OHSAA boys ice hockey: St. Edward in a defensive zone heading into state semifinal
Joe Maxse, Plain Dealer Reporter, March 09, 2012
Now comes the hard part.
After handing record-setting rival St. Ignatius its only loss of the season Saturday, St. Edward has to come up with an encore. In fact, two of them.
The Eagles will need to win a pair of games to claim their record 12th state hockey championship. They have to get the first victory Saturday when they take on longtime opponent University School in a state semifinal at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
While they are still feeling flush after ruining the Wildcats' quest for perfection at 39-1, the Eagles' 3-2 win Saturday in the Brooklyn District final is already on its historical fade. If St. Edward is going to make it a dozen titles, or "12 in '12," it will have to accomplish the goal as it has all season -- with defense.
"From day one as a freshman, whether we win 1-0 or 10-0, it's all about not giving up goals," said senior defenseman and assistant captain Chris Day.
"That's been built into us. We don't have one guy running the show. We have 20 guys getting the job done."
That has definitely been the case during the Eagles' four-game tournament run.
Obviously, holding the high-scoring Wildcats, who totaled 240 goals this season, to two goals was huge. But it was especially evident in a 2-1 overtime win over Shaker Heights in the district semifinal when the Raiders held a man-advantage for five minutes, the final three of regulation and first two of overtime, and could not score.
"All four guys have to know where everybody is in the rotation," Day said of his club's penalty-killing prowess. "When we held them the first two minutes of the overtime, that's when we felt we had the momentum."
The Eagles won it on a goal by junior Gabe Lampron 90 seconds after killing off the penalty.
That's how it was supposed to work for all the defensemen, seniors Matt Geib, Alex Norton and Josh Greenaker, along with juniors Andy Schroeck and Patrick Flannery.
"We knew what we had to do to get back to last year," said Geib, making a second straight trip to Columbus. "We are not the most flamboyant team. We come up with those greasy goals -- the game-winners."
Senior goaltenders Logan Galati and Andrew Smith, the last line of defense, can't be overlooked. Galati has made 32 and 38 saves, respectively, the past two games.
"You always expect them to make one more pass, especially a team like Ignatius," said Galati, of his thoughts when going against an extra skater. "We would rather have a guy take a shot outside than have one in front. I think our defense is just as good as last year."
That was supposed to be the case as coach Troy Gray expected to have seven senior defensemen returning. However, injury sidelined Marty Clancy and two others left for junior hockey.
"We had no room for error," said Gray, in his second season. "They had to stay healthy and log a lot of ice. The defensemen are not the glory guys. They have done all the dirty work when we had to have it. We are not getting in any shootouts."
In going 8-2-1 down the stretch, the Eagles have allowed 15 goals.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
jmaxse@plaind.com, 216-999-5168