Ohio Powers go head-to-head in Strongsville
Padua Holiday Hockey Tournament draws 11 of top 17 teams
The lion’s share of the top high school hockey programs in the state of Ohio will jockey for positioning in the state rankings over the next three days at OBM Arena in Strongsville. Eleven of the top 17 teams in the state according to www.myhockeyrankings.com will compete in what has become the gold standard for in-season high school tournaments in Ohio – the Padua Holiday Hockey Tournament.
Upper Arlington (2019) is still the defending champion after last year’s tournament was cancelled at the eleventh hour due to COVID-19 concerns.
If a team wins all four of their games to claim the tournament title it is possible they will become the #1 team in the state when next week’s rankings, which take into account quality of competition, come out on Wednesday, December 22.
Certainly #2 Toledo St. Francis, #3 St. Edward and #4 University School would have a shot at ascending into the top spot. For example, St. Edward will face #13 Shaker Heights, #8 Olentangy Liberty and #10 Upper Arlington.
Toledo St. John's will go up against #10 UA, #4 US and #8 Liberty. Teams ranked further down might not be able to jump all the way to #1 but they certainly would receive a major boost in the rankings.
The current #1 team according to MHR, the Saint Ignatius Wildcats, has not competed in the Padua Tournament since winning their second of back-to-back titles in 2017. The Wildcats will be in Pennsylvania this weekend for a two-game set against Shady Side Academy.
This year’s event (which would have been the 25th Annual if not for COVID) will see some changes to the format. Traditionally, teams competed in two groups with Cleveland-area teams playing their three preliminary round games against teams from the “Non-Cleveland” group. Then, teams would cross over for a final placement game on Sunday pitting the top Cleveland team against the highest qualifier from Columbus or Toledo.
This year, teams will compete in one 12-team group with the top two teams – regardless of region – facing off for the championship. The remaining five matchups will not necessarily follow the seeding as strictly (3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6, etc.) as the tournament staff will attempt to avoid situations where a team is playing a league foe, or facing a team for the second time at the event.
Teams will accrue points over three preliminary round games based on the popular weekend tournament format: two points for a win and one point for a tie, plus an additional point for each period won (5 points on the table x 3 games = 15 points maximum available).
--- Scott Harrington for Ohio Hockey Digest
RANKED TEAMS PARTICIPATING IN THE 2021 PADUA HOLIDAY HOCKEY TOURNAMENT
#2 Toledo St. Francis
#3 St. Edward
#4 University School
#8 Olentangy Liberty
#9 St. Charles Prep
#10 Upper Arlington
#11 Sylvania Northview
#12 Padua Franciscan
#13 Shaker Heights
#14 Findlay
#17 Toledo St. John’s
Holy Name of the Great Lakes Hockey League is the only un-ranked team in the field of 12.
