It has been a winter to remember for the 2011-12 Saint Ignatius varsity hockey team.
An all-time, state-best 36-0 record, the top ranking in Ohio, another championship in the rugged Red North Division and the program's first Baron Cup championship since 1992. Quite impressive, to say the least.
However, ask anyone associated with Coach Pat O'Rourke's outstanding program and the answer will be the same. It is all about what begins Monday in the John M. Coyne Recreation Center, when the puck drops at 6 p.m.
Saint Ignatius, now focused on its ultimate goal of a second state championship in three years and the program's third overall, will face the Padua Bruins (9-21-1) in an OHSAA district opener at "The Big Barn on Memphis."
Wearing their post-season expressions and bringing you live audio coverage over the SIBN will be the talented trio of Paul Martin '10, Trent Kennedy '13 and Zach Weinreich '12.
The Wildcats, a team that has had to overcome its share of challenges en route to its perfect mark, including a season-ending injury to gifted junior forward Miles McQuinn, has more than enough incentive heading into what will be its fifth encounter with Padua this season.
Last year in the Coyne Recreation Center, Saint Ignatius was upset by the Bruins, 4-1, in a district semifinal.
In the four regular-season meetings this winter, the Wildcats shutout the Bruins twice and outscored them by a total of 30-3. But again, this is late February and what you did in December and January is a nice conversation piece.
Padua centers its game around 12 seniors, including All-Red North Division selection Mikey Palasics. The Wildcats are also a veteran team that features numerous players who have garnered All-Red honors over the past three seasons.
Leading the way for Coach O'Rourke '90 are senior forward Liam Geither, who has blistered the back of the net for a single-season, school-record 54 goals and has added 44 assists; senior center and four-year varsity mainstay Paddy Spellacy, who has delivered 36 goals and 40 assists; hockey savvy and strong lineage senior forward Mike Abood, who has 28 goals, 35 assists and has consistently stepped up in big games; underrated senior forwards Colton Riemenschneider (15 goals & 17 assists) and Taylor Wolf (12 goals & 13 assists); rock steady senior defenders Will Smith (24 assists) and Andrew Steed (18 assists), and senior goalie Matt Kovesdy, who has taken his play to another level over the past month and a half. Matt has 10 shutouts on the season and recently tied an all-time school mark with 25 career blankings.
Since we are throwing out some statistics, and I know Coach O'Rourke is 100 percent correct when he says the only stat that matters is the final score, Pat, entering Monday night's game, has guided his Wildcats to an all-too-often, taken-for-granted 97 victories combined starting with the state-championship season of 2009-10. Along with the Ohio-record 36 victories this winter, the 31 triumphs in '09-'10 and 30 wins last year are among the state's top-10 all-time best.
*Just yesterday, the corner received an e-mail from Frank from Sylvania, Oho, who asked if Padua "had any kind of hockey tradition?"
Well Frank, how do three state championships (1988, '89 and 2006), four state runner-up finishes (1991, 2000, '01 and '07) and 11 district championships sound? I would say that puts the Bruins in a very specal tradition-rich circle, with an exclamation mark.
****A WEEKEND TO CHERISH!: The swimming and diving team's first district championship since 2000, four individual sectional champions and six more district qualifers for the wrestling program, a test-of-wills victory for the varsity basketball team in Viking Village and a ninth consecutive triumph for the JV basketball team. Remember the Class of 2014 my friends.
You can read all about it in stories below, as the corner was wearing many hats this weekend.
****Good Luck to 'Cats bowler Ray Schaefer this coming weekend, as Ray represents Saint Ignatius in district competition and, if you can sneak away from work on Tuesday afternoon (we won't tell), the Wildcats' JV and varsity basketball teams will be taking on the John Adams Rebels in Quicken Loans Arena. Action gets under way with a 1:45 jayvee game and John Fanta '13, Paddy White '14 and Greg Ziton '13 will have the call in the same building where Joe Tait ended his legendary and Hall of Fame NBA broadcasting career.
See you on Memphis tomorrow night. Let's see more of that great hockey-attired student body support. Don't go through life without GOALS!