Handicapping the state tournament

CatAlum

Well-known member
Sure seems to me like the number of potential state title contenders is going up in recent years. Until fairly recently, the state champ was usually easily identified from a group of about three teams...Toledo area's best and Cleveland's top two. Looking around a bit...sure seems like the Columbus area teams are getting a lot better. A couple of them (Orange and St. Charles) have competed well with northern Ohio teams and there are maybe a dozen or so possible state champs.

Thoughts?
 
 
I would agree with that poll as far as the top five in the state are concerned. That group of Ignatius, US, St. John's, Holy Name, and Lake are the teams I think have the best shot.
 
It's been awesome to see Holy Name develop such a strong team in such a short period of time. The Parma area has talent, but it supports Holy Name, Padua, Normandy, Parma, and Valley Forge, and others.
 
So far, with the exception of a minor LC over Walsh upset, the favored teams have advanced. The final 8 will have all 1 and 2 seeds, with the exception of Lake Catholic (a 3 seed). If St. Ed's beats Holy Name (a 2 seed) tonight, they would also be a 3 seed.
 
Lots of rumors surrounding this, but in hockey if its not your goalie you can probably get by without 3 players.
 
If it's what's alleged in the letters on cleveland.com (pictures of hockey players drinking on social media), it's pretty routine high school misconduct and the school is handling it well. Glad to see that rules are rules, regardless of the consequences. Whatever damage is done to the hockey team in the short term, the school's integrity (and reputation in the community) wins in the long term.

On a lighter note...I'm thinking of myself at that age involved in similar misbehavior. I'm glad I didn't have to look around and try to make sure no one was snapping my picture for posterity.
 
CatAlum - I agree. There is a lot of transparency in kids' behavior now that, thankfully, I kept under wraps when I was a kid!
 
How about those Lake Catholic Cougars!

Unbelievable. They could have folded when they were down 3-1, but they kept fighting and scored 3 unanswered. They could have crumbled when they lost their lead with 33 seconds left in regulation, but they hung tough. They were written off by the local media when they lost 4 straight Jan/Feb, but they never lost faith in themselves. Looking forward to seeing them in Columbus. GO LAKE GO STATE :clap:
 
I wonder how many of Lake Catholic's players are from Mentor? That's a round about way of asking why doesn't Mentor have a hockey team. The school is certainly big enough to field a team.
 
I wonder how many of Lake Catholic's players are from Mentor? That's a round about way of asking why doesn't Mentor have a hockey team. The school is certainly big enough to field a team.

Mentor does have a team...they play in the Red North (RR et al.).
 
Keep in mind Lake draws from all over Lake County...sometimes Euclid as well. In addition, VASJ no longer has varsity hockey (though they do have a club with, I'm told, several Ignatius kids playing who got cut). LC may be getting a little boost from VASJ not being varsity.
 
Unbelievable. They could have folded when they were down 3-1, but they kept fighting and scored 3 unanswered. They could have crumbled when they lost their lead with 33 seconds left in regulation, but they hung tough. They were written off by the local media when they lost 4 straight Jan/Feb, but they never lost faith in themselves. Looking forward to seeing them in Columbus. GO LAKE GO STATE :clap:

Kicking myself for not going last night. Planning on making the trip on Friday.

Didn't LC and St. Ignatius play earlier this season?
 
Frozen Four:

St. Charles (#1 seed Columbus)
Northview (#2 seed Sylvania)
Lake Catholic (#3 seed Kent)
St. Ignatius (#1 seed Brooklyn)

Regular season results of note: St. Charles beat Northview 5-2 in a regular season matchup back in December. Against the Cleveland area teams, St. Charles had regular season wins over Holy Name and Gilmour as well as two ties against Walsh. Northview did not fair as well against Cleveland area teams with losses to St. Edward (0-2), Ignatius (0-2-1), Padua, and Walsh. Ignatius and Lake played to a 4-4 tie in December.

Semis on Friday and Championship game on Saturday. Ignatius was considered the favorite (although not overwhelming) coming in and still should be. The game against Lake will be a good one with the winner, IMO, being the favorite in the Championship game against the St. Charles/Northview winner. Northview had a so-so regular season, but is playing well now coming off the upset of St. John's. Very solid program. St. Charles is the big dark horse. Usually the southern teams can be easily dismissed, but the Columbus area has been stepping up their game recently and St. Charles faired well against some good northern programs this year.
 
Even without those guys, Ignatius showed it's depth with some JV guys stepping up. Speaking of which, Ignatius took the JV state tournament with a 2-1 shootout win over St. Edward. Ed's had won 10 of the past 11 JV tournaments.
 
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