Dayton, OHIO – When you reach the end of a year (or in this case, the 2010’s), there’s a lot of common thoughts on holidays, resolutions, feasts, and the like. For hockey fans in Southwest Ohio, you might think of the Mayor’s Cup played at South Metro Sportsplex. Perhaps there are other tournaments on fans’ minds, like the Miami Valley Freeze Tournament at Hobart Arena this upcoming weekend. Maybe the big bout in Cincinnati rings in, with the GCL Hockey Night at the home of the Cincinnati Cyclones. No matter who you root for in the Southwest side of the state, you have plenty of hockey to enjoy as we head towards Christmas Day and the end of the decade.

The 2019 Mayor’s Cup

            The Centerville Elks host this historic tournament, with the Beavercreek Beavers, Alter Knights, and Troy Trojans taking part in this six-game Holiday bonanza. Each team gets three games, facing every school, and no championship or consolation games. It’s been told in the tournament’s history that the Mayor of Dayton used to present the trophy to the champions.

            On the first day of Mayor’s Cup action, the Centerville Elks tangled with the Alter Knights for the third time this year and the Troy Trojans faced the Beavercreek Beavers. The Knights, with the powers of Captain Jack Augustine (Power Play goal) and Alternate Captains Spencer Morgan (four scores, one PPG) and Will Augustine (two goals, one on the power play) scoring all the goals, knocked off Centerville 7-5. The Elks had goals from John Hall (Power Play goal), John Chamberlain (short-handed goal), and Justin Peters with a hat trick and two short-handed scores. The Beavercreek Beavers then took down the Troy Trojans 17-0 in a game where Captain Cole Gutterman scores seven goals to break BHS’s record of most goals in a game. Braden Cox of the Beavers also broke the school record for most points in a game by a defensemen with six (one goal, five assists.)

            For Day Two, Alter picked up their second win in the Cup by defeating Troy 7-1. The Knights’ freshman goalie Grant Russell had a shutout until the last fifteen seconds; with the Trojan captain Zak Uhlenbrock scoring the last goal. Jack Augustine scored four times (one PPG) for Alter, Adam Schulz scored twice, and Spencer Morgan notched in a goal for the victorious Knights. In the second game, Beavercreek continued their high-scoring attack by knocking off Centerville 9-1. Hall scored the lone Elk goal, as Beavercreek had six scorers hit the stats (Gutterman with 2; Thomas Bush 2; Riley Hanson 2; Carson Cox, Asa Hebert, and Joe Martin with 1.)

            Onto the last day, the Centerville Elks picked up a 6-1 win over the Troy Trojans, as Justin Peters scored four goals (one short-handed) and John Hall two (one short-handed) and Troy’s Uhlenbrock picking up the lone Trojan goal. For the Mayor’s Cup and the second rendition of the Battle of the Kettering Ice Arena, it was Beavercreek besting Alter 3-2. Gutterman got the first goal on a Power Play for the Beavers, but Philip Yu of Alter tied the game late in the opening period. The Beavers took the lead back in the 3rd, with Thomas Bush scoring from Gutterman. In the last minute, both teams scored with an Empty Netter, Short Handed score from Riley Hanson to place Beavercreek up by two. Alter got the deficit back down to one with the Power Play strike from Spencer Morgan, but the final buzzer rang with the Beavers picking up back-to-back Mayor’s Cups.

GCL Hockey Night: Moeller vs. Saint Xavier

            On one of the biggest nights of celebrating local hockey in Cincinnati, the Moeller Crusaders battled the Saint Xavier Bombers at the Heritage Bank Center, the home of the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones. Yours truly had the opportunity to broadcast both JV and Varsity bouts and having the honor of being one of two broadcasting teams there. The fans were loud, the goal horn was loud, the lights were bright, it was High School Hockey in the old Riverfront Coliseum.

            For the JV bout, both teams walked away with a 5-5 tie. Moeller’s squad picked up the first three goals in the 2nd Period, but Saint Xavier outscored their golden-clad foes 5-2 the rest of the way. It seemed like the Bombers’ late goal in the 3rd would seal a tremendous, come-from-behind victory, but Ryan Lytle scores late for the Crusaders to end things in a deadlock after forty-five minutes.

