Ignatius goes 5-0

[arizonawildcat]

in tournament held in Canada, raising its record to 17-0.

[PBruin13]

Geither had 15 goals in Canada. Has more than 30 on the year already

[EagleFan]

20-0 is impressive. I hope the Eagles can pull the upset on Thursday at The Jake. Did I hear the game is live on STO? Don't see many high school hockey games on tv, but doesn't this kill chance of anyone showing up beyond the parents and 50 or so students?

[arizonawildcat]

No. 1 in the state Ignatius goes to 23-0 as it beats No. 4 University School 9-4. Next up for the Cats is a tournament in Pa. next weekend.

[bluengold]

20-0 is impressive. I hope the Eagles can pull the upset on Thursday at The Jake. Did I hear the game is live on STO? Don't see many high school hockey games on tv, but doesn't this kill chance of anyone showing up beyond the parents and 50 or so students?

If there were really 2000 people there as per the Plain Dealer report, that's pretty impressive

[CatAlum]

If there were really 2000 people there as per the Plain Dealer report, that's pretty impressive

1500-2000 is pretty typical for an Ed's/Ignatius hockey game.

[Cleveland, TN]

No. 1 in the state Ignatius goes to 23-0 as it beats No. 4 University School 9-4. Next up for the Cats is a tournament in Pa. next weekend.

It was 9-2.

The Cats have a tourney in PA this weekend. Potentially 5 games in 3 days. That's the sort of weekend that could easily put a dent in their record.

Anyone know when the last time any team started the season with 23 straight wins?

[GencoEd]

The 1990 St. Ed's team finished the regular season 30-1, on their way to the state championship. Pretty sure they lost to North Olmsted late in the year.

[Cleveland, TN]

The 1990 St. Ed's team finished the regular season 30-1, on their way to the state championship. Pretty sure they lost to North Olmsted late in the year.


Thanks Genco. I figured there had to be a St. Eds team that had a pretty pristine record. I found this interesting piece of information:

http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/ih/boys/78results.pdf

Bowling Green, St. Eds and Cleveland Heights have all had one-loss seasons. CLE Hts is the only one of those three teams not to win the state title during their one-loss season.

Between 1997 and the present, only two teams have won the state title while losing less than 7 games ( Ignatius and US each had 6 losses).

[CatAlum]

Miles McQuinn, one of Ignatius' top players, is lost for the season due to an Achilles injury according to the Eddie Dwyer column on the Ignatius web-site. Very bad news.

[arizonawildcat]

In spite of being held to its lowest offensive output of the year, Ignatius beats Lake Catholic 2-0, raising the Cats' record for the year to 30-0.

[Bennies'01]

I don't know if I've ever seen a Red North team undefeated this late in the year. Quite impressive.

They've got about a dozen or so games left and at least 3-4 of them will be very easy wins (one in the Baron Cup and 2-3 in the early rounds of the district tournament). I imagine they'll have another 3-4 meetings against U.S. (one regular season game with them for sure) and St. Edward, at least one game against Shaker Heights (regular season), and one matchup with a team from either Toledo or (less likely) Columbus. The games with US/Eds will likely all be tough, close games and who knows with the latter against SH and Columbus/Toledo, but those games shouldn't be written off.

There are a few potential games that I haven't mentioned because it's hard to say without seeing the actual tournament brackets. But ultimately I think St. Ignatius is looking at, at most, about six games where there will be a legitimate chance at losing.

[EagleFan]

Ignatius closes out vs US on Friday, then has likely matches agaijst US and Eds in Baron Cup. It would be quite impressive for them to go 43-0

[CatAlum]

Ignatius finishes the season 33-0 with a 3-0 win over US. Hopefully, Geither will return in time for the state tournament because you sure get the sense that a handful of challengers (US, Shaker, Ed's) are now right with us due to these two major injuries.

[Bennies'01]

Heck of an impressive run for the Wildcats!

Here's an article about their quest for the unblemished season and some information about other teams that have done it or been close:

http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-3268398930270479109/perfection-is-second-on-mind-of-st-ignatius-hockey-team-which-puts-focus-on-state-title/

Shaker Heights went 29-0 in 1980-1981 and they were the last to do it. Cleveland Heights came close in 1986-1987 going 30-1 and St. Edward had the same record in 1989-1990. I know a little bit about high school hockey history, but I can't get a read on just how competitive the the GCHSHL was in the 1980s. The league is definitely very top heavy these days, but still very competitive amongst those 4-5 teams.

[CatAlum]

Ignatius and Shaker play for the Baron Cup championship today.

[EaglePride01]

Heck of an impressive run for the Wildcats!

Here's an article about their quest for the unblemished season and some information about other teams that have done it or been close:

http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-3268398930270479109/perfection-is-second-on-mind-of-st-ignatius-hockey-team-which-puts-focus-on-state-title/

Shaker Heights went 29-0 in 1980-1981 and they were the last to do it. Cleveland Heights came close in 1986-1987 going 30-1 and St. Edward had the same record in 1989-1990. I know a little bit about high school hockey history, but I can't get a read on just how competitive the the GCHSHL was in the 1980s. The league is definitely very top heavy these days, but still very competitive amongst those 4-5 teams.

Probably a little more depth back then with teams like Shaker, Heights, Padua, and others being more consistent from year-to-year, but yes, it does still seem pretty competitive amongst the top teams (US, Ed's, Iggy, etc.).

[Bennies'01]

Ignatius and Shaker play for the Baron Cup championship today.

Shaker's been playing some of their best hockey of the season in the past few weeks. Not sure if it will be enough to knock off the 'Cats, but it should make for an entertaining title game.

[arizonawildcat]

Ignatius takes the Baron Cup with a 2-0 victory over Shaker. Game was scoreless after the second period. Ignatius now stands at 36-0 for the season.

[Bennies'01]

Barring major upsets, Iggy should see Shaker or Eds again the Brooklyn District championship in three weeks. Everything up to that game should be a cakewalk for the 'Cats.

[CatAlum]

Doesn't Shaker historically play in the Kent District?

[Bennies'01]

Doesn't Shaker historically play in the Kent District?

Yeah traditionally they have been at Kent and I was surprised when I saw that they were at Brooklyn this year. I think they likely would have been the top seed at Kent this year with a very good chance at winning that district, probably their best chance in years. Funny how that works out.

Benny and Shaker are the only two schools east of the Cuyahoga River that are playing at Brooklyn. Benny was originally at Brooklyn, then moved to Kent, and went back to Brooklyn about five or six years ago.

[arizonawildcat]

Is the Brooklyn District always paired against the Kent District in the state semifinals? Based on the current state rankings, it seems that the Brooklyn District is overloaded with quality teams compared to the other districts.

[Bennies'01]

Is the Brooklyn District always paired against the Kent District in the state semifinals? Based on the current state rankings, it seems that the Brooklyn District is overloaded with quality teams compared to the other districts.

No, not always, the state semifinal pairings are supposed to be a random draw. However this will be the fourth straight year that the two Northeast Ohio districts have been matched up with each other. The odds of that happening are 1/81.

As loaded as the Brooklyn District looks on paper, the only real difference is Shaker Heights and the fact that they're a borderline contender. In actuality, Strongsville and Padua are way down this year and St. Edward is in a tailspin (though I would never count them out). Rocky River and Amherst have both had nice seasons, but they're not nearly in that top tier in talent.