan Dickey (Holy Name), December 1; Lucas Newton (St. Edward), December 8; John Pape (University School) December 15; Milo Henry (Holy Name), December 22; Patrick Ehlert (Holy Name), January 3; Shane Helman (Padua Franciscan), January 10; Anthony Iacobell (Gilmour Academy), January 24; Devin Campbell (Shaker Heights), January 31
