Danny Brogan's game winner off an on-the-money assist from Beck Schultz in the fifth OT comes on a night when Danny wasn't even expecting to play.

The Wildcats, now 26-5-3 on the season, advance to Sunday's Baron Cup I championship game against the Shaker Heights Raiders. The puck will drop at the John M. Coyne Recreation Center on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Top-seeded Saint Ignatius will be seeking its second consecutive Baron Cup I championship.

HERE IS THE HOCKEY GAME STORY FOLLOWED BY RECAPS ON SAINT IGNATIUS' 67-46 VICTORY OVER MAX S. HAYES IN VARSITY BASKETBALL AND A RECORD-SETTING SATURDAY FOR THE WILDCATS' SWIMMERS.

Brooklyn, Ohio - The saying that “when destiny calls you must be strong” never rang truer for the Saint Ignatius varsity hockey team and Wildcats junior forward/center Danny Brogan than it did Saturday night on the ice inside the John M. Coyne Recreation Center.

Brogan, who was expecting to play the role of a supporter from the bench, was called on to take center stage just moments before the Ice Cats’ Baron Cup I semifinal match up with the always talented and well schooled
Preppers from University School.

To say Brogan accepted the challenge with strength, both mentally and physically, would be understatement.

“When I got here, I found out I wasn’t dressing,” said Brogan, who scored the winning goal in the fifth overtime of Saint Ignatius’ 4-3 victory.

Danny also provided the goal that gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead with 12 minutes and 14 seconds remaining in the third period, before the Preppers staged a furious comeback.

“But then coach told me I should dress,” Brogan continued. “We started playing and using three lines. I was out there with Beck (Schultz) and Jared (Stepka) and we started flowing really well together.”

Saint Ignatius head coach Pat O’Rourke ’90, who watched his team win what members of the Baron Cup staff at Brooklyn said was the longest Baron Cup I game in the 42-year-old history of the tradition rich tournament, revealed just how destiny made its call to Brogan.

“Brogan wasn’t going to play tonight,” Coach O’Rourke said. “He was not in the starting lineup originally. One of our centers was at Special Olympics this morning and went home and took a nap. He thought the game
started at 6:30 and didn’t get here until about 10 minutes before game time. So we had already put Brogan in the lineup. Isn’t that crazy? That’s good coaching.”

Call it what you want, but after two of the strongest and classiest programs in the state tested each other’s will for more than three hours, there had to be a destiny’s child, or in this case a young man who will always
cherish his first “big time” opportunity.

Saint Ignatius (26-5-3) and University School (20-11-3), who have a history of close games and overtime battles, were meeting for the third time this season. The Wildcats and the Preppers skated to a 2-2 tie on Dec. 8 at the Coyne Recreation Center and Saint Ignatius edged University School, 2-1, on Jan. 5 at The Pond.

Yes, hockey fans in Greater Cleveland just expect tight and well played games when the ‘Cats and the Preppers get together, and even an overtime or two. But nearly 40 minutes of extra time, now that’s a treat.

“It was a great game, either way, win or lose,” said Coach O’Rourke, whose Wildcats are the defending Baron Cup I champions and the tournament’s No. 1 seed this year. “I just said to the coaches on the way back
out for the fifth overtime, “If we lose, we’re going to remember this one.

“They’re a phenomenal program,” Coach O’Rourke continued in reference to University School. “It was a good, hard played hockey game.”

Saint Ignatius, which will face Shaker Heights in Sunday’s Baron Cup I championship game at 5:30 in the Coyne Recreation Center, took a 1-0 lead in the first period as Stepka, just a freshman, displayed exceptional
hustle and speed in beating the Preppers’ defense. Junior defenseman Harry Smith was credited with the assist.

It stayed that way until University School, a winner of three of the last four Baron Cup 1 titles and five of the last seven, knotted the score on a goal by sophomore forward Evan Krueger with the second period not a minute old. Junior defenseman Andrew Dorogi provided the helper.