            In the Varsity battle, Brennan Mortonstrauss of the Crusaders stood on his head with 31 saves. In the first period, Moeller went up 2-0 with the goals from Chase Vondran and Walleye Ratliff. The Bombers would cut the deficit in half with a Trevor Tiemeyer Short-Handed Goal, only for Dom Kariofiles to score another Big Moe Blast. As time continued to tick down in Cincinnati’s crown, Jack Vrsansky scores an Extra Attacker flight to cut the hole back to one, but an empty-netter slice from Jaden Perkins gave the Crusaders a two-goal lead late that held up after the final horn blasts. Saint Xavier cranked out 33 shots to Moeller’s 11.

Talawanda Brings Home Another Trophy

            The Talawanda Brave, having an outstanding season and already claiming the DiPaolo Tournament a few weekends ago, took home the Rough Rider Tournament trophy by clean sweeping the field.

            The Brave claimed the championship with an overtime 3-2 triumph, as Grady Holmes lights the overtime lamp against the Hudson Explorers. Talawanda also picked up a 7-0 shutout win over Gahanna-Lincoln, a previous 7-4 win against Hudson, and a dynamic 9-2 win against Kenston (and Jackson Byrd scoring his first two career goals for THS). The Brave are now on a ten-day break, going into the new decade at 15-2 overall.

Other Games

The Springboro Panthers welcomed in two Capital foes to South Metro over the weekend in the Irish of Dublin Scioto and the Pioneers of Olentangy Orange. The Panthers split the two days by defeating the Irish 15-3 and falling to the Pioneers 5-4. Springboro put up a seven-spot in the first off of the Irish, as Slade Surikov finished off a 1st Period Hat Trick, captain Coleman Houser scored twice, and Luke Halverson scored twice (and finishing with four scores.) Dublin Scioto and Springboro would exchange three goals in the middle frame, as Halverson, and Surikov added the three Panther goals, with Nick Gould, David Loew, and Matthew Gast adding in the Irish scores. In the third period, Surikov picked up his fifth and final goal of the night, as well as an A.J. DeRosa score, a Tyler Conte goal, a Chris Scherer blast, and an Alex Grotjan finisher.

The Panthers battled the Pioneers to open the rink up on Sunday, with Springboro’s Surikov opening the scoring account. Olentangy Orange would score two unanswered to close the 1st Period, with Cameron Miller and Payton Muth representing the Pioneers on the stats. Springboro scored two unanswered of their own in the 2nd, as J.D. Schumann and Surikov got the Panthers their second lead. The Pioneers would tie it up as Austin Knupp knotted the score at 3-3, before Olentangy Orange blasted their last two goals for the win, with Clayton Headlee and Jake Morrone putting the visitors in blue up by two. Surikov added one more Springboro score, but the Panthers came up short 5-4 to close out their weekend.

            After the big Thursday Night bout in Cincinnati, Saint Xavier played a few more games during the weekend. The Bombers picked up a strong 6-4 win over previously mentioned Olentangy Orange. The Bombers also battled the nearby Indian Hill Winter Club squad before wrapping up the year and preparing for Dublin Jerome on the road to start up 2020.

            The Mason Comets, Sycamore Aves, and Elder Panthers all battled during the weekend. The Comets ended the year with a strong 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Lancers (formerly La Salle.) Sycamore picked up a pair of 5-2 wins over Mason and Elder to improve to 4-2 in SWOHSHL play and lead the mostly-Cincinnati represented Gold Division; with Beavercreek storming out to a 5-1 Red Division lead, one game over Alter.

Upcoming Miami Valley Freeze Tourney

            Up next for Centerville, Beavercreek, and Troy comes the Miami Valley Freeze Tournament at the beautifully, historic Hobart Arena. Along with the host Trojans and visiting Elks and Beavers, the Findlay Trojans, Dayton Stealth, and Northern Kentucky Norse will battle during the three-day bash in Miami County. If you’ve never stepped foot inside Hobart Arena, you need to see how well the city treats this gem. Without Hobart Arena, who knows how different Dayton Hockey history would be. Expect a write-up of the Freeze in my next write-up here on the Ohio Hockey Digest.

            Thanks for reading, look forward to talking to you soon.

--- Lee W. Mowen for Ohio Hockey Digest