But, while they have listened and agreed to give the matter additional consideration, it seems like any momentum the concept had built up has been lost.

“I’ve seen this movie before,” said O’Rourke.

O’Rourke was one of six OHSAA coaches from a cross-section of competitive levels and geographies that joined us for our latest panel discussion on the issue on this week's Ohio Hockey Digest On Air podcast. He mentioned that, strategically, the next step may be to get the athletic directors involved. They may hold more influence with the Powers That Be in Columbus and should also have an appreciation for both sides of the argument as they have to take a “big picture” administrative view for all sports that hockey coaches may lack.

But, one way or another, we need to keep banging this drum until something changes.

It would be unfortunate if it took high school hockey programs opting out of the district tournaments or leaving the OHSAA entirely to play under the USA Hockey umbrella, but that is where we are headed if Ohio’s governing body can’t come up with something that works for its members.

I have talked to a sample of the 80 or so OHSAA hockey programs in recent weeks. Many of them are frustrated, want to see change, but don’t believe their AD or school would let them vacate the OHSAA.

But here's the thing:

More and more of them would like to do it. And some are giving it serious consideration.

How can you blame them?

Toledo Whitmer head coach Kevin Brown admitted he has looked into it after being on the wrong end of 17-0 (in two periods) and 24-0 scores courtesy of state contender Toledo St. Francis over the course of his coaching career at Whitmer and Perrysburg.

Steve Bogas coaches Mayfield - members of the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League's Blue Division.

“We definitely need something different,” Bogas said. “It sucks for a team like ours. We go into the districts knowing we have zero chance. Maybe we win one game. It’s not fun.”

And it’s not just the teams on the wrong end of these lopsided scores that don’t see the value in these games.

O’Rourke’s Saint Ignatius Wildcats handed out their share of Mercy Rulings on their way to four straight state titles between (2016-2019).

They took no joy in it.

“I don’t know anybody – player, coach, fan, referee – that is in favor of having one division,” he said. “It’s not fun. You try to be sportsmanlike, but you are dealing with high school kids. You worry about injuries on both sides and because of the skating element it’s a totally different playing field.”

St. Edward was the #1 team in the state polls this season. They went a month between winning the Great Lakes League Cleveland Cup and playing their next remotely close hockey game in the the district championship. In between they out-scored their opponents by an aggregate 31-0 count.

“If we went with three divisions, couldn’t we grow the game and get more kids to want to play high school hockey?” asked St. Edward head coach and on Air podcast co-host Tim Sullivan.

O’Rourke says that is one of the recurring themes they bring up with the OHSAA.

“This is not helping to grow the game of hockey,” he said. “If they want to create more excitement they need to give more teams a chance to get to a Frozen Four instead of getting beat 10-0. It’s counter-productive.”

It’s also counter-productive to complain repeatedly about an issue without at least proposing a solution yourself, so here it is – the Ohio Hockey Digest vision of an OHSAA hockey post-season that would create more excitement for a much greater number of programs while also enhancing the experience for the elites.

The first question that needs to be answered is where is the “cliff”? meaning the cut-off point between the elite programs that have a legitimate shot at winning their district tournament and the "middle class" that is currently being denied a realistic opportunity to go on a deep run with a chance of competing at the state level.

“Everybody likes an underdog story if somebody could come out of nowhere and win it all,” said Olentangy Berlin head coach Tim Pennington. “But I think we all know there is definitely a cut-off of some teams that have no chance of winning the state tournament the way it is now.”

A poll this week on www.ohiohockeydigest.com showed that 47% of respondents thought a 16-team field was the most appropriate. The next most popular response, at 25%, was “24 or more teams”. So, 16 teams was clearly the favored number.

That’s perfect because that’s what I was going to pitch anyhow…

Sixteen teams is a wide enough net that would include not only the usual suspects and the favorites, but a handful of underdogs to keep things interesting. It would also make it challenging enough for the “White Division” teams just to qualify. It would be a big deal for Mentor or Olentangy Orange or Perrysburg to make the field of 16 and get a shot at going up against the major programs (see Kenston in the 2018 "Look Back" below).

Those that ended up on the wrong side of the bubble would have a great consolation prize – an excellent shot at winning the Division II tournament. The third tier (Blue Division) still wouldn’t have a chance of winning but at least, with the top 16 teams removed from the top of the bracket, the one-sided first-round blowouts would be less frequent and hopefully not as extreme.

At least that is something until we can get a Division III tournament which would then have all 80 programs engaged and, hopefully, retaining more of their talent if players saw something worth playing for by staying at their local public high school.

But that's for another day.

Instead of trying to project which teams are going to be the strongest for the next two years and placing them in divisions, which is next to impossible in any sport much less hockey, why not use the on-ice performance from the current year to determine the most appropriate participants in each bracket?

My Hockey Rankings does a really good job ranking teams at all levels of the game. The OHSAA rankings are already publicly accessible, familiar to all coaches, and could be used immediately. They also seem to be legit. They closely mirrored the Top 10 in the weekly Coaches Poll during the season.

