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WINNING IT OUTRIGHT, AGAIN!

By Eddie Dwyer, 02/05/11, 12:00AM EST

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WILDCATS VARSITY HOCKEY TEAM SKATES, SHOOTS AND DEFENDS ITS WAY TO A SECOND CONSECUTIVE RED NORTH DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP BY DEFEATING PADUA, 5-1, ON SATURDAY NIGHT.

THE SAVVY 'CATS GOT AN OUTSTANDING EFFORT IN GOAL BY JOSH POTTS AND LAMP LIGHTERS FROM MIKE AVDEY, LIAM GEITHER, MIKE ABOOD AND PADDY SPELLACY. GEITHER SHAKES OFF AN EARLY INJURY AND SENDS HOME TWO GOALS IN A DOMINANT FIRST PERIOD.

By Eddie Dwyer
Copyright, Feb. 2011

Saint Ignatius' varsity hockey team wasn't about to take the easy route to another championship in the rugged Red North Division.

Although the opportunity was there, if the 'Cats wanted it that way.

But no, not these young men.

Tiebreakers are for wannabes, not defending state champions.

The Wildcats, leaving no doubt as to which team would reign as Red North champions for the second consecutive year, jumped on Padua early Saturday night and went on to a 5-1 victory over the Bruins in a Red North matchup on the ice inside Brooklyn's John M. Coyne Recreation Center.

In winning its second consecutive outright title in the Red North Division, Saint Ignatius improved to 26-5 on the season and will be the top seed for next week's tradition-rich Baron Cup. The 'Cats are also expected to be the No. 1 seed for the OHSAA Brooklyn District Tournament, but the voting for that doesn't take place until Wednesday evening.

“It was tough to fight through it, pactice was a little rough,” said Wildcats senior goalie Josh Potts, who was disappointed in his performance in last weekend's 5-3 victory over Lake Catholic. “Coming into the game tonight, I was a little nervous. But I had a talk with my dad and he kind of said, I've done it before, to go out there and perform. And I did it.”

Putting together an effort that was reminiscent of his many strong outings during last season's state-championhip run, Potts made several key stops (22 total) on Saturday night, including a picture-perfect glove save against a one-on-one situation in the first period.

“I looked at his eyes, I knew where he was going to shoot it,” Potts said. “So I just sayed where I was and reacted.”

In a game that was physical from the get-go, Saint Ignatius and its faithful were holding their collective breath after sophomore forward Mike Avdey scored off an assist from standout junior forward Liam Getiher with the game not two minutes old.

Following his pass to Avdey, Geither was hit from behind and went down on the ice. After being attended to by Wildcats outstanding head trainer Hank Gaughan A.T.C., Geither was helped up and he skated off the ice to the Saint Ignatius bench.

Let's just say that if you put Geither on the ice, you just might pay the price.

After a few minutes of rest, the gritty and gifted Geither returned to the ice and promptly scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season.

He took assists from junior defender Will Smith and senior defender and co-capain Pete Bobulsky and slapped home a shot from the goalie's stick side at the 9:30 mark of the first period.

Less than two minutes later, sophomore center Miles McQuinn skated from behind the net and found Geither, who gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead with an authoritative effort.

“I threw the pass to Mike (Avdey) and I was looking at Mike to see if he scored,” said Geither of his early injury scare. "The kid blindsided me and I went into the boards and hit my heel. My foot just caved in. But it's fine now.”

Padua (16-14), which was fighting for a spot in the Baron Cup, made it a two-goal game when Mike Palasics, off a power-play advantage, fired home a shot near the blue line at 9:20 of the second period.

Saint Ignatius answered with a goal from talented and hard-nosed junior defender Mike Abood and the 'Cats regained their three-goal advantage heading into the third period. Assisting on Abood's lamp lighter were junior captain and forward Paddy Spellacy and senior co-captain and forward Kevin Joseph.

The final seconds of the second period were a bit spirited, as a little skirmish broke out. Two Saint Ignatius players and one Bruin started the third period in their respective penalty boxes.

“We knew they were going to come out hard, so we wanted to come hard, too,” said Spellacy, the Wildcats' career and single-season leader in goals scored.

After just missing on several other attempts, Spellacy closed the out the scoring at 8:44 of the third period by delivering his 33rd goal of the season.

“Liam (Geither) chips it up to Michael (Abood), it's a two-on-two and I just wanted to drop back a little bit to create some space,” said Spellacy, who has been playing hockey with Geither since they were both about 3 years old. “Michael was on me and I was lucky enough that he passed it back to me. I wanted to get a rip off quick and catch the goalie off guard.”

Scoring five times against Padua's exceptional goalie Justin Goebel is quite an accomplishment in itself. Despite the final score, Goebel came up with some saves (31 total) that would make any veteran hockey coach smile.

Saint Ignatius, which will begin Baron Cup play on Wednesday night at 8 in the Coyne Recreation Center, will look to equal a season-high 11-game winning streak when it takes on Strongsville in a regular-season finale today (Sunday). The puck will drop at high noon on the Brooklyn ice and junior Matt Kovesdy, who will be taking over full-time net duties next season, is expected to be in goal.

“We're imperfect, and we said it today,” said Wildcats head coach Pat O'Rourke '90. “Some things in the defensive zone we could tidy up, we're still trying to perfect our floor check with our rotations more than anything and we haven't gotten a lot of power plays either.

“But we're doing fine. We're looking at one game left tomorrow (Sunday) and then we reset to 0-0. Then we go to the Baron Cup, that's three games, and then one loss (in the OHSAA tournament) and you're out. We're not satisfied, we know one loss could knock us out. But we're just going to play our game, be aggressive and see what happens.”