Competitive Balance, Player Safety a Concern in OHSAA Post-season
Could “POD” tournaments be part of a solution?
“I guess we win the big prize.”
Avon head coach Kyle Botos was addressing reporters moments after his team advanced further into the post-season than they ever had before. A thrilling 2-1 overtime win over league rival Amherst Steele in the February 23 Brooklyn West District quarterfinal set a high-water mark for the program, but reality quickly set in during a post-game media scrum.
Botos knew what was likely in store for his team in the next round.
Four days later, Avon’s historic season came to an end with a 10-0 loss that, hopefully, its players can erase from their memories when they look back on their high school careers and an otherwise memorable season.
“How fun would that have been?” Botos mused at the prospect of the Amherst tilt instead being the championship game of a Division II district bracket. “We would have had 500 people here with Southwest Conference rivals going at it. It would have been a fun atmosphere. The state needs to look at it.”
“How fun would that have been? We would have had 500 people here with Southwest Conference Rivals going at it. It would have been a fun atmosphere. The state needs to look at it.”
– Avon’s Kyle Botos on the prospect of a Division II district bracket
“Why do they make us play these games?"
– A veteran Cleveland-area coach after hearing a league rival won a district playoff game by a 15-0 count
In the first two rounds of the 2021 Ohio High School Athletic Association hockey post-season, there were 14 games decided by double digit margins. On a few occasions the Mercy Rule was invoked, and teams didn’t even come out of their locker room to play the third period…This is in a state tournament.
“Why do they make us play these games?” a veteran Cleveland-area coach asked after hearing one team won by a 15-0 count.
You may ask yourself why developing programs would put their players through that traumatic experience, but it’s not just a negative experience for the losing team. Why would a team trying to gain steam for a run at a state championship want to play against an opponent drastically inferior to any they have played all season?
Eventual Brooklyn West District champion St. Edward won their first three district playoff games by an aggregate score of 31-0. That included a 10-0 win in a district semifinal game.
Not only does the non-competitive nature of the game create challenges, the sheer number of district playoff games that need to be played on single-sheet facilities creates a two- to three-week gap between competitive games for some of the contenders.
After winning the Great Lakes Hockey League’s Cleveland Cup tournament with a dramatic 3-2 shootout win over Gilmour Academy on February 13, St. Edward did not play another game that was even remotely close until they wrapped up the district title with a 6-1 win over Rocky River on March 6.
How “battle-tested” were the Eagles when they headed down to Columbus for the state tournament a week later having played one competitive game in a month?
And what about the seniors on the receiving end of those embarrassing losses? We sometimes forget that those will be the final experiences for many high school hockey players – not a huge selling point for players deciding whether to play for their high school or go the club route.
Beavercreek head coach Greg Gutterman is one of several coaches, disillusioned with ending their seasons in lopsided losses, that have taken matters into their own hands.
“Those 10-goal losses are so deflating,” said Gutterman. “That’s not how I want my seniors to end their high school careers. It’s just not right.”
It’s more than just the uneven level of competition that bothers Gutterman. He actually sees it as a safety issue.
“Those kids are not safe,” he said regarding the Mercy Rule games. “The skill level is so different between those two teams you have to worry about somebody getting hurt. We couldn’t stand to watch that anymore.”
Gutterman visited the Ohio Hockey Digest On Air podcast recently to talk about the “POD” Tournament that has become an annual tradition in Southwest Ohio. (“POD” stands for Post Ohio District).
Using My Hockey Rankings as a barometer, Academy Hockey Club, Beavercreek and Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League rival Archbishop Alter invite teams at roughly the same skill level to cap off their season – and for some their careers – with some appropriate competition at the POD Tournament.
This year, they targeted teams with an MHR rating in the 80.0 – 83.5 range and again ended up with some parity in a field which included Worthington Kilbourne from the Capital Hockey Conference, the Lake Flyers from the Northwest Hockey Conference and a pair of USA Hockey programs – PHA prowlers and Kent Cyclones – in addition to Beavercreek and Alter.
The third annual event provided those teams with a positive experience just as it has every year.
