The Blue Jackets Cup is the post-season tournament to determine the champion of the Capital Hockey Conference. This year’s CBJ Cup championship was a battle of the Bears. The #3 seeded Upper Arlington Golden Bears faced the #5 Olentangy Berlin Bears. The Super Bowl Sunday afternoon battle saw Upper Arlington claw to a 7-5 victory.

This was Upper Arlington’s third CBJ Cup championship in the last five years, with back to back trophies in 2020 and 2021. Olentangy Berlin appeared in their third straight championship game. Upper Arlington and Olentangy Berlin currently stand at #6 and #11 respectively in the Ohio High School computer rankings on MyHockeyRankings.com.

The #1 seed Olentangy Liberty won last year’s CBJ Cup on the road to their state championship. This year saw #8 New Albany upset Liberty 3-2. 

#2 seed St Charles was eliminated in double OT by Upper Arlington 2-1 the preceding night. This may partly explain their gritty team play during the final.

The teams battled through much of the first period without any scoring. Upper Arlington took advantage of a power play to tally the first goal. Berlin goalie Kai Nelson fought off multiple shots from around his crease but freshman Tate Rook was able to find the back of the net for the first of his 2 goals. This was the only scoring in the first period.

The second goal was also registered by the Golden Bears on a power play. A shot from the point was deflected in by Connor Hagkull. Shortly afterward, Upper Arlington took a 3-0 lead from a breakaway by Matthew Russo.

Over the next 5 minutes, Berlin fought their way back with 2 breakaway goals both off the stick of Nick Patton. Scoring in the second period was culminated with Rook putting in the rebound of Zachary Teague’s shot.

Scoring in the third period started after a strong forecheck from Upper Arlington led to Teague stealing the puck, taking a shot and following it to put in the rebound of his own shot. Seconds later, Patton capitalized on the power play to score with assists from Wyatt Gernert and Myles Edgson. Edgson added an unassisted goal to cut the Golden Bears lead to 1.

With about a minute and a half left in regulation, Berlin pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Brayden Koons took advantage to pot 2 empty netters.

Scoring was closed out in the final seconds by Nick Patton who scored his fourth goal of the game. Patton was leading scorer for Berlin. Koons had an assist in addition to the pair of goalie-less scores to lead Upper Arlington. Rook also had a strong performance lighting the lamp twice.

Both goalies have been strong in net this season. Mason Herndon for Upper Arlington and Kai Nelson for Berlin had save percentages during the CHC regular season of 91.6 and 88.7, respectively. In this matchup, Herndon had 28 saves while Nelson registered 38 saves.

This game is a good preparation headed into the state playoffs. Both teams will be competing out of the Columbus District in OHSAA tournament action. The 3 seed Upper Arlington will meet the #15 Troy / #17 Bishop Watterson winner on February 18 at 12pm at Chiller North. Berlin, the #4 seed, will face the winner of the #6 Olentangy / #19 Beavercreek matchup on February 17 at 7:30pm at the Ice Haus.

--- Earl Hosack for Ohio Hockey Digest