THE VARSITY WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW FACES OFF WITH A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS' DEFENDING STATE CHAMPION ICE HOCKEY TEAM.

COACH O'ROURKE AND HIS 2010-11 MEN OF THE ICE WELCOME THE CHALLENGES, AS THE 'CATS ARE THE TARGET GAME ON EVERY OPPONENT'S SCHEDULE.

RECORD-SETTING JUNIOR FORWARD PADDY SPELLACY AND GRITTY SENIORS PETE BOBULSKY AND KEVIN JOSEPH WILL CAPTAIN ANOTHER SKILLED AND SAVVY TEAM.

POSTED ON 11/18/10 AT 1:22 A.M.
By Eddie Dwyer
COPYRIGHT, November 2010

Following another intense practice on the ice inside Brooklyn's John M. Coyne Recreation Center, Saint Ignatius head coach Pat O'Rourke '90 and junior forwards Paddy Spellacy and Liam Geither talked about their “whatever it takes” approach to a new hockey season.

“There's a lot of things that go into that,” said Coach O'Rourke of his team's motto for this winter, a season that will see the Wildcats skate in defense of their record-setting, state-championship run of 2009-10. “I watch all kinds of sports and you watch and think, why didn't the '85 Bears repeat (as Super Bowl champions)? What is so hard about repeating? And it seems like the common denominator, pro, college, whatever, is that egos get in the way.

“In the pros, someone wants a new contract, so they leave the team. Obviously, that's not the case here. But our biggest enemy might be ourselves this year. We don't want to have any kind of egos. We have to stay humble and keep working hard.

“It's not going to come easy, people are not going to roll over for us,” Coach O'Rourke continued. “In fact, it's going to be the opposite. So if the coach asks you to play a certain role, then you got to do whatever it takes. That's what you call a team, and they have been very good about it so far.”

Knowing and, in many ways, relishing the fact that a target is on their backs this winter, are the gifted and good-natured Spellacy and Geither.

Spellacy, one of the premier players in Ohio and the Midwest, is coming off a sophomore season in which he totaled a school-best 43 goals, including the pivotal score in the 4-1 state-championship victory over Sylvania Northview. Paddy also had new single-season program highs of 35 assists and 78 points. Those efforts earned him the Wildcats' prestigious “Plus-Minus” Award.

“Anytime you can be the defending state champs and have a target on your back, you have to like that,” said Spellacy, whose dad, Kevin, still holds the program's record for goals in a game with six against Normandy in 1980. “With the top teams coming after us, you can't have a bad day. It just pushes us to work harder.”

Geither, who smiles as easily as he flies around the ice, concurs with Spellacy.

“Getting a target on your back is great, that means you must have done something good,” said the young man who scored four goals in the two district games last season, including the game-winner in the dramatic 2-1, sudden-victory overtime triumph over Padua in the district championship game at Brooklyn. "Winning a state championship was big and it's really going to test us this season. We're always going to have to play on our A game.”

Geither, who honed his game in the summer by playing with his Saint Ignatius teammates, said he worked on his shot in the off-season and is confident he has improved it.

Coming off one of the best individual seasons in the history of area high school hockey, Spellacy is far from satisfied.

Playing in the Saint Ignatius summer league and for Team Cleveland 's traveling program in the fall, Spellacy said his emphasis in the preseason has been on the “D Zone,” picking up a guy in the D Zone and helping the defense as a center in front of the net and behind the net – clearing the pucks out.

“Some people think I'm only in the offensive zone,” said Spellacy. “I want to show them I'm a good defensive player, too, a complete player.

“Our other motto is doing what you do best. I think those things (what you do best and whatever it takes) are intertwined. You know, do whatever you can do to help the team go farther.”

Coach O'Rourke, who became the Wildcats' head varsity coach in 2005, after guiding the junior varsity for seven seasons, emphasized that people don't realize how much Saint Ignatius graduated from last season's school-best 31-7-3 mark.

Among those graduates who played crucial roles in the state-title performance were forward Mike Wells (27 goals, 32 assists), last season's co-Offensive MVP with Spellacy, and defensive MVPs Sam Nader and Chris Knoth.

