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Great Lakes Hockey League Weekly Vol. 6, No. 7

By Scott Harrington, 01/18/19, 2:00PM EST

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NAMERS LEAD AS GLHL HEADS DOWN HOME STRETCH

The St. Edward Eagles handed Gilmour Academy their first regulation loss of the 2018-19 season on Sunday, January 13, creating a tie for second place in the league standings.  The 2018-19 Great Lakes Hockey League regular season is getting down to the wire.

games in hand on the Namers.  Both teams are looking up at the Holy Name Green Wave, who are three points clear of the competition, but have played all but one of their league games. That gives the Eagles and Lancers, who are both in Aurora, Ontario over the weekend for a tournament,

  That makes Monday’s game between St. Edward and Walsh Jesuit critical to the Eagles’ regular season title hopes.

The Preppers still have four league games remaining—and eight possible points on the table.   Based on points, Shaker Heights is in fourth place, but University School is actually the only other team still alive in the race for first place.

A 3-1 win over Holy Name struck a blow to the Green Wave’s title aspirations and also kept the Preppers in the mix.

The Cougars shut out Strongsville, 3-0, in a non-league game this past Wednesday, giving them an eight-game streak where they are undefeated in regulation, winning six of eight with the two losses coming in overtime.  Lake Catholic picked up a big win on Wednesday, January 9, knocking off St. Edward, 6-4, at Mentor Civic Arena.

This week, St. Edward and Gilmour Academy will both be in Aurora, Ontario for the Gary West Senior Boys Hockey Tournament and University School will be in Sylvania for the Titan Invitational.

Holy Name, Padua Franciscan, Shaker Heights and Walsh Jesuit will participate in the event that also includes #6-ranked Olentangy Liberty, Findlay, Rocky River and Culver Academy (IN).  Four GLHL teams will be in Kent for the Cleveland Jesuit Classic.

Lake Catholic, meanwhile, will be in Columbus for the Orange Pioneer Classic.

GREAT LAKES HOCKEY LEAGUE TEAM NOTES

GILMOUR ACADEMY > It took 21 games, but the Lancers finally lost their first game of the season in regulation time.  St. Edward handed GA a 4-0 defeat Sunday at Gilmour Academy Ice Arena.  John Malloy  Their 3.33 goals-per game (all games) ranks just sixth in the league.  But, for all of their winning, the Lancers do not have a prolific offense.  It was the first time since a 5-4 overtime win over Buffalo Grove (IL) at the Cornfield Cup on December 7 that they have allowed that many—a span of 11 games. The other time was a 5-4 OT win over St. Edward in the championship game of the Cold Turkey Shootout.  ’s team has found success this season by keeping the opposing team out of their net—the loss to the Eagles matched their season-high of four goals against (3x).

HOLY NAME > After hosting University School in a rare Tuesday night game, Holy Name will have just one league game remaining, that coming on Wednesday, January 30 at Lake Catholic.  The Green Wave will have plenty of opportunities to stay sharp, however, as they play in the Cleveland Jesuit Classic in Kent and also in a tournament in Grand Rapids, MI.  The Namers also host Findlay of the Northwest Hockey Conference on their only game of the final weekend of regular season play.

LAKE CATHOLIC > That four-game stretch included a 2-1 OT win in the 2012 Baron Cup Quarterfinals.  That game was the 2013-14 season opener and capped off a streak of three wins in four tries against Ed’s.  Lake Catholic’s last win in the head-to-head series came on November 23, 2013 in the inaugural season of the Great Lakes Hockey League.  Lake Catholic’s 6-4 win over St. Edward at Mentor Civic Arena last week snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Eagles.

PADUA FRANCISCAN > Padua Franciscan faces a pair of tough opponents in their first two games of the Cleveland Jesuit Classic, going up against Findlay Friday evening and Culver Academy (IN) Saturday morning.  They will also face GLHL rival Walsh Jesuit Saturday evening in a game that will not count in the league standings.

ST. EDWARD > Not only did the St. Edward Eagles come up with a big bounce-back effort after a 6-4 loss to Lake Catholic last Wednesday, junior goaltender Nate Cappellazzo did as well.  Cappellazzo had a rough outing against the Cougars, allowing six goals on 21 shots, but was at the top of his game Sunday against the #1-ranked team in the state, posting a 21-save shutout over GA. 

