Holy Name may have only won five games last season, but head coach Craig Patton has almost his entire roster coming back as the Green Wave looks to push up the standings. Although sparkplug Dom Lugo will be missed, the Namers are an experienced group, with eight seniors and seven juniors on the 18-man roster that includes 10 of last year’s top 11 point producers and returning junior goaltender Mathias Sizov...The Green Wave will open the regular season on the road, heading to the Toledo area to talk on the Findlay Trojans and Bowling Green Bobcats.

Gilmour Academy was ranked in the Top 5 in the state by both www.myhockeyrankings.com and the coaches poll, but were unable to win a third Cleveland Cup in four years, falling in the championship game to St. Edward via shootout, and were upset by Walsh Jesuit in the district semifinal…Nine players return to the Varsity A roster while four move up from Gilmour's Varsity B squad and five from the U16s...John Malloy, GA’s Director of Hockey and the head coach of the Varsity A team, has been behind the bench for more victories than any other coach in Ohio high school hockey history…The Lancers will be in Kalamazoo, MI this weekend to wrap up their pre-season with a pair of scrimmages against the Southwest Michigan Blades Friday and Saturday.

Padua Franciscan goaltender Aidan Knox followed up a stellar sophomore season with the Bruins (3.29/.902) with a strong performance this fall with Team Ohio's state champion 18U team, posting a .941 save percentage. Now a junior, Knox will again backstop the Bruins and be a threat to steal games…Knox and the Bruins shut out Parma, 5-0, in a district playoff game before running into a Rock River squad that was receiving Top 10 votes in the state coaches poll…Giovanni Ianelli (12) and Shane Helman (10) led the Bruins in goals last season.

Coming off a season that saw them top the Ohio state coaches poll wire-to-wire, win the Cleveland Cup for the first time in school history, and win the Brooklyn District playoffs, the St. Edward Eagles enter the season as contenders for the state title yet again. Ed’s came up short in the state championship game, 2-1, against Toledo St. Francis but returns a talented group including Jack Mansour (17-9-26) and Josh Szopo (14-13-27). The pair combined to score 51 goals in 37 games with Team Ohio 18U this fall…The Eagles out-scored the opposition 44-4 on their way to posting an undefeated (7-0-0) mark in league play a year ago.

Shaker Heights jumps right into league play against University School at Cleveland Heights Sunday evening. The Red Raiders are anxious to get back in action after multiple COVID-related pauses limited their 2020-21 season to 18 games and forced them to withdraw from the Cleveland Cup. With the stops and starts to their schedule, Shaker was not able to build any momentum last season, winning back-to-back games just twice and failing to win as many as three games in a row. The only game they played in the first 22 days of February was against Brush of the GCHSHL Blue Division (a 15-0 rout) before Mentor eliminated them from the district playoffs.  

A 6-0-1 run to close out the 2020-21 regular season gave University School a strong second-place finish in league play and sent the Preppers into the post-season on a tear, but the goals dried up for US when they needed them the most. They were knocked in the Cleveland Cup semifinals by Gilmour Academy, 1-0 in overtime, and were on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision in the district semifinal against Walsh Jesuit...Head Coach Andy Gerow again put together an aggressive schedule for the Preppers with five competitive in-season tournaments. US hosts Shaker Heights in a league game Sunday, giving them a chance to start their season off on the right foot…Colin Counahan ’22 “C”, Mark Berglund ’22 “C” and Kellen McGarry ‘23 “A” will wear the letters for the Preppers.

How can Walsh Jesuit top their historic 2020-21 season? The Warriors went on a thrilling run in the district playoffs, winning three straight one-goal games to capture their first district title and make their debut at the state tournament in Columbus…The goaltending duo of Brody Lerch and Zach Firment enters its fourth season, and all six defenseman on the Walsh roster have varsity experience, but four of the top six D from last year graduated… Colton Ziehm will be the Warriors captain with Aidan Cook and Noah Colasanti serving as alternates...Walsh will again host three tournaments this season (Thanksgiving, Christmas, MLK) in addition to competing in Shaker’s Thornton Park tournament.