In the inaugural POD, Troy participated with a goaltender that was new to the game of hockey. The Trojans were on the wrong end of some lopsided scores that season – including their one game in the district playoffs – but Gutterson remembers the goalie shedding tears of joy after backstopping Troy to a 2-1 win in their final game of the POD Tournament.
That’s why they do this.
“It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience,” he said.
It’s not about giving the kids something they can win, necessarily. Not every team can finish the season posing around a trophy. But they should be able to end the season against an appropriate level of competition.
The tournament has drawn a mix of USA Hockey and Ohio High School Athletic Association programs but Gutterson would like to see it transition into an all-OHSAA event that would serve to crown an “unofficial Division II” champion.
The word is getting out. Gutterman said they had to turn three teams away this year.
If the My Hockey Rankings are proving to be a viable way to group Ohio’s high school hockey teams in competitive cohorts, could they also provide a piece to the puzzle for a long-overdue change in the OHSAA playoff format?
Gutterman suggests teams in the 70.0-79.9 range in MHR should be in a third tier. A score of 80.0-84.9 would land you in the Division II bracket while the 85.0+ group would compete in Division I.
“Top third, middle third, bottom third – GO!” Gutterson says. “I don’t see why that’s so hard.”
“Those kids are not safe. The skill level is so different between those two teams you have to worry about somebody getting hurt. We couldn’t stand to watch that anymore.”
– Beavercreek’s Greg Gutterman on Mercy Rule games in the state playoffs and the motivation for the POD Tournament
2021 POD Tournament Results
Lake Flyers 3-1-0
PHA Prowlers 2-1-1
Kent Cyclones 2-2-0
Archbishop Alter 2-2-0
Beavercreek 1-1-2
Kilbourne 0-3-1
“No disrespect to the Ohio High School Athletic Association. They do some great work on behalf of these student athletes,” he said. “They work their tails off and there are certainly lots of politics they have to accommodate, but I do believe it’s time.”
There are some teams in the SWOHSHL that are made up almost entirely of beginner players. Under the current format, Sycamore (72nd/77.34) or Elder (79th/73.91) could find themselves traveling to Columbus and going up against a Top 10 team in the state, like Upper Arlington (89.22) or St. Charles (89.08), in the district tournament.
“The safety issue and the drubbings have to end,” said Gutterman. “It’s just not safe.”
What about encouraging teams to opt out of the OHSAA post-season altogether and compete in a POD-style Tournament instead?
Gutterman said the Beavers, ranked 44th in the state, would not consider pulling out of the OHSAA playoffs. The program is in a place where winning a district game is one of their goals at the beginning of the season. This year, they put up a good fight in 3-2 overtime loss to Olentangy in a memorable game (the Braves lost, 8-2, to Olentangy Liberty in the next round).
He also recalls a game against Alter a few years ago where, down 4-1, Creek came back and won in overtime.
“The students still talk about that game,” said Gutterman.
“I would love to see Ohio move to a two or three-tier state playoff for hockey. The end of the season is demoralizing for coaching, players, and programs.”
– Toledo Whitmer’s Kevin Brown
But there are programs all around Ohio that focus on league tournaments – not districts – when setting goals for the year. It really is a lost opportunity for the OHSAA to create excitement for high school hockey all around the state and at all levels – not just for the handful of programs that contend for a state title year in and year out.
“I find the Baron Cup tournament to be more exciting than participating in the state tournament in some years,” said Avon’s Botos. “Each year can be different. One year you have one of those teams that can make history and battle with some of the big programs, and other years you want nothing to do with the state tournament at all.”
Botos, who guided Avon to the Brooklyn District Semifinal for the first time in school history this past season, thinks there would be interest in a POD-type tournament in the Cleveland area but agreed with Gutterman that it would be difficult to pass up a run in the state tournament.
“In my eyes it would be hard to step away from trying to compete for the big prize,” He said. “But I believe it’s time for OHSAA to review the tournament concept and make some changes to benefit all teams.”
Keep in mind the Eagles are coming off a strong season – their best ever – and were ranked 34th in the state with an 85.15 rating using MHR’s methodology.