Although my proposed format below has a provision for auto-bids for league champions the current process for seeding teams in the district brackets goes on during the league tournaments so, without asking for additional leeway in the process, the final rankings to determine the 16 Division I participants would have to be at the end of the regular season - or even following the MLK tournaments. 

Many programs would set a pre-season goal of qualifying for the Division I tournament and would be able to measure themselves against that goal after every game. Think of the scoreboard watching across the state on a daily basis as teams jockeyed for position in the rankings.

Imagine going into your MLK Tournament in the #14 spot and desperate to hold onto your position, or needing to win your tournament to move up a couple spots to get in. 

Regular season intensity would be ramped up considerably.

Let's be honest, most teams know they are going to make their league tournament regardless of their record and all teams make the state post-season. Everybody wants to win and/or get better every time they take the ice. But there is really not that much at stake in non-league regular season games and tournaments. This would change that and create considerable buzz from Day One of the season.

There are also 25 teams that play out of the Columbus District and 11 in Sylvania. And they both get the same representation (1 of 4 spots) in the state tournament? How is that even remotely fair?

Making some schools play out of a different district is not ideal, but hockey players and parents travel for tournaments routinely during the season. Wouldn't most stomach one more for the right reasons?

The NCAA men’s tournament provides a nice blueprint that the OHSAA can follow. They balance bracket integrity with reducing travel where possible. They make sure the top four overall seeds are absolutely placed in different brackets, but keep teams playing close to home where they can without straying too far from a pure bracket.

Couldn't the following work?:

1. The top 16 teams based on My Hockey Rankings – regardless of district – qualify for the Division I tournament.

2. Auto-bids are awarded for the following league champions:

1. GLHL (Cleveland Cup)
2. GCHSHL (Baron Cup I)
3. CHC (Blue Jackets Cup)
4. NHC (regular season champion)
5. What about the Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League? Their top two teams were ranked 44th and 49th in the MHR. Should they get an auto-bid? Would they want one? Based on our discussion with Greg Gutterman of Beavercreek, their league champion would likely prefer to compete in the DII tournament. Either way, some objective standard would need to be set (likely a minimum number of member teams and something related to team or league MHR data) for a league to get an auto-bid.

3. The 16-team field is placed in four “Bands”:

Band A = teams ranked 1-4
Band B = teams ranked 5-8                      
Band C = teams ranked 9-12                    
Band D = teams ranked 13-16                 

4. Beginning with Band A and working from the highest seed down, teams are placed in their “home” districts. In any case where there are two or more teams from the same district, the lower-ranked team(s) are moved using the following criteria:

1. Move them to the open slot if there is only one.
2. If there are 2+ teams that need to move, bracket integrity is used (keep the seeding matchups as close as possible to a true 1-16 bracket match-up for the first round, i.e. 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, 3 vs 14, etc.)

5. The process described in step 4 is repeated for Bands B, C & D

I am proposing that, due to the proximity of the Brooklyn and Kent districts and the fact that both the GLHL and GCHSHL have member teams across both districts, that bracket integrity can be prioritized over placement in “home” district when placing teams from Northeast Ohio in one of these two brackets

Step 1: Place the Band A teams as the #1 seeds:

#1 St. Edward is placed in the Brooklyn District as the #1 seed
#2 Toledo St. Francis is placed in the Sylvania District as the #1 seed
#3 Sylvania Northview is placed in the Sylvania District as the #2 seed
#4 Gilmour Academy is placed in the Kent District as the #1 seed

Northview is moved to the open Columbus District as the #1 seed.

Brooklyn

1. St. Edward (1)
2. TBD
3. TBD
4. TBD

Sylvania

1. Toledo St. Francis (2)
2. TBD
3. TBD
4. TBD

Columbus

1. Sylvania Northview (3)
2. TBD
3. TBD
4. TBD

Kent

1. Gilmour Academy (4)
2. TBD
3. TBD
4. TBD

Step 2: place the teams from Band B as the #2 seeds.

All four districts are represented by one team in this Band, so there are no big issues here. #5 Saint Ignatius goes to nearby Kent to maximize bracket integrity (going up against #4 Gilmour instead of #1 Ed’s).

#5 Saint Ignatius is placed in the Kent District as the #2 seed
#6 University School is placed in the Brooklyn District as the #2 seed
#7 Upper Arlington is placed in the Columbus District as the #2 seed
#8 Findlay is placed in the Sylvania District as the #2 seed

Brooklyn

1. St. Edward (1)
2. University School (6)
3. TBD
4. TBD

Sylvania

1. Toledo St. Francis (2)
2. Findlay (8)
3. TBD
4. TBD

Columbus

1. Sylvania Northview (3)
2. Upper Arlington (7)
3. TBD
4. TBD

Kent

1. Gilmour Academy (4)
2. Saint Ignatius (5)
3. TBD
4. TBD

Would St. Edward rather share a bracket with #8 Findlay instead of #6 University School? Probably. But we can keep the Eagles on track to face a team from Band B in the second round without making anybody travel, so we can live with that.

