Great Lakes Hockey League Weekly Vol. 6, No. 2
LEAGUE SCHEDULE KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR
With the Thanksgiving Tournaments behind us, the Great Lakes Hockey League schedule begins in earnest this week with seven games involving all eight members of the league.
League play actually started prior to the long holiday weekend with three games. On Friday, November 16, St. Edward defeated Holy Name, 3-2, at Winterhurst and Gilmour Academy welcomed Shaker Heights to the league by defeating them, 6-0, in their inaugural GLHL game.
On Saturday, November 17, Holy Name got in the win column with a 7-1 victory over Walsh Jesuit at KSU Ice Arena.
Last weekend, all eight members of the GLHL competed in the traditional Thanksgiving tournaments.
Among the highlights was a pair of GLHL squads facing off in the championship of the Cold Turkey Shootout at the Tam O’Shanter in Sylvania. Gilmour beat St. Edward, 5-4, on an overtime goal by Charlie Valenti.
Looking forward to this week, Lake Catholic and Padua Franciscan kick off a heavy slate of league games when they play at Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.
Gilmour Academy will also play on Wednesday, hosting their neighbors University School as the Lancers begin a stretch of three league games in four days.
Lake Catholic will also play three league games in four days, visiting Shaker Heights and Holy Name in addition to their tilt with the Bruins at The Q.
In addition to the individual games listed on the schedule above, Padua will be travelling to Columbus for a tournament and University School will be participating in the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase in Jamestown, NY. The Preppers will also stop in North Allegheny, PA to play a game on their way out.
University School starts a busy week with a league game at Gilmour on Wednesday before heading to Jamestown, NY for the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase.
Shaker Heights will play three games in four days, playing at Rocky River Wednesday evening before playing league games against Lake Catholic at home Friday and at Walsh Jesuit Saturday.
GREAT LAKES HOCKEY LEAGUE—TEAM NOTES
GILMOUR ACADEMY > Showing that their 2018 Cleveland Cup title run was not just a one-off, the Lancers of Gilmour Academy are off to a strong start (5-0-1) to the 2018-19 season. A pair of Charlies have led GA in scoring in the early part of the season. Senior Charlie Valenti (5-4-9) and sophomore Charlie Tuggey (3-4-7)...Lancers goaltenders Sebastian Herlong, a sophomore, and Jac Lymn, a junior, have recorded two shutouts apiece through the first six games for Gilmour.
HOLY NAME > The Holy Name Green Wave played a pair of league games prior to the holiday break, dropping a close 3-2 contest to St. Edward then bouncing back with a 7-1 win over Walsh Jesuit. They will play two more league contests this weekend, visiting Gilmour Friday before playing their 2018-19 Home Opener Saturday night at Ries Rink against Lake Catholic...The Namers were in Kent for the Walsh Thanksgiving Tournament. They opened the event with a convincing 5-0 win over Toledo St. John’s and also finished on a high note, defeating Meadville (PA), 6-3. Meadville will return to play the Green Wave at Ries Rink on December 21.
LAKE CATHOLIC > Lake Catholic split their four games at the Chiller Thanksgiving Tournament in Dublin over the holiday weekend, defeating teams from both the Capital Hockey Conference (Dublin Coffman, 7-2) and the Northwest Hockey Conference (Anthony Wayne, 4-0)...Seniors Cole Horvath and Jacob Schmitt have picked up where they left off last season. The due has scored 10 of the Cougars’ first 14 goals of the season after combining for 47 a year ago (29 from Horvath)...Senior G Patrick Kristo has been between the pipes for all four games for Lake Catholic and is the only netminder on the Cougars roster.
PADUA FRANCISCAN > The Padua Bruins were in Kent for the Walsh Thanksgiving Tournament over the break and will test themselves in another in-season tournament this weekend, heading to Columbus for the Adam Allgeyer Memorial where they will play Olentangy Orange, New Albany and Olentangy Liberty in preliminary round play, plus a placement game on Sunday...Senior G R. J. Schuette tunred in a 46-save effort in a 3-0 loss to Shaker Heights on Saturday.
