2020-21 IN REVIEW:
22-13-0 overall
11-3-0 in CHC Red (1st place by PTS%)
WON BLUE JACKETS CUP
WON COLUMBUS DISTRICT PLAYOFFS
Lost to St. Edward in OHSAA semifinals

The last three years has been a Golden Era for the Golden Bears.

Upper Arlington has accumulated an 82-24-3 record (.766) and captured back-to-back Blue Jackets Cups in 2020 and 2021. The 2019-20 team went 35-1-2 and outscored the opposition 216-35. Unfortunately, that lone loss came in the district playoffs.

Last year, in his first season as the head coach, Hamish Baird navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and took UA all the way to the state tournament. As he takes the team into his second season behind the bench, almost half of the roster has turned over with 10 new faces out of 21. Six players have moved up from a strong JV program.

The Golden Bears graduated all-state goalie Garrett Alderman. He is succeeded by two new targets in the UA net (sophomore Poppy Worsley is honing her skills in the JV crease this season. Please tell me her nickname is “Gump”), but Baird still has experience at his disposal with 17 upperclassmen and says the team is more balanced at both ends of the rink.

“We expect that Max Robins and Sam Burns will drive our offense,” said Baird. “Carson Gresock, Nolan Adams and Brendan Tice will also be a big part of our offense bringing a lot of speed.”

Robins scored 33 goals in 28 games as a junior, but Baird sees him as a strong two-way player that plays sound positionally and works hard on the backcheck when he does not have the puck on his stick.

“His timing and passing are elite and his shot is deadly accurate,” said Baird. “He slows the play down in the offensive zone and creates scoring chances. Max is both a goal-scorer and playmaker with a unique ability to distribute the puck.”

Sam Burns, a big, skilled forward with natural offensive instincts returns to the lineup full-time after playing 18U AAA in Colorado for most of last season. He returned in time for the state tournament, scoring three goals and adding three assists in three playoff games.

Burns scored over a point-per-game as a freshman for UA, then piled up 76 points (33-43-76) in 37 games as a sophomore in 2019-20.

Baird says Burns, who is an excellent puck-handler with a heavy shot, dominates possession and creates space for himself and his teammates.

“He can take over games and dominate opponents.”

The roster looks solid on the blue line as well.

“Sam Cannon and Noah Domagalski will shore up our back end and we expect Rory Brennan and Will Stehle to be major contributors,” Baird said.

Cannon, a four-year varsity player, will continue to play heavy minutes and be called on in critical game situations.

“He takes away time and space very well causing turnovers and odd-man rushes, and his physicality in the corners is unmatched, as is his closing speed.”

Robins and Cannon are returning CHC Red Division All-Stars.

Baird sees newcomers Brady Hagkull and Preston Bernard as co-number ones in net. Both are vying for the top spot on the depth chart and pushing each other to get better in the process.

Looking at the competition around the Red Division of the CHC, Baird says Olentangy Liberty always plays UA tough and they have also developed a natural rivalry with St. Charles Prep.

“Our rink-mates and rivals St. Charles always give us a good game,” said Baird. “There is a special rivalry there because they practice right after us – we see them every day and our locker rooms are right next to each other.”

The Golden Bears wasted no time going after those teams, taking on both in the first weekend. They bounced back from an 8-3 loss to Liberty in their Season Opener with a 2-1 victory over St. Charles.

They will look forward to getting a second shot at both teams in league play later in the season. In the meantime one of the division’s newest members, Olentangy Berlin, handed Upper Arlington a 7-5 loss in a league game which UA later avenged in the championship game of the Chiller Thanksgiving Tournament. Berlin battled back from a 6-0 deficit in the re-match to get within a goal before Upper Arlington put it away late and ran its record to 5-2-0 on the season.

“Day-in and day-out we expect the team to play with purpose, focus and intensity,” said Baird. “Mistakes happen but the effort needs to be there both on ice and preparing for games. Our season goal is to win the Blue Jackets Cup for the third year in a row and play in the State Tournament.”

The Golden Bears will be in the Cleveland area for three different events during the season as they compete in the Padua Holiday Tournament as well as Gilmour’s Brother James Tournament and the Father Styles MLK Showcase hosted by Saint Ignatius.

2020-21 IN REVIEW:
13-14-2 overall
5-4-1 in CHC Red (4th place by PTS%)
Blue Jackets Cup semifinalist
Columbus District semifinalist

Kevin Alexander enters his fourth season as the head coach at Olentangy Liberty with a team that is young up front, but you can expect the Patriots to play with pace and give a strong effort on the defensive end of the rink.

Number 18 is one that gets circled on the whiteboard by many opposing coaches. Returning All-CHC performer Gage Schlotterbeck is the big point producer for Liberty.

Senior defenseman Sully Plancon will quarterback the Patriots power play and no doubt be looking for Schlotterbeck as he distributes the puck.

Bubba Roberts, a senior, will be the starting goaltender for the first time in his varsity career and the Patriots will need him to keep the top teams off the board come tournament time. He will get the chance to play in big games during the year and that will help him prepare. The Pats play a tough schedule between the Red Division games within the CHC and some in-season tournaments. Alexander looks forward to the Padua Holiday Tournament, in particular, as a measuring stick for his squad.

Liberty also has three freshmen on the roster for the first time but they, too, will be battle-tested by February.

The Patriots opened their season against traditional powers St. Charles and Upper Arlington and posted wins over both, defeating UA, 8-3, in the Season Opener and then defeating St. Charles, 3-1.