Step 3: Place the teams from Band C as the #3 seeds.

Three of the four teams in this Band are Columbus-area schools so we’ll have to move things around at this point. River goes to nearby Kent instead of Brooklyn to maintain bracket integrity with a 5-12 matchup against Saint Ignatius.

#9 Talawanda is placed in the Columbus District as the #3 seed
#10 St. Charles is placed in the Columbus District as the #4 seed
#11 Olentangy Liberty would be #5 in the Columbus District
#12 Rocky River is placed in the Kent District as the #3 seed

St. Charles moves to Sylvania as the #3 seed

Liberty takes the only remaining open #3 slot in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

1. St. Edward (1)
2. University School (6)
3. Olentangy Liberty (11)
4. TBD

Sylvania

1. Toledo St. Francis (2)
2. Findlay (8)
3. St. Charles (10)
4. TBD

Columbus

1. Sylvania Northview (3)
2. Upper Arlington (7)
3. Talawanda (9)
4. TBD

Kent

1. Gilmour Academy (4)
2. Saint Ignatius (5)
3. Rocky River (12)
4. TBD

Step 4:

Again, we have three Columbus area teams fall in this Band. Only one can stay in their home district.

#13 Olentangy Orange is placed in the Columbus District as the #4 seed
#14 Perrysburg is placed in the Sylvania District as the #4 seed
#15 Olentangy Berlin would be #5 in the Columbus District
#16 Archbishop Moeller would be #6 in the Columbus District

Berlin moves to Kent as the #4 seed

Moeller moves to Brooklyn as the #4 seed

Brooklyn

1. St. Edward (1)
2. University School (6)
3. Olentangy Liberty (11) *
4. Archbishop Moeller (16) *

Sylvania

1. Toledo St. Francis (2)
2. Findlay (8)
3. St. Charles (10) *
4. Perrysburg (14)

Columbus

1. Sylvania Northview (3) *
2. Upper Arlington (7)
3. Talawanda (9)
4. Olentangy Orange (13)

Kent

1. Gilmour Academy (4)
2. Saint Ignatius (5)
3. Rocky River (12)
4. Olentangy Berlin (15) *

Note: Cleveland Cup (St. Edward), Baron Cup (Rocky River), Blue Jackets Cup (Upper Arlington) and NHC champ (Toledo St. Francis) all ranked in the top 16 so no teams are displaced by the auto-bids and this is the final bracket.

Take those top 16 teams out of the mix and here is what you would be left with for the Division II tournament (all remaining teams would be included using the existing format, but I am only listing the top four district seeds here):

Think of the excitement that would be created among this grouping of schools competing for a chance to go to a Frozen Four of their own!

This might even end up being the more anticipated tournament since so many programs would be able to go on a post-season run for the first time with four of them actually making it to Columbus.

That excitement that has worn off for the top programs would be renewed for this group.

To give us a larger sample to test, here are what the Division I brackets and the top Division II contenders would look like going back and using the My Hockey Rankings for 2020-2018 and using the same procedures as above.

• OK let's get this one out of the way first: Walsh Jesuit, ranked #17 overall in 2020-21, actually won last year's Kent District Brooklyn East District tournament and went to Columbus for the first time. I guess you could use that to make an argument here for a larger field, but keep in mind the Warriors' win for was their first ever district tile - certainly a huge thrill for coach Peter Calleri and his team - but also very much the exception to the rule.
• St. Francis would have missed the DI cut in 2019. But, hey, if a traditional power doesn't cut it on the ice in a given year they don't make it - period. Think of the intrigue and the story line that would have added to the Knights' regular season.
• Conversely, think of the buzz around the Kenston team in 2018 as they grabbed the last spot in the field. They would be that year's Cinderella story. Maybe it would have resulted in a first-round exit, but for a team that would likely be a DII contender on a regular basis in other years, a shot in the Big Boy Bracket would be exciting.
• ln none of the four years surveyed did a league champion come from outside the top 16 to grab an auto-bid. I would still keep that provision in place, however, because it provides about 20 more teams with a path - however unlikely - to go on a heater at tournament time and make a run to States.
• In 2019, the top two seeds in Sylvania would have been St. Edward and Olentangy Liberty. Could those two teams have ended up playing for a district title at Tam 'O? Yes. Would that seem strange? Yes. But I would argue that it would have also added a little more spice to the first-round games as the local teams defended their turf. 
• Should we allow teams to decide for themselves if they move out of their home district or not?  I think not. You need to be consistent, and it could create even bigger log-jams and the need for more travel further down the bracket if you give teams in the higher Bands the option of staying home. Although it would add some additional anticipation to the bracket reveal show because you wouldn't be able to figure the bracket out yourself ahead of time.
• Five teams would have been moved out of their home district in 2021, but it was only 3-4 each year when we looked back at 2018-2020.