2015 State Tournament

C

CatAlum

Well-known member
Who's the favorite? Ignatius is on a roll but a major blemish was a rout at the hands of Toledo St. Francis early in the year. TSF is ranked #1; are they still the favorite? Some of their league opponents have beaten them this year. Late season, it appears that they faded a bit. Ed's is a threat but not at their peak this year. Rocky River looks solid. US appears to have a free pass to the state semis. Columbus teams are improving.

State bracket has Brooklyn vs. Columbus and Kent vs. Toledo.
 
 
Until recently St. Francis looked like an unstoppable force. Undefeated through their first 20 or so games, convincing wins over Ed's and Ignatius. But looks like they've dropped 4 of their last 6, although their latest losses came to some strong competition out of the Detroit area. Meanwhile, Ignatius has been playing dominant hockey for the past month and a half, and look to be getting even stronger heading into the tournament. These are the two prohibitive favorites, and I'm actually leaning towards a Wildcat repeat at this point.
 
Lookling at the bracket, there appears to be one great semifinal, essentially a bye in another semifinal, with boring final as a result.
 
arizonawildcat said:
Lookling at the bracket, there appears to be one great semifinal, essentially a bye in another semifinal, with boring final as a result.
Click to expand...

Columbus is improving rapidly. One of many examples...Olentangy Orange tied Ignatius.

As for the final...one possibility would be Ignatius vs. St. Francis, which wouldn't be boring.
 
I must have misunderstood the brackets as I thought Ignatius and St. Francis, assuming they can continue win, would meet in one semifinal. So ignore my previous ignorant post. Ignatius would get the bye from the Columbus bracket (he said arrogantly).
 
arizonawildcat said:
I must have misunderstood the brackets as I thought Ignatius and St. Francis, assuming they can continue win, would meet in one semifinal. So ignore my previous ignorant post. Ignatius would get the bye from the Columbus bracket (he said arrogantly).
Click to expand...

Columbus has closed the gap significantly. It's still the weakest region, but the winner of this region will likely acquit themselves pretty well vs. the Brooklyn winner.
 
How soon until we see 2 divisions? Is there a number of programs that the OHSAA is looking for? First 2 rounds are full up blowouts. I know that doesn't always have to do with school size, but it can be a factor
 
NEOballer said:
How soon until we see 2 divisions? Is there a number of programs that the OHSAA is looking for? First 2 rounds are full up blowouts. I know that doesn't always have to do with school size, but it can be a factor
Click to expand...

It won't ever happen because, as I understand it, hockey was "grandfathered" in as an OHSAA sport EVEN THOUGH there are only 70-80 teams participating and the OHSAA standard is that you need to have 150 minimum teams to be recognized by the OHSAA. In addition, the OHSAA rule is that, if there are under 250 teams in a given sport, there will only be one division.
 
Columbus is far from closing the gap. In all honesty it will be Brooklyn vs the winner of Kent/Sylvania. Now with that out of my system it will probably be Iggy vs my guess would be University School.
 
Last edited:
So far, the quarterfinals are all of the 1 and 2 seeds (except #3 UA in Columbus). Ed's/Rocky River will decide the remaining spot tonight.
 
District finals are now set, and each team has played their opponent at least once. St. Francis held a 3-1 advantage against Findlay, US won a midseason victory over Lake, Ignatius 2-0 against Ed's, and Jerome and UA player to a tie in their lone regular season meeting. I still believe St. Francis and Ignatius are on a collision course to meet in the final. My Eagles will have to play the defensive game of their lives to pull the upset, and they have to keep it clean. If Ignatius gets the edge in power plays it could get ugly. When the Wildcats find the net a couple times, the flood gates tend to open.
 
Was it three years ago that Ignatius went into a state tourney game with a record of 41-0 and Ed's beat them in OT? I therefore consider an Ignatius victory this Saturday not a sure thing. I know Ed's will put forth their best effort of the season.
 
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/sports/2015/03/07/hockey-district-final.html

Jerome beats UA in OT to win first district title
By DAVE PURPURA
Saturday March 7, 2015 9:59 PM


Ian Markovich of the Dublin Jerome High School hockey team couldn’t remember how many goals he has scored this season.

