It is obvious Saint Ignatius' sophomore forward Miles McQuinn is a very gifted hockey player.

What also became clear during Saturday's post-game interviews is how right-to-the-point he is.

When asked by an area reporter why he decided to join his high school team after playing for the Barons' organization last season, McQuinn talked about wanting to do it for the 1,400 kids at Saint Ignatius.

“Obviously the hockey team won states last year and we want to go back and do it again this year,” he said. “Whatever it takes to get the job done. We're just going to take it game by game.”

McQuinn and his teammates did what it took and more on Saturday evening, as they shot and skated their way past rival St. Edward, 4-1, on the home ice of the Lake Erie Monsters in Quicken Loans Arena.

In capping a weekend that also saw them shutout Walsh Jesuit, 3-0, on Friday night, the Wildcats improved to 8-3 overall and 3-0 in the Red North Division.

With the victory over St. Edward, the 'Cats were also presented the inaugural “Monster Cup” from the Lake Erie organization.

“They just played hard and played as a team,” said Saint Ignatius' Pat O'Rourke '90, who is the most successful coach in terms of overall victories in Wildcats hockey history. “Everybody stay positive, that was the message today. If you get down a goal, or something like that, it doesn't matter.

“We try to do that, be unflappable,” O'Rourke continued. “Our slogan is 'Whatever it Takes.' So if it takes coming back from a two-goal deficit or protecting a lead, that is the message – let's stay together for 45 minutes, shift by shift. And when we do that, we're very hard to beat.”

The Wildcats made it hard on the Eagles (6-3, 2-1) at both ends of the ice as they got some gritty saves by senior goalie Josh Potts, including several of the glove variety.

On the offensive end, Saint Ignatius stunned the Eagles with two first-period goals that light the lamp within 12 seconds of each other.

McQuinn did the honors by scoring his team-leading 15th goal at the 11:28 mark and junior forward Colton Riemenschneider struck at 11:40 off a picture-perfect assist from senior forward and co-captain Kevin Joseph.

“I saw (Liam) Geither going back door. I wanted to shoot it off the goalie's pads to him,” said McQuinn of the first of his two goals on the evening. “Fortunately for me, it just ended up going in the net. A goal's a goal.”

It was more of the same pressure in the second period.

After a slashing penalty on St. Edward, the Wildcats were awarded a penalty shot.

McQuinn skated with authority down the ice and beat the goalie for his 16th lamp lighter of the season and his fifth goal in less than 24 hours. He had the hat trick against Walsh on Friday night.

“Well, it's a pressure situation,” McQuinn said of the penalty shot. “We were up and I just wanted to get us another goal to make the spread even bigger and give our team more leeway.”

And Saint Ignatius took advantage of that freedom of action and pushed its lead to 4-0 on a goal by Joseph off some workmanlike and sweet assists by junior captain Paddy Spellacy and Riemenschneider.

St. Edward made it 4-1 on a goal by sophomore forward Gabe Lampron off an assist from junior forward Nick Crosby with 13:14 gone in the second period and, after a third period that featured some spirited checking, the 'Cats skated away with the victory.

In referring to the fact that he has special young men, not just talented hockey players, Coach O'Rourke pointed out that some of the Wildcats were working with the kids in Special Olympics on Saturday morning at Winterhurst Ice Rink in Lakewood.

“The fact that they had a good game (Friday) night that was kind of late and get up in the morning, it continues to impress me,” Coach O'Rourke said. “That's what we're trying to do, character people with talent. Yeah, we have some talent. But they're also good kids who work hard and stay together. That's a good formula."