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"Semifinal Saturday" Coming Up at District Tournaments

By Scott Harrington, 02/27/20, 11:00PM EST

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Statewide field will be reduced to eight teams this weekend

OK, let’s get this out of the way first.  It’s not, technically “Semifinal Saturday” in that not all eight district semis will take place that day, but “Semifinal-Saturday-Except-for-One-Game-Friday-and-the-CHC-has-their-Quarterfinals-Saturday-and-Semis-Sunday” did not have much of a ring to it.

The point is this:  It’s getting down to the short strokes in the OHSAA post-season and, by this time Sunday, we will have the matchups for the four district final games to be played next weekend.

There are 20 teams still alive as I post this Friday morning:  Four each in the Brooklyn, Kent and Sylvania districts and eight in Columbus.

Sylvania started with a smaller field and Brooklyn/Kent played mid-week quarterfinal games, so that’s how they trimmed their respective fields faster than in Columbus, where Saturday's winners play again Sunday to determine the two finalists.

There were no huge surprises Tuesday night.  The upper seeds Saint Ignatius (Brooklyn #1) and Mentor (Kent #2) advanced easily.  Shaker Heights defeated Great Lakes Hockey League rival Walsh Jesuit, 5-1, in what was the marquee matchup of the evening and Amherst Steele won their 26th game of the season, 5-3, over Strongsville to earn a date with Ignatius Saturday.

Comets head coach Steve Morris said Amherst concentrated on defense and made good on their offensive opportunities - the same formula his group will try to follow against the 4x defending state champions.

“They are excited to play such a good team and are looking forward to the challenge,” Morris said. 

The most anticipated tilt of the Brooklyn District so far came on Wednesday with St. Edward and Holy Name colliding in the quarterfinals to write the next chapter in their district tournament rivalry.  The Eagles prevailed, 3-0, behind senior goaltender Nate Cappellazzo's shutout and will play Rocky River next on Saturday.  The Pirates, who topped Avon Lake, 7-3, have scored 217 goals this season.

St. Edward head coach Tim Sullivan said the Eagles were able to concentrate on taking space away from Holy Name stars Brennan Dickey and Milo Henry, but Rocky River spreads their scoring around.

Sullivan saw River twice last year when he was behind the Holy Name bench - including in the district tournament.

"The team looks the same on paper," he said.  "But their skill is on another level now.  They are a different team."

Over in Kent, the stage was set for a SOM Center Semi as Gilmour Academy and University School rolled over Orange and Hudson by a combined 16-0 count.

Down in Columbus they have a little more to sort out yet.  SWOHSHL champion Talawanda goes up against undefeated Upper Arlington in the first of four quarterfinal games on Saturday.  The Braves won their league hardware for the first time in 11 years and are hoping to get back to the state tournament for just the second time in school history (2004).

Head coach Zach Sens says his players are enjoying the moment.

“We came into the season with our minds set on winning the league,” he said.  “But we've surprised ourselves even with what we've been able to accomplish. We've set the record for most wins in a season for Talawanda, won the Kent Roosevelt holiday tournament for the first time, it's the first time in 10 years we've made it to the third round of states, etc.  With that they've brought some excitement back into the school.”

Creating some buzz around the team with a post-season run is something that goes a long way with a lot of high school programs in the state.

“There has been a battle between playing high school hockey and club hockey in the state of Ohio and I think our players are finding out how much fun it is to play for your school,” Sens said.

The Brave were not surprised to find out their road to the district final would go through Upper Arlington.

“We thought we may have a chance to play into the later rounds of the district tournament and early on we knew it was going to come down to Upper Arlington, St. Charles or Liberty,” Sens said.  “There were no surprises when we saw the bracket a few weeks ago.  The boys have watched tape on UA the last few days and they're excited about the challenge.  UA is a tough matchup for anyone in the state right now.  They're fast, physical and tough. But we know that we can play at a high level and we're a tough team to play against, so it's been an exciting week at practice.”

Here is the schedule for the weekend:

BROOKLYN (John M. Coyne Rec Center):

Saturday:       #1 Saint Ignatius (28-3-2) vs. #5 Amherst Steele (24-3-1), 2pm

                      #2 St. Edward (23-8-3) vs. #3 Rocky River (24-7-4), 5pm

COLUMBUS:

Saturday:       Quarterfinals at Ice Haus-Nationwide Arena

              #1 Upper Arlington (34-0-2) vs. #9 Talawanda (26-5-2), 2pm

              #4 New Albany (18-12-2) vs. #14 Dublin Coffman (9-19-3), 4pm

              #2 St. Charles (21-7-4) vs. #6 Olentangy Orange (17-7-0), 6pm

              #3 Olentangy Liberty (21-5-6) vs. #7 Olentangy Berlin (20-9-0), 8pm

Sunday:         Semifinals at Chiller North

              UA-Talawanda winner vs. NA-Coffman winner, 4pm

              St. Charles-Orange winner vs. Liberty-Berlin winner, 6:15pm

 

 

KENT (KSU Ice Arena):

Saturday:

            #2 Mentor (32-2-1) vs. #3 Shaker Heights (22-10-3), 4pm

            #1 Gilmour Academy (27-4-4) vs. #4 University School (14-16-2), 7pm

SYLVANIA (Tam-O-Shanter):

Friday:     #1 Sylvania Northview (20-8-2) vs. #6 Perrysburg (18-10-2), 8pm

Saturday: #3 Toledo St. Francis (13-16-1) vs. #7 Bowling Green (8-24-1), 8pm

--- Scott Harrington for Ohio Hockey Digest