Alexander also mentioned Olentangy Berlin as a challenger in their first season in the Red Division.

2020-21 IN REVIEW:
20-7-1 overall
8-4-1 in CHC Red (2nd place by PTS%)
Blue Jackets Cup runner-up
Columbus District runner-up

The St. Charles Cardinals will be an experienced, veteran team with strong leadership according to 10th-year head coach Rob Sangster, who has both goalies and four defensemen coming back from last year's 20-win team.

Cooper Tyson and Grant Wolf form a solid, veteran goaltending tandem that will play behind a solid group on D that includes Tristan Fahs, Sam Mickey and Erich Schoettmer.

2020-21 CHC All-Stars Fahs and Schoettmer anchor a group that excels in their end but has room for improvement in the puck-moving department.

Up front, St. Charles has hard-nosed Myles McKinney, solid two-way player Dominic Evangelisti and Quinn Brady, who boasts a hard shot.

The Cardinals did the job containing the opposition in the first week of the season, but St. Charles only scored once against both Upper Arlington (2-1 loss) and Olentangy Liberty (3-1 loss).

Those two losses, against top challengers in the division, put the Cardinals a few points back in the division standings, but they found their scoring touch at the Chiller Thanksgiving Tournament, scoring 27 goals in four wins to take the championship in their bracket.

2020-21 IN REVIEW:
11-8-1 overall
4-0-1 in CHC White (2nd place by PTS%)
Qualified for varsity bracket of Blue Jackets Cup 
Reached Columbus District quarterfinals

The Capital Hockey Conference employs a European-style promotion/relegation system in place where division winners move up the following season while last-place finishers are relegated. There is a little wiggle room, however, and teams may petition the league to move (or stay put) outside of that prescribed format.

Olentangy Berlin started out in the Blue Division of the CHC when they started their varsity program in 2018. The Bears had already earned promotion to the White Division and were strong performers during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.

But, despite, coming in second to Archbishop Moeller in the second tier a year ago, head coach Tim Pennington was so confident he had a strong group this year that he petitioned successfully to move up into the Red Division with the Columbus-area hockey powers.

Any doubts about whether or not the new guys belonged were quickly put to bed when they opened their season with three league wins in three days, including a 7-5 win over Upper Arlington.

Berlin extended their season-opening streak to six games before UA paid them back by an identical 7-5 score.

The key takeaway from that game, however, is that the Bears were down 6-0 at one point. Instead of folding their tents they fought back and generated five straight goals, coming up just short of what would have been a very memorable game in the program's history. And maybe it still should be because it shows that Olentangy Berlin is for real and the CHC White Division is going to be a six-team race in 2021-22.

More coming Soon! Bears head coach Tim Pennington was on this week’s Ohio Hockey Digest On Air podcast and we will update this section as soon as we get that posted!

2020-21 IN REVIEW:
18-10-3 overall
5-0-1 in CHC White (1st place by PTS%)
Qualified for varsity bracket of Blue Jackets Cup 
Reached Columbus District quarterfinals

Like Berlin, Cincinnati Moeller is moving into the Red Division for the first time, having won the CHC White Division by a point over the Bears a year ago.

Crusaders head coach Brad Gibson has a strong returning defensive corps but is tasked with replacing top scorers and goaltenders with new varsity players. Eight of Moeller’s 12 forwards, along with their starting goalie, will be newcomers.

While the team may be short on varsity experience as they make this jump up in competition, the JV team did play in the state Final Four a year ago, so that is reason for optimism. Expect the Crusaders to be a much harder team to play against come tournament time as their young players become more comfortable at the varsity/Red Division level.

Among the key additions to the roster is sophomore Noah Smith, who will be pressed into action between the pipes after a single season of JV experience.

Gibson will rely on the likes of A. J. Luzi, Jaden Berigan and Adam Ganz to increase their offensive production and take on special teams responsibilities. Berigan is a power forward that brings physicality and experience to the center ice position.

On defense, senior Nowell Snarey will move the puck and quarterback the power play where he is always a threat to unleash his great shot. Junior Stephen Adams, meanwhile, will take on shut-down responsibilities against the top forwards the Red Division has to offer.

In their maiden voyage in the Red Division, Moeller will be tested in every league game.

Gibson says the team wants to become a consistent member of the Red Division, avoiding relegation from the top grouping, and aspires to advance further in the district playoffs this time around. Last year’s team was eliminated by Berlin, 4-3 in overtime, in the round of 16.

2020-21 IN REVIEW:
14-19-0 overall
6-4-0 in CHC White (3rd place by PTS%)
Blue Jackets Cup semifinalist
Reached Columbus District quarterfinals

Olentangy Orange may have peaked early last year. Between January 4-27, the Pioneers won eight out of nine games - including six in a row - but lost three straight to close out the regular season and were eliminated in the second round of both the league and district playoffs.

The Pioneers have a lot to replace as All-CHC selections Austin Knupp (38-43-81), Clayton Headlee (31-45-76) and Ethan Muth all graduated, along with Honorable Mention Payton Muth.

Returning senior Grant Hendrickson was also Honorable Mention All-CHC a year ago. He notched a hat trick Thursday, scoring all three goals in the Pioneer's 3-1 win over Thomas Worthington to open the Allgeyer Tournament.

Orange opened the 2021-22 season with a 5-0 loss to St. Charles, but then rattled off five wins in their next six games to get back on track.