US Hockey prepared for their second game of the season against rival St. Ignatius earlier this weekend. The two teams met in the 2016 OHSAA State Championship less than a year ago, and both teams undoubtedly have the talent to make it back. The University School team is led by senior captain JD Clemens, while Ignatius is led by their captain Connor Koehnke. In their first meeting of the year, US fell to St. Ignatius 2-3. Although assistant captain Alex Hoyen hardly touched the ice that game, he vividly remembers the defeat. He stated that St. Ignatius is a very balanced team with no evident flaw.
Yet, after such a close loss to St. Ignatius, the team has tremendously improved, evident in their recent play. Since the loss, they have gone a combined 9-1, including a tournament victory in Upper Arlington. Hoyen said, “Each line is starting to develop an identity.” As every defenseman but one was new to the lineup this year, the defense took a few games to develop synergy. Kicker and starting defenseman Adam Alt said “although none of the defensemen are seniors, with more game experience we have all started to play better.” Hopefully Adam can score more goals than field goals this year. Adam also stated that Goalie Jackson Polish has undeniably filled the void left by Alec Silver. He beat out superstar golfer Kyle Flatow for the starting spot, and has demonstrated why with his play. In the St. Ignatius game, Polish saved an outstanding 33 of 36 shots.
Yet in the same game, the US offense was only able to produce 15 shots on goal. Unluckily for Ignatius, the next meeting between the two teams took place in Cleveland Heights, US’s home rink. This Olympic sized rink allows the US offense to spread out the Ignatius defense. The Preppers are a very fast team – a larger rink allows for them to move the puck more effectively and get into better position for shots on net.
The Preppers head into the game against St. Ignatius Saturday and into the final stretch of the regular season with a 20-8-1 record and a #4 state ranking.
The Preppers started off the game strong with goals from Ethan Whetstone and JD Clemens before the 7:55 mark in the first period. However, St. Ignatius stayed tough throughout the game. St. Ignatius cut the Preppers’ lead to 3-2 late into the third period, but Tommy Nook added the exclamation point with an empty netter to cap off a 4-2 win. This victory against the #1 team in the state will allow the Preppers to continue their dominant 10-1 run in the final stretch of the season. Both teams will keep each other in mind as the state tournament creeps closer.