The third period alone was worth the price of admission as the Ice Cats started the period by killing off two penalties from the previous period. The momentum created by that effort and what followed offensively for
the ‘Cats appeared to be sending the large and hockey savvy crowd in “The Big Barn on Memphis” home on time.

Riding the emotion of its penalty kills, Saint Ignatius took a 3-1 lead on goals that were scored less than a minute apart.

Hard-nosed sophomore forward Kevin Yarcusko produced a lamp lighter off an assist from senior defenseman and assistant captain Joe Malone at 13:11 and Brogan took an assist from gifted senior captain and center Miles McQuinn and fired home the first of his two big goals at 12:14.

If there was any concern among the Wildcats’ faithful at that time it was that there was still plenty of game left for a program like University School to stage a comeback.

Under the guidance of Bill Beard, one of the premier coaches in Ohio with 300-plus career victories, the Preppers did just that.

First it was Krueger with an unassisted short handed goal at 9:03 and then senior captain and defenseman Andrew Musser lit the lamp with a long and authoritative unassisted shot at 5:43.

Another of the many turning points for both teams occurred with 7:24 remaining in the third eight minute overtime.

University School’s starting goalie, freshman Alec Silver, was injured and had to be helped from the ice. Junior Andrew Megerian stepped in and did a solid job as he and Wildcats senior goalie Bernie Cook weathered numerous flurries in front of their respective nets. The final shots on goal had University School with 45 and Saint Ignatius with 40.

By the time the fifth and final overtime rolled around, players from Saturday night’s second semifinal, which matched Shaker Heights and Holy Name, were standing around the Brooklyn rink and watching every move
by the ‘Cats and the Preppers as they waited for their turn to take the ice.

And who better to describe the moment that ended one of the greatest games in the history of Greater Cleveland High School hockey, if not the entire state, than the young man who worked destiny like a charm.

“Both teams were gassed, but we wanted it,” said Brogan, who credited junior forward Beck Schultz for his “perfect” assist pass. “This was just how the state tournament is going to be. We loved it.”

Schultz, whose passing of the puck has keyed so many key goals for the Ice Cats this season, is hoping he and his teammates can love it even more after Sunday’s third encounter with Shaker Heights, which is a
rematch of last year’s Baron Cup I final.

Saint Ignatius defeated the Raiders twice during the regular season, 5-3 at Quicken Loans Arena and 4-0 at the Thornton Park Ice Arena.

“Again, chemistry did it all,” Schultz said. “We had a lot of hustle at the end. We were ready to get this over. McNulty (senior defenseman and assistant captain Alex McNulty) passed it to me, I saw Dan backdoor and Dan popped it. A glorious moment!”

VARSITY BASKETBALL

Posted by Eddie Dwyer

Saint Ignatius 67, Max S. Hayes 46

The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead and went on to defeat the Lakers on Saturday night in Sullivan Gymnasium.

In winning its fifth consecutive game, Saint Ignatius improved to 14-3 and Coach Sean O’Toole ’87 upped his record at his alma mater to 80-29.

Coming off Friday night’s impressive victory at St. Edward (see the corner’s story below), the Wildcats were able to rest some of their starters and reserves.

Saint Ignatius finished with four players in double figures.

Junior forward Isiah Barbra led the way with 15 points. Junior post David Black and sophomore forward Jaylin McDonald each scored 14 points and junior post Jake Strippy tossed in 12 points. Junior guard Ryan Napoli finished with nine points.

McDonald was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and Barbra hit on 5 of his 6 free throws. As a team, the Wildcats were 15-of-18 from the charity stripe.

Saint Ignatius will now gear up for a big week that features a Thursday night game at Cleveland Heights against Coach Andy Suttell’s gifted Tigers and a Saturday night game in Sullivan Gymnasium versus Coach Babe Kwasniak’s talent-rich Vikings from Villa Angela-St. Joseph.