ST. EDWARD > Troy Gray’s St. Edward Eagles are icing an unusually young team this season but the early results have been encouraging. They made it all the way to overtime of the championship game before settling for second place at the Cold Turkey Shootout in Sylvania. The OT loss to Gilmour was a repeat of the result of last season’s Cleveland Cup championship game...With St. Edward playing in the OHSAA Division I football championship game on Friday, the Eagles moved their Friday GLHL game vs. Walsh Jesuit to a date TBD.
SHAKER HEIGHTS > Shaker Heights lost their inaugural Great Lakes Hockey League game on Friday, November 16, falling to Gilmour Academy, 6-0. They followed that up with a pair of home ties against Mentor (4-4) and Sylvania Northview (1-1) in non-league action before taking part in the Walsh Tournament last weekend...The Red Raiders will look for their first-ever GLHL win Friday when they host Lake Catholic at “The Bart”. They will also travel to Walsh Jesuit for a league game on Saturday. They defeated the Warriors, 2-1, on Sunday in a non-league game.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL > It will be a busy week for University School as the Preppers play as many as five games in five days. A league game Wednesday at Gilmour is followed by 3-4 games at the National Invitational Scholastic Showcase in Jamestown, NY.
WALSH JESUIT > Pucks have not been going in the net for Walsh Jesuit early this season. Five different players found the net in their first game at the Thanksgiving Tournament, a 5-1 win over Padua. Freshman G Zach Firment stopped 17 of 18 shots in that game. However, in their four other games, Walsh has lit the lamp just five times, going 0-3-1...One tournament down, two to go: Walsh Jesuit hosted their Thanksgiving Tournament over the weekend. The Warriors also put on Christmas and MLK Tournaments.
GLHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK—TANYON BAJZER, ST. EDWARD
With five goals at the Cold Turkey Shootout in Sylvania, OH over the Thanksgiving Weekend, St. Edward sophomore forward Tanyon Bajzer is the Great Lakes Hockey League Player of the Week for the week ending November 25.
Bajzer’s scoring exploits helped the Eagles take second place in the tournament as they fell in overtime to GLHL rival Gilmour Academy.
He scored a goal in the Eagles’ tournament-opening 6-0 win over Sylvania Northview on Friday.
He followed that up with two-goal performances in wins over St. Andrews, Ontario (4-2) and Olentangy Liberty (3-1).
Bajzer also picked up three assists for a total of eight points.
“Tanyon knows this is gonna be a transition year for him,” said St. Edward head coach Troy Gray. “Last year he was just a talented young up-and-coming freshman. Now he is going to have to learn how to play with a target on his back.
This added pressure will make him a better hockey player and, ultimately, more successful at the next level.”
Three different Eagles won GLHL Player of the Week honors last season:
Andrew Tomer, St. Edward (Dec. 8); Andrew Stewart, St. Edward (Dec. 16) and Tyler Fowles, St. Edward (Jan. 5).
GLHL ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT—MICHAEL PHILLIPS, GILMOUR ACADEMY ‘11
Richmond Heights native Michael Phillips developed his game for four seasons at Gilmour Academy—one with the Varsity A team and three with the Prep Team that plays in the Midwest Prep Hockey League.
Following his four years at GA, Phillips spent two additional years honing his skills playing junior hockey in Ontario, with Cornwall Colts of the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), and in Boston with the Boston Jr. Bandits of the Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL).
Phillips caught the eye of college scouts in the Boston area and that resulted in him playing four years of NCAA Division III hockey at Babson College. He scored 78 points (26-52-78) in 111 career NCAA games and served as captain his senior season.
After playing professionally in France for a season, Phillips returned to North America, signing with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. The Nailers are the “AA” farm team of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
So far, Phillips has suited up in 15 games for Wheeling, scoring two goals and assisting on five others for seven points.