“Maybe four or five,” the sophomore forward said.

The only goal that matters now to Markovich and the Celtics is the game-winner he netted with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left in overtime to give Jerome a 4-3 win over Upper Arlington in the district final March 7 at OhioHealth Ice Haus.

The winning goal resulted from a takeaway, as Evan Walters made a steal, raced up the ice along the boards to the right of UA goaltender Cole Abbott, passed to Markovich in the high slot and Markovich lifted a shot over Abbott to give top-seeded Jerome its first district title.

“It was a 3-on-2 and Markovich stayed there in the high slot in support,” Celtics coach Pat Murphy said. “We told our guys all week long they had to shoot high because (Abbott) likes to go down low. He went down and it went right in again. Four goals to the top shelf today.”

Jerome, which improved to 29-7-2, will play Lakewood St. Edward in a state semifinal at 4 p.m. March 12 at Nationwide Arena. The winner will play Hunting Valley University School or Toledo St. Francis in the state final March 14.

UA, which was looking for its first district title since 2007, finished 28-7-1.

Coleman Mitchell scored in the first period for Jerome, which was outshot 7-0 in the first eight minutes. After Jack Dolan and Brian Lee scored 1:32 apart late in the first period to give the third-seeded Golden Bears a 2-1 lead.

Jerome’s Dillon Miller tied the game with a shorthanded goal 51 seconds into the second period and the Celtics took a 3-2 lead minutes later when Daniel Dodson rifled a shot above Abbott’s left shoulder.

UA’s Danny Logan tied the game 28 seconds into the third period.
Click to expand...
 
eaglepride said:
I think the eagles have outscored opponents 32-3.
Click to expand...

We are certainly playing very well right now, and the victory over Ignatius was probably the most impressive district final win of any of the remaining teams. But St. Francis seems to have found its early season mojo again, smashing Findlay 9-3, a team that had beat them 1-0 in their last meeting. Would a US victory in the semis or an Ed's victory in the finals shock me? No. But I still believe St. Francis should be considered heavy favorites.
 
Cat come on really? I love the fact you're not a pure homer like most alumni but do you rely think Ed's started this? O'Rourke even admitted his team was out of control. You can't expect a kid not to defend himself.

I think the frustration of last year (tie and not winning a state title) spilled over into this game. Those seniors felt they were going to bring it home this year. I admit the better team didn't win yesterday but we all know, in ANY Ed's vs Ig's contest, records mean nothing.
 
mailman112 said:
Cat come on really? I love the fact you're not a pure homer like most alumni but do you rely think Ed's started this? O'Rourke even admitted his team was out of control. You can't expect a kid not to defend himself.

I think the frustration of last year (tie and not winning a state title) spilled over into this game. Those seniors felt they were going to bring it home this year. I admit the better team didn't win yesterday but we all know, in ANY Ed's vs Ig's contest, records mean nothing.
Click to expand...

I didn't listen to O'Rourke's comments and I heard from my side that we didn't comport ourselves well, but watching the video...both schools ought to be embarrassed. I've never understood why the hockey community can't get control over this stuff. A recent past former Ignatius principal, who was a big sports fan, told me some years back that he seriously considered disbanding hockey because the hockey community and our own players and parents could not be brought to heel.

Anyhoo...congrats.
 
I agree with your remarks. The hockey community is a little 'crazy" as a whole.

Thank you for the kind words. I would have never thought Ed's would have taken care of business. Just our day, I guess.
 
The double standard when it comes to fighting in hockey (across all levels) is glaring.

Throwing a punch in other sports would get you suspended longer and repeated offenses would get you booted. It has been acceptable in hockey forever.
 
Hard to say from the video. Quick shoves and the like are common in hockey, so I really could not break down the blame. It does appear the Wildcats are the aggressors in the fight, but can't know what was not seen or heard on the video.

Dating back to when I was in high school, St. Edward had at various times had a "bad" reputation when it comes to physical play on the ice. However that has changed a bit since Whidden has left, I believe.
 
Both State Title holders are out. I'm more happy that Northview got beat then St Iggy but hey the parent couldn't stop that loss to St Francis from happening this year
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top