But for Avon, a White Division team in the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League, even the best season in school history ended with a 10-0 loss under the current format.
Botos conceded that there are some years when a team just knows things are not going to go its way based on numbers or the quality of players they have coming back.
“In some years it might be the right fit to opt out instead of going to the state tournament,” said Botos. “I would say it’s something to keep in mind and make the decision if it’s the right fit for our team that year.”
“I would have to get an OK from our athletic director to bypass the district tournament entirely but, personally, if things stay the way they are (with no second division), I would be very interested.”
– Lakewood’s Mark Ferfolia
Most of the Blue Division teams in the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League view the Baron Cup III as their year-end goal. In 2002, the league realized most teams in the league had no shot at qualifying for, much less winning, the Baron Cup and created a two-tiered tournament. Baron Cup III followed in 2007 and now the GCHSHL has a post-season format that is meaningful for all of their teams - no matter their skill level.
Lakewood head coach Mark Ferfolia says his team has participated in Cleveland-area tournaments for teams that didn’t qualify for the Baron Cup(s) and wanted to play some additional games at the end of the season against appropriate competition. Essentially, the same concept as the POD, but before the district tournaments instead of after.
He shares the frustration over the OHSAA’s one-size-fits all approach to the hockey playoffs.
“I do believe there would be some interest from a number of GCHSHL teams as they truly feel as if there isn’t much chance of more than a first round game,” said Ferfolia. “It would be a great way to end the season on a more positive note and I have heard many coaches talking about such a tournament.”
In recent years, the Toledo area has taken a page out of the POD Tournament’s book and had a "White Division Playoff" at the end of the season. When COVID concerns scuttled that event this year, Toledo Whitmer’s Kevin Brown attempted to enter the POD Tournament, but there was not an opening available.
Whitmer (60th/80.84) lost to fellow Northwest Hockey Conference member Northview, 10-0, in their first game of the Sylvania District tournament (For those of you scoring at home, the first six games played in Sylvania included scores of 11-1, 11-0 and 10-0).
“It is my hope that one day my staff and I can build a program to complete with the Red Division teams in Toledo,” Brown said. “But this is a project many years in the making.”
Brown sees the value in the POD concept but would like to see the OHSAA take action to address the competitive imbalance issue that creates the need for the event and others like it.
“I would love to see Ohio move to a two or three-tier state playoff for hockey,” Brown stated. “The end of the season is demoralizing for coaching, players, and programs.”
He thinks having a single division of competition is part of the problem. Talent bleeding from public to private schools, which perpetuates the imbalance issue, is another.
“When trying to keep players in your districts, many players in local areas are only seeing the best of the best in Ohio hockey and moving or attending those schools.”
Despite all of that, Brown admits it would be difficult to pull out of the OHSAA post-season even if it remains a single-bracket format.
“I do not see Whitmer leaving the state playoff tournament,” he said. “While it's an unfortunate situation for some teams it's also a benchmarking point for coaches and programs.”
Brown says he and other coaches are hoping the discussion can continue and eventually, help the OHSAA change their position.
Tony DeRosa, head coach of the Springboro Panthers of the Capital Hockey Conference, is a member of a coaches advisory committee that works with the OHSAA and says that group is discussing the issue and looking for ways to make the early rounds more competitive to address the concerns Gutterman and others have.
“I don't think it is a safety issue, but I don't like to see blowouts either,” DeRosa said.
You can count the Panthers, which placed 40th in MHR’s final OHSAA 2020-21 rankings, among the teams that are determined to continue their participation in the OHSAA post-season.
“I am not in favor of opting out of the tournament,” said DeRosa. “But I agree having more competitive games in the opening rounds of the district tournament is a good thing.”
Ferfolia, who has 42 years of coaching experience, is not one to lean towards pulling out of the OHSAA districts, but it sounds like the concept is growing on him.
“I would have to get an OK from our athletic director to bypass the district tournament entirely,” said Ferfolia. “But personally, if things stay the way they are (with no second division), I would be very interested.”
--- Scott Harrington for Ohio Hockey Digest
