GLHL Weekly - Cleveland Cup Quarterfinal Edition
Seven-Team Showdown for Cleveland Cup Commences Tuesday
The regular season is behind us and the Great Lakes Hockey League post-season tournament, the Cleveland Cup, is contested this week at Strongsville’s OBM Arena.
Three different teams have won the Cleveland Cup over the past three years: Saint Ignatius (2017), Gilmour Academy (2018) and Holy Name (2019).
Gilmour comes in as the #1 seed for the second year in a row and, as such, receives a first-round bye. That gives the Lancers the luxury of sitting out the quarterfinals and preparing for their next game during Friday’s semifinal round.
The winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal game between University School and Holy Name will go up against GA. That is an interesting match-up, not only because it is a closely-matched game between the 4/5 seeds, but it is also a re-match of last year’s Cleveland Cup championship game, won by Holy Name, 2-1.
St. Edward will be the highest seed in action in the quarterfinal round. The Eagles begin their quest for their first Cleveland Cup title on Wednesday against Padua Franciscan. The two teams just wrapped up their regular season against each other on Saturday, with St. Edward winning by a score of 5-2.
Shaker Heights and Walsh Jesuit will face off in the late game Wednesday in what will be their third and most important meeting of the season. Each team has beaten the other this season, but they have not played each other since December 1.
The three quarterfinal winners and Gilmour will return to OBM Arena on Friday night for the semifinals and the puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. for Saturday’s championship game. The GLHL All-Star Team (listed above), as well as the yet-to-be-announced 2019-20 GLHL Player of the Year, will be honored during the first intermission Saturday.
GLHL TEAM NOTES
GILMOUR ACADEMY: Gilmour Academy won the GLHL regular season title for the second year in a row. Head coach John Malloy’s team has a combined record of 79-20-6 (.781) over the last three seasons...Senior Justin Evans won the GLHL scoring race (league games only), by scoring two goals—including the game-winner—Saturday against University School and passing Holy Name’s Brennan Dickey by a point...GA only allowed eight goals in eight league games. Toby Herlong’s 1.37 goals-against average and .943 save percentage earned him recognition as the All-GLHL Goaltender.
HOLY NAME: Holy Name defends their Cleveland Cup title this week...Brennan Dickey enters the post-season of his senior year with 83 points (43-40-83). He finished his GLHL career with 49 points (26-23-49) in 40 regular season games, placing him third on the all-time league scoring list (regular season games only)...Milo Henry (30-31-61), who along with Patrick Ehlert joined Dickey on the All-GLHL Team, finished second in the scoring race (all games).
PADUA FRANCISCAN: Padua Franciscan has struggled to put the puck in the net this season, but the Bruins scored six times over the weekend and have only been shut out once in their last 14 games after getting blanked eight times before Christmas. Junior forward Andrew Lampa figured in all six of Padua’s goals over the weekend, scoring a goal and collecting three assists against Shaker Heights Friday evening and following that up by scoring both Bruins goals against St. Edward on Saturday afternoon. Lampa is Padua’s second-leading scorer this season with 21 points (6-15-21).
ST. EDWARD: Six St. Edward skaters produced double-digit goal totals in the regular season and five of them are juniors. Noah Schultz leads the Class of 2021 goals parade with 14, followed by Lucas Newton (12), Jack Monsour (11), Sean Kolenich (10) and Jack Sullivan (10). All can come back for their senior season a year from now, giving the Eagles a solid base to build on...St. Edward blue liner Tyler Fowles, who is second on the team with 21 points (8-13-21) was an All-GLHL Team member.
SHAKER HEIGHTS: The Shaker Heights skaters—seniors Devin Campbell and Mark Sauerland and junior Logan Mears—all headed into the final weekend of the regular season in a three-way tie for the team scoring lead. Sauerland picked up an assist on the Raiders final game against Gilmour to take the team lead with 36 points (18-18-36)...Congratulations to Shaker head coach Matt Bartley who was named the 2019-20 GLHL Coach of the Year.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL: University School has appeared in five of the first six Cleveland Cup championship games, but has yet to win The Cup. The Preppers suffered one-goal losses in each of the last two years: a 2-1 setback against Holy Name a year ago and a 3-2 overtime loss to Gilmour Academy in 2018...Senior forward John Pape was named to the GLHL All-Star Team. Pape leads the Preppers in goals (15) and points (27) this season.
WALSH JESUIT: Walsh Jesuit only faced their quarterfinal opponent Shaker Heights in one league game in 2019-20 and it was the season opener for both teams way back on November 22. Shaker won that game, 5-4, but the Warriors also faced the Red Raiders in a non-league game at their Thanksgiving Tournament and defeated them, 2-1...Walsh enters the post-season on a three-game winning streak that includes a 2-1 win over Holy Name—ranked #10 in the state at the time—in their season finale.
2019-20 ALL-GLHL TEAM
| Forward | Brennan Dickey | Holy Name |
| Forward | Milo Henry | Holy Name |
| Forward | John Pape | University School |
| Defense | Patrick Ehlert | Holy Name |
| Defense | Tyler Fowles | St. Edward |
| Goaltender | Tobias Herlong | Gilmour Academy |
| Coach | Matthew Bartley | Shaker Heights |
2019-20 GLHL SCHOLAR-ATHLETES
| Jack Borrow | University School |
| Nate Colasanti | Walsh Jesuit |
| Evan Grossman-McKee | Shaker Heights |
| Bryce Hofstrom | Gilmour Academy |
| Jack Mohar | Holy Name |
| Conor Nagle | Padua Franciscan |
| Matt Smith | St. Edward |
