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Olentangy Liberty Claims First State Championship for School, Region

By Ian Phillips, 03/14/23, 9:30AM EDT

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Patriots defeat University School, 6-2

COLUMBUS --- The curse has finally been broken.

For the first time in history, a Columbus Region team has won the OHSAA state championship for ice hockey. Charlie Hughes led the Olentangy Liberty Patriots to a dominant 6-2 win over the Hunting Valley University School on Sunday at Nationwide Arena. A total of 2,350 people saw the 38-1-1 Patriots dominate the Preppers, outshooting them 42-20.

First Period:

Liberty came out of the locker room ready to go, and they scored an early goal 3 minutes into the game. Luckily for University school, when you play at the home of an NHL team, you have the luxury of being able to look at every play from every angle. There was a challenge, and the goal was called back for goaltender interference. It did not take long for Olentangy to respond, and Charlie Hughes scored the first goal for the Patriots, 9:02 into the game. It is notable that goalie Robbie Cook collected the lone assist on the tally, an impressive feat for a goalie. That goal proved to be the only score of a commanding first period for Liberty, as they outshot their opponents 19-4. 

Second Period:

Liberty scored three goals in the span of three minutes, the first coming from Charlie Hughes, 5:37 into the period, the second coming from defenseman Carson Reynolds, 7:05 into the period, and the third one again coming from Hughes a minute later, completing the hat trick and putting Liberty up by a remarkable four goals halfway through the game. University called a timeout after the fourth goal. “Up five goals, down five goals we play the same way no matter what," said University head coach Andy Gerow.  "It took a time to take a deep breath, and we got the momentum back.”

Following the timeout, Samonte Martin and Luke Palmer sparked the US crowd and their bench by scoring quick back-to-back goals that stunned the packed-full Liberty student section. They went into the locker room with a bit more confidence and all of the momentum. 

Third Period

“U-School” came out and gave Liberty all they could handle for nine minutes, putting up 10 shots in the period, which does not seem like a lot, but against Liberty, which has not been outshot in any of the 40 games that they have played, 10 shots is all that more impressive.

Unfortunately for the trappers, goalie Robbie Cook had an answer for each and every shot they took during that third period. Charlie Hughes added his fourth goal of the afternoon nine minutes in, and senior captain Vinny Rengel finally put the nail in the coffin with an empty net goal with three minutes left.

The final score was 6-2, and Liberty etched their name into the history books as the first team outside of the great lakes regions to win this title, after 46 years of Cleveland domination.

Robbie Cook competed against goalies Mack Larkin and Thomas Morgan for the cage going into the playoffs, and for coach Kevin Alexander, he was “The one who didn’t play nervous when it was time to step up”. As someone who plays with Robbie during the pre-post season for Team Columbus, I can attest to that. He is calm, cool, and collected going into every game, and he is a competitor who loves the game. If someone told me in the beginning of the season, he would end up a state champion, I would not have been surprised." 

Even though no goalie likes giving up five goals, goaltender Noah Caballero for the University School was in my opinion, the second-best player on the ice this game. He came up big for his team, and eventually the offense was too much to handle for not just him, but his whole team. “They beat us with their speed. They had good puck movement and it was hard to defend” assistant captain Will Genovese said. 

Liberty ends the year with only one loss, and a 35-game unbeaten streak they hope to carry deep into next year. Their lone loss came back in November to St. Edward.

Hunting Valley University school ends with a 29-10-1 record. 

--- Ian Phillips for Ohio Hockey Digest