SHAKER HEIGHTS >   Despite that, the Red Raiders have only broken into the Top 10 in the Ohio High School Hockey Poll once this season, when they were tied for #10 two weeks ago before falling off a week ago.  The Red Raiders have a league-high five ties overall, and have gone through stretches of 0-2-2 (their first four games of the season) and 0-2-1, but league losses to Gilmour Academy (3-2) on Friday and St. Edward (4-1) on Saturday were the first back-to-back losses for Shaker Heights all season.  Shaker Heights has not received enough credit for their consistency this season.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL > After their 3-1 win over Holy Name on Tuesday the Preppers still have four league games over the final two weeks of the regular season, including a challenging back-to-back against Shaker Heights and Gilmour Academy next weekend, January 26-27 at Cleveland Heights Rec.  This weekend’s Titan Invitational in Sylvania will be the fifth tournament that University School has participated in this season.

WALSH JESUIT > They will face #6 Olentangy Liberty on Friday in their first game of the Cleveland Jesuit Classic.   They dropped a pair of one-goal games to Findlay (5-4) and Toledo St. John’s (4-3), the #10-ranked team in the state.  A MLK Day game against St. Edward at Winterhurst will probably determine if Walsh has a shot at a top-four finish in the league...The Warriors headed west to face a pair of Toledo-area teams last week.  At 3-4-0 in league play, Walsh Jesuit is in the middle of the pack.

GLHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK—AMAEDEO CANTINI, LAKE CATHOLIC

Lake Catholic defenseman-turned-forward Amaedeo Cantini is the Great Lakes Hockey League Player of the Week for the period ending January 13.  Cantini helped the Cougars knock off St. Edward, ranked #3 in the state, January 9 at Mentor Civic Arena.  The versatile junior had a hat trick in the 6-4 Lake Catholic win.

“In arguably our toughest game of the season to date Amaedeo  came out with an extra jump in his stride,” said Cougars head coach Justin Vance.  “He looked extremely motivated and focused and was out-skating guys up and down the ice especially on his second goal of the night.”

Cantini is sixth in the GLHL scoring race with 33 points (14-19-33) through 21 games played overall.  He had 8-13-21 in 31 games as a sophomore defenseman a year ago.

“All three of his goals were highlight-reel quality and he’s really been a dynamic threat for us since he’s moved up to forward the second half of this year,” said Vance.  “Both he and Jacob Schmitt had excellent games against Ed’s and were a huge part of our victory last Wednesday. Glad to see them have success when it matters the most.”

PREVIOUS WINNERS—Tanyon Bajzer (St. Edward), November 28; Dominic Casamatta (Gilmour Academy), December 5; Brennan Dickey (Holy Name), December 19; Geremy Davison (Walsh Jesuit), January 4; Niko Negron (Holy Name), January 11

GLHL ALUMNI BIO—TODD HARKINS, ST. EDWARD ‘87

Following a successful playing career that saw him go on to star at Miami (OH) and the National Hockey League, St. Edward graduate Todd Harkins ‘87 turned to player development—a path that has taken him  to his current position as general manager of the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League.     He was originally hired by the Cougars in 2012 as a regional scout, but was quickly promoted to Head Scout and Director of Player Personnel during the spring of 2013.

Harkins has helped guide the Cougars to three consecutive playoff appearances and in all three seasons the team has experienced major increases in attendance. During Harkins’ third season as GM the Cougars set new records for wins (45), road wins (23) and points (96) en route to their first ever B.C. Division Title.

While attending Miami, Harkins was selected 42nd overall by the Calgary Flames in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. He spent time in the NHL with both the Flames and the Hartford Whalers and also represented the United States three times internationally at the World Championships (1992, 1995 and 1998).

Following his playing career, Harkins immediately turned his attention to coaching, and found plenty of success with the North Shore Winter Club where he played a key role in developing 11 current NHL players, including Sam Reinhart (Buffalo Sabres), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton Oilers), Kyle Turris (Ottawa Senators), Martin Jones (Los Angeles Kings) and Evander Kane (Winnipeg Jets).   His 11-year professional playing career also included a four-year stint in the German Elite League before retiring in 2001.

Harkins, 49, played the part of Russian hockey legend Valeri Kharlamov in the one-ice scenes in the movie Miracle about the 1980 U. S. Olympic team’s historic win over the Soviet Union at Lake Placid.