In a nail-biter of a state championship game, the St. Francis de Sales Knights defeated the St. Edward Eagles, 2-1, on Sunday at OhioHealth Ice Haus in Columbus.  

The Knights started out the scoring midway through the first period on a shot from Devon Homier, assisted by Riley Box and Nick Mack.  The scoring opportunity came on a powerplay for the Knights.  Though St. Francis held St. Edward scoreless through the first two periods, St. Francis goalkeeper Jackson Smalley made a combined 18 saves during these two periods.  

Going into the third period, the Eagles still had no score on the board, but just 1:41 into the final frame, junior Jack Mansour tied the game.  With momentum on their side, St. Edward looked to potentially take the lead, but penalties prevented this from happening.  At 5:39, The Knights had a man-advantage opportunity due to a roughing penalty.  Just 12 seconds into the power play, Luc Kuhr scored for St. Francis with the assist coming from Riley Box.  The Knights then held St. Edward scoreless for the remainder of the game, thus securing the program’s third state championship.  

“Last year we got it taken away,” said St. Francis forward Jon Jaros. “Who knows how that could have gone.  This year we pulled it off.  For me, it feels great, but for the team, even better.”

The Knights qualified for the state tournament a year ago – as they have for six of the last seven seasons – only to see the event cancelled in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic here in the United States.

Jaros also went on to emphasize the importance of winning the state title for the seniors, saying, “Just to come back and to win a state title means a lot [to the seniors] especially.”  

“Not the outcome we wanted,” said St. Edward head coach Tim Sullivan. “But I’m super proud of this group.” 

In a pandemic year, St. Edward and many other teams in Ohio seriously questioned the possibility of a winter season.  Coach Sullivan emphasized, “The lessons that they’ll learn from this year, all the stuff that they did and had to do to get out and play the game: that’s winning right there.” 

Coach Sullivan’s message will surely resonate to teams across Ohio, especially because all winter and spring sports concluded prematurely last year due to the pandemic.  

Both St. Francis and St. Edward will lose key seniors next year, but each team still has a great foundation to build on, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a second chapter to this story in Columbus next season.  

--- Diego Palko for Ohio Hockey Digest