“The other guys that we lost were probably unheralded, but they were those kind of character guys that helped us foster the chemistry,” O'Rourke said. “We've lost seven out of 20 (from last season), so that's a significant chunk.''

Coach O'Rourke and his staff will be bringing along a lot of younger players and will rely on a big junior class for leadership, especially with Spellacy as a captain, the talented and energetic Michael Abood returning as one of the igniters on defense and Colton Riemenschneider continuing to show his promise at forward.

The 2010-11 'Cats will have only four seniors, headed by captains Pete Bobulsky (a defensive mainstay and Coaches Cup honoree) and Kevin Joseph (a forward with a motor that never quits), and goalie Josh Potts, who stopped 16 of 17 shots in the state championship game and earned the team's Most Improved Player award last winter. Seasoned junior Matt Kovesdy also returns in goal.

“We also have a kid that you're going to hear about named Miles McQuinn,” said Coach O'Rourke. “He was a freshman at Saint Ignatius last year, but he was playing for the Cleveland Barons organization. He's super and he's actually on the line with Liam (Geither) and Colton (Riemenschneider), and Paddy is playing on the line with Michael Abood, where we're trying to find a right wing.”

After Saint Ignatius won its first state ice hockey championship in 2000, some lean years set in and Coach O' Rourke admitted that he had to start over with the program.

“We had been to the heights 10 years ago, but then we were coming in third place, fourth place and fifth place, so we wanted to come in and revamp it a little bit,” O'Rourke said. “And we had to blow it up to do so, it wasn't easy.

“But I think we had the right idea. We're trying to build around good people, good students, good character guys. They're certainly good players, but they're good kids who get along so well. That was the idea, and we knew at Ignatius we could attract that kind of player and student.

“That was the plan, and I think it's doing okay so far.”

A former MVP in hockey for the Wildcats and a 1989 Plain Dealer Player of the Week, Coach O'Rourke emphasized that probably seven of the top teams in the state are from this area. Among O'Rourke's teams to watch are Padua, University School, St. Edward, Gilmour Academy, Lake Catholic, Walsh Jesuit, Strongsville and Holy Name.

The 'Cats will open their season in the Jesuit Cup at Kent State University over Thanksgiving Weekend, where they will face St. Xavier, St. John's Jesuit and Walsh Jesuit. The annual pre-Christmas match up with St. Edward will be on Dec. 11 in Quicken Loans Arena at 4:30 p.m., and the Saint Ignatius Christmas Tournament will be Dec. 27-29 at the Brooklyn rink. Wildcats Athletic Director Rory Fitzpatrick '88 strongly recommends that fans buy their tickets for the St. Edward game in advance at the Saint Ignatius Athletic Office.

The highlight game of the Christmas Tournament will be another face off with highly touted Sylvania Northview on Dec. 28th at 7 p.m.POSTED ON 11/27/10.
*NOTE: SCORING PROVIDED BY THE SAINT IGNATIUS HOCKEY WEBSITE.
Saint Ignatius' defending state champion hockey team continued to make itself at home on the ice at Kent State University, as Coach Pat O'Rourke's Wildcats skated and shot their way into the championship game of the annual Jesuit Cup by defeating Toledo St. John's Jesuit and Walsh Jesuit on Saturday.

After dominating Cincinnati St. Xavier, 10-0, in Friday night's opener at Kent, Saint Ignatius rode two goals by Miles McQuinn and scores by Colton Riemenschneider and Mike Avdey to a 4-1 victory over the Titans from St. John's Jesuit. Senior goalie Josh Potts stopped 28 of 29 shots.

McQuinn, a sophomore whose skills were pointed out by Coach O'Rourke '90 in the corner's preseason preview, added to his big day with two more goals in the 5-0 triumph over Walsh Jesuit.

Also providing lamp lighters against the Warriors were Captain Paddy Spellacy, Riemenschneider and Liam Geither.

McQuinn has started the season with three consecutive two-goal games, Spellacy has scored four times off the Kent ice and Geither will enter Sunday's championship game with three goals on the young season.

The championship game will feature a rematch with St. John's at 1:30 p.m.