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Creek, Alter headline SWOHSHL Tournament

By Scott Harrington 02/10/2021, 9:00pm EST

Post-season hockey reaches Southwest Ohio Friday

The Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League tournament takes place over three days this weekend at South Metro Sports in Dayton.

The format for the six-team tournament calls for the top two teams to get a bye into the semifinals, which seems appropriate this season as two teams have separated themselves at the top of the standings.

Beavercreek (20-7-1, 9-0-1) and Archbishop Alter (17-6-1, 8-1-1) ran the table against the other four schools in the SWOHSHL in league play. Creek defeated Alter, 5-2, on December 20 and the two teams played to a 2-2 tie in a re-match on January 28. Their head-to-head series over the last five years is as even six wins apiece with two ties.

It would seem like a forgone conclusion that the Beavers and Knights will meet again in Saturday’s championship game but that, as they say, is why we play the games. In Friday’s quarterfinals, Troy (4-8-0, 4-6-0) will take on Sycamore (3-8-1, 3-7-0) at 7:00 p.m. at South Metro while Mason (6-10-0, 5-5-0) takes on Elder (0-10-0, 0-10-0) at Northlands Ice Center at 7:30 p.m.

Who's hot in Greater Cincinnati high school ice hockey?

By www.cincinnati.com 02/06/2021, 1:15pm EST

Top Players from Cincy, Northern KY

Ice rinks may be sparse in Greater Cincinnati, but that doesn't stop high schools from fielding teams with highly skilled players and teams that can rank among the state's best.

Here, in no particular order, are ice hockey players from Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky that have shown some skills while playing on their skates.

Read the full story at www.cincinnati.com

Opening Weekend in Southwest Ohio: DONE

By Lee W. Mowen 11/23/2020, 5:15pm EST

Fingers crossed for Turkey Day Tournaments

DAYTON, OH – The 2020-2021 OHSAA Hockey season has arrived in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, but not without a few wrenches tossed into the works.

Before the puck fell this month, it was announced that the Centerville Elks would not field a team for the season. On Friday, the Capital Hockey Conference announced on Twitter (@CHC_Hockey) that league games would not occur until the end of November. Upper Arlington’s squad (@UA_Ice_Hockey on Twitter) shared the bad news that the Golden Bears were hibernating from any sports action through December 17th. Many teams had their weekends wiped off the calendars. Franklin County became the first county in Ohio to reach the fourth level of COVID-19 exposure, which affects all but three Capital Hockey Conference schools.

Luckily, the Springboro Panthers played all three of their home games at South Metro Sportsplex…with two different foes.

Springboro had a string of three non-conference home games lined up to begin the season, with the Alter Knights, Saint Xavier Bombers, and the Findlay Trojans coming into the Centerville complex. Only Findlay would make the trip to face the Panthers.

Springboro welcomed in the Ohio Scholastic Hockey League’s Dayton Stealth Varsity squad on Friday Night. The Panthers have several returning members to the team, with Tony DeRosa taking over as the Head Coach. Max Hauboldt returns to patrol the net, and Ryan Schroeder takes over as the Team Captain. Springboro faced a Dayton Stealth squad with great bench depth and a 12-0-1 record.

The Stealth flew in eight goals against the Panthers, with seven different scorers lighting the lamp. Both goalies for the Stealth kept the Panthers offense silent throughout the night. Dayton’s Varsity crew would also play three games on the weekend, going to 15-0-1 and 5-0 in the OSHL with wins over Westerville and the Northeast Storm and scoring 27 goals in three days while only allowing three.

For the Saturday Night matinee, the Panthers welcomed in the Moeller Crusaders. While Moeller and Springboro both share a spot in the nineteen-team CHC (and in the White Division), this was not a conference tilt. With Springboro set to face the Crusaders in Cincinnati later on in January 2021, only one of the games counts towards the conference record. Moeller took over Saint Xavier’s spot at South Metro, with the Crusaders sailing to an 8-2 win over the host Panthers. Much like the previous night, Moeller had seven different scorers, with Adam Ganz scoring two for the Fighting Crusaders.

For the final game of the home stand, Springboro welcomed in the Findlay Trojans from the Northwest Hockey Conference. If you followed high school hockey in Ohio last season, you might remember Findlay scoring a Michigan goal last year that put South Metro, the Panthers, and the victorious Findlay squad on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays for January 6th, 2020 (it was also the only hockey highlight for that day too, with basketball and Italian football taking the rest of the highlights.) While none of the plays would wind up back on the Worldwide Leader in Sports, the Trojans brought a full bench and used their depth to take the game at South Metro 6-2.

J.D. Schumann scored two goals over the weekend for the Panthers, with Danny Murrow and Tyler Conte adding one each.

The Panthers were set to play in Talawanda’s DiPaolo Tournament at Goggin Ice Arena, but now have an off weekend after Thanksgiving Day (as of now writing this article for the Ohio Hockey Digest.)

Meanwhile, there was another local team that got in a game in the Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League. The Beavercreek Beavers, originally set to play their same-building rivals in the Alter Knights, made the trip to the Queen City to battle the Sycamore Aves.

The Beavers used as much depth as they could to dispel the Aviators 6-1. Beavercreek led 4-0 until the Aves used a Beaver penalty to dent the home side of the scoreboard. Both Beaver goalies shared time in Cincinnati and five different goal scorers helped the cause. Senior Braden Cox had two goals in the win for Beavercreek.

The Beavers are now ready to host the Frozen Creek Tournament, which has been an institution of hockey tourneys since 1997. This year’s slate is scheduled to have five teams play eleven games over the course of three days. Instead of the usual home rink of Kettering Ice Arena, the Frozen Creek is drifting over to the NTPRD Chiller in Springfield. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only 45 people will be able to watch from the bleachers and just 10 from the second-story mezzanine.

For those that might be curious about my broadcasts, you can catch the Springboro Panthers and the Mason Comets on the TKDS Sports Network! You can watch the games for $9.99 per game, with new graphics, 4K cameras with better angles, and more! I’ve already had four games with TKDS, and I hope that you’ll tune in sometime soon!

Happy Thanksgiving and here’s to a successful hockey season!

 

--- Lee Mowen for Ohio Hockey Digest

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