SWIMMIMG

CLEVELAND STATE SECTIONAL

How they finished: 1. Strongsville 461. 2. St. Edward 3451/2; 3. Saint Ignatius 309; 4. Amherst 1951/2; 5. Berea 142; 6. Westlake 1261/2; 7. North Olmsted 122; 8. Olmsted Falls 101; 9. Avon Lake 901/2; 10. Midpark 83; 11. North Royalton 771/2; 12. Lakewood 77; 13. Elyria 74; 14. Avon 55; 15. Normandy 36; 16. Valley Forge 19; 17. Parma 11.

200MR: 1. St. Ignatius (Simcox, Hren, Christian, Pophal, 1:35.84 (meet record);
2. St. Edward (Shurmur, Ryan, Olexa, Braid) 1:40.23; 3. Strongsville 1:40.99. 4. Amherst 1:41.46. 5. Westlake 143.88. 6. Elyria 1:45.12. 200 free: 1. Delventhal (Strongsville) 1:46.01; 2. Braid (St. Edward) 1:49.09; 3. Ault (Amherst) 1:50.08; 4. Beck (St. Edward) 1:50.69; 5. Ticherich (Berea) 1:51.10; 6. Skupnik (Strongsville) 1:51.73. 200IM: 1. Hren (St. Ignatius) 1:58.19; 2. Moore(Amherst) 1:59.45; 3. Ryan (St. Edward) 2:00.02; 4. Pichette (Strongsville) 2:00.09; 5. Rebholz
(Strongsville) 2:06.25; 6. Bshara (St. Ignatius) 2:07.87. 50 free: 1. Christian (St. Ignatius) 21.63; 2. Pophal (St. Ignatius) 21.69; 3. Sara (North Olmsted) 21.75; 4. Cipra (Berea) 22.49; 5. Shurmur (St. Edward) 22.55; 6. Ostrowski (Strongsville) 22.60. 100 fly: Simcox (St. Ignatius) 51.22; 2. Pichette (Strongsville) 53.04; 3. Shepherd (Strongsville) 53.39; 4. Cipra (Berea) 54.83; 5. Arslanian (Strongsville) 55.06; 6. Bshara (St. Ignatius) 55.81. 100 free: 1. Delventhal (Strongsville) 47.94; 2. Sara (North Olmsted) 49.16; 3. Simpson (Strongsville) 49.19; 4. Braid (St. Edward) 49.44; 5. Arslanian (Strongsville) 50.46; 6. Burton (Olmsted Falls) 50.49. 500 free: 1. Beck (St. Edward) 4:57.12; 2. Skupnik (Strongsville) 5:02.73; 3. Shepherd (Strongsville) 5:02.92; 4. Manderfield (St. Edward) 5:03.63; 5. Karp (Berea) 5:07.05; 6. Grespin (St. Edward) 5:11.30. 200FR: 1. St. Ignatius (Christian, Hren, Simcox, Pophal), 1:25.82 (meet record); 2. Strongsville (Delventhal, Ostrowski, Wilson, Pichette) 1:28.91; 3. Westlake 1:33.30; 4. Berea 1:33.85; 5. North Olmsted 1:35.06; 6. St. Edward 1:35.22. 100 back: 1. Shurmur (St. Edward) 52.94; 2. Scalli (Amherst) 55.09; 3. Simpson (Strongsville) 55.26; 4. Ostrowski (Strongsville) 55.53; 5. Burton (Olmsted Falls) 55.96; 6. Brady (St. Edward) 58.23. 100 breast: 1. Hren (St. Ignatius) 57.91 (meet record); 2. Moore (Amherst) 1:00.92; 3. Poblete (St. Edward) 1:01.21; 4. Ryan (St. Edward) 1:01.39; 5. Katrinchak (Elyria) 1:02.42; 6. O'Sullivan (St. Edward) 1:02.95. 400FR: 1. Strongsville (Delventhal, Simpson, Ostrowski, Pichette) 3:13.90 (meet record); 2. St. Ignatius (Simcox, Pophal, Dergham, Christian) 3:14.89; 3. St. Edward 3:21.43; 4. Amherst 3:23.76; 5. Berea 3:27.87; 6. Westlake 3:28.0.