After two 3-2 setbacks to the Ice Cats this season, including one during Friday night's opening round, St. John's Jesuit rides the scoring of Colin Suter and an outstanding job in goal by Mike Barrett to a 2-0 victory over Saint Ignatius at Ice Land USA on Sunday evening.

Strongsville, Ohio - As he stood outside the Wildcats’ locker room in OBM Arena at Ice Land USA, Saint Ignatius head ice hockey coach Pat O’Rourke ’90 talked about what was another memorable encounter with Toledo St. John’s Jesuit.

“They popped a few goals and we didn’t, but it’s always a pleasure to play against them, it’s always going to be a good game and a classy game,” said Coach O’Rourke after the Wildcats were defeated, 2-0, by the Titans in Sunday’s championship game of the Padua Christmas Tournament.

“If we couldn’t win it, we wanted our Jesuit brothers to win it,” Coach O’Rourke continued, before he headed to a skating and pizza party with his family at Winterhurst in Lakewood. “Even the kids were saying that’s
the kind of game we want to play.”

As far as the Titans’ faithful were concerned, it was a game St. John’s Jesuit had to have. Before the opening faceoff, several of the fans in attendance from St. John’s said a third consecutive loss to Saint Ignatius
this season could have put the thought in the minds of the Titans that they can’t beat the Wildcats.

Saint Ignatius defeated St. John’s Jesuit in the championship game the Miami of Ohio DiPaolo Memorial Tournament over Thanksgiving Weekend and prevailed over the Titans in Friday’s opening game of the Padua Christmas Tournament. Both scores were 3-2.

The added incentive this weekend was that Saint Ignatius, now 9-3-3 on the season, and St. John’s Jesuit, which improved to 12-3, entered the Padua Tournament as the co-No. 1 teams in the coaches’ state poll.

“We want to play top opponents every chance we get,” Coach O’Rourke said. “You win some and lose some, but we learn something about ourselves and improve.”

It certainly wouldn’t surprise any knowledgeable fan if the Titans and the Wildcats had another encounter this season – at the 36th annual State Ice Hockey Tournament on March 8th and 9th at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. That would suit these two hard-nosed, but classy Jesuit programs just fine.

In a game that featured some outstanding defense by both teams, the Titans, as they did in their loss to Saint Ignatius on Friday, grabbed the lead in the first period on Sunday. Senior forward Colin Suter knocked home a rebound with 57.1 seconds remaining in the first 15 minutes.

Sophomore forward Ian Rapp and senior forward Austin Kelly assisted on the first of Suter’s two goals.

With St. John’s Jesuit’s junior goalie Mike Barrett putting forth a tremendous effort, including an array of glove, pad and smother saves, and Wildcats’ senior keeper Bernie Cook more than holding his own, it remained a 1-0 game heading into the third period. Barrett finished with 26 saves and Cook turned away 19 of the Titans’ 21 shots on goal.

The penalties were pretty much an even-steven situation, so much so that there were sequences when one team would have a power play advantage and a minute or so later that team would have one of its players sent to the penalty box.

The final 12 minutes eventually told the tale, as Barrett turned away a shot at 11:47 with another impressive glove save. After Barrett’s cat-like reaction, Titans junior defender Ben Hamilton took away what appeared
to be a one-on-one opportunity for Saint Ignatius by hustling from behind and knocking the puck away.

From there, Suter sent home his second goal on an impressive shot to the post with 8:22 left and Barrett and his defensive supporters were more than equal to every challenge down the stretch. Junior defender Dominic Horvath assisted on Suter’s breathing-room score.

“I thought we competed well,” said Coach O’Rourke. “They’re a little more savvy and experienced than we are right now, a little more veteran. We’re putting a lot of pucks on net. The quantity is there, but the quality of shots isn’t always there. We couldn’t solve him (Barrett) today, so hats off to him.

“But we can grow up over these next couple of months,” Coach O’Rourke continued. “All of the kids were saying: ‘I hope we see them in March.’”

Up next for the Wildcats is a trip to Washington, D.C. on Dec 28th through the 30th for the prestigious Georgetown Prep Purple Puck Tournament.

*Congratulations from the corner go out to senior Scott Geyman of the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network. Scott, who does an outstanding job with his ice hockey analysis, will be furthering his education at Boston College. Again, congratulations to Scott, his family and the SIBN.

Rounding the corner and wishing my wonderful family and the entire Saint Ignatius family a blessed and heart warming Christmas season.